CO129-349 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [10-12] — Page 140

PY. fidential.

Enclosure 1.

sir,

136

Peking, 28th. August, 1908)

43607

28 NOV 08

1

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt

of Your Excellency's letter Secret No. 2852/1907 of August 6th.,

and with reference to the second and eighth paragraphs and the

.postcript, I enclose for your information copy of a Despatch

which I have addressed to His Majesty's Secretary of State for

Foreign Affairs on the subject of the difficulties which have

arisen in connection with the construction of the Chinese

section of the Canton-Kowloon Railway.

*

+

Since my conversation with you in March, the

policy of the Chinese Government in regard to provincial rail-

-ways has become more declared and definite, and for the time being, it is settled as a cardinal principle,that railways shall

be subject to the direct control of the Central Government as

far as practicable. The Board of Communications are endeavouring

to recover the administration of those lines which have been

entrusted to the provinces and to withdraw all provincial con-

-cessions upon which work has not yet been commenced. While I

am ready to agree that central control may mean some delay in

I do not think the construction of the Canton-Kowloon Railway,

that in present circumstances the Chinese Government could be

easily induced to transfer the control from the Board of Com-

-munications to the Viceroy, and from my experience of the Board so far, I should be disposed to consider that a central adminis- -tration of railways may in the long run prove more acceptable and satisfactory to us. As matters stand, I should in any case be averse from exercising pressure on the Central Government

reverse

to reserve their policy and transfer the control of the Canton-

-Kowloon Railway to the Viceroy.

The question of the consulting engineer for

the