Directory_and_Chronicle_1910 — Page 714

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CHINA

be more French than Belgian. In Honan the railway crosses the Yellow River on one of the longest bridges in Asia. The American-China Development Company obtained a concession for the construction of a line from Wuchang, on the southern bank of the Yangtsze immediately opposite to Hankow, to Canton.

A branch line from Canton to Fatshan and Shamsui was completed in 1904. It became known about this time that Belgians had acquired a predominating interest in the concession. and the announcement aroused so powerful an opposition among the Chinese of the provinces to be traversed by the trunk line that the concession was cancelled by the Chinese Government, who agreed to pay to the American China Development Co. the sum of $6,750,000 (gold) by way of compensation. The money for this purpose was lent to the Wuchang Viceroy by the Government of Hongkong. The line is now being constructed by Chinese. It was intended that the capital should be exclusively Chinese, but that hope has not been fulfilled. The British-Chinese Corporation in 1899 obtained a concession for a line to connect Canton with Kowloon, but as the years passed without any indications of a serious intention to proceed with the construction of the line, public agitation in Hongkong resulted in the British Govern- ment deciding to make the section through British territory, at the cost of the Colony. The actual work of construction was commenced in the autumn of 1905, and the British section is expected to be finished this year. Towards the end of 1906 China contracted with the British and Chinese Corporation for a loan of £1,500,000 to build the other section, which will give direct railway connection between Canton and Kowloon. Work on that section is now proceeding, and through connection between Kowloon and Canton will be established by June, 1911, if present expecta- tions are fulfilled. German concessionnaires secured the right to construct two lines from the German Settlement at Kiaochau to Chinanfu and Ichou in the interior of the Shantung province. The line to Chinan, the capital of Shantung, was commenced in 1900, and is now open for traffic over the entire length of 247 miles. An Anglo-German Syndicate has been authorised to make a line from Tientsin to Chinkiang, the Germans having charge of the northern portion of the undertaking and the British of the southern. The British-Chinese Syndicate, which has amalgamated with the Peking Syndicate secured the right to construct a line from Shanghai via Soochow to Nanking and north-westward to join the Lu-Han line (as the Hankow-Peking line is called), and also a line from Soochow via Hangchow to Ningpo. The Shanghai-Nanking line is now in operation. A line from Canton to Chengtu, the provincial capital of Szechuen, has also been mentioned. Surveys have been conducted with a view of finding a practicable route for a railway to connect Burmah with the Yangtsze region in Szechuen, and it is anticipated that a definite project for such a line will shortly be launched. A French syndicate has just completed a line from Laokay, near the Tonkin frontier, to Yunnan, a length of 280 miles. It proved a difficult under- taking, involving the making of 145 tunnels. The chief obstacle to rapid progress was scarcity of labour. The valley of the Namti, through which the line passes, is extremely unhealthy, and work had to be practically confined to the cool season. The French also secured concessions for lines from Lungehow to Nanning and from Nanning to Pakhoi, but it is doubtful whether these will be carried out, as their tendency would be to divert trade from the French colony to the West River route. Indeed, the proposed railway from Pakhoi to Nanning appears to have been abandoned, and it is probable that one from Kwanchouwan, through the Yulin district, to the nearest point on the West River and thence to Nanning will take its place. An Anglo-Italian Syndicate has been authorised to work coal and iron mines in the province of Honan and to build railways connecting the mines with navigable rivers; under this contract a line from Taiyuen to Singanfu and a branch to Siangyang are projected. Unsuccessful attempts were made in 1899 to induce the Chinese Authorities to introduce the Russian guage on their northern lines from the Manchurian border to Peking. A line from Feng Tai, 14 miles from Peking, to Kalgan a distance of 120 miles, has been built entirely by Chinese, the funds being derived from the profits of the existing imperial railways of North China, which, it may be added, showed a net balance of $8,761,246 for the year ending 30th September, 1906. The old prejudices against railways are gradually dying out, and the example given by the Court a few years ag in ordering a special line to be built for the conveyance of the Emperor on his visit to the Western Tombs, has been of no little assistance in finally knocking them on the head. "The most conservative native," wrote the British Commercial Attaché in one of his Reports, "can hardly resist the joys of travelling in a 'fire cart' or steamer, and, provided he is not made unduly uncomfortable or charged too high a fare, he is