CO129-487 - Others & Individuals - 1924 — Page 481

i.

THE CHINA CONSORTIUM

CENTRAL AGENCY.

470

9, GRACECHURCH STREET,

LONDON, E.C.3.

April 4, 1924.

202

My dear Masterton-Smith,

CANTON-KOWLOON RAILWAY.

I enclose a copy of a letter from Mr Boothby, the Chief-

Engineer of this line, giving a general account of the

unhappy conditions under which the Railway is endeavouring

to keep in operation. The letter is somewhat belated owing

to its having followed me to Brazil, but, from a telegram from

Peking received yesterday, a copy of which I also enclose, it

appears that there has been no appreciable change.

We advanced the amount necessary to pay the Loan coupon

due last December, and we have gone so far as to guarantee their salaries to the British Staff, but beyond this I do

not think it would be prudent to go. Another coupon will be

payable on June 1, and, as the income from the line has

virtually fallen to nil, the outlook is very far from

satisfactory.

I can quite realize Hongkong's reluctance to take any

extreme measure, but it certainly seems a pity that the line

should be utterly wrecked for lack of some small reinforcement

of the present Railway Police, which is possibly all that is

required to allow Boothby to keep going.

Yours sincerely,

Sir James Masterton-Smith, K.C.B.,

Colonial Office,

Downing Street. S.W.1.