The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-07-24
INDIAN EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE
Railway Enterprises and Tea. Plantations
Suffer Heavily


Suffer Heavily.
London, July 23-The seismic disturb
ances in northeastern India have hit
hard at two great British enterprises.
The damage done, even on the plains, ID
the Assam Railway is severe; difficulties
of communication still render il impos-
sible to gauge the injury to the line in
the nil country, with its costly cuttings,
tunnels, and heavy works. That line has
always had powerful opponents, and the
decision 10 construct il was arrived al
after much hesitation. On the whole. the
government felt justified in entering on
an undertaking OF which the initial ex-
pense would certainly be large and the
returns for some time comparatively
small, out which would open out great
inland province and bring it into direct
communication with the sea5oadr. In
this decision the Indian government was
probably right. But the recent earth
quake has again brought TO notice the
series OF subterrestrial commissions TO
which that part OF India seems subject.
The question may possibly be raised
afresh as &c the expediency OF prosecut-
mig, at any rate 10 the full completion OF
the present design, a railway whose ne
cessity was from the first contested, and
which proves TO run through region OF
recurring seismic disturbances OF OF ap-
pallng severity. All things are posi-
BILE TO engineering science; but all things
are not profitable. The conditions on
which the line was sanctioned serve as
protection TO the shareholders. The
Assam Railway was undertaken for spe-
cific state reasons, and any modification
of the original plan which might now be
deemed expedient would be made in the
interest of the taxpayer, but I is to be
hoped without. detriment 10 the just
claims OF the shareholders. The whole
question must await more complete
knowledge of the facts than we yet
possess.
The other great industrial enterprise
OF eastern Bengal stands in some re-
spects in a less favorable position. Tea
cultivation. alike in India and Ceylon. -
a purely commercial venture. We can
scarcely. however. call it a private I'M
dertsking. as 5000. 600 sterling 81 Brit
ism capital are sunk in II. Thelosses
caused to the tea plantations of north
eastern Bengal and Assam will be borne
by the British investor, without a gov
eminent guarantee OF any sort 20 fall
back on. The fuller accounts now reach /
ing England prove that while the gen.
eral destruction was al first over-esti- I
mated. yet n certain localities the dam
aga has been very great. In a few. for- I
tunately a very few, cases the wreckage /
mas been complete. Large factories. /
cash one Of which represents no: only /
vast sum in building and mashinery. but /
also thriving colony Of lsb0rers i'm /
ported at great expense from distant I
provinces OF Bengal. and the villages /
erected for them at the cost OF the tea 1
have been laid in ruins. We /
have boldly 70 face the fact that the tea I
industry in northeastern India. wh.ch is |
in a special sense the growth II the
Queens sixty years OF rule. has almost 1
at the moment Of her jubilee been sub
jected to trial which no human fore
sight could have anticipated or averted. /.
This, too. when the progress and pros
perity ot the industry had reached a
height which is most enthusiastic plo-
n7ers would not have dared II hope for.
Whatever loss in buildings and ma
chinecy may have been sustainsd by in
iividual companies. their richly culti-
waited plantations survive. Nor does
there seem much likelihood mat tie
will materially affect tns
years crop. even in the center OF TIE
seismic disturbances. IN some cases the
REBUILDING y he factories viii mean tho
suppression 0. Old methods % manu-
tacture oy ne latest improvements n
machinery. In most cases ire rex money
invested VII repay i-sss by a larzs-
-u,pGt But he burden. Vhicn al Dc
widely distributed among ire investing
British public. VII <a,i gita terrible .
pressure upon our countrymsn actually !
.ng8gei in tea production g7on the epot
How attn ruined or half ruined tsc- !
ores. All xI-a machinery strained. In
urej. 7ni out u gear. 20 deal x!tl TIE .
Millions - Iistle baskets % ca-sffs 7
caves which have every morning n be ?
a3nusa -ta-sd into tea This ia ne qses. :
son Ehi-h hzrdrs5s % stesd>sst and
es3Jrcet1l EngiisnTea and Sc5tchreu
r. n7w asking Themselves a. % early
milan da.arezk al -h-1ESA5g- every :