Speaking at the annual dinner of the China Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Sir Ronald Macleay, the British Minister, said that an institution of this kind could do vast good in edu-eating those who had not given special study to the subject on the importance of mining, which was the real basis of all modern industry. In countries in which industry was little developed there often existed altogether exaggerated ideas as to the value of mineral deposits. It was felt that their removal would rob the country of vast treasures and the carrying out of such work by foreigners was often resented. The benefits conferred on a country by mining, the hazards undertaken by those who risked their capital and their lives in mining, were not undersitxcd. The necessity for improvement in the mining laws of China had been mentioned. He hoped that when the Commission of legal experts, to be set up in accordance with the provisions of the—Washington Conference, should visit China, there would be found some means of improving the mining laws of the country in such a manner as to make possible the utilization of the vast amount of foreign capital required for proper development of the industry.
In regard to the importance of improvement of communications—a point mentioned by a previous speaker—he desired to take the opportunity of refuting the suggestion that a "certain Power" was desirous of securing control of the Chinese railway system. Many thousands of miles of railways were contracted to be and had been built with British capital and it was of the utmost importance both to China and to the foreign investor that existing railways be kept from deteriorate ing to a condition in which trains would fail to run and interest on loans would cease to be paid.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.