The industrial and productive Toans are in a still worse plight, Their specific security is for the most part the earnings of the enter leon cerned. In the ease of railway: while financiers of come of the other powers followed a policy of obtaining railway concessions, i.e. the privilege of constructing, owning an operating for their own profit rai ways in Chinese territory (c.g. the Russians and Japanese in Ma churia, the Germans in Shantung a the Fresch in Yunnan), the British pation in railway development) jin China took the form of lending the necessary capital to the Chinese Government for constructing railways of its own. As China lacked railway experts (engineers, traffic managers or accountants) "in the Western conception of the term, the British negotiators required. so far jas possible, that qualified "British lemployces. should be engaged by China to fil these posts in the interests of efficiency and that until the Joans were repaid there should went of control exercised by ish personnel over the expenditure and earnings, sufficient Toast to, ensure that interest and sinking find payments would be duly met.
For many years the res these arrangements were satisfying.
incapable of Taising capital from Chinese sources, was furnished [with tong distance lines of railway ell bui mate jereasing volume of passenger and roods traffic and yielded net rev not only amply, suffice tutorest and. sinking fund charges Jdue to the British bondholders but} also handsome surpluses for the [Chinese Government. These benefits China, unlike other similarly conditioned' countries such as the South American Republics, obtained with-Jout parting with rights of possession Jor management in the general sense.
How this enormously valuable asset is being brought to ruin by the prostitution of the railways to the service of warring generals and to the destructive devices of local m ary authorities who, besides milking" them mercilessly cent bute actively to the demolition of the rolling stock and property generally, has been described in the third memorandum of this series.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.