ENG-1949 — Page 151

passengers and $1,778,292 in revenue compared with the previous year. The reason was the very unsettled political situation in China which finally culminated in the cessation of the through services with the Chinese Section on 14th October when a new regime took over the administration of Canton. The number of local passengers rose from 1,236,726 to 3,240,187, revenue earned being $2,875,436, an increase of $1,802,729. This was partly due to passengers travelling between the Colony and Chinese territory after the cessation of the through services who booked tickets to and from the frontier village of Lo Wu and then rebooked after having crossed the frontier. There was also a marked increase in the population of the New Territories during the year and this, coupled with the Military use of the railway by troops, has been responsible for the increase in traffic. It is interesting to record that in January the number of passen- gers on both local and foreign trains carried over the British Section totalled 300,958 while at the end of the year, the December passengers carried by the local services totalled 413,040.

There was a decrease in through goods traffic by comparison with 1948 as the following figures show:-

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Total

1948

55,784 tons

1949

9.922 tons

31,100 tons

4,790 tons

86,884 tons

14,712 tons

The decrease was the result of the uncertain political situation in China, an unstable and inflationary currency and the very stringent restrictions imposed by the Chinese Government on imports from and exports into China.

At the close of the year the train service consisted of nine local passenger trains and one goods train in each direction daily. All through services were suspended from 14th October, but three passenger trains and one goods train were operating daily over the Chinese Section between Shum Chun and Canton.

The rolling stock consisted of 34 coaches, 86 wagons and 16 locomotives. More coaches are urgently required and 22 are on order but delivery cannot be completed until 1952. In the meanwhile the lack of adequate passenger accommodation gives serious cause for concern as trains are very overcrowded and on occasions passengers have to be turned away. All coaches are run continually, and this imposes a great strain on maintenance crews.

The replacement of railway watchmen by Police during 1948 proved successful from every point of view. Good order has been maintained and railway property effectively

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