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Cantan-Hankow (Yueh-Han).--Construction trains were running on the Changsha- Chuchou section (30 miles) in January 1911.
Canton-Samshui (San-Shui).—The line is deteriorating rapidly, and will soon require relaying throughout.
Kungyik-Hsinning (Hsinning). (Commonly called the Sunning Railway).—The Kong- Moon Extension is proceeding apace, and is expected to be completed during 1911.
Tien-tsin--Pukou (Tsin Pu). South Section.--(British construction.) Rails now laid to Isu-Chou-fu, and completion of the whole section hoped for by middle of 1912.
North Section.-(German construction.) At the beginning of March, construction trains were running to a point 17 miles south of Tai-an-fu.
Szechuan-Hankow (Chuan-Han).~One hundred miles now under construction; 50,000 coolies working on the ten sections from Ichang to Hsiang-chi.
Construction trains run twice daily from the wharf at Ichang to rail-head (about 6 miles). Except for two cuts not quite finished the track can now be laid from the first 20 miles.
Tchang station will be finished in May. Engine-sheds and three store rooms completed; water-tower will soon be finished. All the bridges and drains in the first section are completed, and in progress in other sections.
Tunnels.Some 50 miles from Ichang a 6,200-foot tunnel is under construction (much water hampers the work), about 25 miles from Ichang two other tunnels, cach about 1,000 feet, are being made. A 700-foot tunnel, some 15 miles from Ichang, is now completed.
During 1910 over 100,000l. worth of railway material was imported, including two locomotives from America.
Machinery from England and Germany, rails from Hanyang, cement from Long Kong, &c.
One private car, one 2nd-class car, and one brake-van have been put together; and one director's car, and some 1st- and 2nd-class cars are being built in the work- shops. Over forty ballast cars are now in use.
The machine-shops plant (from Messrs. Arnhold, Karberg, and Co.) has arrived and will soon be put up in the newly-built workshops.
Another 500-horse-power tug and two 200-ton lighters have recently been ordered from the new Engineering Company of Shanghai for better transportation of material between Hankow and Ichang. Eleven 100-feet spans have been ordered from the America Bridge Company of New York, and are to be delivered in May. Large orders for cement and timber have also been given. Earthwork and tunnel tenders for the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, and tenth sections have been opened and will be decided this month (April). It is estimated that the section to Wan Hsien will take some fifteen years to complete. Funds still in hand said to be from 1,000,0001. to 1,500,0001.
Honan-Tungkuan (Lo-Tung).-By January 1911 the road-bed had been made as far as Tiehmen, 40 miles from Honan-fu.
Yunnan-Szechuan.-I attach a sketch-map of the trace from Yunnan-fu to Sui-fu now projected by Mr. Dawley, the American engineer employed on the survey of the line. He arrived at Chung King on the 17th February, after a thirteen months' journey from Yunnan-fu, accurately surveying. This trace differs from those previously suggested by the use of the Niu Lan valley, which not only shortens the distance to 410 miles, but gives a much easier gradient. For some 200 miles the incline is only 1 per cent. Up a small affluent of the Niu Lan the gradient rises to 2 per cent. North of Chao- Tung very difficult. Mr. Dawley considers it impossible to take the line through Ta-Kuan, and proposes to follow the valley of the main westerly branch of the Hêng Chiang. Here even, in one place, there is a drop of 1,600 feet in 16,000 feet. Cost of construction estimated at 25,000,000 to 35,000,000 taels. Amounts of capital collected by the railway company up to date of commencement of survey was 2,000,000 taels.
Mr. Dawley is on a three years' contract, of which about one-half has expired. He has one American assistant, Mr. Hawke, and a large staff of Chinese engineers, trained in the Yunnan-fu Railway College. After staying three or four days in Chung King, Mr. Dawley left for Na Chi Hsien, to go up the valley of the Yung- Ning Ho to Pi Chieh and Wei Ning. He will not make a detailed survey, but general observation of the levels, with a view to a possible alternative trace. He does not think any line from the Yang-tsze to Yunnan-fu will be completed for at least seven or eight years, and is pessimistic as to its ultimate success. There is reason to believe
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that if the Chuan-Han Railway's steamboat project is carried out, construction will be begun from the Sui-fu end, as freights for material by the Tonkin line are prohibitive. A few miles of track may be laid down near Yüunan-fu to encourage subscription.
Antung-Mukden,-Greater progress is being made than was anticipated, and the line may be completed by the autumn of this year.
Nothing fresh to report.
Peking, April 24, 1911.
TELEGRAPHS.
M. E. WILLOUGHBY, Military Attaché.
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