At the time Mr, Blanco made the above statement scores of locomotives were lying idle because of burut out boiler tubes and other damages, jand the remnants of hundreds of freight ears were to be seen at the sidings because the wood work had been torn out by the soldiers for fuel. At the time Mr, Blanco] made the above statement a serious accident took place on the Peking-now Railway because the sleepers had been tora out by the soldiers for fuel. On the Kiaotse Railway 1,800 out of a total of 1,500 freight cars were in the hands of the rillitary, and not available for ser On the Tientsin-Pukow Railway] there were some very fine passenger trains, known as the "Blue Expresses," and which have not been paid for, and for which a well-known Tientsin firm is still owed '2 considerable cum_of money. Thes2 trains have been gzeupied by soldiers for many months past, and have beea yuined by the soldiers heating stoves in the cars, and dri ing holes through the roofs to enble stove pipes to be passed through. On the Peking-Mukden Railway some of the passenger cars have been occupied by army affeers many months past. In many cas: these officers have come to regard these cars as so muth of their permanent homes that they have laid out gardens around the ears. Within a Week of Mr. Blanco stating that the railways were about to resume normal service the Ministry of Communications issued instructions that, in future, only all steel cars were to be purchased, so that they could not be destroyed by the soldiers for fuel,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.