YANG-TSZE WEALTH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9143, 10 May 1901, Page 4

YANG-TSZE WEALTH.

HUGE CONCESSION TO A. LONDON SYNDICATE.

MILES- OF MINERAL LAND

One of the greatest deals m foreign concessions has, we are informed, been successfully accomplished by an English combine. This is no less a concession than 71,000 square miles of land m the very heart of China's mineral' wealth. The territory acquired is m the provinces of Shan-si and Ho-nan, and includes an unbroken coal belt of 3000 square miles, and great fields of iron and petroleum. Thus while the nations have squabbled for territory, one of the very richest and most desirable prises m all China has been secured by City of London financiers. Such a concession dwarfs Russia's tidal movement/ and gives to British enterprise perhaps the richest mineral belt m the world, equal m area to Great Britain. It is the keystone of China's wealth, with right of communications secured by land and river. The United States Consul has stated that no coalfield m the world can compare with that of Shan-si, and considers the concession to be the most important epoch m the industrial policy of China. The Pekin syndicate, who made the deal, is composed of a few men with immense means, and it is said that the capital for working is £6,000,000. Some Italians are also interested. The success of the enterprise is due to the fact that the syndicate wasjyilling to. spend money upon the chance of getting a concession, and their wonderful tact and perseverance have beaten the world. The proposed plan of working is to bring the -minerals down into the Yang-tsze-ki&ng Valley, where mills will be set up among the dense hordes of population, so that labor will be cheap and profits great. The whole region conceded has been prospected by Messrs Shockley and Jameson, civil engineers, and the report is that the concession is the greatest prize m all the world. The concession bears date prior to the present crisis, so that the Powers must respect it, and all the railway lines affected. The Chinese Minister, Wu, has declared that these fields axe rich enough to supply the whole world with coal for many centuries. The eeeret has been very well kept, the concession being ratified by the British and Italian Ministers m China, and sealed with the seal of the Tsungli Yamen. The Tientsin line leads via Pekin to the conceded lands, so that the British had an important reason for the siding m cident. This line, however, is a subsidiary one, and not vital. The Yang-teze YaOsy route aforementioned is the principd l.ne for transport. . ■ •