33
so far as additional traffic might be secured by tapping the Un
Long instead of the Tai Po market convert the profit of £2,500
into a loss of £3,750.
VL. ADMINISTRATIVE, NAVAL AND MILITARY ADVANTAGES.
22.
The present administrative centre is at Tai Po
which is already connected with Kowloon by a 14 foot carriage road 18 miles in length which can be traversed in under 2 hours
by bicycle and under by pony while by steamer or by launch in
smooth weather it is within 4 1/2 hours of Hongkong. Though
the
this communication is good it would in my opinion be a decided
advantage to have Tai Po, if it remains the administrative centre,
in railway communication, that is within an hour's journey of Hong
Kong for all olasses of traffio. Mr. May is of opinion that Kam
Tin near the Western route would have been a better centre as
being nearer the districts occupied by the most influential clans and nearer Deep. Bay which requires more police watching than Mirs Bay. On the other hand Tai Fo is most conveniently placed for visiting from it numerous inlets on the Eastern side of the New
Territories which are only accessible by launch while the Western
side is fairly accessible by road and would be more so with a
railway connecting Tai Po with Shex U Hue. On the whole there is
little from an adrinistrative point of view to guide the selection
of either route beyond the fact that the present bead-quarters,
on which some expenditure has been incurred in connection with
the provision of permanent quarters for officers is on the East.
23.
-On the subject of the Naval and Military advan-
tages of the two routes, I asked the opinion of the Commander-in-
Chief, China Station and the General: Officer Commanding the
Troops in South China, pointing out that though the proposed rail-
way which it was hoped would eventually form part of a trunk line
to the North was a commercial rather than a strategie fine it
was
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