CO129-571-9 Sino-Japanese War- Canton-Kowloon railway 25-3-1938 - 28-2-1939 — Page 142

IMMEDIATE.

SECRET.

53838/24/38

141

8 October, 1938.

Dear Eady,

I enclose a copy of a semi-official letter

from the Governor of Hong Kong about the policy to be

followed in respect of the Hong Kong-Canton Railway

in the event of a Japanese operation against Canton.

The apprehension of a port and railway strike

if supplies were permitted to be railed to the

Japanese is no doubt a very real one. But it seems to

us to be worth careful consideration before approving

a policy of closing the line completely for traffic

beyond the frontier even after actual hostilities had

passed into the distance.

At the initial stages the line would

presumably be fully occupied by our own defence needs

up to the frontier, but it might be as well not to

rule out the advisability of attempting to maintain

thereafter a limited passenger service which could

COLONEL H.G. EADY, M.C.

accommodate