CHAO CHOW AND SWATOW RAILWAY COMPANY.
Slowly but surely the Chinese are beginning to realise that if they are to take part, with any degree of success, in the commercial strife that is being waged between the nations of the world, they must become less conservative, and throw open their empire to the trader and the merchant. The country is one possessing vast wealth and immense possibilities, but in order that full advantage may be taken of these, convenient and regular systems of communication are essential.
The Chao Chow and Swatow Railway was the first line registered at the Chamber of Commerce, Peking, under mercantile administration. It was opened in November, 1906, with great ceremony. By kind permission of the captain, the band of the German cruiser Jaguar played in the train to and from Chao Chow. The guests included the Consuls of the various powers, the commissioner, and staff; His Excellency the Taoutai of Chao Chow, the officers of the surrounding districts, and the representatives of the foreign hongs and the Press. The Peking Board of Commerce was represented by Mr. Kwong, engineer-in-chief of the Canton-Hankow Line, and His Excellency Taoutai Shun represented the Viceroy of Canton.
The line is well constructed, and is of the standard gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches. The engines were shipped in parts from America, the coaches and trucks were built in Swatow, and the axles, springs, and wheels are of British manufacture. The enterprise has proved quite successful, and the railway is being extended above Chao Chow to Yee Kai, on the bank of the river Han, so as to connect with the shipping. After these extensions have been completed a great deal of freight should be carried, as Yee Kai is a distributing centre for Kai in Chow. Ting Chow, &c. Another advantage will be that when the river Han is shallow, as it is at times, and boats are unable to obtain access to Chao Chow, merchants will have an alternative means of transportation. The Company experienced a little difficulty in purchasing lands for laying down the track and for station sites, owing to the presence along the line of route of a number of graves. But these difficulties have been surmounted, and the purchases are now practically complete. The idea is to construct a line northwards also, to join the Amoy-Canton Railway.
The capital of the Company is $3,000,000, nine-tenths of which is held by the directors. It is essential that each director should own a quarter of a million dollars' worth of shares, and, as a matter of fact, two of them are interested in the venture to the extent of a million dollars. H.E. Cheong Yuk Nam is the managing director-general; Mr. Lim La Sang, the manager director; and Messrs. Wong Sui Ping, Chia Mong Chee, Ng Li Hing, and Cheong Chong Hong, members of the board.
HIS EXCELLENCY CHEONG YUK NAM, the managing director-general of the Chao Chow and Swatow Railway Company, holds a distinguished social position, and is largely interested in a great variety of commercial enterprises in different parts of the country. Born at Kai, in Chow (Kwangtung Province) in 1852, he has succeeded in amassing a large fortune, although he has always been ready to assist liberally those institutions which have for their object, the welfare and enlightenment of his fellow countrymen. He himself established a school in Swatow, and is also the founder of a hospital in Deli, Sumatra. In recognition of his many services he has been made Vice-President of the First Honour of the Third Order, Peking; and has been appointed a Chinese major by the Dutch, while he holds as a cherished possession, a medal conferred upon him by the Queen of Holland. He owns a large amount of property in Deli, including two large gardens of about 16 square miles in area and several sago plantations. In Swatow and Kai in Chow, he also holds considerable property, and is interested in several monopolies and commercial ventures. Formerly he was Chinese Consul in Penang. He is married and has five sons and four daughters. During his absences, Cheong Poh Chun, his eldest son, transacts his business, in connection with the railway at Swatow.
MR. LIM LA SANG, the managing director of the Chao Chow and Swatow Railway Company, was born at Fokien in 1868, and was educated at Hongkong. Before the China-Japan War he was one of the largest tea merchants in Formosa, controlling as much as one-third of the whole trade from the island. Now he is largely interested in banking and commercial enterprises in Amoy and Hongkong. He has travelled a great deal in the East, is married, and has two sons and one daughter.
THE CANTON-SAMSHUI RAILWAY.
The American China Development Company obtained the important concession for the construction of the Canton-Hankow Railway during the year 1902. They started upon their great enterprise with characteristic energy; native staffs were organised, and, under the direction of skilled American engineers, the work was quickly in full swing. Attention was turned first to the branch line from Canton to Samshui, a part of the railway with which it was originally intended to connect the provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. The distance between the two places, by river, is 90 miles, and the journey occupies, by boat, something like twelve hours. The railway, by cutting across beautiful stretches of paddy fields, reduces the distance to about 30 miles, which are covered in about an hour.
The first section, extending from Canton—or rather Shek-wai-tong, the Canton terminus—to Fatshan, a thriving Chinese town situated 12 miles from the great southern port, was opened in November, 1903. The facilities afforded were quickly appreciated by the Chinese and, within a few weeks, the trains were carrying regularly as many as four thousand passengers a day. In May, 1904, the remainder of the line to Samshui was opened.
Considering the nature and extent of the difficulties the work of construction was admirably performed. The track is well ballasted, and is double, as far as Fatshan; from thence to Samshui there is a single line. The majority of the locomotives have formerly seen service on the New York
