To the Editor of the "Norte-Cutxa Datty News Sin,—In looking through a copy of your newspaper of the both ultimo this iorning, 1 was not a little surprised to read of the attack recently made on Mr. Kinder to which you refer, and which you characterise as "unwarranted." 1 think you might have added the words "and despicable."
It. so happens that I first made Mr. Kinder's acquaintance about twenty-seven years ago, just as he arrived in this country (Jzpan) to fill the position of an Kagincer on the: Imperial Railways of Japan, and as the Imperial Government gents were very particular and painstaking in the selection of the servants of the Imperial Government, I think it may be taken for granted that Mr. Kinder was at that time a man of such experience in railway work as to justify the agents referred to in their selection of him. I know that he left a Russian railway to join the Imperial Railways here. The work done by him in this country is still in existence and forms part of the trunk live of the Imperial Railways of Japan. Anyone can see it, and ascertain for himself the fact that it has stood the test of from twenty te twenty-six years without any more repairs than the ordinary renewals necessitated by wear and tear of the very heavy traffic. There are few railway engineers in this empire who do not remember Mr. Kinder kindly, or who do not speak in the highest terms of his integrity, perseverance, and skill as a railway engineer. In fact they are proud that at one time he was one of them. My business here happens to be entirely with railway meu, and I, therefore make the above assertion without any fear of contradiction. To say then that Mr. Kinder went to China as an amateur in railway construction, is to say that which not true. And even if it were true, it would only show up all the more clearly the extraordinary ability of the man. For there is no -gainsaymg that the Imperial Chinese Railway is well constructed, and more than sufficiently solid for the traffic it has to carry at present. As a piece of railway engineering it may hot compare favourably with the main ines of a country like Great Britain, and there is no reason why it should do so. That, however, is a mere question of expense, and not one of engineering. If Mr. Kinder had had at his disposal the same amount of money for construction ay had the engineers of English railways, the railways of North China would have been just as well and solidly constructed as those of England. But they do compare most favourably with railways of other countries of the same class, cither as to construction, cost of construction, or maintenance. Few people can have any idea of the difficulties he had to encounter in inaugurating railway construction China, Not only had he the deeply rooted prejudices and superstitions of the people of all classes to overcome, but what was not any easier, he had to construct, his railway with but a meagre treasury. The tact and patience he displayed in educating the Chinese to the necessity and ad. vantages of railways are wonderful, and no less wonderful is the fact that he constructed the present six hundred miles without having seriously to combat opposition from the peasantry. He never employed or required any Cossacks to enforce his will, and I think that fact alone speaks volumes of the man. It very easy for anyone to assert that "there is no proper system of management on the railway." But to what department of the railway docs such an assertion apply At the engineering construction, erecting, amd repairing shops there are experienced foreigners in charge. In the locomotive department there is a foreign locomotive superintendent. On the road itself there is an experienced foreign engineer in charge of each section. In the traffic department there is an experienced foreign traffic manager. In the accountant's department there is an experienced foreign accountant; the whole being under the general management of Mr. Kinder, and has been from the first. It is therefore idle to talk of Mr. Kinder having no experience of railway management, for if eighteen years does not constitute experience, what does? That the system works well is evidenced by the fact that in spite of alleged intrigue, chicanery, and squeezes, the six hundred miles of railway earns an average profit of six and a-half per cent per annum; a state of prosperity rarely surpassed in railway enterprise. Most likely Mr. Kinder's dismissal would be hailed with joy by more than one person wishing to get his fingers in the pie; for as long as he holds his present position the "keen-witted men Western education who have joined in the game of squeeze" are more than likely to be outwitted by his alertness. Several attempts hare been made to oust him, and mostly emanating from the same source. As long ago as the time when Li Hung-chang was Viceroy of Chihli, a German engineer, with certainly less railway engineering experience than Mr. s, Was got, out to supersede him. An American of absolutely no railway ce was actually appointed Only last: manager.
November, when in Tientsin, I met two Englishmen, one of whom told me he had been got out to supersede Mr. Kinder, and the other was got out for some purpose on the railway; but he did not exactly seem to know what. These men were got out without any reference having been made to the man who had spent the best years of his life and the whole of his energy in the successful construction and working of the Chinese railway, and who did it on a miserable pittance in the way of remuneration. During that visit I had several conversations with men whose avowed object was to encompass Mr. Kinder's compulsory retirement; and I do not think I should experience any difficulty in placing my finger on the writer of the "unwarranted attack" referred to by you.
The Chinese who have the welfare of their country at heart well know how valuable Mr. Kinder is to them, and they are firmly of opinion that if they searched the whole world through, they could not find a man better adapted to the peculiar work he has had to do, and which he has done so well with economy to them, and with perfectly clean hands and uprightness to himself.
In writing this letter T have " no axe to grind." [have not up tothe present, nor do 1 im the future expect any benefit of any kind from the Imperial Railways of China but I cannot refrain from adding my little to refute an " unwarrantable attack " made attack was made for purely personal against the man, especially as I believe the
ends.
Tam, ete., Yokohama, 6th July.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.