Concessions granted by China to construct the Manchurian Railway—The East Chinese Railway Company and its statutes—Method of construction and utilization of the waterways—Military and political advantages—Branch to Port Arthur—Rapid progress already made. The completion of the Manchurian Railway will take place in a few years, and if there has been an apparent delay in its construction, it must not be forgotten that the harder work had already been finished on the Trans-Siberian line when the plans for the Chinese scheme were only just drawn up, and also that the obstacles to be overcome in Manchuria are infinitely greater than any that presented themselves in Siberia. These obstacles are mainly the result of the natural formation of the soil. As to the alleged political difficulties, they are very unimportant, although the line does pass through a Chinese province. Notwithstanding that it was nominally conceded to an anonymous society, the line is absolutely in the hands of the Russian Government, to confirm which statement we have only to study the statutes of the East China Railway Company, which were drawn up by the chief promoter, M. de Witte, and formulated by the Russo-Chinese Bank between August 26 and September 8, 1896, after the signing of the Convention between the Russian and the Chinese Governments. According to these statutes, which were approved of by the Russian Government on December 4 to 16, 1896, and published in the _Messager Officiel de l’Empire_, ‘the shareholders must be either Russians or Chinese. The concession lapses at the end of eighty years from the day of the opening of the completed line. The bonds can only be issued on demand, and then only with the consent of the Russian Minister of Finance. The Russian Government guarantees payment of the interest and the redemption of the bonds. The company is managed by a committee, comprising a President and nine members, of whom one is Vice-President, divided between Peking and St. Petersburg. The President is chosen by the Chinese Government only; the other members of the committee are usually elected at a general meeting of the shareholders. The chief duty of the President is to watch over the interests of the Chinese Government. The Vice-President is supposed to interest himself exclusively in the management of the company. The Russian Government has a right to superintend the progress and development of the works, both during the period of construction and of exploitation. The Russian Minister of Finance has, moreover, the right to ratify the nominations of the Vice-President, chief engineer, and of all other officials, and to approve or otherwise of any modifications which may be suggested during the construction of the line.