Railways.
that when the result of the negotiations between the Japanese and Chinese Governments transpires, the conditions arranged will be found to be in accordance with the policy which Japan has declared her intention of upholding as laid down in her Treaties, and not to be in conflict either with the interests of her Allies or of neutral countries having important interests in the Far East.
On this subject a semi-official announcement has been published in the Press giving a report of an interview between Count Okuma, the Premier of Japan, and Reuter's representative, in which the Prime Minister states
that :-
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"Japan's proposals are in complete accordance with the Anglo- Japanese Alliance, and with all treaties and engagements with other "countries guaranteeing equal opportunity in, and the integrity of, China. "The criticisms and uneasiness displayed in England and America are caused "by false information. We are not seeking to establish any monopoly in "China, or improperly to infringe the rights and interests of other Powers. "Japan has not demanded the appointment of Japanese advisers, and is not seeking to create a Protectorate. She has not demanded joint policing แ except at points in Southern Manchuria, where important interests are "threatened by lawlessness.
"I can assert that deliberate attempts, mostly of German origin, have "been made to misrepresent Japan's attitude, but now all points have been "cleared up, and the interested Powers are acquainted with the Japanese proposals which largely constitute an endeavour to settle questions of long "standing, some since the Russo-Japanese War. In Shantung, Japan is only "asking what China has already granted to Germany. When final disclosures
*
14
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are made it will be found that the entire situation has been grossly exaggerated."
This Association warmly supports a policy of co-operation with Japan based on the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty, believing that under these conditions the welfare of China and the peace and prosperity of the Far East will be assured.
Mention was made in last year's report of the large number of Railway Contracts that had been entered into during that period, the most important
XI,
of which, from a British point of view, was the line from Pukow to Sinyang, giving through connection from Shanghai to Hankow. To these, a still more important line has been added during the present period, viz., a line from Nanking to Nanchang, the Capital of Kiangsi Province, and thence westward to connect with the Hankow-Canton main line near Changsha, the Contract for which was secured by the British and Chinese Corporation. The capital required to build these two lines is estimated at ten or twelve millions sterling, and should result in large orders to British manufacturers.
It being impossible during the war period to finance loans on the London market for the construction of these lines, work has so far been confined to completing the necessary surveys, which is being done under British Engineers, the costs being defrayed by temporary advances by the contracting Companies. Construction, however, is steadily proceeding on the British line from Hankow to Canton, the funds for which were provided by the Hukwang Loan of 1911. The Southern part of this line, viz., from Canton City to the point of junction at the Kwangtung-Hunan Border is still in the hands of a Native Company and very slow progress apparently is being made. Unless the Central Government assumes control of this section and places it in the hands of a Foreign Administration, several years must elapse before through connection can be established between Hankow and Canton.
Good progress has been made in consolidating the line from Shanghai southwards to Ningpo. The local native companies of Kiangsu and Chekiang have both been bought out, and the work of completing the construction has been entrusted to the British & Chinese Corporation. The connecting link between the Shanghai-Nanking Railway and this line, which skirts the Foreign Settlements at Shanghai, is now in course of
construction.
It
may be mentioned as a striking illustration of the world-wide effects of the war, that a bridge on the Ningpo section of this line, the piers of which have long been ready, cannot be completed because the iron work, made in Germany, is interned as to one moiety on board a German steamer in a Turkish port, and as to the other moiety was captured by the Japanese
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