Oct, 13.
Ir nobody in Peking takes very seriously the preliminary agreement for a railway in south Chihli concluded by a group of French engineering firms, no one certainly in Shanghai is likely to be more credulous, The scheme, it will be recalled, is for a railway connecting the Peking-Hankow and the Tientsin-Pukou lines and extending the line which connects the former with Taiyuanfu, in Shansi the sea. The total loan is for $15,000,000, of which $3,000,000 is to be paid over within three months of the signing of the preliminary agreement. The country to be tapped is, or should be, rich and the project n excellent one—in theory. But in practice, as Mr. Rodney Gilbert said yesterday, unless France. seriously contemplates intervention in the near future or s persuaded that some one else does, it is difficult to understand how the French Government can sanction the investment of French capital in guch a forlorn hope as a Chinese railway.
Of course, if the French engineers wanted to "cumshaw" whatever group of politicians they concluded the agreement with $3,000,000, there. is nothing to Prevent them. Only it does not sound quite probable.
Whether the agreement comes to anything or not, however, the importance of its signature is that it drives a wedge into the heart of the Consortium, scheme submitted by a British firm in 1922, This fact must have been known to the Comte de Martel, the French Minister when he witnessed the signature of the agreement by his own nationals, What are we to conclude? Is France preparing to break away from the concert of the Diplomatic Body and resume freedom of action? The Consortium, it is true, is outwardly an international agreement between the principal American, British, French and Japanese banks doing business with China, But its actions are 80 closely interwoven with the policy of the Legations, that no event affecting its stability can, be considered apart.from the diplomats and their intentions, Signs are not wanting that the French Legation is disposed to take an independent line, The large importation of aeroplanes, conducted under that Legation's protection, despite the embargo on arms importation agreed upon among the Powers, is possibly tone of them. From more than one source one has heard in recent months of the increasing difficulty which the find in keeping in line on any,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.