CO129-520-6 Railway development- Canton-Kowloon Railway 5-11-1929 - 5-11-1930 — Page 58

No

COPY:

58

Enclosure No.1.

MEMORANDUM as to the Kowloon-Canton Railway Working Agreement,

as touching certain British Section claims.

It is clear that Article 7 (f) and Article. 38 (also referred

Article

to as 32) must be regarded as different in effect, and not as

mere repetition or duplication, if any reasonable interpretation

can be given to each of them: Furthermore, neither must be

discarded or regarded as a nullity, except in the last resort,

nor must there be any introduction or reading in of fresh words.

The Foreign Office advisers seem to incline markedly

towards the nullity contention and to intimate that no claim on

the part of the British Section for compensation in respect of

suspension of traffic can arise under Article 7 (f), or at best

only in rare cases. The view is expressed that there must be

read into the provision the words, "in which the respective

Governments are in control of the situation and suspend the

running of the trains of their own volition": Such words to

qualify the expression "political emergency".

In order to arrive at a conclusion the whole Agreement

must be examined.

One feature revealed on examination is that the Agreement

provides for much more than through traffic, or to use - as one

the actual words in Art.7 (f) "the running of through

must

-

trains".

it will be seen, for example, that through booking

for the mutual benefit of the two Sections is further subject

matter.

Now "through trains" means trains passing from the British Section to the Chinese Section, or vice versa, through Sham Chun station, without interchange of passengers or goods.

See. Article. 4.

Certain