Evening star., 1900-07-23

rifle cartridge factory, with an excellent
machine, which could turn out 10000 car.
for making coke. but oil the coke required
for the arsenal was brought from the
TonEshan oolliery in the north. Besides
the machinery lying about on the ground,
idie. Ie ' w. 'A''' were p'sn'' '' "A'AAs'
There seemed to be no organization, and
no responsible foreman. There were some
Germans employed In this arsenal. and the
condition Of the machines and work turned
out showed foreign assistance. AS a. other
arsena!s, II these foreigners were allowed
money would be stopped. and the machines
would be turning out war material Of some
| utility.
Foochow and Canton.
The Foochow arsenal and dockyard are
under the sole responsibility of the Manchu
| general Tseng Chez. They have some
small cupolas Of about two tons. three tons
and five tons capability. There Is fuir
amount OF machinery in this arsenal for
making engines: some of 1t is British. but
most Of 1t Is French. There is good boiler
shop with modern fittings, but all the boil
erS required were bought in France. The
casting shop was employed in casting pro-
ject1les for heavy Armstrong guns. M. L. X.
From the budget allowed for this arsenal.
the waste appeared even greater than that
in other arsenals which visited.
The Canton arsenal Is under the provin-
cial government Of the viceroy Of Kwang-
tung and Kwangsi. An enormous mass of
obsolete war material and old tools was
lying about in this yard, and thousands of
cast-iron spherical shot of all sizes. There
were some very good modern tools of Brit
fsh and German make. but they were, in
other yards, employed in making one
pounder guns and gingals.
While at this arsenal l was shown an old
powder factory, and observed it had open
grating windows On remarking to the
mandarin that such want of precaution was
dangerous. and 1t was liable to cause an X
plosion. he replied: Yes, that is true: it
blew up two years ago, and killed and
wounded twenty men. We have rebuilt 1t,
but do not intend to use 1t again..
Mausers and Gingals.
There was a rifle factory here turning out
was turning out two gingals for every rifle
made. The gingals manufactured here were
the longest 1 have seen, being 0 feet 8
inches in length. They made their own tool
steel at this arsenal.
There are two small cupolas for casting.
Ihough the machinery in this arsenal Is
old. 1t is in very good condition. In the
molding shop they were making moldS for
ornamental railings.
On the opposite side of the river there is
powder factory, which had commenced
work three days before l arrived. The fac
tory is complete, and built under the most
modern conditions. The boilers engines
and shafting were made in the arsenal and
looked first rate. The factory was employed
in making German smokeless powder. Tho
managers hoped to turn out 10000 pounds
in the year.
There is a cartridge factory about four
miles from this powder factory. The ma
chinery is very good, and all German. 1t
was employed in making cartridges, Maui
ser rifles and gingals.
l was unable to visit the only other
senal-that OF Ching-tu-aS II Is far away in
the west, in the province of Szechuan; but
was informed that this arsenal is under the
administration of the Manchu general. and
that the machinery Is Of German and Brit
ish make and is employed in turning out
rifles and cartridges, Mauser pattern.
A Great Waste.
1 found in those arsenals under entirely
Chinese management that in many cases
neither the foremen nor the workmen un-
derstood the feed and speed gearing of their
tools, and often the tool itself was not set
to take full advantage of its cutting edge.
They appeared much interested when shown
how to set and gear their tools correctly.
My visits to the arsenals showed me that
enormous sums of money are being ex-
pended on war material that in most cases
is absolutely useless. Even the Shanghai
arsenal which turns out work second to
none in Europe, Is making heavy guns for
men-of-War, or forts, which can be of no
possible utility to the Chinese empire un-
der present conditions. 1 ventured to point
this out to the viceroys with whom I COM
municated.
If all the arsenals but Shanghai were
closed manufactures. and only used as
depots, a very large sum of money which
is now wasted would be saved. This sum
of money would be more than ample to
make Shanghai manufacturing arsenal
capable of equipping an army of 200 900
men in efficient manner