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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TEC.O. 882

6

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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The field work of the preliminary survey of both east and west routes is now completed. Mr. Bruce has also, at my request, run a line from Fan Ling to the west route, where it enters the Hat Sia Gap, along which a branch from Ping Shan to Fan Ling may ultimately be constructed.

The next fortnight will be employed by the surveyors in preparing the report, on which I have finally to decide as to which route is to be adopted.

Mr. Bruce has absolutely no doubt, and I have but little doubt, that this will be the east route.

Assuming this, the detailed survey of and location of the centre line along that route will be put in hand as soon as Mr. Bruce has completed his report, i.e., towards the end of this month.

The work will consist of three parts, viz. :-

(1) South of the Kowloon Hills.

(2) North of the Kowloon Hills to Tai Po.

(3) From Tai Po to the frontier at Lo Fu.

With regard to (1) it is obviously inadvisable that the exact location of the centre line on the ground which involves putting up survey marks should take place while any of the property through which it passes remains in private hands. The location will therefore be postponed for the present. Mr. Bruce has furnished Mr. Chatham with a plan and section of the line in this part, and the latter is now ascertaining what private properties are affected and making an estimate for the purchase of them. He does not think they will come to any considerable sum, and the balance of the $25,000 voted for the railway this year, which will not all be expended on the survey, can be devoted to the purchase of properties south of the Kowloon Hills, If this balance is insufficient we will take a further vote for preliminary railway expenses to cover the additional amount required. Though such further vote, as well as the $25,000 already provided, is charged in the first instance against Public Works Extraordinary, it will eventually be repaid from the loan when raised.

With regard to (2) and (3), Mr. Chatham will supply Mr. Bruce with the sheets of the cadastral survey, showing the districts through which the line is to pass, and Mr. Bruce will mark on them the lots which his preliminary survey shows require to be taken up. The sheets and the list of the lots will then be sent to Mr. Clementi at Tai Po for an estimate of cost of resumption. Payment will be made for them out of the vote of $50,000 for " Railway to Canton-Survey and Preliminary Work," included in the Estimates for 1906. As far as we can see at present none or very little of this sum will be wanted for survey, as Mr. Bruce anticipates this will be completed by the end of November, and it should certainly be so by the end of the

year.

It is not necessary that the staking out of the centre line in (2) and (3) should await the completion of purchase of private property. The line does not pass over much of such property in (2), while knowledge of the course of the line cannot greatly appreciate the agricultural lots in (3). Mr. Chatham thinks that the lots required should be purchased by agreement with the Crown lessees, as was done in the case of the Tai Po Road, and that a notice of compulsory acquisition should only be issued in the event of it becoming clear that lots are being bought up for speculative purposes.

It is proposed that the location of the centre line of the railway in (2) and (3) should be carried out by two parties working in opposite directions from Tai Po under the general supervision of Mr. Bruce. The party for (2) would consist of Mr. Valpy and Mr. Sayer (who, I understand, has recently been taken on by the railway survey), and their chainmen, &c. The party for (3) is to consist of Mr. Carpenter, of the Public Works Department, and (if required) a Chinese sur- veyor in the Public Works Department recommended by Mr. Chatham, with chain- men, &c.

Mr. Carpenter is at present employed on the survey of the road proposed to be constructed across the New Territories from Sha Tau Kok to Ping Shan through Fan Ling, and has completed it from Sha Tau Kok to Fan Ling, and beyond through the Hat Sia Gap. This road will be required to bring traffic from the principal valleys of the Territories to the railway at Fan Ling. It presupposes the existence of railway or other good communication from Tai Po (where the present 14-feet New Territories road ends) through Fan Ling to the Lo Fu ferry on the frontier. Should for any reason the railway not be constructed at once, a road must take its

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place. I have therefore decided that the $50,000 inserted in the Estimates for 1906 for "New Roads in New Territory" should be devoted not to the cross road above indicated but to making the bank, bridges, and culverts along the line of the railway survey north of Tai Po. The line will eventually be laid on this bank, which in the meantime will serve as a road. When the loan for the railway is raised any expendi-

ture on this bank, including that for resuming land and the salaries of Mr. Carpenter and of any other officer lent by the Public Works Department, will be transferred to it. In the meantime, and pending conclusion of a satisfactory arrangement with the Chinese Authorities for the section of the railway in Chinese territory, we shall have made some progress on our section in a direction which will improve our com- munications whatever is the result of our negotiations with China, and to an extent which we can well meet out of ordinary revenue.

Please let Mr. Chatham, Mr. Bruce, and Mr. Clementi see this note, which is, of course, strictly confidential, and let me have a copy of it to send to the Secretary

of State by next mail, so that he may know the lines on which we are working.

September 3, 1905.

35849

(Secret.)

No. 142.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received October [See L.F. transmitting copy of No. 146.]

1905.)

M. NATHAN.

The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to

the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and, with reference to his letter

Consul - General Sanderson, Telegram, October 6, 1905.

marked 35424 of October 5, is directed by the Secretary of State to transmit, for the infor- mation of Mr. Secretary Lyttelton, the accompanying

copy of a telegram, as marked in the margin, relating to the Hankow-Canton Railway.

Foreign Office,

October 7, 1905.

Enclosure in No. 142.

Consul-General Sir P. SANDERSON, to the MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE (Received October 6, 10 p.m.)

(Confidential.)

(Telegraphic.)

[Hankow-Canton Railway.]

New York, October 6, 1905.

With reference to your telegram of 5th October. Chinese Minister has signed prescribed form of receipt.

30011

(Confidential.)

No. 143.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received October 9, 1905.)

The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and, by direction of the Secretary

• L.F. transmitting copy of Nos. XCIX. and CIV in No. 161.