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Show I CHINESE HAVE THEIR OWN STREET RAILWAY Shanghai, Oci 10. The firBt elec t trie street car to be financed, constructed con-structed and ooe-ated solely by Chinese Chi-nese was opened a few days ago in the native ciry tjy native city io meant old Shanghai, or the section under Chinese jurisdiction as distln guished from the international settle ment which is controlled by foreign residents No foreigner vas allowed to 3ub scribe a cent of the $130,000 or 200,000 taels which was raised to finance tht project All the construction work was done by Chinese contractors, am the management and working staff are al) Chinese. The finished job t eminently satisfactory in view of the fact that previous to this attempt the Chinese have had no practical experi ence In such work without foreign d? rection The only foreigner connected con-nected with the enterprise was Mr E. Kocher, a consulting engineer Just at present the new line is onl;. three miles long, running from the Chinese waterfront from the MarclH de l'Est to the Shanghai terminus of the Hangchow railroad An extension of a half mile to the Arsenal road ban already been begun, and it is planned to further enlarge the service by building a line on the boulevard which is to encircle the old native city on the ground formerly occupied by the ancient city wall The native city has a population estimated ai 280 000, Six cars are now in operation and twelve more are being made by the Chinese car builders, the Yur Sine; company The electrical apparatus was bought In Germany. |