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Asked by the Chairman to give his views Admiral Borrett said :—
I have been highly honoured at being asked to address you. I thoroughly and cordially agree with the mover of the proposal that unity of control is the principal thing. I had the honour of dining with the Hankow Chamber of Commerce a fort- night age, and there I suggested to them that as Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice was coming to Hong Kong (he is probably one of the leading experts in the world on conservancy) it would be a good idea to get him to come up and have a look at the Yang-tsze. I have been to Chungking, and I am of opinion that the river from Chungking to Ichang could be made navigable all the year round, but it would have to be done with care. It is possible to go up there and make fourteen rapids navigable for large ships and by this action leave one impassable for even a canoe, in which case the river would be worse off than it is at present. At the present time Captain Plant is on the river and goes home in February. It would be a good proposal for the experts to talk to Captain Plant, who has unrivalled knowledge of the subject, and who could tell them things they could not learn themselves without being four or five years on the river. Chinkiang in a few years will be an inland town. But there is also a place above Hankow where the river is trying to break through. It may not be impossible that the Yang-tsze will break through there and come out at Canton. At the present time we have a lot of boats on the river, and I make the young officers spend a few days every month making surveys of parts of the river. All these come down to Captain Hillman, and we are gradually collecting a lot of charts which will help the inspectors in the charts which they are making. We are doing what we can to assist the survey. These maps of ours are probably not so accurate as they would he if they were made by a surveying ship. They are made by officers who are learning how to do it. I have eight sheets of a survey of the Tung Ting Lakes made by the captain of the Woodcrick' which will help Mr. Mackay's steamers in finding their way about.
Without expert knowledge it is impossible to say what can or what should be done. But if we get the best man in the world and give him a free hand we shall get the best results.
WEAK SPOTS IN CHINA'S RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION.
Some striking Facts and Figures brought out at the Conference.
It was unanimously agreed
That in view of the inability of the principal railways of China to handle satisfactorily the volume of cargo awaiting transport which inability is due in part to faults in organisation and in part to lack of material-this Association desires to support the efforts of the railway authorities to--
I. Improve their organisation in respect of prevention of fraud, more regular running of trains, and direct handling of cargo without recourse to transportation companies, and
2. Obtain sanction for the expenditure necessary for the purchase of additional rolling-stock. the building of more goods sheds and the double tracking of certain sections of the lines.
In moving this resolution on behalf of the Tien-tsin Chamber, Mr. Carter said in part-
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*This resolution, I have no doubt, will produce a good deal of discussion, dealing as it does with a state of affairs which is admittedly bad, but which can certainly be improved if serious efforts are only made by the authorities concerned adequately to tackle the question. I do not propose, in the remarks that I have to make, to attempt to deal with the whole resolution, hut to confine my attention mainly to the second part. My seconder will. I know, have a good deal to say on part one. I only desire to start a discussion which will doubtless be participated in by other delegates.
There is no doubt that most, if not all, of the railways of China are not serving the public as they should, Greater efficiency would naturally mean larger revenues, but as things are at present delays are universal, rolling-stock quite inadequate, thefts common, and published tariffs not adhered to. The carrying trade of the railways has increased more quickly than the capacity to deal with it.
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Merchants consequently suffer and revenue is sacrificed. I am bound to admit that the state of congestion on railways generally has been by no means peculiar to the Chinese railways during the last five years, as those of other countries have suffered equally owing to war conditions, but whilst England. France and America made special efforts after the cessation of hostilities to cope with the position, the re-organisation of the Chinese railways has been hampered not only by financial and official difficulties, which to some extent have neutralised the efforts of her foreign advisors, but the difficulty of obtaining delivery from the manufacturers in the time required has also hindered progress.
"It would, however, be a mistake to assert that the officials of the railways have made no efforts to remedy the shortage of rolling-stock. A good deal has been done by certain railways in this respect. and when locomotives and cars now on order have been received a definite improvement in this direction will be apparent. It should also be remembered that part of the congestion this year has been due to abnormal conditions caused by the military activities in the North. But the inadequacy of This has accommodation in the existing goods sheds will permit of no such excuse. been caused neither by the world-war nor by internal troubles in China, but by the woeful lack of provision on the part of responsible officials. As a consequence cargo, instead of being properly stored, is often dumped and left in the open. And now, Gentlemen. I propose to give you a concrete instance, together with facts and figures. of a much-needed improvement on the Peking Mukden line.
The outstanding want is the double tracking of the line between the mines of the Kailan Mining Administration of Kuyeh and the port of Chinwangtao. A large part of the traffic on this line consists of coal-carrying for this company. The daily output of the administration's mines is at present about 14,000 tons, of which total about 4.000 tons reach the railway at Tongshan and Kaiping and move south and The remaining west to Tongku. Tien-tsin, Peking and other local consumers.
Of this 10,000 10.000 tons reach the railways at Kuyeh and move north and east. tons, approximately 9.000 tons are for Chinwangtao and 500 tons for points north of Chinwangtao
The administration have begun to construct a new mine north-east from Kuyeh. This mine is designed to produce 5.000 tons a day and will come into operation towards the end of 1922. The opening of this mine will give a further surplus of An expenditure of some 5,000 tons for export through the port of Chinwangtao. six million dollars on the extension of the port. the new mine and various connected works is proposed, and the administration are ready to embark on all this work immediately.
"The Peking-Mukden Railway have no special difficulty in handling the traffic bound south and west from the administration's mines when adequate rolling-stock is available. The line north and east from the mines has, however, reached the limit of the capacity.
"In addition to 10,000 tons of coal the section between Kuyeh and Chinwangtao has to carry a fairly heavy goods traffic and two mails and two other passenger trains a day in each direction. The capacity of a single-line railway is already so severely taxed that whenever traffic is heavy congestion is unavoidable. This results in loss There is, in fact, little of business and also in delays to locomotives and waggons.
doubt that much of the so-called shortage of rolling stock on the Peking-Mukden Railway is not due to there being an insufficiency of waggons on the line, but simply to the fact that the waggons are delayed at various stations owing to the impossibility of carrying so dense a traffic on a single-line railway.
C
As the existing single track between Kuyeh and Chinwangtao is unable to carry the traffic from the existing mines. it is obvious that it is idle for the Kailan Mining Administration to launch upon their scheme for the construction of the new mine and the extension of their port until they have some definite assurance that the capacity of the railway will be increased by providing the second track on the con- gested section.
"Looking at the matter solely from the railway point of view, the prospect of an additional traffic of 5,000 tons a day from Kuyeh to Chinwangtao provides more It is patent that owing than ample inducement to justify the doubling of the track.
to increased rapidity with which trains will pass between these points the increased rolling-stock required to carry the additional traffic is comparatively small.
The cost of doubling the section from Kuyeh to Chinwangtao, a distance of Further capital understand, 3,750,000 dollars. 6,899 miles, is estimated to be, outlay will probably be required on locomotives and cars, say, 1,600,000 dollars.
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