Austro Hungarian Government at Sofia

The Orient Railways Company, though it was quite willing to agree to the principle of the proposed transfer, could not reasonably be expected to approve so high-handed a measure, which might hereafter constitute a precedent for a summary seizure of any portion of their lines. The shareholders in the company are mainly Viennese capitalists and Austrian grandees, who have great personal influence at the Imperial Court. Immediately upon M. PetkofTs action becoming known, the representative of the Austro-Hungarian Government at Sofia was instructed to enter a strong protest against any forcible settlement of the Bellova-Sarembey controversy, as constituting a violation of the rights of its subjects.

Bulgaria has every motive for keeping on good terms with Austria, and on the Ministry being informed of this protest having been made, they showed their good sense by receding immediately from an untenable position, and withdrawing their officials from the Sarembey station. In consideration of this concession, Austria brought strong pressure to bear at Constantinople, and induced the Sultan to sanction an arrangement, in virtue of which the working of the Sarembey-Bellova section has now been taken over by Bulgaria from the Orient Railways Company for a period of five years, on terms which are mutually satisfactory.

Between the Governments of Bulgaria and Turkey

This arrangement, by the way, includes an annual payment of £80 a kilometre for the lease of another section of the line west of Bellova, the title to which has been for some time matter of dispute between the Governments of Bulgaria and Turkey, and which, pending the settlement of this dispute, had been taken possession of by the Government of Sofia.

It is not only in connection with the Orient Railways Company that the political history of Bulgaria is curiously associated with railway questions. The story of the Varna- Rustschuk Line, as it was told me, throws a curious light on the way things were managed in Bulgaria during the Turkish era.