CO129-578-5 Development of Whampoa Port 13-12-1938 - 11-5-1939 — Page 21

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XNCLOSURE NO.1 IN CANTON DESPATCH TO BE. SHANGHAI. NO.211 of 21ST

HOVELBER, 1988

(Paragraphs 7 and 8 of Mr. R. 4. Scott's report on his

interview with Br. Lo Ven-kan, enclosed in his confidential despatch No. 11 of March 18th 1936 to His Majesty's Ambassador, Peking)

From the commercial point of view the scheme is unsound. The technical difficulties in the way of dredging the necessary approached and acceas channels may perhaps have been overestimated; but even assuming that the port can be completed with the funds available, and the maintenance work can be and is efficiently carried out at reasonable cost, it still remains to convince shipowners of the attractions of Whampoa. In the case of Shanghai there is no alternative port of which shipping can make use; but in the case of Canton Hongkong provides cheap and up-to-date facilities for all classes of ships. mall coasting vessels of about 2,000 gross tons register, which ply from Canton to hanghai, Tientsin, Haiphong, ingapore, Bangkok, and other ports, can already proceed not only to Whampoa but to Canton itself; and it is difficult to see what inducement there is to larger vessels to come to khampon,

To discharge cargo there, inatesd

of at longkong, woul entail a delay of at least one day, and probably of two days; and in the case of a large ocean freighter or mixed passenger and cargo steamer, where only a portion of the cargo was consigned to Canton, demurrage and tonnage and pilotage dues would make a visit to Whampoa disproportionately expensive. Moreover, it would in any case be necessary for such a vessel to call at Hongkong to discharge cargo consigned to Hongkong, watow, and other small port in outh China; and it would be more convenient also to discharge cargo for Canton