The Press. FRIDAY. APRIL 29, 1898. THE TRANS-MANCHURIAN RAILWAY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10023, 29 April 1898, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY. APRIL 29, 1898. THE TRANS-MANCHURIAN RAILWAY.

' It is evident that Russia intends to effect the practical absorption, if not the actual conquest, of Manchuria by means, not of an army of soldiers, but I of an army of railway engineers. The Peking correspondent of The Times in ' the course of last autumn made a ! journey through the country which i the trans-Manchurian railway is to ' traverse, and his account of bis 1 observations form an interesting reve- ; lation of the extent to which the " Russification" of Manchuria has already proceeded, The railway, as our readers are aware, is to form a '• loop-line " across the bend in the l Amur, leaving the trans-Siberian line j 100 miles above Strekensk, and then : taking a " short cut " of 1440 miles ! through the Manchurian towns of | Hailan, Petuna and Kirin, and j joining the main line again at Poltofka, which is only a day's drive from the _xe_&at termi-us of the section already

constructed from the Port Arthur end. The railway ia to be termed the " Chinese Eastern Railway " to save the dignity of the Chinese Empire. Shares can only be held by Russians and Chinese—the result of which is, of course, that every share is held by Russians and not a single share by Chinese. It is to be built by Russian engineers, protected by Russian soldiers, paid for by Russian capital, und constructed of Russian material. It is to be finished in six years, and eighty years later it is to be handed over to the Chinese Government —the proviso being carefully suppressed ■' if the Chinese Government is then in existence." The difficulties of construction are consideiable, and little progress has so far been made. Only a short section of the line can as yet be said even to be finally surveyed and the route has •tlready been three times changed, the guiding principle of every change being to bring the line further south, so as to " loop " more and more of Manchuria on to .Russian territory. In one part of the route disastrous floods occurred last year, destroying all the works and necessitating two years' time and much expenditure or money to reconstruct. The crossing over the Khingur mountains will present many difficulties, and so far the best passes found necessitate thousands of feet of tuuuelling. The valley of the Nomir river, through which another portion of the line will pass, is subject to annual inundation, and in one place near Tsitsihar, between the dry ground to the west of it and the city itself, eight miles of bridge work will be needed. Yet all the Russian engineers whom The Times correspondent met with seemed to think the demand for completion within six years both reasonable and practicable. Cheap labour can be had in abundance. The railway from Khabarovka to Vladivostok was constructed in great part by convicts drafted from the penal settlements of Saghalien, and this experiment succeeded so thoroughly that it is likely to be tried again ; in any case the inhabitants along the route are a hardy race, of fine physique, capable of much endurance and willing to work for small pay. Although most of the country is treeless as the Sahara—a traveller can drive for 200 miles along the projected route and not see a single tree—yet wood in abundance is floated down to Kirin from the mountain sources of the Shungari, and will supply timber enough for sleepers for half the railways in Asia. Coal also is abundant, though of inferior quality; and by next season a flotilla of fifteen steamers and forty barges, built in England to the order of the RussoChinese Bank for the transport of railway material, will begin the systematic navigation of the Amur.

That Russia should wish to join Manchuria to Siberia is of course not to be wondered at. The opportunities are as easy as the inducements are irresistible. Siberia on the one hand is a country very extensive but comparatively poor in natural resources ; ib is inhabited by a people of whom every man is a soldier belonging to a singularly powerful and aggressive nation. On the other hand, Manchuria is immensely rich in natural products, and is peopled by an unpatriotic and misgoverned race, who so far from resisting are already welcoming the Russian advance. Already a brisk trade exists in which the gold of the Siberian mines is exchanged for the horses and cattle, wheat aud " bricktea" of Manchuria. The greater part of the country is rich alluvial soil; from Tsitschar to Petuna the entire cjiuifcry is under the plough. From here to Kirin the land is the most fertile and thickly populated in the Empire. It is described as the granary of Manchuria—the Asiatic Manitoba—whose wheat will soon compete in the grain markets of the world. Kirin itself is a city of 200,000 inhabitants ; it is of enormous wealth, with a high standard of comfort prevailing, and is the centre and emporium of a district whose food stuffs would provision the whole Russian Army. Throughout the province agriculture is spreading and increasing, and thriving villages spring up in every part as the tide of immigration rises. The Russians have already so firm a hold on Manchuria that there is practically little left for them to gain. They have the right to work the mines ; to build and trade ; to construct' railways, and to navigate the rivers ; and ' to protect themselves by force, independent of the Chinese authorities. Russian engineers are quartered in Chinese temples; Russian soldiers parade Manchurian towns with an air of assured possession. Over the Russian barracks in Kirin waves a flag typical of their position; it is the Chinese Imperial standard, with the Russian colours set in the upper right-hand corner. They treat the population uniformly well, and have earned their welcome by the contrast between their justice and the corruption of Chinese officialdom. Already the people are preparing for the coming change. Manchurian traders are learning to produce the goods that will sell best to their new masters; they are even acquiring the language of the coming dominant race, and in Kirin Russian words and Russian roubles equally pass current. Were a plebiscite taken as to the desirability of a Russian occupation, it is more than probable the rule of the White Tzar would be preferred to the rule of the Celestial Emperor. Nor, were the Russian welcome not assured, is it possible to conceive of any opposition to their advance being effective. The Manchurians are utterly devoid of patriotism, and regard with indifference any change of masters by which their material interests are not threatened. Their soldiers even, had they the spirit to fight, would be innocuous from want of effective equipment. The Manchurian bannermen are armed with a variety of weapons, from the old Tower muskets, bought from England in the belief that they were the weapons which won the battle of Waterloo, to the last variety of repeating rifle discarded in Europe. But the Times' correspondent saw in Manchuria no rifle that was not rusty. "It is ' fool pidgin,' the Chinese think, to waste on a ride the oil that may be needed in the opium pipe." Under no circumstances is it possible to conceive of a national rising against the

Russians; and apart; from international complications which may trammel the natural progress of events, the absorption of Manchuria can only be regarded as a question of time.