CO129-391 - Acting Governor Claud Severn Governor Sir May - 1912 [7-8] — Page 196

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11.01. 11. OI.IQ 11.01.c

ja mina VI MÀ.cui, & ex

$11,462.96. The compensation if the Working Agreement applied to

the case would therefore be 85,731.48 per month and an average

daily rate of $185.00.

If the actual wording of the Working Agreement

is to be insisted on an addition to daily rate as arrived at above must be made to the extent of the amount due according to Clause

22 on account of late trains because such amount formed part of our Gross Receipts during the month. The payment for late trains is compensation to which the British Section is entitled, owing to the extra expense and inconvenience it was put to by the late arrivals of the trains, which was caused by the Class and Condi- -tions of Traffic carried by the Chinese Section for their own convenience and resulted in a considerable profit to them. The amount about 8600 should not be subjected to a deduction of half because it is not a matter of profit but an actual monetary loss. Supposing Traffic to be resumed on the 6th.. December we would be entitled to a daily rate of 8185 plus say $20.00 due to the receipta on late trains. i.e. $205.00 per day.

Now I hold that the above is not a fair way

to look at the loss sustained by the British Section because the only figures we have got are those of the first month's operation. It is notorious that Chinese are slow to avail the selves of the trains. The village elder has to travel first and form an opinion of the Railway as a means of locomotion. If his report be favour- -able, permission to travel is granted to the elder members of the various families till gradually the new method meets with general approval and the trains fill up.

A reference to the table given above will show how this development has taken place. Taking the Receipts of the week ending 14th. October due to the British Section as 8448.24 Inwards and 8856.00 Outwards and the receipts of the week ending October 28th. as being the week uninfluenced by the exodus from ar Canton as being 8759.23 Inwards and 81,257.27 Outwards, we arrive at the conclusion that in a fortnight the Traffic had increased 75% in the case of the Inwards and 50% in the case

of

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