Chefoo, Feb. 18.
China has yet to justify the measure of confidence reposed in her by the Washington Conference and, if the attitude of her people towards the construction of the neces sary Chefoo-Weihsien Railway is to be taken as a criterion of how she is going to undertake the new responsibilities placed upon her, then it is extremely questionable whether, after all, Shantung will not be worse off.
The need of the breakwater and the Chefoo-Weihsien Railway is too well known to be matter for discussion, yet now that the Shantung settlement has been reached it appears to be the intention of the Chinese Government and of the Chinese to adopt a policy of indifference towards the commence-scheme that was to make Chefoo the cutlet for the hive of industry that the neighbourhood between it and Weihsien would become once the communication was established.
Letnary aNp ApaTuy. in any other country than China the Shantung settlement would have been the occasion for putting in hand the work of the railway construction between this port and Weihsien at once. The scheme has been discussed for years, and the railway was accepted as a necessity for the welfare of the place. So Jong as opposition was encountered the Chinese were apparently keenly desirous of doing all that was possible to keep the agitation alive, but now that difficulties have been removed and no insuperable obstacle blocks the way, lethargy and apathy threaten to prevent the linking up of Weihsien with Chefoo by rail.
It is nothing short of reprehensible that, after all that has been done to further the interests of Chefoo by its foreign and Keenly-sensed Chinese business men, there Should be at this time a great danger of the port's not coming into its own through the luis faire attitude of the Central Government at Peking and the erroneous impression prevailing in certain quarters that the return of Kiaochou does away with the necessity for the Chefoo-Weihsien Railway. Chefoo is the outlet for an industrial and prosperous region, but its development has been retarded through the complete Jack of roads and railway: Once: Chefoo and Weihsien were joined by rail, goods amd produce from the neighbourhood and hinterlands of these cities could be- brought for exportation in such quantities as would make them a financial success, But with the journey taking a week by mule and with the limited amount that
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.