CHINA’S RAILWAYS.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18026, 22 May 1930, Page 11

CHINA’S RAILWAYS.

FROM BAD TO WORSE. MILITARY INTERFERENCE. (From a Correspondent.) PEKING, February 21Railway- demoralisation in this pai of China has reached a stage on two of the lines at least, which mean., cessation of traffic altogether if remedial measures are not taken so n. The deterioration of rolling stock ana road-beds is now' at the danger point on the Peking-Suiyan and the PekingHankow Railways, and continued military interference makes impossible tne~ accumulation of funds for betterments. Gradually the country' is adapting itself to primitive forms of transportation, and the Chinese determination to carry on trade, even under the most adverse conditions, is everywhere m evidence. 1 Wants Many Things. Shansi Province, just to the west of Peking, w'ants many things from the outside world —automobiles, cigarettes and kerosene, to mention only a few. Shansi is immensely rich in coal, which can be mined for 6s 3d a ton. But because of the deterioration of the railroads and the frequent interruptions of traffic by troop movements no coal comes out by rail. Instead of being able to pay for the imports it wants by shipping out the coal which is needed elsewhere Shansi must do without the desired volume of . imports. But Shansi coal still moves. To-day it is reaching Peking and in tw'O-wheeled carts drawn by oxen. It also comes in large paniers borne by Mongolian camels. But the coal, which costs 6s 3d a ton to mine 200 miles aw'ay, costs £3 5s and £3 12s 6d a ton when delivered here by' this slow’ and costly form of transportation.

A Vivid Description

The uses to which China’s railway equipment is put are vividly described by a foreign military observer who was at Chengchow, on the PekingHankow Railway, in Honan Province, during the recent conference of generals. At that time many trains w'ere on the sidings at Chengchow—used as living quarters and offices by the generals, their staffs, their wives and concubines. Fifty locomotives were kept at Chengchow during that whole conference, which lasted more than a fortnight. The locomotives were used merely to generate steam to keep the ofilcial trains comfortably heated. While this was going on traffic on the Peking-Hankow line was at a standstill, except for one limping train with a leaky locomotive, which hauled only unheated, third-class coaches. Stops necessitated by' the need for more steam w'ere so frequent that 24 hours was consumed in making a daily run which normally takes eight hours. And at the end of one of these runs three of the passengers were carried out of the train as corpses. They had frozen to death during the trip.