CO129-571-9 Sino-Japanese War- Canton-Kowloon railway 25-3-1938 - 28-2-1939 — Page 144

IMMEDIATE.

SECRET.

53838/24/38

t

8 October, 1938.

143

Dear Ronald,

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

accommodate

N.B. RONALD, ESQ., C.M.G., C.V.O.