This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
4
the opportunity to discuss the failure of Japanese policy in Manchuria, "Though Japan won in the field, she has lost in diplomacy." The South Manchurian Railway is not a success, as it seems to be looked upon merely as a means for enriching the officials and offending all other nationalities, while Japan is represented in Manchuria by a swarm of immigrants of the lowest class. The objections to the proposed Hsin-mintun-Fakumen extension are, the paper states, not justified by facts, and the Japanese, by their attitude on this question, are only adding to their unpopularity in China.
The "Eastern Times" criticizes the Government's proposal to redeem the Peking-Hankow line by the issue of internal loan bonds. The Government's decision that it would be better to abandon the idea of redemption than to invite the danger of a foreign loan is declared to be sound, but the want of confidence between the officials and the people is such that the bonds will not be taken up to a sufficient extent. The paper here hits upon the great practical obstacle which the advocates of native loans too often forget; and the only remedy that the "Eastern Times" can suggest is constitutional reform, providing for popular control of the national finances.
Thibet.
According to the Peking native papers, it would appear that the Chinese are contemplating a more energetic policy than that they have hitherto pursued as regards Thibet. Chang Ta-ch'en is said to have put forward various proposals, which are now under consideration, aiming at the establishment of a military force in Thibet, the encouragement of trade with Szechuan, the founding of schools where the Chinese language is to be taught, the organization of an administrative system, and, in general, the assertion of China's sovereign rights.
It is also reported that an official will be sent to Thibet to investigate the mineral resources of the country, and to arrange with the Thibetan and British officials some means of raising capital for the exploitation of the mines.
Naval Affairs.
A Peking newspaper is responsible for the statement that the Board of Finance have arranged to devote the sum of 10,000,000 taels for the purchase of new ships, the construction of naval harbours, &c. The annual expenditure for the upkeep of the navy is to be met by the various provinces concerned. The fleet, which, it is hoped, will be completed in three years, will be divided into three squadrons, the head-quarters of the first being Yu Lin Chang; of the second, San Men Wan and Chou Shan; of the third, Chefoo and Ching K'u.
0
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL,
[22269]
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 29.)
[June 29.]
SECTION 2.
(No. 197.) Sir,
Peking, May 6, 1908. IN continuation of my despatch No. 180 of the 27th April, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a Report by Mr. Harding which gives further and fuller information respecting the Sunning Railway, the construction of which is, as the writer points out, a remarkable feat suggestive of further possibilities in railway development in this country.
I have, &c. (Signed)
Inclosure in No. 1.
J. N. JORDAN,
Memorandum by Mr. Harding respecting a Short Trip through the Sunning District.
THE Sunning district is one of the most progressive in China. In every village one is sure to come across men who speak English, or, more strictly, American, as some of them indeed call it. On the streets are men in foreign clothes and without queues; brand new villages are springing up everywhere; rows of neat new houses, with a broad street in between. And yet the district contains no Treaty port; no foreigners reside in it; few ever visit it. All the improvements which one sees are but the result of the... fact that from here was effected the Chinese colonization of the Pacific Coast of America.
Undoubtedly the principal evidence of this Americanization of the people of Sunning is now the railway, which already connects the district city with the Ngae Mun River at Kung Yik, and will soon connect it with the sea-coast at Sam Kap. The first named place is situated opposite the town of Tam Shöü Hau, some five hours by steam-launch from Kongmoon. At present it has no population at all; long rows of new Chinese houses alternate with broad grass-grown streets, but the Railway Company hope that when the town is built and the railway complete, inhabitants will come, The railway station is some little way from the town, just beside an imposing-looking, white-painted, two-storeyed building, in which are some of the Company's offices. At present there are only two trains a-day each way, which start-most unpunctually at 7.30 A.M. and 130 P.M. from Kung Yik, and at 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. from Sunning, local time, half-an-hour earlier than the China coast time in use at Hong Kong and Canton, being used. The first-class carriages are most luxurious, more so even than those of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway. The second-class carriages are about the same as on other Chinese lines; while the third-class are mere cattle-trucks with seats. All, with three out of the six locomotives owned by the Company, are built in the United States. The other three, with all the rails and some of the other material, come from Germany,
The distance from Kung Yik to Sunning is 17 miles; the time taken over the journey being an hour and a-quarter, and the fares 80 c., 50 c., and 30 c. by first, second, and third class respectively.
Just after leaving Kung Yik the line makes an enormous bend, necessitated by the refusal of a village, which lay in the direct line, to sell the requisite land. At this one place a mile is lost, and there are several lesser bends on the way to Sunning. The Company's inability to compel unwilling villagers to part with their land has further led it to follow the top of a range of low hills with a gap in the middle, thereby necessitating a couple of rises of 70 feet.
The line is well laid, and travel on it is much smoother than on the Canton-Hankow line, or, indeed, on the Shanghae-Nanking line when newly built. No ballast
[1819 ƒ-2]
79
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
4
the opportunity to discuss the failure of Japanese policy in Manchuria, "Though Japan won in the field, she has lost in diplomacy." The South Manchurian Railway is not a success, as it seems to be looked upon merely as a means for enriching the officials and offending all other nationalities, while Japan is represented in Manchuria by a swarm of immigrants of the lowest class. The objections to the proposed Hsin- mintun -Fakumen extension are, the paper states, not justified by facts, and the Japanese, by their attitude on this question, are only adding to their unpopularity in China.
The "Eastern Times criticizes the Government's proposal to redeem the Peking- Hankow line by the issue of internal loan bonds. The Government's decision that it would be better to abandon the idea of redemption than to invite the danger of a foreign loan is declared to be sound, but the want of confidence between the officials and the people is such that the bonds will not be taken up to a sufficient extent. The paper here hits upon the great practical obstacle which the advocates of native loans too often forget; and the only remedy that the "Eastern Times" can suggest is constitutional reform, providing for popular control of the national finances.
Thibet.
According to the Peking native papers, it would appear that the Chinese are contemplating a more energetic policy than that they have hitherto pursued as regards Thibet. Chang Ta-ch'en is said to have put forward various proposals, which are now under consideration, aiming at the establishment of a military force in Thibet, the encouragement of trade with Szechuan, the founding of schools where the Chinese language is to be taught, the organization of an administrative system, and, in general, the assertion of China's sovereign rights.
It is also reported that an official will be sent to Thibet to investigate the mineral resources of the country, and to arrange with the Thibetan and British officials some means of raising capital for the exploitation of the mines.
Naval Affairs.
A Peking newspaper is responsible for the statement that the Board of Finance have arranged to devote the sum of 10,000,000 taels for the purchase of new ships, the construction of naval harbours, &c. The annual expenditure for the unkeep of the navy is to be met by the various provinces concerned. The fleet, which, it is hoped, will be completed in three years, will be divided into three squadrons, the head-quarters of the first being Yu Lin Chang; of the second, San Men Wan and Chou Shan; of the third, Chefoo and Ching K'u.
0
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL,
[22269]
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 29.)
[June 29.]
SECTION 2.
(No. 197.) Sir,
Peking, May 6, 1908. IN continuation of my despatch No. 180 of the 27th April, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a Report by Mr. Harding which gives further and fuller information respecting the Sunning Railway, the construction of which is, as the writer points out, a remarkable feat suggestive of further possibilities in railway development in this country.
I have, &c. (Signed)
Inclosure in No. 1.
J. N. JORDAN,
Memorandum by Mr. Harding respecting a Short Trip through the Sunning District.
THE Sunning district is one of the most progressive in China. In every village one is sure to come across men who speak English, or, more strictly, American, as some of them indeed call it. On the streets are men in foreign clothes and without queues; brand new villages are springing up everywhere; rows of neat new houses, with a broad street in between. And yet the district contains no Treaty port; no foreigners reside
in it; few ever visit it. All the improvements which one sees are but the result of the... fact that from here was effected the Chinese colonization of the Pacific Coast of America.
Undoubtedly the principal evidence of this Americanization of the people of Sunning is now the railway, which already connects the district city with the Ngae Mun River at Kung Yik, and will soon connect it with the sea-coast at Sam Kap. The first named place is situated opposite the town of Tam Shöü Hau, some five hours by steam-launch from Kongmoon. At present it has no population at all; long rows of new Chinese houses alternate with broad grass-grown streets, but the Railway Company hope that when the town is built and the railway complete, inhabitants will come, The railway station is some little way from the town, just beside an imposing-looking, white- painted, two-storeyed building, in which are some of the Company's offices. At present there are only two trains a-day each way, which start-most unpunctually at 7.30 A.M. and 130 P.M. from Kung Yik, and at 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. from Sunning, local time, half- an-hour earlier than the China coast time in use at Hong Kong and Canton, being used. The first-class carriages are most luxurious, more so even than those of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway. The second-class carriages are about the same as on other Chinese lines; while the third-class are mere cattle-irucks with seats. All, with three out of the six locomotives owned by the Company, are built in the United States. The other three, with all the rails and some of the other material, come from Germany,
The distance from Kung Yik to Sunning is 17 miles; the time taken over the journey being an hour and a-quarter, and the fares 80 c., 50 c., and 30 c. by first, second, and third class respectively.
Just after leaving Kung Yik the line makes an enormous bend, necessitated by the refusal of a village, which lay in the direct line, to sell the requisite land. At this one place a mile is lost, and there are several lesser bends on the way to Sunning. The Company's inability to compel unwilling villagers to part with their land has further led it to follow the top of a rauge of low hills with a gap in the middle, thereby necessitating a couple of rises of 70 feet.
The line is well laid, and travel on it is much smoother than on the Canton- Hankow line, or, indeed, on the Shanghae-Nanking line when newly built. No ballast
[1819 ƒ-2]
79
ig
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.