of Greater Things to Come By 7. C, The (Secretary-Generat of the Reconstruction Department of the Chekiang In recent years, Chekiang has been known for its pioneering reconstruc~ tion work. Though many of the activities date back to earlier days, the last ten years certainly have witnessed "unprecedented progress. When the provincial "government under the "Nationalist regime come into existence in 1027 the Chairman, Mr, Chang Zing-Kiang, took vital interest "in reconstruction, Under his leadership, such plans as the. construction of railway, the building of a high network and the Installation "of a ong-distance telephone system grad ually took shape. The reconstruction department' was algo inaugurated In that year, and formed a motivating, factor in' reconstruction work for the, province, Chekiang finds as its pride the rst suecess(ul provincial railway which is soon to become a trunk Tine In southeastern China; the frst double-decked bridge for highway rail trafic crossing, over the large Chientang River, which is fast proaching its completion; an em cient Tong-distance telephone system which connects practically every town of the province; a well-planned highway network that accommodates modern transportation; in addition to other activities such as agriculture and hydraulic engineering work, which though of a less dramatic nature, will produce no less important results years to come.
'With the department as a centre of plonning.and a soures of energy, ver a dozen administrative, experi mental, and research organs branch out in' actual charge of the recon struction activities within the provines, Having served in the department tore than eight years, Fam in a position to make a brief review of the various reconstructional, work. power plant of 15,000 kw. of Hangchow.
In 1934 a scheme was proposed to] extend the line to Nanchang and then {o Pinghsian in order to connect with the Canton-Hankow Railway. 'This railway, subsidized partly by the Kiangs!' Provincial Government and largely by Ministry of Railways, thus became the joint enterprise of Kiangsi, Chekiang and the Ministry Of Railways; hence its present name.
'The extension to Nanchang has been' opened to gramme for over one year, andthe connection with Canton~
Hankow Railway 1s expected this Aciumn, by that "time, the Chekiang section will have its light rails replaced, by rails of fond ard weights as" adopted by Chinese National Railways, This railway will then become the trunk line In eastern China, south of the Yangtze between 'A through train service between Shanghai and Canton will completion of the $6,000,000 Chientang River Bridge, a joint enterprise of the Province "and the Ministry of Railways, fs absolutely necessary; and it is anticipated to be ready for service this eoedo The rich arable land of this prov-{nce Iles mostly west of the Chientang River, while many" parts of eastern Chekiang are mountainous, This very fact accounts for the reason why Chekiang has to Import rice annually to the quantity of about 10,- 000,000 piculs and at the same time abounds in lumber and. forest pro-nets. As a result, agricultural development demands the closest altenton of the authorities and forms tone of the. fundamental police of reconstruction work.
The Wighway Network Rice and Wheat Station The most- important agency of transportation now entirely under the provincial authorities Is the highway sin. Highway construction Choleang dates back to 1930; the {Period of rapid expansion, however, wns from 1081 to 1984 under the able direction of the former Commissioner, Mr, Tseng Yang-foo. At present, the flat Tength of highways exceeds 300 kilometres, of which more than {wo thirds are being operated by the provincial government with the high Way administration in charge, and the "rest by private companies through lease, Those highways wore built by the provincial authorities according to the speolficalion of NiE.C.. lo, with width of six metres maximum rade of 8 per cents, except in a few mountainous districts, Other high ways are. still. under construction. The annual gross operating rev: fennies amount to more than $2,000,- 000, "The future policy ehieay is to develop them as the feeder lines to the railways "and. to the scenic centres In to promote touring and through trample, and in short, to put the operation on a business' basis.
The Telephone System The Provincial. Telephone Admin-Istration, when first established. in 1028, was limited (0 long-distance telephones. In a. year's time, however, It took over the local telephone company of Hangchow and converted Into a modern automatic system. loss than ten years, the Administra-Hlon's assets were at over $5,000,000. The Long distance lines cover 6,000 loop kilometres connecting practically. every county of the province.
These Ines wore constructed according to C.CJ. standard, ie. with 'a maximum transmission loss of loss than 80 db. Tts annual operating revence amounts to $750,000, ° with a profit of about $200,000, The Admin. Istration also operates a radio broad east station, and introduced the frst carrier-telephone system between Hangchow and Wenchow over a distance of more than 800 kin. The fulure polley of the administration Is to develop more rural telephone lines within. the province and to serve eMeiently in the nation-wide long istence telephone service, oilways and Beldges The Chekiang-Kiangst Railway, as it is now called, was originally conceived and planned as the first of several light railways to be constructed by and within the province, Being first proposed in 1921. the line was Surveyed in 1929 and actual construc-jon was slarted in 1930 with only capital of $200,000, In spite of difficulties, i, reached the border of Kiangst in 1995, thus fuldlting the original plan and offering a valuable service for the unification of China-It may be mentioned that for the completion of this part of the railway, we sold our new modern eleeteic Rice and wheat, we know, con. stitute the principal items of foodstuff of the Chinese people, With the purpose of improving and increasing rice fand. wheat production. this province slablished its agricultural experiment station from the beginning of - the ie; but it is mot until 1990, Inauguration of the rice and Wheat experiment station, that more attention "was paid to this -special branch of agriculture. Three or four years prior to. 1035 constituted a period of experimentation and seed Improving and, beginning from 1995, extension work was conducted on a large scale to cover more than 95,000 mow of rice fields alone, with an increase in production estimated to range from 13 to 18 per cent, over the previous capacity.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.