Little Realized Developments in Interior Districts Describing. some of her experiencesyduring @ recent tour in Szechuen and Hunan in search of data for a report which she is preparing, for the Sixth International Roads Congress, which will be held in Washington next October, A Viola Smith, U.S, Commis sioner, on June 27 gave members of the Pan-Pacific Association an extremely. interesting and instructive address on the progress of road construction in interior China, Dr.
Wang, the Foreign Minister, and also president of the National Good Roads Association of China, was in the chair, The sources of information on road construction being limited, Miss Smith told her audience, sue decided to make a trip to Szechuen to see for herself what had been done, and she was agreeably surprised. On the way up on board. the Yangtze Rapids new vessel Tehang, she was one of the party who came to the assistance of JI M.S. Peterel, which struck a rock in the Upper Yangtze a few miles below Chungking. The British Consul-general happened to be on board the gunboat and was taken off by the Tehang.
The speaker described some of the improvements to be seen in Chungking itself, which she described as a city of stairs. Now, however, many of the stairway streets have been graded into slopes and the use of the motor car is pos sible. An energetic and enterprise ing salesman of cars demonstrated this fact to the mayor by driving up the steps of his yamen and taking the astonished man for a run about the town.
Miss Smith found the roads b tween Chungking and Chengtu a3 yet in an unfinished state, but she was informed that road-making machinery was under order from America and the roads would be properly surfaced when it arrived.
present the roads can amy safely, be used by motor traffic when they are dry or hard, as in cold weather. In rainy weather the bus services which exist have to suspend all running.
The party with which she was travelling had one amusing experience, typical of the militarists in power.
"Sixty li before reaching Kien-chow" she said, "we encountered a small detachment of troops whose commanding officer demanded the handing over of our conveyance for' their own use. Their story waz that the General had been waiting Kienchow for several days for a motor bus to take his party 19 Suining. And curs being the first bus through after the rains he was confident that this was tha bus which had been sent for him.
It made no difference that we were mary public bus, but cceupiod a private car chartered for our own use and paid for before Teaving Suining: the production of numerous passports and high Chi nese credentials were not sufficient to retain our sents in this conveyance, uncomfortable though they were! After much negotiation a compromise was struck whereby a body guard was stationed on the running board of the bus to convey us to the next village 30 Li distant, where we could find accommodation for the night, rather than being forced to stay by the roadside. And the bts without lights because of lack of batteries returned to pick up the general and his family and serve his pleasure! It may be r2- marked that the sharp tongue of his wife was the goad which made the general insistent on commandering our conveyance! She dish ed her own slower methods of travel.
"Our being dumped short of Kienchow was due to the fact that in that city were two other generals of equal rank (and their wiv also desiring motor transportation, Had we proceeded so faz, his commands to have the bus return for him would have been set aside.
In Szechuen the party, were greatly struck by what is being done in road construction, even more so by the afforestation being undertaken. Most of the Sen, of whom she told en amusing
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