The absence of satisfactory transport between this place and the colliery was made the opportunity for an attempt to introduce railways.

Before a start could be made, however, the Imperial sanction had to be obtained, which proved a matter of considerable difficulty. The principal objections were based on superstitious grounds. As is very generally known, the Chinese have an elaborate system of geomancy known by the name of " Feng-shui," in accordance with the principles of which the fortunes of places are said to be determined. The professors of this science are both active and numerous, and for them the occasion was a great one. The result was that the most absurd reasons within the power of human ingenuity to devise were produced to prejudice the scheme in the eyes of the central authorities. Nevertheless, the Imperial sanction was in due course obtained, whereupon Mr. C. W. Kinder was appointed Resident Engineer to undertake the construction of the railway. Unfortunately, Mr. Kinder had hardly arrived on the scene and received instructions to commence the work when the Imperial sanction was incontinently withdrawn.

Attempts were made in Peking to procure a reversal of this decision, but these proved unavailing. It was therefore decided after some considerable loss of time to construct a canal from the colliery to Lutai, the nearest point on the Pehtang Ho, a few miles above Pehtang. Surveys, however, showed that it was impossible to carry the canal right up to Tongshan, and the Imperial Government was again approached, with the result that ultimately a reluctant assent was given to the construction of a tramway between the colliery and Hsukochuang, some seven miles distant, where it was proposed the canal should end. This tramway was to be worked with mules.

Unsatisfactory as this was, Tong King Sing, who was fully alive to the advantage of a line, determined to commence operations immediately; locomotives, he hoped, might follow in the fulness of time. The engineer was accordingly instructed to take the work in hand.

The first question that presented itself was one of gauge. The Woosung Road, with which Tong King Sing was familiar, had formed an unfortunate precedent in that respect. Though the original scheme was on the English model, it was, as will be remem

bered, modified for financial reasons, and the gauge reduced from standard (4 feet 8 inches) to 30 inches. Fortunately, Mr. Kinder appreciated the significance of the point at issue. He realised that the tramway would be extended; that it was destined to form a section of what would some day be a considerable system. He felt too that the occasion was a critical one; that the gauge then adopted would have an important bearing on the railway developments of the future. Before coming to China he had enjoyed considerable experience on the railways of Japan, and was fully cognisant of the disadvantages of the 34-foot gauge of the Japanese system. He therefore determined that the Chinese should not suffer from any mistaken notions of economy if in his power to prevent it, and he urged to the point of insistence the adoption of the English standard (4 feet 8 inches). After a stiff struggle the point was gained, the line being laid out in 1880 and completed in the following year.

While the work of construction was in progress, Mr. Kinder quetily commenced to build a locomotive of what he himself has described as being of " very extraordinary design." The boiler originally belonged to a portable winding engine. The wheels had been bought as old iron, while the frame was made of channel iron borrowed from the head-gear of the No. 1 shaft at the Tongshan colliery. The cost of construction was five hundred and twenty Mexican dollars, something between seventy and eighty pounds, including labour and all but old material.

Before this engine was finished its preparation became known, and strict orders were issued that it should be stopped at once. But after a few weeks, during which time H.E. Li Hung Chang was constantly consulted, the monster was allowed to be completed. And on the 9th of June 1881, just one hundred years after the birth of George Stephenson, it was christened the "Rocket of China" by Mrs. R. R. Burnett, the wife of the Engineer-inchief.

The locomotive was now put into daily use for conveying materials for the tramway, and, the opposition ceasing, two tank engines were purchased in the following year.

Such was the manner in which was effected the first stage in the development of the present railway system of North China. It exemplified two things. In the first place, it demonstrated the soundness of applying the thin edge of the wedge principle in

dealing with Chinese official classes, an idea with which Tong King Sing was thoroughly familiar. Secondly, it showed the results that tenacity of purpose can achieve even in China, in the face of deep-seated and apparently insurmountable prejudice.

CHAPTER V

THE KAIPING RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION AND THE CHINA RAILWAY COMPANY

THE

HE next move was made in the year 1886. About this time a slight reaction in favour of Western improvements had set in at the capital. The French War had a short time previously been concluded, but the effects which in China have usually followed on armed conflict with foreign troops still remained. The mind of the Government was filled for the moment with a dread of invasion. It was anxiously discussing possible reforms calculated to enable China to cope more effectively with foreign powers.

In these circumstances Mr. Detring, Commissioner of Customs at Tientsin, arranged an interview for Mr. Kinder with the Viceroy, which gave the former, who, on the retirement of Mr. R. R. Burnett in 1882, had become Engineer-in-chief, an opportunity of explaining his views personally. With the soundness of those views Li Hung Chang was impressed, with the result that the Throne was memorialised for permission to continue the railway from Hsukochuang to Lutai.

The required permission was in due course granted, and a new company was formed to take over the tramway and build the new line. This company was known as the Kaiping Railway · Company, and placed under the management of Mr. Wu Ting Fang, a member of the English Bar, who has since become distinguished in diplomatic life. The capital, which was not raised without some considerable difficulty, amounted to $250,000, equal at that time to approximately £70,000.

Nearly half of this sum, however, was absorbed by the mining company as the price of the tramway, and accordingly the work of construction on the extension had to be undertaken on the most economical principles. Fortunately the circumstances of the times were favourable to this. For most of the distance,

advantage was able to be taken of the canal bank, which required very little raising to make it suitable for the purpose; while the anxiety of foreign firms to gain first foothold with the railway authorities rendered it possible to obtain rails at considerably below their market value.

Work was commenced at the Hsukochuang end in November 1886. By the following May it had been completed at a cost, including one American locomotive and forty ten-ton coal waggons, of $135,000, equal to about £34,000.

Meanwhile Li Hung Chang was preparing the way for further extension as soon as the section to Lutai should be completed. To this end he caused a memorial to be presented to the Throne by the Board of Admiralty. It is interesting to trace the delicate way in which he handled the Central Government. The tramway and its extension to Lutai, and even on to Tongku at the mouth of the Pei Ho,1 were justifiable on obvious commercial grounds. The value on the same grounds of an extension to Tientsin, and again at the Tongshan end northwards to Shanhaikwan, would not perhaps have been equally patent to the Chinese official mind. His Excellency therefore temporarily relegated the claims of commerce to the background and raised the banner of military expediency, which explains why the Board of Admiralty became the channel of communication of his views.

In illustration, the few lines with which the memorial opens, together with a subsequent paragraph, may with advantage be reproduced :

"A memorial to the Empress submitting a proposal for the experimental introduction of a Railway at Tientsin and other places, in order to facilitate the movement of troops and the transport of material of war, and to increase the profits of the mercantile classes.

"The northern and southern garrisons are too widely separated, and it would be difficult to come to the rescue in time of need. We cannot therefore neglect to station troops at the most important and exposed places, occupying beforehand those points where the first struggle (in the event of war) will take place, thus displaying the might of the nation, as it were, before her gates. But on the portion of the sea coast nearest to Peking, from Taku and Pehtang northwards for a distance of 500 li, the garrisons are few in number, and the gaps between them are a great source of danger.

1 Strictly speaking, the Pei Ho is the river above Tientsin. Between Tientsin, where it is joined by other rivers, and the sea, it is known as the Hai Ho. But it is more convenient to adhere to one name for what is in reality the same stream.