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October 7, 1899!
which conveyed him to the Mission station at Sae hung-bsien from which place he was brought to this city by his colleague Mr. Mason. He is now, we are glad to say, ou the fair way towards recovery, but his nervea have got a very serious shock. The British Consul, Mr. M. F. A. Fraser, has taken the matter up and will and two foreigners to Tong Chuan-fn. com- missioned to have those who are to blame for the outrage punished.—China Guzette correspondent. OPENING OF THE FIRST KOREAN RAILWAY.
Korea. September 18th. On Monday, September 18th, occurred the formal opening of the Kyeng-in Railroad, un- der which designation the Seoul-Chemulpo Railway is known. The track having been laid as far as No-dol, within five miles of Seoul, the company determined to gratify an impatient public and open the road on the above date. The day proved a very pleasant one, and at Chemulpo, from which point the first train started, the depot and its various buildings were prettily decorated. At 7 a.m. the first train drawn by Eugius 4 pulled out of the depot. It consisted of three first and second-class cars and four third-class cars, and was decorated with bunting and evergreens. A hoard were a number of passengers, Koreana id Japan-s", and a few of the company's invited guests from Chemulpo. Two stops were made at stations inside the limits of Chemnlpo, the Sualijy (Sari-cbai), in the heart of the Korean town, and the second at Soppi-kokai (Ball's Hora) the foreign suburbs of the port. This gives three stations for Chemulpo and will prove a great con- venience to the inhabitants of the town.
The first station out from Chemulpo is Poopyong, the nam of a rich prefecture. To reach this, the road ruus round the head of a tidal set-back" from the Han, and through the Woutidefile, the most difficult piece of on- gineering on the road. As yet the Poopyong station is an isolated house far from any human habitation. Three more stations were passed- Soshapple; Oricole, fifteen miles from Chemulpo
and
No-dol, the present Seoul terminus. of the road. A short distance from here is the Han Bridge, ever half a mile long, on which the road orosses to the Seoul side of the river. This bridge is a large undertaking and will delay the completion of the road until next June. At present passengers are carried on hand cars over & temporary track to Yonggan, from which they proceed to Seoul by various conveyances, such as chairs. jinrikshas, or bicycles. This will prove a little inconvenient for the Seoul people, but will be remedied as rapidly as possi- ble, so it is promised. The total length of the line when completed will be 264 miles.
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We made the run from Chemulpo to No-dol in one hour and forty minutes, and found more decorations and the contingent of Seoul guests awaiting our arrival. The train being in charge of Mr. Hidachi, the Superintending Engineer of the road, waited for half an hour for the guests to arrive. Two hundred invitations had been issued, and it was expected most of the guests would be present. We noted the Japan- ese Minister, Mr. Hayashi, and several members of his staff, also many prominent Koreans, in- oluding the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and for Commerce, but we looked in vain for the several Foreign Ministers and members of the general foreign community. They were late; in fact, too late to catch the first train ever to ran in Korea; and so after loading up with suob guests as were present the train started on the return journey. This little miscarriage was keenly felt by all. To have to leave most of the invited foreign guests and return to Chemalpo without them was a great disappoint- ment, but it certainly was an object lesson that guarantees a prompt railroad service in the future.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. Government of Kores. who have accorded it enlightened and liberal encouragement. Mr. Hayashi was followed by Pak Chei-soon, the Korean Minister, who had nothing to say and said it very well. This really terminated the ceremony.
This frst railroad built in the land of Korea owes its origin to the enterprise of Mr. Morse, of the American Trading Company. It was sold by him to the Japanese and is now in their and is just now reaching completion. It is of control. It has been three years in building standard American gauge, with a gradient of 01. For its completion Yen 1,800,000 has been appropriated by the Japanese Government. It is built of American materials, and the to first, second third-class passengers. The fares ger coaches are ordinary American cars adopted charged travellers of the three classes are re- spectively Yon 1.24, 0.66; 0.33; this for passage from Chemulpo to the terminus at No-dol. For the present there will be two trains each way daily.
passen.
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THE “ ARGYLL" FLOATED.
Kobe, 20th September.
the
beach at Ono since August 15th, was refloated
The Argyll, which has been stranded on
had been successful in moving the stranded, yesterday afternoon. The Hermione, which vessel the day before, was assisted by a Japanese dredger. and at 5.30, after thirty minutes' tugging, the Argyll was dragged off. Three; Japanese steamers stood by, but theirassistance was not required. The Argyll is now laying by the Hermione, and will probably have to be dooked.-Kobe Chronicle.
JAPANESE BUDDHIST M188/ONS IN THE STRAITS. There is at present in Singapore s Japsuess, plates the conversion of Singapor to Japanese Gebtleman—the Rev S. Sasaki-who conteni.... Buddhism. A temple has been fitted up at 377, Victoria Street, where the Rev. 8. Sasak lives. onlled the "Hongwauji," and here the doctrine educational character set on foot. will be preached and works of a benevolent and. Buddhism 18 to be propagated not in Singapores.
Japanese alone, but in Penang, Deli, Acheen, and Padang. Batavia and Macassar, Sandakan and Kudat, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur The bead quaṛ-
Railroading is thus fairly inaugurated in enterprise the foreigners have only kindly Korea. For this and every other kindred feelings. derived, it is evident
Aside from the personal benefit only by object lessons on their own soil can to every Que that the Koreaus be brought to know the mean. ing and utility of the materials of civilized life.ters of the movement are at Kyoto. in Japan, This railroad will help them to wake up. It and it is intended that there shall be always will take them a long time to comprahend what it means, but they will come to it. The Koreans the" Hongwanji —Straits Times,
more than two Japanese missionaries staying at aboard who thus were having their first ride hardly know whether to be surprised or not. They smoked, chatted looked out of the windows, and said nothing. But to-night in many a Korean sarang there will be comments passed, of which we cannot even dream, But pro ably the two things over which the greatest discussions will prevail will be the deafening rumble of the train and the vile odour of coal smoke:-Nagasaki Press correspondent.
PROGRESS IN SIAM.
་་
BIRTHDAY SPEL.CH BY THE KING.
Princes, Nobles, and Officials, ou the occasion of Replying to the congratulations of the the forty-sixth anniversary of his birthday (21st September), the King of Siam spoke as follows:-
It is with sincere pleasure We see you all assemble here on the auspicious and happy THE SEOoul electric RAILWAY. occasion of Our Birthday, and to have heard your good wishes for Our Person. We thank
The following items are from the Seoul you all. Independent of the 14th September :-
month, the Electric Railway broke all records On His Majesty's birthday, the 39th of last by carrying 4,218 passengers, the greater num- ber of whom went to the Imperial Tomb, out side the East Gate. Several buildings have been put up close to the Tomb Terminus of the road, and the enterprising ownors are doing a thriving business, serving refreshments to the crowds of sight-seers who fill the cars daily on a trip to the country.
Dame Ramour says that a public park is to be opened shortly, near the Tomb of the gardening late Empress, flower-beds and landscape
to be laid
out on au ex- tensive scale, and pavilions, benches. and tables to be set up for the use of the pleasure-seekers. Who says the Koreans are not waking up? An Electric Railway, with a pleasura resort at its terminus, is not so far from the civilised idea of amusement.
The management of the trolley line has ar ranged for special cars for parties to be run at the option of the passengers, and one can now indulge in a ride without being compelled to hang on to the steps of an overcrowded car. For the convenience of those who travel to and fro daily on the cars, special 50 ride tickets have been issued, entitling the holder to 50 first-class rides în either direction between the East and West Gates o' the city.
On His Majesty's birthday the trolley cars were ruu during the evening, and the brilliancy of the electric lights caused much wonderment amongst the people. We have a trolley line; why shouldn't we have electric lights ?
We are pleased to notice that since last year. the measures which have been undertaken by Our Government for the benefit of Our King- your loyal co-operation, are faithfully carried dom and in which you had given us proofs of
out.
We have seen with approbation the reforms whereby supervision and control have been de- carried out in the system of local adıniuistratiou
fined and regulated in village districts during last year and are now extended to townships.
been erected in place of the old ones for the
Now and better prisous in the interior hav
safe-keeping of the inmates and at the same. time to alleviate their conditious; quiform rules and regulations have been adopted in them in accordance with ur law.
The Force of the Gendarmerie has been on
scheme of organization cau larged and extended in four Circles. Its now be looked upon as effective, Royal Commissioners from the Provinces at We approve of the general meeting of all the Bangkok at a fixed dated in the month of September of each year for the purpose of submitting their annual reports of the preond- ing year and to discuss their budgets for the following year, as well as all new and necessary measures to be made in their respective districts. These reports will be published for the informa tion of the public.
The administrative reform of the Courts of Justice, which had been deemed necessary in every Province, has been successfully begun to be carried out to Our great satisfaction, and progress has been m de as far as the North- Western Circle.
As regards the education and the qualifies- tion of barristers, whose service and assistance Our Courts of Justice are much in need of,
por tion.
́e are now able to see Our way to their incor-
During the celebration of the Emperor's birthday, last week, a procession of the Ped- dler's Guild, with banners and music, passing by Chongno, came to oue of the trolley cars standing at the Chougno switch. A halt was We made, the bauners were crossed in front of the car, which the Peddlers surrounded, shouting many a mansai to the trolley car, and a goodly
The real ceremonies of opening occurred at Chemulpo One of the car shops had been fitted up as a banquetting hall, and the guests gathered about long tables laden with eatables. Mr. Hayashi first proposed the health of His Majesty the Emperor of Korea, after which in a felicitons little speech in faultless Japanese and English, be congratulated all concerned, the Americans to whose enterprise the road owed its origin: the Japanese under whose adminis. tration it has been completed; and the Imperial ' band.
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number shook hands with the American motor- man in ebarge. And all this friendly demon stration took place at the exact spot where the mob burned a trolley car only three months ago. Railroads and civilisation surely go hand in
It is satisfactory to see the re, airs made of
the telegraph lines and that additional wires are laid; as also that new lines are being made in the differents parts of Our Kingdom as well as those to be connected with forsigu countri s.
service has been progressively extended in the We are glad to see moreover, that the postal
interior and that also along the ses const
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