The herald., 1896-09-06
An61No At AroHANnsrAx.
Ru1ian Railroad Building Being pxuoD,
cuted in the Direction q HGak

Ruaian Railroad Building Being PzueN
cuted I'm tho Direction of HEak
The following description Of The routo
Of the new Kushk railway toward Herlt
is given in Sviet, Of st. Petersburg: ''Tho
railway will run to Kushk, the fortified
post on the River Kushk, which 10 eitu-
ated 20S miles southwark from Mefv,
sixty-seven miles from Tash-Kupn, The
scene Of the Russian attack ON the Az
ghans in March, 1885, six miles from
the Afghan frontier post Of Kara-tepe,
and ninety-four miles from Merat By
the most convenient road through the
Ardevan and Seng Kotal passes. The
new railway, leaving Merv, will inter.
cept the irrigation system of the Otam.
ish clan Of Tekke-T Turkomans, and after
avoiding the dam Of Kaushut Khan
Bent will approach the Murghab beloW
the oasis Of Talkhatanhaba and run
along the left bank Of that river. Il
will then intersect the irrigation canals
Of the Yolotan Sarik- Turkomans and
proceed more to the west Of the main
Yolotan canal. At the dam Of KazakH
Benu the line will again approach tho
left bank Of the Murghab. 1t will then
pass along the left bank of the Kushk at
the confluence of that river with the
Murghab, avoiding the aqueduct OF
Tash-Kupri, and SO on across to the
right bank Of the Kushk to the bridge
five miles above Tash- Kupri. Along the
right bank of the Kushk the line VIII
pass through the oasis Of Akcha- -Kaya,
Mar-Kala, Guz-Khan and CLAIMANT
nd
of Alexifsky to the Kushk post, which
Is to be the terminus. Altogether the
distance is 220 miles.
'This new line, besides its military
importance, which is evident, will have
some commercial significance. At pres
ent our trade with northern Afghanistan,
especially with the wealthy district Of
Herat, is greatly interfered with by the
intrigues Of the English against us In
Afghanistan. This obstruction is caused
by the request Of the English that Rus
sian trade with Afghanistan be not allow
ed and by their payment Of large yearly
sum to the ameer as compensation for
the loss of what would accrue to him
from the duties on Russian trade. Under
the new conditions introduced by this
railway the advantages to Abdurrahman
Khan of a development of trade with us
will be SO much increased that the Eng
lish will probably be no longer able to
make up for the loss by adding to the
subsidy
The writer of the latter comment Is evil
IDENTIFY unaware that Anglo-Indian trade
with Afghanlstan on the other side Is not
rendered bit easier by the duties and
regulations established by Abdurrahman
Khan, and that the proposed increase Of
Russian trade might induce the ameer
to reap extra profit from it in such
way as to interfere considerably with Its
expected development The economical
or commercial Importance Of the Merv-
Rushk railway, however, is open to very
much in doubt, while its military and
strategical significance is beyond ques-
ton. In point Of fact, is is stated that
the minister of ways Of 1Gnmunication
objected to undertake its construction on
that very account. 1t wiM therefore, be
built, like the trunk line Of the Central
Asian railway, Of which 1t will form
branch, by the minister of war. The
preparation of material for further ex-
tension is naturally not referred to in the
Russian press, although it forms very
important part Of the scheme.-London
Times,