CO129-492 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1925 [12] - 1926 [1-5] — Page 531

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joint working agreement for the whole railway. Mr. C. Clementi and Mr. E. S. Lindsey were appointed to represent the Hong hol Government for this purpose, while Mr. Wei Hen, licnaging Direc.ol of the Chinese section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, representac She Board of Communications of the Imperial Chinese Gover...lent. The first meeting between these negotiators took place in Hon Kon on the 7th June, 1910, and the following is an extract from the minutes of that meeting:- "Mr. Mui emphatically stated thr She connection between the Canton-Kowloon Railay and the Frow- Canton Railway was looked on as a settled conclusion, the o.

point remaining to be settled was as to whether the Chanton-Kosle

Railway or the Hankow-Canton Railway were to make the comectic.

Again, in the minutes of the second meeting, which took place Honkong on the 5th July, 1910, to discuss the joint working agreement, there is the following entry:- "With regard to the

comection with Hankow, Mr. Jei said that the Board of Communic

tions had raised no objection." Subsequently, in a despatch,

the 11th September, 1910, to the Secretary of State for Forei : Affairs, Mr. W. G. llax Hüller, the British Chargé d'Affaires &

Peking, wrote as follows:- "Liang Shih-yi, the Director-Gener: 1

of Railways, assured me that the Board of Comunications were

fully alive to the absoluto necessity of making the short

connecting link between the Canton-Kowloon Railway and the Canoc

Henkov Railway in the interest of their own lines. He had Ledr

the necessary arrangements for the construction of the junction line during his visit to Canton in the spring, and negotiatione were already proceeding for the purchase of the necessary land; but, as they involved the removal of thousands of graves in the

suburbs of the city, they required delicate handling and might

take some time. But I might rest assured that the connection

would be built.' Finally, on the 31st of October, 1910, Mr. F. Grove, Engineer-in-Chief of the Chinese section of the Canton-

Kowloon Railway received from Mr. Chao Ching-hua, ten Lanaging-

Director of the Chinese section of that Railway, a copy of the