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THE KOWLOON RAILWAY.
(Daily Press, September 27th )
Nearly every mail from England recently has brought news of questions asked in the House of Commons regarding the British section of the Kowloon-Canton railway, the interrogator being Mr. GINNELL, the Nationalist member for West Meath. We are not aware that Mr. GINNELL has any
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
the subject, or he is greatly lacking in a | sense of humour. No member of the Colonial Legislature, we are sure, so lacks the grace of humour as to make the applica tion to the Government we have facetiously suggested. How is it possible for such estimates to have been prepared by the Chief Resident Engineer or anybody else? It might have been reasonable to expect that the line would soon pay its way if its cost-including all provision for sid- ings, workshops, wharves, &c. suitable to the seaport terminus of a great trunk rail way-bad not exceeded the original estimate of half a million pounds sterling but he would be a very sanguine man, indeed, who would venture to calculate on profits being made on twenty-two miles of railway costing, with all the terminal appurtenances, not less than a million pounds sterling. The only prediction that can be made with any sort of assurance whatever is that there will be no direct profit on such a costly line for some years to come. All we can hope for in the next decade is that the indirect benefits of the railway will be so substantial that the demands made on the Colonial anuual Treasury for railway account will be offset to a considerable extent by the increased prosperity of the Colony to be anticipated from the opening up of the interior of the vast Empire of China,
LORD KITCHENER,
personal interests in Hongkong, and, knowing absolutely nothing of the hon. member's career, we are unable to explain the obviously very close attention which he has been paying to the undertaking. Irish Nationalist members of Parliament, as a rule, manifest so little interest in anything that concerns the British oversea dominions that Mr. GINNELL's interest in the politico- economic questions associated with railway enterprises in China, and in the Kowloon railway in particular, is all the more astonishing. We have previously said that there has been nothing strikingly new to Hongkong readers either in the questions put in Parliament or the replies made to them by the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, regarding the line in which this Colony is specially interested. The questions have been those which we have ventilated ourselves, and the replies have been a repetition of statements made in the local Legislature by H. E. the GOVERNOR. The latest questions on the subject, however, form an exception to this rule, and require a modification of our statement as to their
(Daily Press, September 28th.) staleness. We have received by the The welcome which was officially extended Siberian mail an extract from the "Times"" to LORD KITCHENER on his arrival in the giving the replies of the Under Secretary of Colony yesterday was one in which the State to two further questions put by Mr. whole of the British population of the GINNELL at the end of August, and these Colony would have delighted to participate, contain statements which certainly will for it is unnecessary to say that here, as in strike our readers as being not only new, every other part of HIS MAJESTY's dominions, but manifestly absurd. Mr. GINNELL there is nothing but sincere admiration for asked the Under Secretary of State his splendid achievements as a soldier on for the Colonies whether he would the field of battle and his conspicuous, give a brief abstract of the figures of the abilities as a statesman in the Council Chief Resident Engineer of the Kowloon Chamber. On vacating the Chief Command Railway "howing how it was alleged that in India, w: ere he has rendered services to this railway could ever pay working expe- the Crown which cannot be too highly ses, interest, and repay the principal spent apprai ed, LORD KITCHENER has in con on its construction, even as an extension of formity with the wishes of HIS MAJESTY'S the Canton Railway, in competition with Government, accepted the position of High the shorter navigable river, which had cost Commissioner and Field Marshal, com- nothing; and whether he had any corrobora.manding in the Mediterranean. At the same tion of those figures from any competent time le is promoted by HIS MAJESTY to the person not dependent on the Crown Agents." rank of Field Marshal, at the age of fifty. We were not aware until we saw this that nine. LORD KITCHENER entered the Royal the Chief Resident Engineer had prepared Engineers in 1871, but not until twelve any such figures; we cannot, moreover, see years after he joined the Army did he how it is possible for any man to estimate eceive his company and then distinction the profits of a railway yet uncompleted- followel quickly. In two years, for s rvices especially such a line as-the British section in Egypt with which his name will ever be of the Kowloon-Canton railway; nor can we associated, he was promoted successively recognise it as being within the province of major and lieutenant-colonel, and three the Chief Resident Engineer to attempt such years later, in 1888, he was given full rank. a fatuous and impossible task. But COLONEL He became Sirdar of Egypt in 1890, and SEELY, greatly to our astonishment, replied eight years later, after he had broken the that he understood the Chief Resident Khalifa's power at Omdurman, was raised Engineer to be "now preparing a revised to the Peerage and granted £30,000 with estimate of profits, and in the circumstances thanks of Parliament. His success in South it would be useless to give an abstract of Africa and as an administrator in India are the figures supplied some years ago." Will within public recollection. LORD KITCHENER some member of the Legislative Council is ow proceeding to Japan to represent the kindly ask for this most interesting estimate, KING and British Army at the grand which was prepared "some years ago," to be manœuvres in November, but in the mean- laid upon the table for public information, time His LORDSHIP will make a tour in North together with the "revised estimate of pro- China, visiting especially the scenes of the fits which the Colonial Office understands itanic struggle between Russia and Japan the Chief Resident Engineer has been in the province of Manchuria. After the recently preparing ? These documents manoeuvres in Japan, LORD KITCHEN ER, at would certainly be no less interesting to the the request of the Governments of Australia community of Hongkong than to the mem-and New Zealand, will visit the Com- ber of Parliament representing the con-monwealth and the Dominion to inspect stituency of West Meath. Railway profits! their troops, and to advise as to the best Alas! it must be said that either the Under way of giving effect to certain proposals for Secretary of State is very ill informed on the development of their military forces
[October 2, 1609.
which have been discussed at the Imperial Conference in London. Afterwards he will return home to take up his new command.
Though this new appointment has not been without its eulogists in the Home Press, it is not too much to say that it has astonished and mystified the British public, for the post which was created two years ago in favour of the DUKE OF CONNAUGHT has been regarded as a sinecure, and this view has quite recently been strengthened by the statements in the papers representing that the DUKE had resigned the appointment for that very reason, viz. that he had nothing to do. But
we cannot conceive that this is to be the uncongenial lot of our ablest soldier. Military writers, however, seem completely at a loss to explain the meaning of the appointment; and the best military correspondent shot the "Times has been able to make is that "he will be in a specially favourable position to organise, and, if need be, to direct, the British forces which exist in, or might gravitate to, the Middle Sea. It is in the ideas unfolded in the Defence Conference in this sense that one must seek the inner meaning of the appointment." Just so. But what are these ideas? This veiled statement suggests that some extensive plans in connection with the Mediterranean are being hatched; if so, it means a complete reversal of recent policy, which has been one of reducing both the naval and military forces there, and there- fore the conjecture must be taken with some reserve. Nothing will probably transpire with regard to the intentions of the Govern ment until LORD KITCHENER takes up the appointment, but it is recognised by all writers that if some important scheme of organisation is not already intended, LORD KITCHENER will speedily create one, for not even the baton of a Field Marshal coupled with a seat on the Defence Committee would reconcile LORD KITCHENER to the occupa- tion of a sinecure. It has been aptly re- marked that Malta, five days' distance by land and eight by water, does not seem to be ideal headquarters for an officer who is active and useful part in the to take an higher councils of the Government as member of the Defence Committee, and to have, as President of the Selection Board, a chief voice in army promotion. That, however, is only an additional reason for thinking that the appointment of High Commissioner of the Mediterranean is not to be for LORD KITCHENER the sinecure that H. R. H. the DUKE of Connaught has found it to be in the past two years.
EL
BRITISH POSTAL AGENCIES IN CHINA.
(Daily Press, September 29th.) Until the Government of Hongkong a couple of years ago threatened to close the British postal agency at Tientsin few people were aware that the British postal agencies at the various Treaty ports of China were conducted at the cost of the Hongkong taxpayers. We observe that the Colonial Secretary has recently written to the Municipal Council at Shanghai a letter in which it is mentioned that H. E. the GOVERNOR has for some time past had under consideration the annual loss incurred by the Revenues of this Colony by the conduct of the postal agencies at and various Treaty ports in China the letter adds: HIS EXCELLENCY is of opinion that this service is primarily one affecting Imperial interests, and 'n particular the interests of the treaty po t concerned, and he lately wrote to His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies inform- ing him that he could no longer undertake
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