CO129-628-13 Compensation- requisitioned railway materials and stores 1-2-1950 - 30-4-1951 — Page 52

Our Ref: 54447/5/50.

508

The Church House,

Great Smith Street,

LONDON.

S.W.1.

6

April, 1950.

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing to seek your assistance regarding

a claim which has been made by the Hong Kong Government against the War Office, arising out of the requisition- ing of certain railway materials belonging to the Kowloon-Canton Railway in 1941. The materials concerned were requisitioned by the Hong Kong Government War Supplies Board for the Director General of Transportation, Middle East and although it has been possible to arrive at satisfactory settlements of most of the claims in respect of these materials, the particular matter with which I am taking the liberty of troubling you at this very late date, has not proved possible of settlement owing to the lack of sufficient reliable evidence.

It appears that railway wagon materials held in stock by the Kowloon-Canton Railway on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of Communications were requisitioned and that as a result, 600 wagons were eventually delivered on board ship. The Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section) have claimed for the cost of stripping, assembling, sorting, making-good and marking these 600 wagons and subsequently delivering them on board ship. The difficulty really turns on whether or not these wagons were in fact "made good". Hong Kong maintains that considerable expenditure was incurred in having missing materials manufactured and in this connection I quote from a recent communications of the Governor's:-

it has been possible to collect some further though indirect evidence of the type of material supplied for preparing the 600 wagons. This

JAMES SMITH, ESQ.

•

/consists.