to be considered by the congress of representatives of the service of rolling stock and traction, and the ratification of the conclusion of this congress is to follow the usual course.

ART. 4. The equipment of the freight stock with continuous brakes is to be carried out in the following sequence:

(a) In the course of the first four years, brake apparatus will be placed on all freight engines and tenders.

(6) In the course of the same period of time, main pipes will be placed on all freight trucks in direct traffic.

(c) In the course of the same four years, the wagons which have to be provided with continuous brakes will be equipped with foundation brakes, and the equipment of these Wagons will be made complete, maintaining the hand brake, but the brake apparatus of the wagons must be taken down and kept in stock until the time when it will be fixed permanently to the stock.

(d) With a view to carrying into effect points a, b, and c, there will be ordered in the course of the first four years the necessary number of engine and carriage fittings, connecting tubes, and brake gear.

ART. 5. During the second period of time—i. e., after the expiration of the first four years-all the brake trucks in direct traffic will be supplied with brake apparatus and guards' taps and all the carriages of direct communication (both braked and nonbraked) with rubber hose couplings, two to each carriage. The rubber hose couplings must be got ready in due time.

ART. 6. In the course of the second period of time, premises will be constructed for the storage of spare parts necessary for the maintenance and repair of the brake fittings, and the necessary number of spare parts provided.

ART. 7. On freight engines, first of all, the tenders will be equipped with brake apparatus.

ART. 8. Brake blocks will be applied to the driving wheels of the normal frieght engines after the necessary alterations in the construction of these engines have been made. The fitting of brake blocks to the driving wheels of freight engines of other types is left to the discretion of the local managements of the lines, depending on the construction of the engines.

ART. 9. The work indicated in article 8 will be proceeded with not earlier than after the complete termination of the work indicated for the second period.

ART. 10. The periods of time for the work indicated are: First period, from the 1st of January, 1899, to the 1st of January, 1903; second period, from the 1st of January, 1903, to the 1st of January, 1905; third period, from the 1st of January, 1905, to a date not predetermined.

ART. II. When fixing the main brake pipe to the carriages, before the complete equipment of the brakes can be finished and until a decision has been taken as to the most rational means of preserving the connecting tubes from choking and rusting, these tubes will be stopped with solid wooden stoppers, and these stoppers cut flush with the edges of the tubes, so that they can not be taken out.

Remark. It is allowed to bring forward, for the consideration of the next consultative congress of the representatives of the service of rolling stock and traction, the question of the application of some other more expedient means of preserving the connecting tubes from choking, until the time that the brakes are brought into use.

ART. 12. For the brake blocks of the engines, tenders, and carriages, the type of blocks of the normal goods truck will be adopted.

ART. 14. After communicating with the managements of the various lines, the number of braked vehicles of the nonnormal type which it will be expedient to

equip with air-brake apparatus will be indicated; and in conformity with these indications and the number of normal-brake carriages available on State and private lines, the building of new standard vehicles with brake will be arranged for, and the necessary credit asked for the State railways, and the necessary means found for the private railways, so calculated that by the 1st of January, 1903, there shall be on the various lines the whole number of braked vehicles required, as prescribed in article 24 of the present order.

ART. 15. For acquainting the staff of servants with the construction of the brake appliances of the Westinghouse system, and for the instruction of that staff in the operation and regular use of the brake, there will be used training or instruction carriages provided with drawings, models, and installations containing all the parts of the brake system and capable of being brought into action in the same manner as is done on the train.

Negotiations will be entered into with the Westinghouse Company for the preparation for the State railways of one such carriage, in order that, in the course of the first period, a tour may be made over the State lines in the said carriage by skilled persons from the said firm, for imparting to the staff of servants the necessary instructions.

The question of the introduction of such instruction on private lines is left to

the discretion of the managements of these lines.

ART. 19. Of the various systems of brakes tried by the brake commission, one superior system (not reckoning the Westinghouse system), admitting of harmonious action with the Westinghouse system, is to be introduced on the passenger trains of one of the railways indicated by the direction of the Ministry of the Ways of Communication, with the proviso that the brake system selected is to be subjected on the said line to trial and thorough test under the ordinary conditions of working during a period of three years, after which the question of the expediency of adopting this system for the goods-carriage stock will be considered.

ART. 24. The number of freight cars in direct traffic to be equipped with complete brake apparatus must be in accordance with the rules now in force for hand brakes (20 per cent).

ART. 25. The equipping of the freight stock of the Transcaucasion Railway with continuous automatic brakes is to be carried out independently of the present rules, viz, the engines, tenders, and vehicles of this road to be provided simultaneously with complete Westinghouse-brake apparatus, pressure-retaining valves, brakegear connecting tubes, intercarriage hose couplings, and guards' taps.

The number of braked axles to be established in accordance with the profits of the road.

The brake-block pressure to be established in accordance with article 13 of the present order.

ART. 29. Private railways are allowed to order brake apparatus of the Westinghouse system, according to their discretion, in whole sets or in separate parts and to give these orders either through the management of the State railways or by independent contract, as may be found of most advantage to them.

The drafts of independent contracts concluded by the managements of private railways for the supply of the above-mentioned brake apparatus must be presented for approval to the Ministry of Ways of Communication, with a detailed explanation of the reasons on account of which the management of the road prefers ordering by independent contract and not through the intermediary of the State railways department.

At the same time, the managements are forewarned that they can reckon on the approval of the ministry of the said draft contracts, only in case there should be incontestable advantages in doing so as compared with ordering the same articles through the intermediary of the State railways department.

ART. 30. There will be communicated to the managements of private railway companies, for their information, a copy of the contract concluded by the State railways department with the Westinghouse Company.

RUSSIA'S ACREAGE IN BEETS IN 1899.

Vice and Deputy Consul-General Heydecker sends the following from St. Petersburg, July 31, 1899:

The area devoted to the cultivation of beets in European Russia at the end of May, 1899, amounted to 1,212,972 acres, against 1,083,758 in 1898, an increase of 129,214 acres, or 11.9 per cent; of that amount 801,935 acres belonged to the planters and 411,040 to factories. The following table shows the number of acres under cultivation in the beet-growing governments:

RUSSIAN TAXES ON TRADE AND COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS.

The Department has received from Ambassador Tower, under date of St. Petersburg, July 24, 1899, translation of the provisions. of the Russian law of June, 1898, in regard to taxes on manufacture and trade and the granting of permits to commercial travelers to transact business in Russia. The law reads:

Such commercial houses only shall have the right to employ commercial travelers in Russia as have paid the tax of the first class, and such manufacturing industries only as have paid the taxes of the first three classes.

This applies equally to commercial houses and manufacturing industries that have or have not establishments of their own in Russia.

The first-class tax for commercial houses is 500 rubles ($257); those for manufacturing industries are 500, 1,000, and 1,500 rubles ($257, $515, and $772).

In addition to this, each commercial traveler is required to pay an individual tax of 50 rubles ($25.75) per annum.

Manufacturing industries which have no factories of their own in Russia, but carry on a wholesale trade within the Empire through the medium of commercial travelers, are classed with commercial houses; they pay a tax of 500 rubles, therefore, instead of those, ranging from 500 to 1,500 rubles, provided for manufacturers. The taxes upon manufacturing and trading are assessed according to the official permits granted for the purpose of carrying on either manufacturing industries or trade within the Empire. Therefore, a commercial traveler who wishes to obtain an individual permit to do business in Russia must show as his authority either the original permit of his principals or a legally certified copy of it.

No commercial traveler will be allowed to transact business within the Empire as representative of a commercial house or manufacturing industry until such commercial house or manufacturing industry shall have obtained the prescribed permit, which is to be done either by an application made directly by the principals themselves or by an authorized commercial traveler in their behalf.

Manufacturing industries and business houses which have obtained the prescribed permit to carry on their business within the Empire may employ any number of commercial travelers they see fit, provided that each of such commercial travelers shall pay an annual tax of 50 rubles for that purpose and shall obtain an annual permit.

WORK ON SIBERIAN RAILWAY.

Mr. Hagerman, second secretary of embassy at St. Petersburg, sends, under date of July 17-29, 1899, the following translation of an article from the Novoe Vremia:

Each year the Great Siberian Railway draws the attention of State officials, and this year Prince Hilkoff, Minister of Ways of Communication, and Mr. MiasoiezdoffIvanoff, the newly appointed director of Russian railways, have just inspected the

line in question.

Both were called there to decide questions of the utmost importance. Two portions of this line may be said to be in operation. The amount of traffic on the line between Tcheliabinsk and Irkutsk is:

During the first two months of the present year the freight transported on the Great Siberian Railway amounted to 14,000,000 poods (233,333 tons); and in the month of May, on the Central Siberian Railway alone, 1,200 cars of freight were waiting two months for their turn, being directed to a famine-stricken district in the direction of the Trans-Baikal. During the first two months of the present year 150,000 workmen and settlers were carried along the Siberian line.

The power of economic impulse given to the great line can be seen in many ways. In the center of great ranges of mountains rich coal mines have been discovered and are already being exploited by several large companies. Small villages are becoming towns. On the other hand, certain industries (that of the caravan, for instance) are falling off; and as a proof that the railway is to do a great work, nine wooden bridges on the line have been burned down since last spring. This crime is laid to the principal carriers, or caravan proprietors, who find no more work since the railway has been inaugurated.

A serious misfortune occurred in the year 1897 in the Trans-Baikal district, which was completely flooded. This occasioned not only a famine, but the necessity of making a new project of the line for the railway for a distance of over 1,000 versts (666 miles). This flood was followed by famine, bringing with it great disaster and much disease.

The above résumé indicates that radical changes must be made immediately. First, means must be organized to meet the mass of passenger and freight traffic. The great railway never expected such success, and has been built economically steep hills, sharp curves, light rails, a limited quantity of rolling stock of bad quality, and a still more limited number of employees. In a word, all was prepared for a sleeping country, to which gold alone could entice. What must be done now? It will be to change the light rails for heavier ones, to renew the roadbed, to lengthen and to increase the number of sleepers; also to build switch stations at small intervals on the line in order to increase the number of trains, and to change the wooden bridges for iron bridges. It has also been found absolutely necessary to build large warehouses to preserve cereals at various points along the line.

Below is a general view of the Great Siberian Railway, as reported by all who have inspected it.

On the western portion of the line, since its inauguration, 29 new switches have been built, and 10 others are being built at the present time; in all, 41 will be built. This will permit of the running of 10 trains a day. On this portion of the railway the 50 wooden bridges which existed are being replaced by iron bridges. The long-expected iron bridge over the Yenisei is now ready; it is 2,800 feet long and 420 feet wide. It is considered one of the finest pieces of engineering ever executed. In order to overcome the heavy grades on this railway, it has been supplied with locomotives of the Malet system. Unfortunately, this portion of the railway can not operate more than 5 pairs of trains a day, and that is why the Minister of Ways of Communication found this mass of goods waiting its turn

for the last two months.