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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. for traffic by December, 1897, but since very moderate amount of traffic ought to March last disputes have arisen between the yield a fair return contractor, Mr. R. MURRAY CAMPBELL, There is already a very successful line of on the investment. and the Siamese Government, which are railway in Siam, namely, the short line from to be settled by arbitration. In the mean- Bangkok to Paknam, which ought to en- time work is suspended and the chance of courage the Siamese to further enterprise the project being carried out in its entirety in the improvement of communications. is remote. Khorat is outside the guaran- But the Paknam line is under foreign teed portion of Siam and within the sphere control and management, which is one of the of French influence. From a political point elements of its success, and Siam would be of view it might be considered an advantage well advised to place any future lines that for Siam to connect the town with Bangkok may be built also under foreign manage by rail and so consolidate it with the centralment, for if an attempt be made to work portion of the kingdom. As a commercial them without efficient foreign assistance undertaking, however, a very gloomy view it is to be feared the results will be dis- of the success of the line is taken by the appointing. The Times correspondent re- Times correspondent; he says, in fact, that marks that " no hopes are held that it will pay,
everything lacks permanence **but
in this country,' hopes are entertained that, in the awaken- opinion he refers to the condition of the in support of which "ing of Siam, that fatal unsteadiness of telegraphs. "Under the fatal disorganisa- purpose which has characterised her tion which has prevailed in the telegraph "actions in the past may give way under department ever since the Siamese dis- better guidance to some continuity of "missed their foreign employes and en- action, and the railway, having been begun, deavoured to manage it for themselves may be finished." Unfortunately the pro- |ject seems destined to prove another illus-
there is no telegraph line in the whole tration of that very unsteadiness of purpose
country which is in proper working "order."
It would be unfortunate if the which it was hoped it would assist in counter- same experience were repeated in connec acting. The length of the line is 163 miles tion with the projected railways. and rails are laid for 81 miles, but trains have not yet commenced to run. For the first seventy miles the line has to compete against an excellent waterway. The correspondent's summing up is that "It would have been
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better to have begun the railway at Ayuthia; "it would have been still better, perhaps, "never to have begun it at all; but, now "that it has advanced so far, its discontinu- " ance would be a misfortune."
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11
SUPREME COURT.
17th October.
IN ORIGINAL JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR DR. CARRINGTON (CHIEF JUSTICE.)
THE BANK OF CHINA, JAPAN, AND THE STRAITS,
LIMITED, v. CHEUNG YAU TO AND OTHERS. In this action the plaintiffs sought to recover
October 22, 1896.] "of Shimonoseki was the sudden silencing | of the Eastern Bimetallic League. The "members thereof are giving up the uphill struggle they had so strenuously engaged in, and are not now so anxious to get the difference removed. The extent of this new cotton manufacturing industry in China will not be very great at first, but it will grow, and Manchester, severely as it has suffered hitherto, will have a harder “fight than ever to make its factories pay." The Japanese companies mentioned by Mr. HALL have abandoned, for the time being at all events, their intention of establish- ing cotton mills at Shanghai, but the oreign companies have their works well advanced and will soon commence ning. Mr. HALL, it will be observed, couples the promotion of the cotton in- dustry at Shanghai with the silver question, which has undoubtedly had a good deal to to with its inception! It is not on cheap silver alone, however, that the cotton in- dustry of the Far East must depend for its permanent success. Values have a natural tendency, like water, to find their natural level all over the world, and this process becomes more rapid in proportion to the growth of international trade and the improvement of communications; where a great difference exists it will in pro- cess of time be adjusted by a rise in prices and wages on one side, or by a fall on the other, or by a combination of the two. Any advantage that a particular industry in a particular place may derive from the rate of exchange must therefore be regarded as fortuitous and temporary; it is an advantage to be made the fullest use of while it lasts, but which cannot be counted upon as likely At present another railway is projected to continue. The cotton industry in the running in quite a different direction, Far East, however, has elements of success namely, from Bangkok to Petchaburi, an to depend upon apart from the temporary important town between eighty and ninety advantage of cheap silver. With an abun-miles to the south-west of the capital, near dant supply of labour and the
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tle eastern shore of the Gulf of Siam. material produced in large quantity in the concession for this line was granted by the immediate neighbourhood of the consuming King a few weeks ago to Prince NARADHIP, markets there is no reason why the cotton with Mr. WESTENHOLZ as a co-concession- industry at Shanghai should not prove aire, and the survey was commenced, but a brilliant success, even though the price according to recent Bangkok papers there of labour should rise in proportion as was a rumour, unconfirmed however, that a the price of silver has fallen, The crucial hitch had arisen in the matter, and that the
Mr. Drummond on Saturday addressed his point is the attitude that will be assumed royal sanction was to be cancelled, the idea Lordship and submitted that the defendant's towards the new industry by the Chinese being to carry the line through as a Govern- that of the plaintiffs.
case stood on a very much better footing than Before proceeding Government. In Japan the question of ment undertaking. However this may be, it with the defence in detail counsel governmental interference does not arise, would seem that the projected line would run mented upon the way the plaintiffs' case but in China the circumstances are differ- though a very different class of country from had been put before his Lordship. Mr. ent and every possible endeavour will that traversed by the Khorat line and that Francis had pinned the witnesses down to be made by the mandarins to impose there would be no doubt of its proving a
a yes or no answer, not allowing them to give squeezes directly and indirectly and to great commercial success if intelligently which a case was conducted was artificial and explanations. In the old days the manner in favour the native owned mills at the expense administered. The district is described of those under foreign control. That it will by the Bangkok Times as "rich in all kinds interpolation of observations and reflections on technical in the highest degree, but nowadays be possible to resist these endeavours suffi- of agricultural produce and capable of al- witnesses were not common. It had been ciently to prevent the industry being com- "most infinite development. Within a short apparent throughout that one of the pletely strangled we entertain no doubt, but "distance is also immense mineral wealth main objects of the plaintiffs had been having to contend with the dishonest wiles "which for lack of communications is to prevent everything, by raising technical of Chinese officialdom will always constitute practically untapped. Once the line is objections, from being placed on his Lordship's an element of difficulty in the operation
constructed there is ready provided, irre formed of all the important facts of the case notes, and to prevent his Lordship being fully-in- of the mills. Perhaps after all the promoters
spective of the increased trade which com- and the many bearings on the legal connection may ysee reason to regret that they did not munications invariably develo, a large of the case. No effort had been spared to establish their enterprise in this colony, under "volume of both passenger and goods traffic. place the Chinese witnesses in the worst possible the protection of the British flag, notwith- Compared with the already successful light, and Mr. Francis had also made the ob standing the superior natural advantages "Paknam railway the prospects are that it servation that of the whole Chinese race not one * claimed for Shanghai.
"will prove much more remunerative. It was to be trusted even on oath. In addition there had been constant interruptions and passes through exactly the same kind of country, and has the advantage of leading had concocted his evidence and was making suggestions and assertions that one witness to a hilly district eminently suitable for it up apparently from day to day and was "the sanatorium so much needed by re-ready to deny at one moment what he had said "sidents in the capital." Petchaburi itself is a town of ten thousand inhabitants and an important centre of trade. On its route the line would touch other trade centres, namely, Nakon Chassee, Prapatoom, Poota- ram, and Ratburi. The estimated cost is £200,000 only, and if the capital can be kept within such small dimensions as that a
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RAILWAY ENTERPRISE IN SIAM. In the Times received by the last mail we find an interesting article by a special cor- respondent on the railway from Bangkok to Khorat but unfortunately things have altered since it was written and it is not now up to date. The article is dated in March last and has apparently been held over for publication in the slack season. The writer | Anticipated that the line would be ready
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$100,000, a debt claimed to be dus on a bond.
Mr. J. J. Francis, Q.C., and Hon. H. E. Pol-
lock (instructed by Messrs. Johnson, Stokes, W. V. Drummond and Dr. Ho Kai (instructed and Master) appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr. by Mr. H. L. Dennys) appeared for the defen- dants.
The case was opened by Mr. Francis last Fri-
day week, since when evidence has been heard
on each side.
com-
at the previous moment, and there was an endeavour to prejudice his Lordship's mind against him by insinuations, assertions, and This was an unheard of advocation. On the suggestions, every one of which was unfounded other hand the deadant's case had been placed before his Lordship in a plain, direct, simple, and fair way. The defonce was that the agree-
ment entered into between the Bank Kam Sing