CO129-325 - Public Offices & Others - 1904 — Page 414

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All AI Reviewed

Mr. Lucas,

I saw Mr. Keswick this afternoon and discussed with him the draft proposal for a guarantee from the Hong Kong Government to the British and Chinese Corporation, Limited, for a railway from Kowloon to Canton.

I pointed out to him that for political reasons it would probably be considered undesirable that the Colonial Government of Hong Kong should acquire land and rights to construct and work a railway within Chinese territory, and also that it would be scarcely possible for that Government to give a guarantee for the part of the Kowloon-Canton line which would be outside its own jurisdiction. It would be far better from my point of view if this part were constructed under the original agreement with the Chinese Government.

Mr. Keswick pointed out that there would be inconvenience in the working of a line partly under Chinese and partly under British administration, but that there would be no insuperable difficulty to such working, though it would involve some modification of the original agreement with the Chinese Government so as to secure more British control. I said that no doubt the Colonial Office would, through the Foreign Office, assist the Corporation to secure this modification.

I also said that in view of the present state of the revenue and expenditure of Hong Kong, the Colonial Government could not go to the expense of purchasing land in the New Territory to hand over to the Corporation for the construction of the railway, but that the proposal

Edit History

2026-06-02 02:40:14 · NVIDIA / meta/llama-4-maverick-17b-128e-instruct

Live

View comparison

AI Proofread

Mr. Lucas, I saw Mr. Keswick this afternoon and discussed with him the draft proposal for a guarantee from the Hong Kong Government to the British and Chinese Corporation, Limited, for a railway from Kowloon to Canton. I pointed out to him that for political reasons it would probably be considered undesirable that the Colonial Government of Hong Kong should acquire land and rights to construct and work a railway within Chinese territory, and also that it would be scarcely possible for that Government to give a guarantee for the part of the Kowloon-Canton line which would be outside its own jurisdiction. It would be far better from my point of view if this part were constructed under the original agreement with the Chinese Government. Mr. Keswick pointed out that there would be inconvenience in the working of a line partly under Chinese and partly under British administration, but that there would be no insuperable difficulty to such working, though it would involve some modification of the original agreement with the Chinese Government so as to secure more British control. I said that no doubt the Colonial Office would, through the Foreign Office, assist the Corporation to secure this modification. I also said that in view of the present state of the revenue and expenditure of Hong Kong, the Colonial Government could not go to the expense of purchasing land in the New Territory to hand over to the Corporation for the construction of the railway, but that the proposal

Baseline (Original)

殺 411 Mr.Lucas, I saw Mr.Keswick this afternoon and discussed with him the draft proposal for a guarantee from the Hong Kong Government to the British and Chinese Corpor- ation, Limited, for a railway from Kowloon to Canton. I pointed out to him that for political reasons it would probably be considered undesirable that the Colonial Government of Hong Kong should acquire land and rights to construct and work a railway within Chinese territory and also that it would be scarcely possible for that Government to give a guarantee for the part of the Kowloon-Canton line which would be outside its own jurisdiction. It would be far batter from my point of view if this part were constructed under the original agreement with the Chinese Government. Mr.Keswick pointed out that there would be inconvenience in the working of a line partly under Chinese and partly under British administration, but that there would be no in- superable difficulty to such working, though it would involve some modification of the original agreement with the Chinese Government so as to secure more British control. I said that no doubt the Colonial Office would, through the Foreign Office, assist the Corpora- tion to secure this modification. I also said that in view of the present state of the revenue and expenditure of Hong Kong the Colonial Government could not go to the expense of purchasing land in the New Territory to hand over to the Corpora- tion for the construction of the railway, but that the proposal

2026-06-02 02:40:14 · Baseline

View content

殺

411

Mr.Lucas,

I saw Mr.Keswick this afternoon and discussed

with him the draft proposal for a guarantee from the Hong Kong Government to the British and Chinese Corpor- ation, Limited, for a railway from Kowloon to Canton.

and also that it would be scarcely possible for that Government to give a guarantee for the part of the Kowloon-Canton line which would be outside its own

jurisdiction. It would be far batter from my point of view if this part were constructed under the original

agreement with the Chinese Government. Mr.Keswick

pointed out that there would be inconvenience in the

working of a line partly under Chinese and partly under

British administration, but that there would be no in-

superable difficulty to such working, though it would involve some modification of the original agreement with the Chinese Government so as to secure more British

control. I said that no doubt the Colonial Office

would, through the Foreign Office, assist the Corpora-

tion to secure this modification.

I also said that in view of the present state of

the revenue and expenditure of Hong Kong the Colonial Government could not go to the expense of purchasing land in the New Territory to hand over to the Corpora-

CO129-325 - Public Offices & Others - 1904 — Page 414

Edit History

Comments

Private Research Note