PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Ts Tz Ti
C.O. 882
Reference :---
6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-| COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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either side of the hills approach nearest each other, costing at $500 a lineal yard $1,320,000 in all, would be found more economical in construction and much more so in running.
6. From the imperfect data available, I believe that the East route with a low- level tunnel is to be preferred from the point of view of economy of construction, and in this view Mr. R. N. H. Jones, Acting Director of Public Works, who has been over some of the ground with me, concurs.
II. COST OF RUNNING AND MAINTENANCE.
7. The running expenses for a line by the East route by a low-level tunnel which would avoid steep gradients would, exclusive of the expenses of general administration, be about two-thirds of the running expenses for a line by the West
route.
8. The maintenance expenses would, if the tunnel was, as anticipated, largely through hard rock, probably be in a still lower proportion.
III. TIME REQuired for ConSTRUCTION.
9. The time taken to construct would undoubtedly be considerably longer if the East route is adopted, especially with the low-level tunnel, as the completion of viaducts and bridges and all plate-laying beyond would have to await the laying of the rails through the tunnel, and progress on the tunnel is naturally limited by the apparatus that can be got to work on either face of it.
IV. TIME REQUIRED FOR RUNNING.
10. The time taken in running between Kowloon and Canton would, at a speed of 25 miles an hour, be about half an hour less by the East than by the West route, assuming always that the adoption of the low-level tunnel would obviate the neces- sity for heavy gradients on the former. This saving of time is obviously an im- portant matter on a small section of what it is hoped will be part of a trunk line to Han-Kow, and possibly to Chin Kiang.
V. ANTICIPATED TRAFFIC AND DEVELOPMENT.
11. The local traffic from the district south of the hills known as New Kowloon is scarcely worth considering, but a station at the south end of the tunnel proposed for the East route would be a suitable terminus for a mountain railway giving access to residences on the hills. Beyond them the East route gives direct access to the small cultivated area at the head of Tide Cove, to the two small valleys which unite in that of the stream running into the western end of Tolo Harbour at Tai Po, and to the valley which runs east-north-east from Shek U Hue to the head of Starling Inlet, near Sha Tau Kok. The West route gives access to small cultivated areas at Tsun Wan and Tai Lam Cheung, and to the three considerable valleys which run from the south-west (Castle Peak Bay), south and south-east to the south shore of Deep Bay, near its eastern end. The cultivated ground in the neighbourhood of Sheung Shui and Ho Sheung Heung is nearly equally well served by both routes.
12. Enclosure A gives the approximate populations and areas served by the two alternative routes, and shows that the East route serves about three-fifths of the population, and little more than half the area to which the West route gives access. Per mile of line the population is about the same for either, and the area, one-fifth greater for the West route. In either case the population and cultivated area are small compared with those of the country between the frontier and Canton.
13.
The productiveness of the land and its capacity to support new industries is largely governed by the water supply. On the East route the largest stream in the New Territory flows down the Sha Tin Valley, entering Tide Cove at Tai Wai, and if the railway were constructed along this route, part of this water might be diverted in pipes through the proposed tunnel to add to the supply of Kowloon. Two con- siderable streams enter Tolo Harbour on either side of Tai Po. For the rest of the route the water supply is fair. On the West route there are good streams at Tsun Wan and Tai Lam Cheung supplying more water than is necessary for existing cultivation at those places. The fresh water in the Un Long district is barely suffi- cient for cultivation. Owing to this, sugar is grown in many places instead of rice, and there are yearly disputes between villages over water at the time of the growing
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of the first rice crop. Tidal creeks run up to Un Long and Kam Tin. The Sham Chun River, which is tidal to about a mile north of Sheung Shui, serves both routes.
14. Enclosure B gives an account of existing industries in the New Territories, which are mainly agricultural and fishing. The one manufactory is at Un Long, on the West route, but with improved communication there is no reason why the considerable success of the San Hing Lung firm might not be many times repeated. The West route offers more space for such industries while the East route has, as has been stated, some advantages from the point of view of water-supply.
15. The East route gives access to Tolo Harbour, and a station about the seventh mile on the map (the ninth from the terminus) would be near deep water, while good road access could be made from Tai Po to Shun Wan and the shores of Plover Cove, where there is also a considerable area of deep water well protected from weather. The West route gives access to Castle Peak Bay and Deep Bay, but all protected water in these is very shallow. From the point of view of accessibility to deep water, which may assume importance in the event of the development of large industries, the East route is, therefore, to be preferred.
16.
Enclosure C gives particulars of the trade at the various market towns in and near to the New Territories, and shows that the trade of Tai Po on the East route, valued at something over half a million dollars a year, is about three-fifths that of Un Long on the West route, while the trade of both places is small compared with that of Sham Chun, which is less than a mile beyond the boundary, and would be tapped by either route. amounts to 90,000 piculs (between 5,000 and 6,000 tons) annually, that from Un Long While the junk trade with Hong Kong from Tai Po comes to 250,000 piculs (about 15,000 tons), and the total export and import trade of Sham Chun is over 70,000 tons.
17. Particulars of the junk trade and of the launch traffic between Hong Kong and places in and close to the New Territories are given in Enclosure D. By the East route the line would probably soon take up near Sha Tin the bulk of the passengers, averaging daily 175 each way, that go by launch from Sha U Chung, on the north shore of Mirs Bay, in Chinese territory, to Hong Kong. These passengers have already shown their desire to avoid the rough water round the coast, even at the expense of a climb over the Kowloon hills. The line along this route would also probably take the traffic, averaging daily 15 each way, that now goes by launch from Tai Po to Sha Tin.
It is possible that the launch traffic between Hong Kong and Tsun Wan, Tai Lam Cheung and Castle Peak Bay, averaging about 100 persons both ways, would be taken by a railway along the West route. The existing launch traffic to and from Un Long and places in Deep Bay yields another 50 passengers both ways.
The Sham Chun launch traffic to and from Hong Kong averages daily some 150 passengers both ways. This of itself is equivalent to over 100,000 single passages in the year.
18. It is difficult to make any estimate from the figures given in Enclosure E relating to the traffic along the principal roads in the New Territory of the amount of this traffic that might be carried by the railway, following either of the alternative routes. It is interesting, however, to note that considerably over half a million people cross the ferries between the New Territories and China in the course of the year; over third of a million use the road north of Tai Po which would be generally followed by the line along the East route; nearly a quarter of a million the road across the hills, under which the line along that route would pass, and over a quarter of a million the roads to and from Un Long, followed by the line along the West route.
19. The result of an examination of the enclosures to this despatch, which have been prepared by Mr. C. McI. Messer, Assistant Land Officer for the New Territories, is to show that with regard to existing traffic it is not very material which route the railway follows, the trade with Sham Chun just beyond the frontier, which is equally served by both routes, being much greater than that of either of the local markets at Tai Po and Un Long. There is no evidence to show that the much greater mileage of the West route would be compensated for by a corresponding increase in the traffic likely to be carried immediately or in the future. the seventh and seventeenth on the map) of the Western route which present diffi The 10 miles (between culties of construction would be practically unprofitable. A better method of getting direct access to the Un Long trade than by following the West route would be eventu ally to connect the line along the East route with Un Long by a branch line 8 miles long over flat country to that place from a station near Shek U Hue, where, also, the road from Sha Tau Kok runs into that route.
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