Sessional_Paper_1924 — Page 123

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Conditions Affecting the Provision of Wharfage.

COMMUNICATIONS, PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRIES OF SOUTH AND MIDDLE CHINA.

No. 1.

Before passing to detailed consideration of the present trade and of the develop- Drawing ments which will best serve the interests of the Port, it is necessary to consider the nature of the products and the industries and communications of South and Middle China.

In his despatch to the Secretary of State referred to on page No. 3, His Excellency refers to the prospects of the Kowloon-Canton and Canton-Hankow Railways being link- ed up in the near future, and the Consulting Engineers were called in to advise as to the best means of providing the necessary terminal wharves at Kowloon. Although numerous complaints had been received by Government of the high charges obtaining for the handling and storage of the commodities of the present trade and fears expressed on the possibility of its being deflected, the terms of reference to the Consulting Engineers subordinated the consideration of the needs of the present trade of the Port to a railway which is only partly constructed and which in China's unsettled state is unlikely to be completed for many years to come. The question of Port Developments has in my opinion been considered from a wrong premise.

Railway Communication.

At present there exists a single line railway from Kowloon to Tai Sha Tau, Canton, a distance of about 112 miles. The Canton-Hankow Railway commences from Wong Sha, Canton some 6 miles distant from Tai Sha Tan and is constructed as a single line as far as Shiuchow some 125 miles distant from Canton. A length of about 230 miles has yet to be constructed to a point about 50 miles south of Changsha before single line through communication from Canton to North China can be established. Moreover, as far as I have been able to ascertain all railway bridges north of Canton are in a very bad state of repair, so that until considerable expense has also been incurred in the recon- struction of existing works, bulk cargoes such as coal, ore, &c., cannot be conveyed from the North by rail to Canton; and certainly not to Hongkong unless the line from Wong Sha to Tai Sha Tau is constructed, thus connecting the two lines and establishing direct communication from Kowloon to North China.

Let it be supposed that through railway communication to North China is estab- lished. What will then be the situation so far as economic transport by rail to Hong- kong versus by water via the Tung Ting Lake and the Yangtsze to Shanghai? If, for the moment, the transport of perishables and very valuable goods which require maximum expedition be disregarded and the total of transport from the interior of Middle and South China to foreign destinations be considered as the primary factor controlling the export and import movement of tonnage, it will be found,- on the reasonably correct average assumption, based on the rail and water-borne trade in America at the beginning of the Great War that one mile of rail haul is equal to 4 miles of water haul and making due allowance for transhipment at Hankow,that the "Economic Divide" is somewhere in the vicinity of Hengchow (Hengyang). In this connection it may be of interest to note that in May, 1923, the freight on grain from New York to Liverpool was less than 5d. per cwt. this may be compared with the railway rate from Liverpool to London for the same article of 1/4d. per cwt. Of course, many other factors enter into this question such as mobile equipment, transhipment machinery at the intermediate points of hand- ling and at the Ports or "Gateways", warehousing facilities, transhipment costs and rapid turn-round for vessels in Port, frequent and definite marine sailings at the terminal ports requiring well-balanced port traffic in and out. The most important factors, however, are the charges by rail, by water, terminal and overseas. The "Economic Divide" referred to is based on total transport only. In July of this year, at a dinner given at at the British Empire Exhibition (Wembley) by the Commissioners of the Hongkong Section, Sir John Jordan is reported as having said: "It is on the extension of the ailways in South and Central China that Hongkong may justly build many hopes. When the line from Canton is through to Hankow, Hongkong, in conjunction with Canton, will become the great outlet for the produce of all China south of the Yangtsze". In my opinion, there is no likelihood whatever of goods from beyond Changsha coming to Hongkong by rail. They will continue to pass through the Tung Ting Lake to the