THE BAGDAD RAILWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12242, 11 April 1903, Page 5

THE BAGDAD RAILWAY.

| STATEMENT BY MR. BALFOUR. By Telegraph.— Association.—Copyright. (Received April 10, 9.34 p.m.) London, April 9. The Bagdad railway will effect a saving of three and a-half days in the Indian mails. Mr. Balfour suggests that British capitalists should consider the expediency of joining the undertaking, otherwise it will be in the hands of French and German capitalists, who have mutually agreed on their plans. No negotiations are intended with France or Germany. Mr. Balfour fully favours the terminal being at Koweyt, with whose Sheik we have a special treaty, rather than placing it in territory where Britain would be unable to claim preferential advantages. Moreover, Britain monopolised the Persian Gulf. The whole question of the railway was, he said, under examination in conjunction with Lord Curzon, the Indian Viceroy, and military and naval authorities. The newspapers suggest, apart from the impossibility of utilising the railway in war time and the fact that heavy goods must always be seaborne, the expediency of inducing the P. and O. Company to increase the speed of their steamships. The Times says the fact that French capitalists are associated with Germans is a proof that the scheme is considered as a commercial and not a political enterprise. The Times recommends cautious and comprehensive investigation. In the House of Commons Mr. Balfour stated that all questions relating to the Bagdad railway were still under consideration on the basis of British capital control being placed on an equality with those of any other Powers. The railway would not be German inasmuch as French financiers ere equally interested. Britain's good offices were now invited to secure the terminus at Koweyt or in that vicinity. (Received April 11, 12.12 a.m.) London, April 10. There is great satisfaction in Berlin at Mr. Balfour's speech on the Bagdad railway, and there has been a sharp rise in Deutsche Bank shares.