According to a recent report of the United States C_nsul-G-neral, at St. Peter-burg, at the beginning of the work on the Trans-Sib-rian Railway the Trans-Bsikal and Amur section was desigred to extend from China through Sretensk, on the sh"res of the river Shilka, to Pokrovskaia, thence along the northern shore of the river Amur to Khabarovsk, to join the Ussuri Railway running south to Viadivostock; but investigation showed that the construction of a line in that section ir,- volved such difficulties as would greatly increase the cost of the und-taking. For example, on. the Sretensk-Khabarovsk section, 1,105} mil length, the cost er mile would amount to £14,444. This first raised the question of constructing the Trans-Siberian Railway through Chinese territory, and investigation made in Manchuria showed that it would not only cheapen and shorten construction of the line, but wou'd present other advantages. Negotiations on the subject resulted in the Chinese Government giving a concession to the Russo-Chinese Bank, and a new company, called the Eastern Chinese Railway Company, to construct and work 9 railway in Chinese territory, was formed. The Articles of Ass-ciation were sanctioned by the Czar, and an Imperial ordinance issued on 28¢d of December last.
The association has been organised on the strength of the convention concluded the 27th of August, 1896, by the Chinese Government with the Russo-Chinese Bank for the construction and exploitation of a rail way in China, from a point on the western frontier of the province of Heilangchiang to a point on the eastern frontier of Kirin, and t" be connected with the branches of the Trans-Siberian Railway which the Russian Government intends to construct, The company may, th the permission of the Chinese Government, work either in connection with the railway separately coal mines and other mining, dustrial, and commercial enterprises in Chiva. Tf such enterprises are' worked orately the company must keep w so-ite set of books for each of them.
Russo-Chinese bank takes the duty of organising the company, and when this is done all the rights and duties as to the construction and exploitation of the line are conferred upon the company. The company will be considered organised when the Government B.nk presents to the Minister of Finance proof~ that the founders of the company have paid the first instalment of the shares not Inter than two months after the confirmation of the Articles of Association. The balance is to be paid not later than a year after the organisation of the company. Shares can only be held by Russian or Chinase
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.