"Tux Port or Huucrao, (AN axem 'NATIONAL, Tuam Link, 18 CHINA'S Hoonomic Pwoctawae."—hs Honan Chi, The Commercial Press, Lads Shanghai, The Hulutao habour scheme, like the poor, has always been with us, at any rate for the past twenty: two years. During the last years of the Imperial regime work was actually commenced on the project, but before it was finished, the Revolution came and work was suspended. There was an attempt made in 1916 to revive it, when it was proposed that the work already commenced should be completed, but the government refused to sanction the scheme, and the money which had teen sunk in the enter prise saw no fruition, A little later the Government sought to go cad with the assistance of merchants, but again political changes Proved a damper and it was not! until this year that work was again put in hand. If political changes rare responsible for postponement in past years. it may be said that political and economic reasons are responsible for this belated decision to complete work, which even the despised Tsings regarded as necessary twenty-two years ago. The enormous growth of Manchuria ax witnessed "by the entrance of hundreds of thousands of emigrants from Shantung and the manner in which they have been absorbed, the colossal potential wealth of' the Three Provinces, and the danger of the whole of their trade passing through Vindivostok and Dairen, both of which may be regarded as lien ports, the aim of the Chinese to have their own railway systems in' Manchuria, which is being achieved despite opposition, makes the establishment of a Chinese port suitable cornerstone to the economic structure which is in process of erection, There is Newchwang, it is trues but this is icebound for four months of the year, and so shallow that large vessels cannot go alongside shares hut have to be serviced by ighters, adding not inconsiderably to the cost of handling: cargo. The desire, therefore, for an ice-free port. a Chinese outlet for the rich hinterland it could serve, was bat natural and the junction of the Central Goverament and Mukden in ig the scheme to completion tone of the best auguries of the economic future of China, if its al troubles do not again de-development, Honan Chi in a small book has rapidly sketched in the main history of the movement, and has considered some of the broader aspects of the problem involved. He is wise in considering the new Harbour, not as a. competitor of Dairen, but as a complementary. With the development of adequate transport facilities Hulutao should able to do for Inner Mongolis muth-western and Western Man-thurio what Dairen is doing for the area served by the South Manchurian Railway, and with the completion of 1 network of railways in Manchuria the new harbour should serve to strengthen the position of Duiren. If this be wholly true then much of the Japanese opposition to the construction of certain railways by the Chinese might very well be glance turned on his heel and) straightway fled.
Our Knowledge of Wong is not) as complete as we would like, for, gratified at having proved to him that we were not entirely 20 foolish as he would have us believe, we fiated him into the eceret, The next morning, Wong having! thought out things for himself, we saw Mick's puny arms struggling to hold a bucket full of water chest: high, while Wong operated the siphon to fill the tank, holding forth to the coolie ina lecture we would have given real money to! have had translated. Only one word did we catch now and again "gasoline."
The other day we missed Mick. "Where's the coolie been these last few days, Wong?" we inquired.
"Oh. T hab catch new coolie. Othah coolie hab got new pidgin, Ue go lun fob be chauffah."
There's been a self-satisfied look bout Wont those last few days. deepped, There is: so much virgin territory in this region of China, 30. much that must remain virgin until transport facilities are provided that the port under construction, and the railways that should serve it can never be competitors in the zeal sense of the word of either Dairen or the South Manchurian Railway, That Hulutao will sound the death knell of Newchwang, on the other hand, is very probable, That must be inevitable for New. chwang could never have provided such facilities for shipping Holutao, properly administered, should be able to do, This Intter, factor is of supreme importance, is the genius which conceived Dalny as port, and the other which subsequently controlled its development which have made Dairen the port it is to-day. The Chinese can, Team much from the object lesson. seress the bay and if they can do for the untapped regions what, Dairen has done for the area it" serves, the Chinese responsible for the present scheme will have render-a service to north China. the value of which inestimable,—
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.