RAILWAY, The following ix " translation of the pamphlet circulating in Chekiang province, to which reference ix made our leading article to-day Memorial to the Throne from the Ministry of Posts ant Comminications with reference to the arrangements by which the Kiangsu and Chekiang Railway Companies are to receive their funts.
On the 4th day of the 2nd moon of the present year (March 6, 1908) the meniorialist in conjunction with the Waiwupu reported to the Throne that it! hed been preposed that the merchants and people should obtain funds from the Reserve Fund of the Central Goyernment and that the question people themselves.
An Imperial Rescript was received thereanent sanction ing the proposal. In the above-noted memorial it was stated that the Railway pa Companies of the two provinces under consideration would receive the money and repay the loan made to them by the Government, but that it would be necessary first to consult by telegraph with the Viceroy of Kiangsu and Governor of Chekiang as to the best and safest methods of doing the thing, and that the Ministry of Posts, etc., would draw up a set of regulations which the said Railway Companies should observe.
These regelations were at once drawn up and the shareholders of the said companies; were invited to select representatives to come up to Peking to read the regulations at the memorialist' Yamen, This was done and the said representatives ananimonsly approved of the regulations and declared that it would be quite possible to obey them. The Loan Agreement of the Ministry concerned contains clauses with reference to discount and losses, On this occasion as it was desired to avoid the losses named in the draft ment it was decided to exchange the pecuniary benefits for the control (of the railways). Bat as there have been turned over to the merchants and people to contract and control now seems that they Labour under the disadvantage of being in need of funds. Ax the memorialists have been endowed with authority over all railways in the Empire it seemed to them that it would not be advantageous to allow Moreover, the two Railways have also shown their appreciation of the difficulties of the times by acknowledging the justice of paying an annual interest of five and a half per cent upon the money to be lent them from, the reserve funds of the Ministries concerned. The memorialists farther propose to arrange about ways and means to advance all monies that may be needed for the construction of the said Railways. As to how t be done the memorialists bodied it in ® postscript. memorial for their Majesties' information. The me-monalists now beg to present to their Majesties the fourteen clauses which compose the regulations that have been drawn up by them, and they pray for the Imperial sanction commanding them to send the said regulations to the various parties concerned in order that due observance may hereafter be paid thereto, At the same time the memorialists propose to draw out funds to hand over to the said two railway companies in order that they may be able to make every haste to continue the construction of their respective lines and to bring them to a completion, The memorialists beg to bring another point to the Imperial notice. The length of the proposed railway connect ing Shanghai, Hangchow and Ningpo is about 600 odd li, and the money which has been drawn from the reserve concerned, prehended, may not be fands and handed to the companies
sufficient for the completion of the above-named line. It is, therefore, important that the said two railway com-shall sell as many shares as possible in order to meet all further expenses, as may be needed. The shorter ® railway is the less are ite earning powers and the longer it is the greater will be the retains on capital laid out. It is, therefore, necessary, all the more, that the two Railway Companies shall add on in succession to the length of their respective lines and thereby reap all the benefits proceeding from a proper system of railways throughout their respective provinces. The memorializing Ministry as Head of all the Railways of the Empire cannot doythings aloners it is proper, there-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.