OUR EASTERN LETTER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 472, 2 April 1909, Page 6

OUR EASTERN LETTER.

o CHINESE POLITICS. [FltOH OBIt OWN COWtESFONDENT.] Hong-Kong, February 25. Several months havo passed sinco the death of tho Empress-Dowager, who for so long ruled over the destinies of tho Chinese people. But the avorago resident of this part of tho world is able to loarn little or tho happenings at tho palace at Peking. Even tho men on tho spot aro finding it difficult to obtain reliable news. Has any foreigner ever yet succeeded in understanding the Chinese mind? The events that three months ago startled tho world havo not interfered with the placid peace of the peoplo of China. The dismissal of Yuan Shihkai, the edicts of tho Prince Regent, aro taken as the accepted happenings of tho day, and the Empire pursues its oven course with a tranquility that is not understandable by the foreigner who has been used to having his affairs of government discussed by the people. Tho new ruler, the Prince Regent, has had tho advantage of foreign travel—tho first man to occupy the Chinese throno with that qualification. But in spitq of this ho is a bitter opponent of tho Chinese, and his sympathies aro with his own people, the Mancbus. Thero is a feeling among those officials who aro Chineso that there will be a - general re-shuffling of tho posts of power, and that many of tho Chinese will be sent into tho shade.? of retirement, where Yuan Shihkai 10-day reposes. Onooftheso, it is hinted, may bo tho present Chineso Minister to Washington, Wu Tina; Fang, a Cantonese. It has been suggested that ho bo recalled from America, ostensibly to recodify tho criminal laws of the Empire. Should the Minister return to Poking, it is more than likely that he, too, will pass out of China's political life. China's Coinage. " . One of the greatest difficulties the trader with the Chinoso nation lias to contend with is tho awful confusion of tho Chinese currency. If things, at their worst, are bound to mend, then, and then onlv, can China's currency be optimistically regarded. It is a state of indescribablo chaos. With tho increasing popularity of issuing unsecured notes in unlimited quantities, all the forces of confusion seem to be at work. There aro scores of different sorts of taols, all of f ii'ierent value, dozens of doubtful kinds of dollars, an infinite variety of subsidiary coins, and brass cash, cash made of copper, and cash on strings by tho cartload. There are dollar notes, notes representing subsidiary coin, myriads of notes representing cash pieces, natives' orders—all mixed up with tho exchango problems that ariso between every town and villago within tho Empire, and combine to create a gigantic conundrum. Tho first step towards the solution of this problem must be tho adoption Ppi. a ™" lform coin 'tugboat tho Empire, the Chineso say they want a tad as tho com, and tho Europeans would welcome this, or any other coin, so long as they knew thero was somewhere fixed a definite value. But the goal to which tho foreign traders are desirous to see China mako somo decided step , s tho fulfilment of tho clause m the- Mackay treaty by which she- undertook to establish a uniform currency—tho name or tho value of the coin is immaterial. Railway Construction Problems. Recent events would seem to show that Uiina is realising that it is not wiso to wait until sho has tho capital and tho skilled men of her own nationality to build her railways before sho commences such enterprises. Tho Chinese privately-owned railway is not a success. Ail tho shareholders usually desiro to become, directors, and tho meetings aro liko a pandemonium sometimes, if ono can judge from tho reports in tho vernacular press, the branch of tho lino from Canton to Hankow has now been built about forty miles, and the work is, so far as tho engineering is concerned, not unsatisfactory, but tho progress is slow, and at tho present rate of P J°F, res f. lt is ,lard io sa y ,vllcn tho 800 miles of the lino will bo built. There is great delay in tho obtaining of tho land for the building of tho Canton section of the CantonKowloon railway, though the land for the British section was purchased without any difficulty. But the man who has had any experience of Chineso official life will not bo surprised at tho delay, or have many varied ideas as to what is going on between tho prospective purchasers and tho vendors. Tho Chinese, however, point out that tho British arc not without their own troubles in tho building of this line. Tho section in tho British territory (Kowloon) is costing about double the amount it was estimated it would, and thero has been a mild scandal over the bridges,, somo of which will havo to bo rebuilt, according to all accounts. This much is certain—the consulting engineers in England have sent out an export to report on the condition of these bridges, and on his report will depend tlio action the Hong Konq Government takes as to tho future. Thero aro several Australians engaged on tho works, and they have told mo that the methods employed on a railway built by Government in tho Far East and one built by an up-to-date contractor in the Commonwealth are just about as far apart as any two things in tho ono profession could well be.