An outline of the undertaking in the past for the construction of this railway will_no doubt be of interest.
the public in relation to the loan now {0 be issued for its completion afler so many years.
The agreement fora loan for the amount of £1,600,000 for the construction of the Shanghal-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway was made on March 6, 1908, between the Board of Foreign Affairs and the Board of Communications, representing the Government of China, and the British and Chinese Corporation, and the Loan was issued in' London on May 26, 1908. "At that period, there was an active movement for construction of railways as provincial enterprises, and, actually, the live from Shanghai to Hangchow was constructed on its resent location by two provincial railway companies—one for the portion of the line passing through the province of Kiangsu, and another for the portion of the line in the prov. snee of Chekiang, The proceeds of the loan which had been issued In London, and were held on behalf of the Chinese Government, could not therefore be ulllized for the construction or completion of the me until the controversy between the Central Government and the provineial governments was settled, By 1914, however, the Central Government, had concluded arrangements for the inclusion of this railway in the National Government system, and resumption agreements were accord ingly entered into between the 'Ministry of Communications and the British and Chinese Corporation to provide for payment, from the funds of the 1908 lon,' of the agreed amounts representing the actual value' of the sections constructed under the auspices of the two provincial governments, At the same time, proas constructed by the provincial eomponies were necessary, such as extension of and additions'to bridges, and afler completion of these and' construction of the junction, and payments the provincial railway companies lurider the resumption agreements, the proceeds of the 1908 loan were' ex: housied and no funds were available for the construction of the uncompleted portion of the rallway—in fact, the final instalment due to the provineial oilway companies was not fully paid, and the balance due to them is provided for in the new loan, It was intended, and provision was made in the 1908 loan agreement and the resumption agreements, to issue supplementary loan for the completion of the railway, but the outbreak of the European War prevented the flotation, snd subsequent conditions in the foreign money-market, and circumstances affecting the credit of the Chinese railways, rendered it impossible to provide for the completion of the line up to the present In' considering the completion of the railway it was not proposed the time to construct the Chien Tang River at Zahkou, as the project was costly and it was thought that a ferry. service seress the river would meet requirements of trae for some years. But the recent construction of the Hangchow-Kiangshan Railway and the extensive development of highways by the Chekiang Provincial Government, with the increasing density of the present ferry traffic across the river, has rendered the construction of the bridge most desirable for the requirements of through rail and road transportation,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.