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Can the Central Government and A few curious questions suggest themselves to us. the Japanese people expect the S.M.R. Co., which is thus forced to wait upon the whims of the Chosen Railway authorities, to carry out the great mission entrusted to the Company by the nation? Will the Railway Company, however ably and efficiently it may be managed, be able to float debentures, when it may wish to do so in future, on any foreign market on as favourable terms as on the previous occasions?
LAST RECOURSE OF CHOSEN RAILWAY PEOPLE.
Later advices from Tokyo state that the operation of the reduced freights on the Mukden-Antung Line from yesterday has been restricted to the consignments of the Japanese Cotton Exporters' Association, that is, to Cotton Cloths and Yarn, and that since the. original scheme of introducing the reduced rates on the specific through imports from Japan was set aside, the S.M.R. Co. could press the Imperial Government Railways no further to sanction the extension of the same to the two other import routes via Dairen and via Yingkou.
Such a report sounds to us decidedly irrational. As previously stated, the S.M.R. Co. has had nothing whatever to do with the Japanese Cotton Exporters' Association from the outset. What special privileges the Association bave acquired have been accorded by the Imperial Government Railways and the Chosen Railway only. The only special treatment the S.M.R Co. was ready to extend to the Association was the application of the stipulated reduced rates for the specific through imports to its consignments of Cotton Cloths and Yarn, which are included in the list of the specific through imports. This special treatment for the consigaments of the Association is naturally conditional upon the introduction of the stipulated reduced rates for the specific through imports. If the report that the operation of the reduced rates for the specific through imports was set aside should be true, the Railway Company may, with good reason, decline to accord the application of the same to the consignments of the Association.
This last phase of the developments of the issue further lays bare with what excessive zeal the Chosen Railway authorities are striving to put through their cherished selfish scheme.
A RAY OF HOPE.
A gleam of hope seems to have appeared for the happy solution of this question of such weighty significance to the S.M.R. Co. and the Japanese inhabitants in South Manchuria.
Aithough no official confirmation has yet reached the S.M.R. Co., the Central Government is said to have come forward to interfere in the question, and as the result, the operation of the reduced rates for the specific through imports over the Mukden-Antung Line from yesterday has been suspended, and that the Government further instructed the Government Railways to refuse the sanction of the working of the Japanese Cotton Exporters' Association.
We hope and trust that these reports will come true as there can be no other proper way of solving this question.
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GOV.-GEN. BARON FUKUSHIMA'S CONCERN.
At yesterday's interview held at the S.M.R. Co. General Offices between the Directors of the Railway Company and the representatives of the Dairen Businessmen's Association and the Dairen Residents' Council, Mr. Kurozaki, Director of General Affairs of the Kwantung Government, was present nuder orders of Gov.-Gen. Baron Fukushima. According to this official, the Governor-General was seriously concerned about the ominous drift the question of the reduced freight rates over the Mukden-Antung Line was taking and instructed Civil Governor Shirani, then in Tokyo, time and again to exert himself to the end of carrying the just claims of the S.M.R. Co.
DAIREN BUSINESSMEN'S ASSOCIATION AND DAIREN RESIDENTS' COUNCIL.
The assemblage, after listening to the explanation of the progress of the question by Mr. N. Inuzuka, Director of the Railway Company, offered a vote of thanks to the Company's Directorate for the ability, tact, and thoroughness with which it had dealt with the question in the interest of the Japanese in South Manchuria.
The Dairen Businessmen's Association held a committee meeting last evening to outline its line of action against the unfair course adopted by the Imperial Government Railways,
The Dairen Residents' Council held a similar meeting yesterday afternoon. As the result, the Committee was entrusted with the engineering of the plan of the Council.
Extract from Manchuria Daily News of 4th May, 1914. REDUCED RATES FOR SPECIFIC THROUGH GOODS ON MUKDEN-ANTUNG LINE.
JAPANESE COTTON EXPORTERS' ASSOCIATION.
The report that the sanction given to the establishment of the Japanese Cotton Dealers' Association by the Imperial Government Railways has been rescinded is confirmed. This rescission took place on the 28th ult., on which date an official agreement was to be signed between the Imperial Government Railways and the Association.
REDUCED RATES FOR SPECIFIC THROUGH IMPORTS. No confirmation of the rumour that the operation of the reduced rates for the specific through imports over the Mukden-Antung Line from the 1st inst. was suspended through
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