- 2
To
₤15.877
of fourt
6. At a conference held between the British and Chinese Railway representatives at Hengyang in May 1947, the Chinese representatives had made a verbal admission of British ownership of certain coaches and wagons. It was possible to follow up this admission by a request for hire payment, but this had proved fruitless. Accordingly, on the 26th. September, 1947, the Managing Director of the Canton-Hankow Railway was notified in writing that accumulated hire charges for all the rolling stock held would be deducted from the Chinese Section's share of the takings due by the British Section of the Railway in respect of through traffic.
7.
No notice was taken of this communication and the sum of $254,027.50 was accordingly withheld from the payments made to the Chinese Section in the month of December 1947.
8.
An immediate visit to Hong Kong by the Chinese represent- atives followed. I shall not burden this despatch with an account of the lengthy negotiations which followed; it will suffice to say that the sum of $254,027.50 was released, and that after the appropriate period prescribed by oriental etiquette and custom, British ownership of the rolling stock was acknowledged (apparently without reference to the Ministry of Communications) and most of it was promptly returned. return of the money withheld received due publicity in the Press but little appeared regarding the rolling stock.
The
9. Further discussion followed and it was finally agreed that the total of rolling stock due to the British Section was as follows
27 coaches. 65 wagons.
1 locomotive.
The differences from the figures given in paragraph 2 above are to be accounted for by the fact that, when the joint committee conducted its investigation, it experienced difficulty in making satisfactory identifications because of the condition of some of the items, which lacked numbers or other means for ascertaining origin or ownership.
10. Ownership of all these items has been admitted and 21 coaches and 65 wagons have actually been received back. Thus six coaches and one locomotive still remain with the Chinese.
11.
The six coaches have been converted into sleeping cars and are in use on the Canton-Hankow line. The Chinese suggested that they should purchase them. The locomotive is in use on the short length of line running from Canton to Samshui. It is in very bad condition, having suffered in air raids and been patched up on numerous occasions. Although still in use by the Chinese, it is not regarded by British engineers as fit for further service and if returned will be scrapped.
12.
This position formed the background to a discussion between the British and Chinese Railway representatives which took place in Kowloon on the 12th. February, 1948. The British representatives claimed hire for the rolling stock; the Chinese claimed for the cost of repairs to coaches since V.J. day and offered to buy the six coaches which they had retained. The General Manager, Railway, agreed with the Chinese representatives a settlement on the following terms
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