Directory_and_Chronicle_1938 — Page 409

CHINA

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FREIGHTS VIA SUEZ

Conference rates of freight per ton to Europe by the Suez route were maintained as under; general cargo, 90 s.; hides, 77 s.; raw cotton, 66 s.; cotton waste, 42 s.; tobacco, 66 s.; and cotton lace, 114 s., or 23 per cent ad valorem. The following rates per ton were increased during the period under review; albumen, from 90 s. to 100 s.; antimony regulus, 42 s. to 46 s.; antimony oxide, 60 s. to 66 s.; antimony, crude, 42 s. to 46 s.; beans, 31 s. to 36 s.; bristles, 132 s. to 145 s.; cotton seed-cake, 37 s. 6d. to 42 s.; egg yolk, liquid, 65 s. to 72 s.; egg yolk, powder, 90 s. to 100 s.; feathers, 77 s. to 81 s.; nutgalls, 90 s. to 100 s.; lard, 45 s. to 62 s. 6d.; wood oil in bulk, 80 s. to 96 s.; rhubarb, 90 s. to 110 s.; and seasamum seed, 44 s. 6d. to 48 s. The base rate was maintained on · ten at 65 s. The "open" rate on groundnut kernels fluctuated throughout the year, rates quoted being as low as 25 s. and high as 45 s. per ton of 20 cwt. Groundnuts in shell followed proportionately. Rates of freight on raw silk were maintained but the export of this commodity declined in quantity as compared with 1935.

RAILWAYS

The year 1936 will remain memorable in the annals of railway construction in China if for no other reason that the opening to through traffic on the 1st September of the Canton-Hankow Railway. The construction of this line was conceived as carly as 1898, the Canton-Samshui section of 49 kilometres being opened in 1904. In 1915 the Canton-Shaochow section, covering a distance of 223 kilometres, was completed. Construction from the Wuchang end began in 1912, and in 1917 the Wachang-Changsha section of 368 kilometres was opened to traffic, this section being later extended to Chuchow. The southern section from Shaochow to Lochang was completed in 1933, and the year under review saw the completion of the final section of 405 kilometres from Lochang to Chuchow. Construction of this uncompleted section between Lochang and Chuchow was made possible by a grant of £1,660,000 and $30,000,000 by the Board of Trustees administering the British Boxer Indemnity Funds. The total length of the line from Canton to Hankow is 1,096 kilometres, and it is hoped before long to reduce the time required for the through journey to 36 hours. A tentative project for the construction of a gigantic iron bridge across the Yangtsze River at Hankow involving an expenditure of $10,000,000 has been mapped out. When this connecting link between the Canton-Hankow Railway and the Hankow-Peiping Railway becomes a reality, it will be possible to make the longest train journey in the world direct from Canton to any of the cities in Europe. In connexion with this line plans are also being actively pushed forward by the Kwangtung authorities for the development of Whampoa, south-west of Canton, into a deep water harbour, with a series of wharves connecting the harbour with the Canton-Hankow Railway. Construction of the Canton-Whampoa branch was commenced in December 1936.

A seven-year plan, involving the expenditure of $22,000,000 for the readjustment and improvement of the Peiping-Hankow line, was approved by the Ministry of Railways during the improvement of the Peiping-Hankow line, was approved by the Ministry of Railways during the year. Besides repairs to the track, reconditioning of bridges, and the rebuilding of the Yellow River Bridge, locomotives and rolling- stock will be increased and the railway's workshops modernized.

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Work on the Yushan Nanchang section of the Chekiang-Kiangsi Railway was completed during 1935, and this line, which links Hangchow with Nanchang and Kiukiang, on the Yangtsze was opened to regular traffic in January 1936. Financial arrangements for the extension to the line froin Nanchang to Pinghsiang, where connexion will be made with the Canton-Hankow line, were completed in February 1936. The length of this section is 263 kilometres, and by agreement all railway materials are to be supplied from Germany, and the line is expected to be completed before the end of 1937.

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By completion of the section from Sian, the provinsial capital of Shensi, to Paoki (*), the present terminus of the line in Western Shensi, the Lung-Hai Railway Administration completed the second stage in their extension westward. Marking the third stage in the extension programme, surveys are being undertaken of the extension westward from Paoki through Tienshui (k) to Lanchow, the capital of Kansu, and southward through Pikow (), in South-eastern Kansu, and thence via Kuanyuan (), Kienko (), Tsetung (*), and Mienyang () to the provincial capital of Szechwan, Chengtu. A consignment of locomotives was received from Belgium for the Lung-Hai Railway in the autumn.

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