China had in 1912 about 5,500 miles of railway in operation, new main lines having been built from Tientsin to Nanking (Pukow) by German and British contractors, and from Nanking to Shanghai by British contractors, so that it is now possible to take cars at Shanghai and go through to Calais, France, by rail. Branch lines connect the German colony of Kiaochou and Chifu with this Tientsin trunk railway, so that a German may go straight through from his Crown colony in cars to Berlin. Before long, when the Canton-Hankau section is completed, Hongkong’s colonial secretary will be able to leave Government House, facing the wonderful Botanical Garden on the hill of Hongkong, take a chair down to the Star Ferry Wharf, cross the mile of harbor, then take his railway carriage and be whisked through to Downing Street, London, to take his orders from the secretary of state for the Crown colonies, with only one ferriage, that from Calais to Dover. Not only a northern railway route is available, but a southern railway route will soon be open. When the easy section through Persia, and the short railway from Yunnan City through Mung Ting pass connects with Mandalay, it will be possible for the colonial secretary of Indo-China to leave the palatial Palais at Hanoi and entrain at the Tonquin Railway Gare on the palm-lined boulevard, going straight through to the Ministré on the Quai d’Orsay, Paris, via Hyderabad, Teheran, Constantinople and the Gates of the Danube, all the way without seeing salt water. Likewise the governor of Singapore will soon be able to entrain opposite Government House for Calais and London, and cross the teeming continents, passing through the site of the Garden of Eden, on his way to Downing Street to consult with his chief. He can also pick up his traveled friend (since the _entente cordiale_), the Gouverneur at L’Hotel du Gouverneur, Saigon, and drop him at the Gare du Nord, Paris, on his way to the departments on the left bank of the Seine.