The Berlin correspondent of the Times states in Thursday's paper
that, according to the Frankfurter Zeitung, the Turkish Council of Ministers has approved the plans "for the exten- sion of the Baghdad Railway rid Alexandretta," and says the work will probably be resumed at Bulgurin in a few days. The correspondent. concludes that this means that the Baghdad Railway Company has obtained final approval of its scheme for extending the line from its present railhead to Aleppo, and that the original plans have been modified so as to carry the line from Adana to the sea at Alexandretta. It will be remembered that when the matter was discussed in the Turkish Parliament some Deputies argued that the route from Adana by way of the harbour of Alexandretta would pay much better than a line by the more direct inland route. This proposal has apparently been accepted. The technical difficulties of building the line by this longer route will not be less, and the cost will naturally be more. If the new section is really taken in hand soon, it will be very interesting to see how the engineers overcome the extraordinary diffi- culties of penetrating the Taurus Mountains.
