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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
A REMEDY FOR THE WEST RIVER Sandpiper to the ringe in question; sum-¡
PIRACY.
(Daily Press 19th, January.) The scandalous state of affairs now existing in the Canton Delta and the lower waters of the West River, as revealed in the latest report of piracy and brigandage in that region, must be an apology for again calling public attention in the colony to this well worn topic. It is evident that something must be done; the question is, who is to do it? Will the Chinese Government restore order in this turbulent province or shall the Bri- tish Government-not for the first time by any means--do it for them? Let us con- sider the first alternative. During the reign of the now departed Viceroy TAN the law- less characters in Southern Kwangtung have practically had a free hand. They have plundered native passenger boats, they have exacted toll from all merchandise passing through their "sphere of influence;" they have even held up foreign steamers and seized steam-launches with impunity.
scourge.
"
Camps of soldiers have been sent against them; strongest orders (on paper) have been issued to the local officials to disperse these bands; threats, of exem- plary punishment have been directed against those who should fail to stay the Has a single pirate stronghold been broken up? Has one incompetent official, civil or military, been dismissed? We have not heard of it. The pirates are stronger now than they were six months ago; the danger to life and property on the West River is greater.
Much is hoped from the advent of LI HUNG CHANG. He is accounted a strong man and a preserver of order. But, with the means at his disposal, he can do nothing, even if he would. There is not a single properly trained soldier in the province; nothing but a rabble of un- disciplined coolies, ready enough to sack a peaceful village, but quite unwilling to encounter men with arms who know how
to use them. Gunboats in numbers are at
the disposal of the Provincial Government, but they make no use of them. A Chinese gunboat seldom if ever visits Chu-tou-shan and, the adjoining creeks, yet this is a notorious pirate stronghold. The guard boats which forage the river banks, and whose number-in view of the situation-bas recently been augmented, have been known to complacently "stand by
"when a pas- senger boat or launch has been pirated within fifty yards of them. From these facts we conclude that nothing is to be hoped
for from the Chinese authorities,
It remains to consider the position of the British Government in China vis-a-vis this matter. The Hongkong community agitated for many years for the opening of the West River to foreign trade; the British Minister, in the face of great opposition from interested quarters, successfully brought it to pass and rightly gained much credit thereby.
mon the elders and cenand that they give up the ringleaders in the recent attack or pay a heavy fine.
(January 20, 1900,
the entrance of Russia. This is simple, so simple, that Russia sees no difficulty in adopting the phrase, and is, na we have seen preparing to utilise it in Korea. With Failing this--and we do not think they France the idea of an open door is a little would comply with these conditions-let more confused; it implies, logically, the clus- the Sandpiper bombard the village tilling of all other doors but one, over which not a house is left standing We think France would staud as an ideal sentinel. Buch action would meet with the approval of the foreign powers interested in the trade of South China, and an effectual stop coul then be put to the plans of these gentry for some time to come.
THE UNITED STATES AND THE
OPEN DOOR,
-
(Daily Press, 16th January.) Although from the first there could be no doubt as to the eventual result of the war in South Africa, Russia and France seem earlier than the British Government to have realised its serious nature, and recognised the fact that for a time it would be necessary
our
Japan has displayed a yet further ite of nu open door, which should admit of Japanese concessions everywhere. She contemplates, as the result of her open door, a scheme of colonisation, of subsidised steamers and It is but natural pensioned residents. then that these Powers should bave been ready, as long as the "Open Dour " remains merely an expression of diplomatic language, to consecrate with their approval 80 suggestive a word. What Mr. HAY's own ideaf the "Open Door " may be we have as yet not the means of discovering. So far as the Government of the United States has hitherto declared its po'icy it is a generous one, and one which will com- mend itself to Englishmen, but this will to concentrate its attention on the Afri- cander States. The opportunity presented scarcely be looked upon as a recommenda
leads us to cast some doubt on the em- itself as a favourable one for meddling in tio elsewhere, and it is this fact that the Far East now that the principal mar-
very good plot was otherwise engaged, and, as Russia pressement with which has just opened her communications with friends, and especially Russia and France, Primorsk by the completion of the Trans have received the suggestion. It is, at Baikal section of her Pacific Railway, the all events, well to remember that Russin has been assiduously engaged in strength- hint has evidently been given to France
Siberia to An that the moment was an opportune one forening her military position in Eastern extent hardly called pressing her ambitions. Nothing loth to
for for merely defensive purposes. The enter on the suggestion of her big friend, France has been seeking to make a diversion military occupation of Port Arthur could in the south, while Russia, with a better in itself hardly be accepted as a merely defensive step, but the occupation is only knowledge of her own wants and looking to
one of a series. Vladivostock has been a speedy absorption of Koren, has, in her converted into an arsenal of the first- silent and patient way, been seeking to
class and bristles with troops, and Vladi- vostock is only the last of a closely place Japan in the wrong, so that she on the coming contest un-
connected chain. The so-called Volun- may enter trammelled by at least diplomatic inter,
teer Fleet has been assiduously carry- ference. Japan has committed so many mistakes-diplomatic blunders they may ing troops for the last three years, at first indeed be called-that the task does not nominally as emigrants, but lately, without any pretence to concealment, as troops from seem a difficult one. As far as the con- tinental nations are concerned, Russia's ad- European Russia to strengthen and raise vance in Eastern Asia is looked upon with the tone of the Asiatic troops sent overland comparative indifference as a merely diplo- matic matter, and hence the explanation of Russia's desire to lead Japan into a repeti- tion of her former mistakes. The murder of the Queen and the petty interference in the palace emeute did more, for instance, to promote the advance of the former than In diplomacy a crime, any force of arms. as the witty Frenchman expressed it, is of far less moment than a blunder, and it is just this fact that lends more than ordinary importance to the present juncture. It is therefore, the more satisfactory that the two nations which have immensely the largest interests in the Pacific, England and the United States, are under the the bonds of a common interest growing measurably nearer. The occupation by the United States of
the Philippines has enlarged their interest in what to us is the Far East, and we find, to her credit, America is taking up, during her pre-occupation elsewhere, the part hitherto regarded as exclusively Eng.
It is as
nu illustration of common interest that we hail with satisfaction the part being played by Mr. HAY in endeavouring to bring together into common ecord the lending nations in their Chinese policy. is, unfortunately, one Open Door The of those sounding expressious which, having little intrinsic meaning of itself, lends itself to a different end as adoptel by Eng land, by Russia, and by France respectively, Russia's ideas of an open door are confined very much to a policy such as will facilitate
The British flag is the only foreign flag except the Portuguese-represented on the river; the foreign merchants who carry on the trade are of British or under British protection; the imports are chiefly British; | land's own. the bulk of the exports go to Hongkong; we | this feeling of a maintain British Consuls at the open ports; we go so far as to patrol the river with gun boats. Should we not, for our credit's sake, go a step further and put an end, once and for all, to this state of brig..ndage? Lest it should be said that we merely criticize au I do not propose a remedy, we offer the following suggestion to the powers that be. The other day a British mau-of-war's launch was tire on and forced to retreat from a village up a creek opposite Chu-tou-shan. Send the
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to
the
eastern seaboard. Meanwhile, quietly and unostentatiously, the Siberian Railway has been advanced, till within the last few days we get the unexpected in- been completed-a work not contemplated, telligence that the Trans-Baikal section has we have been told, for three years. The so are certainly not needed for defence; they are hardly required in assertion of Russia's position as a nation, and bear on their face the ugly expression of being intended for aggressive purposes. Altogether Mr. B. Hay's suggestions have not come without reason; never was an understanding between England and the United States more needed. The Pacific question has, in fact, come to be the great problem of the twentieth century, and it behoves the two great nations most
largely interested to be well guarded and
work with a common understanding.
According to the official returns made by the Japanese Financial Department, the exports frm the beginning of last year to the 25th ultimo amounted to 209,303,450 yen, while the imports for the same period reached the sum of 214,351,125 you, showing an excess in imp rts of 5,950,645 you. The exports show na in. crease of 92,818,755 yen and the imports a decrease of 5,450,278′ yen. as compared with the returus for the corresponding period of the preceding year. The export of gold and silver specie and bullion for the same period 76.163,740 yen as compared with 1898, while amounted to 19,440,202 yen, a decrease of the import was 20,015.564 yen, also a decrease of 22,471,230 yen. In apooto and bullion, there fore, the excess of imports amounted to the large sum of 9,575,662 yen.