SEOUL
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The line is single, and is open for passenger traffic to Seoul. The working of the line for the six months ending December 31st, 1900, shewed a net profit of 12,175 yen or £1,217, a sum which, unless largely supplemented by profit, will not go far to pay the 5 per cent. interest on the 700,000 yen of private capital invested, which, under agree- ment with the Japanese Government, the shareholders are to receive before any attempt is made to repay the loan of 1,800,000 yen advanced by the Japanese Government. A contract has been let for another line, from Seoul to Fusan, a distance of about 300 miles, but work has not yet commenced, the question of capital being the cause of delay, though there are indications that in the near future work will be commenced. The Japanese Government to facilitate matters have stated their willingness to grant a subsidy in the form of a guarantee of 6 per cent. interest per annum on the paid-up capital of the Company. The British Consul in his report for 1900 said :—“ The question is at present before the Diet, which is now sitting, and it is expected that the necessary appropriation for the first year's subsidy will appear in the Budget for this year. No difficulty is anticipated in the floating of the Company, the first shares issued having been readily taken up in the Japanese market. The cost of constructing this railway is estimated at 25,000,000 yen (£2,500,000), a sum which it is intended to raise by successive issues of shares from time to time as the work progresses.'
The new electric tramway in Seoul has been extended to the river port of Riong-san.
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The carrying trade of the country is practically in the hands of the Japanese, the four German vessels being also under charter to them. In 1900 there was an increase of 263 sailing vessels, equal to 4,125 tons, and 431 steamships, representing an increase of 23,908 tons over 1899.
The expenses of the Corean Postal department for 1900 amounted to 158,180 yen, and the receipts to 20,613 yen, leaving a total deficit of 137,000 yen, or more than £13,700. The causes of this unsatisfactory financial result of the year's working are to be found in the maintenance of a staff largely in excess of the requirements of the service, in the omission to open up other remunerative branches of the service, such as parcels post and money orders, and in the uneconomical conduct of the administration.
SEOUL
The capital city of Han-yang, better known to foreigners as Seoul (which is merely the native term for capital), is situated almost in the centre of the province of Kiung-kei, on the north side of and about three miles from the river Han, about thirty- five miles from its mouth. It lies in 37 deg. 30 min. N. lat. and 127 deg. 4 min E. long. Han-yang means "the fortress on the Han." The city is enclosed by crenellated walls of varying height, averaging about twenty feet, with arched stone bridges spanning the watercourses. It is in the form of an irregular oblong, and stretches lengthwise in a valley that runs from north-east to south-west. The houses are about eight or nine feet high, built of stone or mud, and mostly roofed with tiles. Internally they are alean, for the Coreans, like the Japanese, take off their shoes before entering their houses. A long main street, about 100 feet wide, running east and west, divides the city into two nearly equal portions. In the northern half are the walled inclosures containing the King's Palace and the more important public buildings. A street about 50 feet wide intersects the main street at right angles, dividing the northern half of the city into eastern and western quarters. At the point of intersection stands a pavilion called Chong-kak (the "Bell Kiosk "), from a large bell about seven feet high which is placed there. This spot is regarded as the centre of the city; and from it another street, as wide as the main street, branches off to the south-west. The four wide streets which thus radiate from the "Bell Kiosk" are known as the four Chong-ro or “Bell roads."
Another conspicuous feature of this central part of the city is the row of large warehouses two storeys high, the lower portions of which are divided off into little shops, opening into a small courtyard instead of facing the street. The width of the main streets was formerly much reduced by the construction in front of nearly every house of a rude wooden shanty used for a workshop or for business purposes, which gave the streets a poor and squalid appearance, but some of the principal streets have now cleared of these unsightly obstructions, and the British Consul in his report for
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