Directory_and_Chronicle_1937 — Page 389

CHINA

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waste, U.S. $4; human hair (combings, stumps, or waste), U.S. $12; lace and linen goods, U.S. 17, skins in bales, U.S. $9; skins in cases, U.S. $13.50; tea, U.S. $5; nutgalls in bags, U.S. $13 per 2,000 pounds; cotton-seed, oil in bulk, U.S. $6.50 per 2,000 pounds; raw silk, U.S. $2 per 100 pounds; groundnut oil in bulk, U.S. $4 per 2,000 pands; groundnuts in shell, U.S. $5 per 2,000 gounds; and groundnut kernels in bags, U.S. $3.50 per 2,000 pounds. Rates for sesamum seed are not at present shown in the tariff, but are meantime pegged at U.S. $3.50 per 2,000 pounds, available either, to contract or non-contract shippers, three months' notice to be given of any change in rates. Similarly, the rate for wood oil in bulk is not at present shown, but until further notice remains at U.S. $6 per 2,000 pounds.

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RAILWAYS

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It is satisfactory to be able to record that, despite the general depression, progress in the development of China's lines of communication has not been retarded. Work on the uncompleted Chuchow-Lochang section of the Canton --Hankow Railway has proceeded apace during the year. Rails were laid from Chuchow southward, through Hengshan and Hengyang, to the boundary to Chenhsien. On the southern section the north-bound train can approach Pingshih, a border town in the northern part of Kwangtung province. In all the unfinished sections solid, roadbeds were complcted, and the laying of rails is now only a matter of time. The great hindrance to the completion of the line was the construction of three major bridges, one of which has been com- pleted while work on the other two was being zealously proceeded with at the close of the year. On the 10th October 1935 a large railway station, said to be one of the best in China, was opened at Hengyang, and at the same time many other stations and railway godowns were under construction along the whole length of the line. It is expected that by the end of June 1936 the whole line will be available for transportation and that at the close of 1936 it will be: formally opened for public service. Work on the Yushan-Nanchang section of the Chekiang-Kiangsi Railway was completed towards the end of the year and this line, which links Hangchow with Nanchang and Kiukiang, on the Yangtze, was opened to regular traffic in January 1936. Construction work on the Nanchang Pinghsiang extension of the Chekiang Kiangsi Railway is expected to start shortly and will, when completed, make connexion with the Canton-Hankow Railway, connexion between Pinghsiang and Chuchow on the latter line being already in existence. The Lung-Hai Railway now runs from Haichow Bay on the east coast to Sian in Shensi. The section to the west of Sian to Paochi via Shenyang is now under construction and is expected to be completed by the end of 1936. At the eastern terminus the line has been diverted from Tapu to Lienyunchiang Harbour, on. Haichow Bay, an extension of 28 kilometres. Temporary wharves have been built at the harbour, which trains may now reach direct, and construction work on the harbour itself, which is accessible at any time by ships of the ordinary coastwise type, is near completion. Plans are under contemplation for the further extension of the Lung-Hai Railway from Paochi to Lanchow, in Kansu, and to Chengtu, in Szechwan. The Nanking-Canton Railway (formerly known as the Nanking -Chaoan Railway) is under construction by the Kiangnan Railway Company and will pass through Wuhu, Sunchiapu, and Tunch'i, in Anhwei province, Kintehchen and Kweich'in Kiangai province, Shaowu and Yenp'ing, in Fukien Province, and thence via Chaoan to Canton. The Nanking-Wuhu section was completed in March, and a connecting line joining up this line with the Shanghai-Nanking Railway will pass on the out-skirts of the capital, Nanking. The section from Wuhu to Sunchiapu was completed in 1934, and a further section, from, Sunchiapu to Tunch'i has been surveyed, work being expected to, start thereon, during 1936. The Hwainan Railway starts from the Hwainan coal mines at Lohochen, west of Pengpu station, on the Tientsin Pukow Railway, and ends at Yukikow, on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, 11 kilometres below Wuhu. The first section, between the kines and Hofei, was in operation at the beginning of the year, the second section, from

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