THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1907. RAILWAYS IN CHINA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8350, 5 February 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1907. RAILWAYS IN CHINA.

The effects of the recent war between Japan and Russia are being felt all over China and they|mark what is the beginning of an awakening which will astonish the world. Already some very significant signs have been given that the Chinese are beginning to think that their tutelage to Western nations should end, and that they should think and act for themselves; and if a collision is to be avoided foreigners must adapt themselves to the altered conditions. The Chinese have evidently determined that their country shall no longer be the happy hunting-ground for concessions, but that everything shall be looked at from a strictly business point of view; and, further, that they shall keep in their own hands a controlling power over all that is done. This will apply specially to railways and mines. The effects of the war are, of course, felt most distinctly in the North of China. During the progress of hostilities in Manchuria, Japan, as she advanced northwards, changed the gauge of the Chinese Eastern railway to accommodate rolling-stock brought over from Japan, and she built a military line from Antnng to Mukden, which, under the treaty she made with China, she is to maintain, work, and improve, so as to make it fit for the conveyance of commercial and industrial goods of all nations. This right is conceded to her by China for a term of 15 years from the date of the completion of the improvements, which presumably include the construction of a permanent line. At the expiration of the above term, the line is to be sold to China. An article in the same treaty provides for the conclusion of a separate convention for the regulation of connecting services between the railway lines in South Manchuria and all the other lines in China. Previous to this agreement, however, JapanJJhad

already connected the Chinese Eas-

tern railway with the Imperial railways of North China by constructing a light military line between Mukden Station and Hsin-min-Ting and later she built a permanent embankment between the same places. The laying of rails on this permanent line, with a gauge Corresponding to the altered gauge of the Chinese Eastern railway, is all but completed, and it is understood that China and Japan are to be joint owners of this, the Hsin-Feng line, which will, however, be operated by Japan.