centres where the Siberian railway crosses the principal waterways.
The future success of British trade in Siberia must in no small measure depend upon consular facilities for British trade in these regions. The activity of the German Government in this direction shows that it is keenly alive to the fact that in young developing countries such as Siberia, assistance by the consular representatives must be afforded to all pioneers.
Railways and Communications in Siberia
(1) History of the Great Siberian Railway.—By far the most important factor on which the development of Siberia depends is the improvement of transport facilities. At present the vastness of the country and the inaccessibility of large tracts of it to a great extent neutralize its richness and fertility and prevent speedy development. On the other hand, nature has given to Siberia a great system of waterways, which, although they all flow northward to the frozen sea, nevertheless are all navigable and are admirably adapted to act as feeders to the railway system, as the latter grows. Formerly the communication between European Russia and Western Siberia was effected by pack horses from the headwaters of the Kama River in European Russia across the Urals to the tributaries of the Obi and Irtish rivers, whence traffic went by boat along the river systems of Western and Central Siberia. This costly and clumsy system of transport was, of course, done away with when the railway was brought from Ekaterinburg in the Urals to Tiumen in the Obi watershed. This line enabled goods from Western
