The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-18

average price of ss2 per ton. The prln- cipal workshops, engine sheds and plant arc at the Care Fluviate, five and half miles below the native city of Hankow, where. on the banks of the Hun River. the line commences.
 Hankow hopes by means of the rail- way to attract the trade of Eastern Ho- nan. which has hitherto travelled via tho Grand Canal and the Huai River to and from Chinkiang, and if the government bestows as little care on that waterway as 1t has of late been doing there Is no reason why such hopes should not be realized. While the line from Hankow to Picking Is making such satisfactory progress the same cannot De sald or tne fine which is to link the capital up with Canton. The concession here was grant ed on the understanding that the funds employed were to be exclusively Ameri-
 The purely American status of the Yueh-han Company having recently been called in question, complications have arisen and survey work mas mas T, oeen cen perimental line, connecting Canton with the busy town of Fatshan,. was opened last year, and Is doing well. Trains on the main line are running now as Tar as Samshin; but, until some definite settle ment of matters in dispute has been ar rived at, they are mot likely to go any further. Various surveys are peing made for lines in different directions. but of these 1t is too early to speak.
 Imperial Railroads Make Money.
 The imperial railways of North .,i. China, ,i1, whose mileage has now been brought up to 1880 miles, afford usefnl oD1ect lesson to both Chinese and foreigners pr how a properly managed raliway m China can be made to pay. Mainte- nance and provision for loans are now fully provided for and the balance should furnish handsome dividends. va rious extensions are being suggested. and no doubt these will be carried out as soon as possible. The Peking synol- cate's line from Ch'inghua to Tao-k ou 6sO miles long) Is finished. ana eressons mso1 ought to be In a position to supply Ten sing with anthracite coal form ShansL Favorable terms for conveying 1t to the Yangtzu have been conceded. and; 1T or good quality, the coal ought rehuhy to find a market.
 The need of a railway from kowloon to Canton hns been spoken or Tor years although nothing definite has been uone. grant of n line from Canton to Macao and the French railway Is gradualy working its way up to the funnah Wtu frontier, being open from Hanoi to vie tri and practically completed to Yen Bay It is evident that. through the conlpintso tta efforts of Chinese and torelgners, .ne ,s country is gradually being openeo b u9 ana subiected to Western influences, anu there can be little doubt that when the war between Russia and Japan has peen
 finished there will eeterpTse ee si in China Whether this is likely 10 pc VI ui,vhe ,sh benefit to Europe, and America & IS t sups bs ject on which there IS certaih 'o oe great differences of opinion.
 Center of South African Coolie
 Experiment..
 Moro than one visitor to Peitaiho or ShanhailSwan has found it worth while to turn aside to Chinwangtoa ana op- serve the striking deyeii9pmen'sc thi9 nsw chinese Me nort The main stimulus Is the emigra- ton of coolies to South Africa. m tilis connection buildings are being i11,.i, run UP with great speed. at rate pos1tlvely never before seen in China. Twelve buildings are nearly finished for the ac, eommodation of coolies, ana q sort oi camp has been arranged ana lncioseu. ,,,ithp an exit toward the beach. Each huildlng is g5 feet by 46 feet Tn measure-- ment Four more are in the course ot erection. making 16 houses Tn all. Healtn ., e,d icynn,venience are fully considered. The walls and floors are ptaseefsttta fttad VIII ,,n cement. and plank hunks are nt.eu up for sleeping in two tiers, proVAsioh Deihs made for stoves in winter.
 large building has been erected for Inc examination of the coolies, with a bathroom heated by steam; ihere ls counting house, in which the emlsfants receive their advance Of wages; doctors rooms for medical inspection. emigration agents office and enbarkation omce. from which the coolies step into the train to be shipped in lighters to the hraalxwater. where the steamer awaits them. All these offices and halls are in one building with cement flooring, IT the emigrants were payinB TOT tneir passage and bringing in large revenue to some steamship company the ar engagement for their convenience could not be more satisfactory. Four large coolxhouses of approved design have hoon constructed with 16 large stew pots. holding sufficient "chow" for J.l5O men. A hospital is In course of erection and two camp stores. Buildings and sleeping quarters for native clerks have also been put up, and good-looking foreign house has been built for the camp manager. All this work has been carried out, in addition to the usual con- struction work in connection with tho breakwater, since July I. It has been done under the supervision of MT. w. k. ! Hughes, the mining company's resident engineer at Chinwangtao The site Of these buildings is at the eastern part Of what was at one time the tsland but IS now a busy scene of human activity. Tbus if Is evident that while the gen. | oral Western public. swayed by sensa- | t,onal stories in less conservative papers ana inc more sensational magazines. gv,n0s from absolute doubt to utter un- 1 oortaIntv as to the modernizing and de- ,,eIonment of the Chinese resources all the time tho men from Europe, who un- derstand the situation, are actually en- gagged in the real work of proceeding with this gigantic task of remodeling a crystallzed race and developing those natural assets by the aid of science and capital, which ignorance has allowed to lie under the soil of the Flowery King dom for a thousand years.