A Day of Thrills in Harbi The Arrest of MINI. Ostroumoff and, Gondatti on Unknown Charges: New Soviet Manager's Exhortation to Staff Prox Our Own Harbin, Oct, 3.
To-day will be handed down 3 an historical one in the annals of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The changes that have taken place in the short: space of from 8 am. to 8 pam, have been so sudden and unexpected that residents of no matter what nationality have literally been staggered at their rapidity.
It is already some days since Harbin was informed of the agreement arrived at between Marshal Chang Teo-lin on behalf of the Three Eastern Provinees and the Soviet authorities. But the details have been kept a profound secret. Not until two days ago did we learn that the Chinese representatives of the new Executive Committee of the C.ER,, which is taking the place of the old Board of Directors, had Yeft Mukden en route for Harbin and then the names were not sent. They arrived here by the Changchun express at eight this morning. Some time before the train's arrival motor-ears bringing the leading lights of both the official and rail way world drew up at the station, 'Among the first to arrive were Mr. 'Vu, who has been acting President! of the Railway since the departure of Dr. C. C, Wong, Dr. Ho and Mr. Kouznetzoff, directors of the Railway. They' wore followed General Chu, Administrator of the Railway Zone, General Chang, Chief of Stalf, General Wen, Chief of Railway' Police, and other members of.the Headquarters Staff and Civil Administrative O1 Here too arrived Mr. Ostroumoff, general manager of the C.E.R., accompanied by the assistant general manager, Mr, Shar, and Mr. Spitzin, adviser on matters Chinese to the Railway Administration.
The Untasted Banquet As the train drew up the first figure to appear was Mr. Yuan, the senior Chinese representative of the new Executive Committee and a former director of the C.E.R., and behind him General Yang Cho, of the Revision Committee C.E.R. who ix also on Marshal Chang's staff and who has acted as advisor at the recent conferences at Mukden. Dr. Ho made the necessary intro ductions, for with Mr. Yuan arrived the other three newly appointed Chinese representatives, Mr. Fan, formerly Chinese Consul at Viadivos. tok and himself a railway engineer graduated at Petrogard, Lu, Chairman of the Peoples Assembly for Kirin Province, and Mr. Liu, Chairman of the Mukden Provin Assembly. With them also arrived Mr, Ivanoff, of the Soviet Commissariat of Communications, who has been appointed to the post of general manager of the Railway. At the invitation of Mr. Ostroumoft all adjourned to the Station reception room where tea and fruit had been laid out; but which nobody touched, The news soon spread that the new Executive Commitee would meet at noon at the Board of Direction Building for the first time, Of course there was. plenty excitement at the Railway Administration among the numerous railway employes, who for the most part turned up before the usual hour of 9 a.m. It was after 9.90 when Mr. Ostroumoff arrived and quickly entered his private office; his secretary was stormed by news-Paper men, who were told that there was no news to give them then and that they had better call in the afternoon. Soon after 10 the French Consul was received by Mr, Ostroumof? and repent has it that both the American and Japanese Consuls were expected shortly, but neither turned up so that the French Consul left.
The Bank's Uncertainty Called by phone, the General Manager shortly before 11 left for the Russo-Asiatic Bank, where an impromptu meeting was: held. Here the Bank hastily drafted a protest on behalf of the Bank against what was taking place-which was to be sent to the authorities who were ignoring the Bank's interests altogether. But it was afterwards decided not to send the-protest for the time' being until more details Iwere to hand.
At the Railway Directors build-jing inquirers could get no inkling jas to what was going to happen Jatter the arrival of the new [Executive Committee, even Mr. Vu, the acting President of the Board, being apparently ignorant. Shortly after 11 o'clock there arrived at the building two Russian representatives Jof the new Committee, Mr. Secre-Driakof, recently arrived from Moscow, and Mr. Rakitin, the Soviet Consul-General' at Harbin, They Jwere accompanied by Mr. Ivanoff, ithe new general manager. The lather two members of the Committee are Mr. Danilevsky, a former director, and Mr, Klishko, also recently arrived from Moscow but who is absent at present, from Peking.
Mr. Vu hastily called a meeting lof his colleagues and told them that according to instructions from /Mukden the Board of Directors and Revision Committee was immediately to be done away with and that a new Executive and Revision Committee had been formed. He excused himself from being to give any explanation and left th room. Shortly afterwards all the former directors left the building for good. Just before noon the new Chinese members of the Committee made their way into the magnificent main hall of the building which had formely been the ball-room of the Officers' Club at the time when the Railway was protected by Russian Guards. They were followed by the Russian memers.
The Stirrup C
The long table which ran) down the length of the room was loaded with flowers, fruit, sweets and cakes and as the new members took their places at the table their glasses were charged champagne. Mr. Yuan rose and read a congratulatory telegram from General Pau Kwei-tzin, the new Chairman of the Railway Executive Committee, stating how sorry he iwas not to attend, being kept back by important business, The Committee dismissed Mr.
Ostroumoff, the general manager, Mr. Offenborg, the assistant general manager, Mr. Gondatti, chief of the Land Dept, and Mr. Mihailoff, [chief of the Economic Dept. Their places are taken by Mr. Ivanoff, who has for his aid Mr. Eismonth; whilst Mr. Dicky, of the Commercial Dept. of the Ussuri Railway, be-loomes head of the Economic Dept. All three are railway engineers. The lonly other change made so far is that Mr. Obolsky, the secretary of the Railway Administration, is, replaced by Mr. Bolshoff.
Soon after " noon Ostroumoi learnt that his services were dispensed with, whereupon he immediately drafted a Railway Order stating that on account of the riges effected by Mukden resigned his position. Shortly before 3 he emerged from his private office to make his farewell to his staff, who by now had packed the long corridors of the railway building.
thanked them one and all for the assistance they had given him the past and urged them to continue their work as before, remembering that the railway had been built by Russians.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.