The upkeep of the railway police requires a yearly expenditure of 14 million gold roubles, the estimate for 1922 being G. Rls. 1,553,- 617. The railway police is composed of 3,388 persons who receive a fixed salary paid by the Railway Ca. This makes, putting the length of the Chinese Eastern Railway at 1,600 versts (1} versts=I Engl. mile) about three men per verst, whereas the normal figures for policing a railway is one man to every 4-5 versis or at the most, for lines posing through large industrial centres or towns with heavy traffic—one man to every 1-2 versts.
It is quite obvious that The maintenance of such a disproportion ately large police is not only unnecessary but lays a very heavy burden on the Company's budget especially if we take into consideration that in addition there are several divisions of Chinese troops concentrated along the C. E. R. with, the same object of guarding the railroad.
This is not all. Not satisfied with the mere upkeep of_ their forces by the C. E. R., the Chinese claim for them the same rights and privileges formerly enjoyed by the Russians. As successors to the Russian forces they not only mand the right to occupy all the barracks and buildings which had been placed formerly at the disposal of the Russian troops and guards, but! also claim from the railway all those pecuniary em-alnments which used to be paid out by the Russians for the maintenance of their military forces But then, as pointed out above, every kopeck spent by the C. E. R. for ithe purpose of lodging and keeping the Russian guards was reimbursed to the railway by the Russian Government which paid for everything in full.
Now, since the C. E. R. has become an entirely self-supporting commercial enterpries, it can less than ever be expected to keep an army out of its own resources and to be burdened with such heavy and purely governmental expenses, which were formerly borne by the Russian Empire and should now evidently be charged, to the Republic of China.
Moreover, there seems to be no limit to the pretensions and exigencies of the Chinese_military authorities in their exorbitant and quite unjustified " demands upon the C. E. R.
So it often happens that the railway is requested to prepare without delay barracks supplied with the necessary quantity of beds and other requisites. In
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.