An important railway junction, which will have an enormous effect upon the transportation of goods from the interior of China to Shangand other influential centre as it will connect. the Nanking railway with the Shanghai-Hangchow railway, will shortly be under construction. The difficulties which have attended the conveying of passengers and freight by the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo railway have long been felt, and when the new line is working many of these difficulties will be overcome.
Surveying the Route, The junction will pass, for the most part, through Jessfield and Sicawei, and will do away with the inconvenience caused by the un: favourable situation of the local terminus of the Shanghai-Hangchow line. The survey of the line, which commenced early in October, has been completed, and once the pur: chase of the land has been effected, the work of construction will im' mediately proceed, The line will pass through com paratively plain country, although not a few difficulties have been experienced la the matter of avoiding villages consistently with getting the most direct. route. Fortunately, these have been satisfactorily surmounted, and only about three houses will have to come dows The Direction of the Line.
The will follow the existing Shanghai-Newking Railway line far as the two mile post, from where it will branch off to the left hand side aid run along the Soochow Creek, which it will cross near the ferry at Jessfield, close to St. John's College. It will then proceed in an almost straight southerly direction, and pass the Nanyang College with.|in half-a-mile or so. After crossing the Sicawei Creek, the line will go
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.