CO129-331 - Public Offices - 1905 — Page 33

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been taken in that direction so far.

(c)

Canton-Whampoa Line. Meanwhile a project

for a railway from Canton to Whampoa has been broach-

ed by a native official, Chang Pi-shih, formerly

Chinese Consul-General at Singapore. His scheme in-

cludes wharves and godowns at Whampoa, which would

accommodate large ocean-going steamers, and thus en-

able the latter place in some measure to compete

with Hongkong as the deep-water port of Canton. A

survey of the proposed line of route has already been

made by some American engineers.

There is little doubt that such a railway, once

constructed, would operate prejudicially to the in-

terests of Hongkong; and it is much to be regretted

that the delay in commencing work on the Canton-

Kowloon line should ever have allowed the alternative

scheme to assume a concrete form. Had the Canton-

Kowloon line been in operation, or even only in course

of construction at the present moment, it would

scarcely have been found worth while to plan the ad-

ditional line. Besides which, the conditions pre-

valling at Whampoa are not exactly ideal: unless the

river