June 29, 1903)
64
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
19
is every prominent statesman of the day in England, with the possible exception of Mr. CHAPLIN; the phrase which he used- of "gambling with the food of the people' -is one that would strike at the root of all commerce, whether carried on free-trade or protectionist lines. None knows better than he that every important operation, be it fiscal, commercial or political, in its very essence partakes of the nature of gambling," an as the food of the people constitutes the life's blood of the commerce of the people, so is it in its very essence from day to day the most subject to the imputation of gambling. The very name by which our great merchants were, three centuries ago, proud to distinguish them selves is an indication of the fact of the large part played by chance in every merchant venture. In the new sense in which Lord GoscHEN chooses to stigmatise the suggestions of Mr. CHAMBERLAIN as gambling," COBDEN and Sir ROBERT P.EL were the greatest gamblers of th: age, and the great Budget of Sir ROBERT PEEL, which has dominated the course of British finance from that to this, was the greatest piece of gambling of modern times. Doubt- less, now that this latest champion of freed n of trade has had time to reflect, he has seen that his hasty argument may be ina le to cut both ways.
But, on the other hand, the aspirations of Canada in the North-east and of Australia in the South-west are factors which it is equally impossible to disregard. Alarmists at home have cried out that American com- petition has already shaken Britain's com- mercial position all over the world; but an examination of the figures fails to sustain their arguments: Similarly British writers have spoken of the Pacific question as if all pointed to a speedy predominance of the United States; but they have failed to produce solid proofs. We do not think the subject a very profitable ground for specul- tion. There can be no doubt that the next century will see a great advance of United States interests in those waters of which the westernmost wash our island of Hongkong. But this is a different thing from the rlegation of Great Britain to a secondary place in the Pacific. We do not think that the progress of the United States need militate seriously against British interests" in this oceau There is not but the remotest likelihood of the whole of the Pacific, coming under one supreme in fluence. In parts, doubt, the United States will predominate. In others, and these by no means the least important, Britain must continue supreme unless a sudden catastrophe reduces her from the rank which she now holds among the Powers, The Pacific Ocean, however, is large enough for more than two Powers, reasonable napirations, and we have for tunately no reason to apprehend other than friendly rivalry between Great Britain and the United States in these waters. The patriotic expressions of an inhabitant of either empire should not be able to do injury to the liarmony prevailing between the two nations.
-
MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S SCHEME,
|
453
how soon it may assume an importante at present undreamt of. This is all, we take it, Mr. CHAMBERLAIN meant by bringing the subject forward in the present conjunc- tion of affairs. At all events the subject of food-supply in case of war has impressed itself sufficiently seriously on the public conscience to call for the appointment of a Royal Commission; Mr CHAMBERLAIN'S proposals, however startling they may at the moment appear, are but a natural oról- lary to the problem, and as such are deserving of the widest and freest discussion. The matter is of far wider import than the aca-lemic question of the morits and demerits of Free Trade and Protection; dad involves subjects of the highest possible politics of Empire,
M
MEDICAL MEN ON STEAMERS.
(Daily Pr88, 20th June.) On Thursday afternoon there was laid before the Sanitary Board the reply of the Government to an enquiry addressed to it on the 26th April last, with referenca to Chinese travellers between here an I Canton or Macao and recalling Professor SIMPSON'S recommendation of the carriage of a medical man on the steamers, native and European, passing between Hongkong and the two ports mentioned. The Government's reply as regards the latter point was that it had been decided not to enforce the carrying of doctors, " as it was not clear what good would result thereby." It is useful to real again Professor SIMPSON's actual word, taken from the section of his report which dealt with remedial measures against plague. "It is requisite for the Government of "Hongkong to be in possession of inform - "tion as to the existence of plague in those
26
<
៩៩
parts of China with which the Colony is "most intimately connected, comзreilly "and socially, in order that the ordinary measures of precaution may be taken 'against importation of the disease. This "protection may be afforded, not by quarun- "tine, which is ineffective and a costly dis- "turbance to trade, but by a supervision at "the most dangerous period of the your over "the junks and steamers trading with "infected distric's, and insisting othe large steamer, u ttive and European, which carry hundreds of passagers daily to "and fro between Canton and Hongkong, " and
between Macao, and Hongkong, having a surgeon on board at the com- panies' expense to report those that are "sick with plague and other infectious disease, the alternative being a malical inspection before the steamer conmani- "cates with the shore, a mle of procedure which causes much delay and inco- venience, and should be avoided if possible." Pro®essor ̧ SIMPS ›N proceeds, in the next paragraph :-" Though neither medical surveillance nor quarantine is
**
If
In one sense no reform, however al- vantageous to the country at large, but has been followed by consequences unfor- seen by its author, how sapient however my have been his reasoning, and Free Trade is no exception to the rule. One of the undoubted results of Free Trade and open competition has been that a large extent of land, which under altered conditions could not be worked at a profit, has been thrown out of cultivation; and though from a merely commercial standpoint this has been no disadvantage to the country at large, which has distinctly gained by (Daily Press, 22nd June.)
the cheaper rate at which food-stuffs have One marked source of weakness in the been obtainalo in other quarters, there present style of administration of govern- are political disadvantages inseparable from ment in England is themarked prominence such a condition of affairs. One of the given to party words concocted on the spur chief of these is that owing to political of the moment, and supposed to contain complications abroad there may arise dif within themselves the kernel of a policy.ficulties in procuring a regular supply, and In China we are suffering from the after-so the country may be momentarily placed effects of a policy of laisser faire, which in a state of siege by the action of one or can, not indistinctly, be traced to the more foreign Powers conspiring together unfortunate adoption by the party in office to cut off the necessary supplies. Of of a chance aphorism of Lord SALISBURY, late the possibility of such a condition "the Open Door."|| In the beginning, has forced itself unpleasantly on the mini Lord SALISBURY intended to express some- of the nation, and the question has been thing very definite, and the policy of the asked, Is it good that a uation desirous of Open Door did mean something which at occupying itself with the affairs of the the time was advisable and practical. world should find itself hampered with Times and conditions change, but these a prospect of having to surrender party cries have a dangerous habit of at discretion without the opportunity of living their utility, and so are apt to become striking a blow in self-defence ? sources of detriment or a best of inaction affair is reduced almost to absurdity on the part of those with whom they once when we take into consideration that stood as a witness of energy. So too Lord within the limits of our own Empire" feasible in Hongkong, yet it is not ROSEBERY'S aphorism of the Clean Slate" there is sufficient to feed not only the entire has within little less than a twelvemouth of the homeland, but to leave au enormous come to express a policy on the part of the margin besides. A rule such as would Opposition very different from the sense in have to be called into existence to meet such which its author intended it should be a dema id is not the work of a day; and it employed, and it as certainly not been is a fair subject of consideration whether pa conducive to the higher estimation of the the whole a slight increase on our present" leaders of the party by whom it was adopted light burdens by way of insurance would as the quintessence of political acumen. not be wise on our part. Oa the subject Seen in this light we must express our
whether it would or not we are not going unqualified condemnation of the last of to dogmatise; the matter is a wide
one,
and these apparently innocent apophthegms must be fought out on its merits. A far that of Lord GoSCHEN with regard to Mr. wider range of subjects than the mere CHAMBERLAIN'S suggested financial policy abstract question of Free Trade is here at of the future Lord GOSCHEN has, in fact, issue; it may even be that the whole ques- ventured into waters too deep for his tion of the continuance of empire rests on stature, however commanding. He is our decision. It is not at the moment a doubtless a conscientious free-trader, but so matter of life or death, but we know not
out-
|
|
The
44
14
"advisable to dispense with all precautions
having for their object the protection of "the Colony from the importation of pligus. "Thousands of immigrants evning from "infected localities arrive in the Clony, "and are permitted to takз up their residence without any precaution to "screen out those that may be infected. The same may be said of other passengers coming from Canton, and its neighbour- "hood, the West River aid delta, and "other infected centres in the provinces not far from Hongkong. Those dangara require to be met.” Again, in the next paragraph of his report Professor SIMPзON remarks, quoting from a previous memor- andum of the 20th March:-“I am further "of opinion that the Canton steamers-
+4
#4