Tt has been a cardinal principle of Russian policy, says " Engineering," that the construction of a Southern Asiatic railroad was by all possible means to be provanted, and as such a system would have been fostered.by railway development in Central and South. China these mere, also. opposed., Tt wae mainly through her lien on proposed to render. impossible direct. and continuous railway connection between the Moditerranean.and the Yellow Sea. Now that Russia cannot play, in Asiatic. development, the part of the dog-in-the-manger, the Persian veto on the southern all-rail route. across the Continent may. be hold as subject to revision. International jean lousies apart, the first. link. between Europe and.such.a railroad, continues "Engineering," would be. the German line across Asia Minor, beginning on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, and ending at the harbour of El Koweit, on the Persian Gulf—a total distance of 1,750 miles. But the fact has been recognised that the Power.in possession of this so-called Bagdad Railway would command the intercommunication of three. continents and as the ambitions of Germany cover 80 large a surface, it isin the: last degree undesirable that the key of the -Asiatic. railway system should come into German -hands.. A Southern Asiatic: railway... system which should—start' within a sphere where British influence is secure is found in Arabia; and it is proposed to connect the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf by a line beginning at Alerandrie, cuissing the "Isthmus Suez to the Gulf of Akbah, and continuing thence to Bussorah and' Koweit. This line, says "Engineering," is 500 miles, shorter than the Getmai' road, which" starts from the Asiatic side'of the Bos-chorus, but it would entirely lack the advantage possessed' "by the German system of being in direct railway communication with Europe. Between El* Koweit and the frontier of Beluchistan, where British influence is again supreme, come 700 miles of Persian territory, which' it is assumed, cannot be mutch longer closed to railway enterprise. There remain. but 520 miles to connect the new system with the Indian railway at Kurraches. ° From this latter point to the frotitier of Burma, the interval of 2,500 miles is already traversed by railways, and a line supplementary to that.system is now in process of construction through British Burma, The terminus of this latter is on the Chinese frontier at Kunlong Ferry, between which and Shanghai there remains a distance of 1,600 miles. The covering of this by the iron road is already in process. Combining the various sections of the system thus outlined, we, "Engineering," get _a total of 6,870 miles, of which fully one-third has already been constructed, and of which some important links are in: course of being supplied.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.