ACROSS TWO CONTINENTS

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 311, 11 January 1902, Page 4

ACROSS TWO CONTINENTS

[By Alfred Stead.] (Concluded.)

Irkutsk we saw by electric light., .which, however, did not render the utie/en roads any softer, and we left the same evening on the express 1o Moscow. This train was not crowdeu, and consisted of one first-class, two seei nd-class, and dining and kitchen cats. Everything was very comfortable though not well kept up, and although the Siberian scenery is very lr.o-.otonous, the eight days to Mosoo v passed very agreeably. From Moscow we , proceeded directly to St Pc tor 5bui'g. where we arrived exactly ldi days after our departure for Harbin. We did the j ourney in one day less tl.au 31. Lessar, which was not bad. 1 must, however, confess that everyth'.vg was done for our comfort, ami that all the engineers and officers along our Manchurian line of journey were most kind. Only twice were officers uncivil, and on one occasion this arose from drunkenness. It was worth living for weeks on tinned goods and stray chickens to encounter so much kindness and to make so many pleasant acquaintances. The journey through Manchuria was hard : it was often, necessary to forsake special cars for hand-wagons, dresines, flat cars (ess comfortable means of progress, but it was intensely interest ng. From the time we readied the Siberian Railway there were no hardships, ixcepting perhaps those which arose from an inability to speak Russian. The whole journey afforded us a triumphant demonstration of Russias system of peaceful conquest and its advantages. It also gave a deep insight into the vastness of tiie magnitude of the Russian Empire. From Taut Arthur to St, Petersburg wc travelled over 11,000 miles, all along Russian lines and all through territory which actually, if nor politically, is Russian land. And then we had the tourney from St. Petersburg to the Russo-German frontier before we finished traversing the domains of the Tzar. And the whole length of the line there was peace—armed peace in many places, to he sure, but Peace. The Russians may not be able to coloni«e—although they have colonised the Steppes and Siberia—but they have brought conquest to the level of a fine arL. and a peaceful art, too.

The general expectation is that the railway will he ready for regular traffic by the end of 1002. Then the many steamship companies to the East wi.l have to face the competition of a -outc which is cheaper and quicker. For China and Japan they would lose most of their passenger traffic, while to Australia the light should he very equal. As to the future of Manchuria ,j,d whether the Russians will annex j.- evacuate the country, I can only •ay that whoever has the railway has Manchuria, and that the 25,000 men of the railway ' guard are to he replaced next year by men of the regular hi my to save expense. The military occupation may cease and Manchuria be evacuated, but Manchuria will still he to Russia what Egypt is to Great Esritain, and their relation may perhaps go further even than that. Hut it is not for me in this article to deal with the political side of the new railway route. The time will soon arrive when tiie railway will be open to the world, and Russia will have accomplished her task of reducing the world’s size by one-fourth, and the world may then judge for its-df.