Though the financial situation was only slightly improved during 1867,[14] Prince Charles entered in the autumn of that year into negotiations with the Austrian financier, Herr von Ofenheim, for the construction of a railway from Suceava to Bucharest, passing through Jassy and Galatz. These negotiations, commenced as far back as 1862, had been allowed to drop; and Roumania had thus lost the favourable moment for appealing to the British money market, which, moreover, was never at any time favourable to the enterprise. However, Ofenheim's Syndicate, which included three Englishmen (amongst them Mr. T. Brassey), arranged for the construction of the line, which was to be built by sections, commencing with 110 miles from Suceava to Roman. How necessary railways were to the country is shown by the fact that only a quarter of the corn and wood intended for export that year could be moved by ship to its destination. Eventually the Chamber confirmed the Ofenheim concession, voting 230,000 francs for the first section, and a subsidy of 40,000 francs per kilometer. [14] The necessary expenditure was met in October 1867 by the issue of 10 and 12 per cent. Treasury bonds. Ofenheim only undertook to carry out the northern half of the concession, and ceded the southern portion to a Prussian syndicate, of which the well-known financier, Strousberg, was Chairman. This syndicate was granted a concession by the Roumanian Chamber on October 2, 1868. Unfortunately for the progress of the railways, the question soon gave rise to heated debates in the Chamber. For example, on June 11, 1869, a great commotion was caused there by a charge brought against the Syndicate that it had extended the line unduly by a ten-mile curve at Barboschi (payment, it will be remembered, was to be made according to the mileage). Nevertheless, in spite of all this petty opposition, the Prince had the satisfaction of seeing the first section of the Roumanian railways, connecting Bukowina and Moldavia, completed on December 15, 1869, whilst no less than 130 miles of much needed high roads were opened for traffic, chiefly on the western frontier of Roumania.