CO129-493 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [6-8] — Page 62

..

— - - - -

12714

e

WI

Samegun, etastyck11 & Foal de coều ya

า

4.

12

Sa tasumabre

HALLEN

61

my secret despatch of the 20th May, and since then I have received from Lord Willingdon, a letter dated the 31st May, in which he acknowledges my letter to him dated 17th May, and writes:- "I fully realize the importance of the project, and hope that some means may be found of providing for the construction both of this short loop railway, and of the missing section of the Tuch-Han line." I earnestly trust that, in considering any proposal for the completion of the Canton Fankow line, the construction of this junction line will be insisted upon as an integral part of the scheme.

The total length of the Canton Hankow railway

-

is estimated to be about 700 miles. The southernmost section

from Canton to Shin-chou, 140 miles in length, was opened to

traffic in 1911. The whole of this section is in the

Kuang-tung province. The northernmost section from Wu-chang (Hankow) to Tochow, 160 miles in length, was opened in September 1917. A further section from Yochow to Changsha, 120 miles in length, was opened in September 1918. Yot another section of 33 miles from Changsha to Chuchow was opened in September 1911. The whole line from Tu.chang to

Chuchow is in the Hunan province. There remains to be

constructed the central section of some 247 miles which will

ran partly in Hunan and partly in Kuang-tung through difficult and mountainous country, where many tunnels will be necessary.

Construction work, such as this, cannot be undertaken unless

law and order prevail in the provinces of Kuang-tung and Hunan.

But unfortunately at the present time there is open warfare between these two provinces. The greater part of Hunan is

under the control of Marshal Wu P'ei-fu, while Kuang-tung

appears now to be under the dictatorship of General Cheung

Kai-shek. It remains to be seen whether these two War Lords

will fight to a finish, If they do, and if in consequence

both provinces come under one control, it might be possible to

complete