Government Approval Necessary for Borrowing Foreign Capital Loyang, July 26.
A new law regulating the construction and operation of railways, known as the Railway Law, has [been officially promulgated by the [National Government. It divides all railways into three categoric namely, those operated by the State (Central Government); by local (Provincial) Governments; and by private individuals (corporations).
Inter-Provincial railways shall, as la rule, be operated by the Central [Government, while those built for the benefit of only one province oF locality shall be operated by the Noeal government concerned in sc~ cordance with the regulations govlerning public-operated railways which are to be drawn up separ-lately. Projected tines of either the [Central or the. Local "Government Imay be constructed and operated by private individuals, in case the Cenral or Local government authorities concerned are unable to construct such lines. The construction and operation of railways by private individuals shall be governed by special regulations to be drafted separately.
Railways devoted to' "certain. specific purposes, for example, transportation of' coal and other minerals shall be constructed and operated in accordance with the Fegulations. governing. special Railways.
The law also provides that State-operated railways shall be controlled the Ministry of Railways; while those operated by the local governments or private individuals shall be subject to supervision by the Ministry.
An express provision is the law stipulating that as no impairment. of natio. sovereignty and other national rights is involved, foreign capital the construc ways by private individual law lays down the general principle {that except by special authorisation {from the Ni ional Government, no private individual may construct, extend, purchase or operate any situated within the limits of the Chinese territorial jurisdiction. the effect that the Ministry of Rall-'Another important provision is to
ways must prepare and draw up a Jcomplete system of projected lines Local ments or private into be constructed by the Central
dividuals. This plan must give the Iproposed routes as well as the starting and terminating points of such projected lines. After approval jby the Executive Yuan, the plan shall be officially promulgated for the information of the public, Certain general rules are also laid Jdown regarding the construction of railways. For example, the law fixes the standard gauge at 1435 metres, which is, however, subject to alteration by onder of the Minis-of, Rail Construction of ithe railways must also conform to the standard specifications to be fixed and made public by the Minis. try of Railways. pecial safeguards for the fingnial security and independence of [State as well as local government 3 are also provid stipulated that railway. shall be Kept in, strict with the Accounting Law; that the learnings and profits of State rail-hal in priority, for lation of liabilities of such and that no appropriation shall be made out of the revenues for earnings of State or local govern. ment railways. Proceeds of loans issued for the construction of rail-}ways must be devoted entirely to such purpose and shall not be ap-Propriated for other The National Government may take over any private-owned railway which has been in operation for over 30 years, at a price to be agreed upon with' the private company concerned, In the fixation of [such a price, the main criterion shall be the market value of the railway properties to be appraised in a fair and reasonable way as well as the average profits of the railway during the three years. immediately preceding—Kuo Min,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.