CHINESE RAILWAY CONCESSION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXIII, Issue 137, 14 June 1899, Page 4

CHINESE RAILWAY CONCESSION.

" The *J imes," in an article od Chinese railway concession., wrote as follows :— " There are, however, presumably other considerations whioh weigh even more heavily with Russia in her evident determination to secure the undivided control over all railway communications from the north down to Peking. The Chineße Government having 'authorised' the construction of a great trunk line from Peking to Han-kau,"on the middle Yang-tsze, to be subsequently pro~ longed through Southern China to Canton, negotiaticna were opened with a num ter of foreign syndicates, and finally, with the assi.tance of the French ani Bnssian legations, a concession was granted nearly wo yecra ago to a so-called Belgian syndicate. But for some time it appeared aB if the syndicate would be unable to fulfil its engagements, and meanwhile the Chinese directorgeneral of railways began constructing the northern section from Peking to Pao-ting with the help of ihe Busso-Chinese Bank. To what I extent that institution has already acquired the control of lhat section and of .the continuation from Paoting to Ching-tingdoes not yetdefininheiy appear; but frora statements recently made, and oonfirmed by Mr Curzon in the House of Commons, to the effect that the BuS3O-Chine.o Bank has secured the right to construct the branch line from Chingling io Taiyuen-fu, which traverses lhe great mining region of Sb.usi, it maybe assumed it feels satisfied aa to its hold over the main line. From Taiyeun-fu an extension ie contemplated to Singau-fu. The Belgian syndicate, which has recendy given fresh signj of lifo, is also stated to be negotiating with the Russo-Chinese Bank for financial assistance in the construction of the tmnk line down down to Han-kau, the chief treaty port in lhe heart of the Yang-tsze Valley, and, it must be remembered, the emporium of the growing Busaian tea trads with China; Viewed in this light, Bus . ela's anxiety to prevent the North of China railway from passing into other hands than her own ia own is easily explained, for *the Peking-Sban-hai-kwan line is thus seen to be the all-important link beween her own Siberian system end the Chinese trunk line into the Yang-tsze Valley, which she would more or less directly control through her own Busso-Chinese Bank and through her ' Belgian' proteges,"