EL
March 12, 1904.]
THE
"CHINA TIMES" CASE AT
TIENTSIN.
(Daily Press, 9th March.) The question of the freedom of the Press must ever be one of great interest in this age of newspaper-reading, and this remark applies equally to the Far East and the rest of the world. The English and other European papers have long enjoyed a full measure of liberty all over the East. In British Colonies there is all the privilege enjoyed in other parts of the British Em pire. In Mauila the freedom allowed in the United States is accorded. In French Indo-China the Press can be as outspoken as in France. In Japan the English papers have been permitted to comment on events with little restriction, and if there is grum- bling now at greater strictness on the part of the Japanese Gvernment with regard to the publication of war news we hardly think that the complainants do right in expecting exactly the same license in Japan during the tour of her greatest trial as in long-established Western state. In China, of course, outside the settlements, the question does not exist; a free Press is, not a feature of Chinese civilisation as ye. There rum in the treaty ports in Chin... Hitherto tu I liberty has been the rule, and papers expressing all kinds of opinions have dout so without fear, provided they have not outraged feelings of decency and right conduct, Lut a case has now arisen which promises to become famous in the story of treaty port journalism. On the 2nd instat we published a telegram from our Tientsin correspondent, stating that in consequence of his denunciation of hu-sian cruel ies, Mr. JOHN COWEN, a journalist well known in the Far East, as well as at home, and now Editor of the China Times of Peking and Tientsin, had been summoned before the military au horities at Tientsin and ord rel| t give security for his behaviour; and that, on his refusal and bis insistenc on the feedom of the Press, he was threaten- ed with deportation. We publi-h to-day ano her telegram from the s me correspon- dent, in which we are told that the ca e is monopolising int rest in Tientsin. It ap- pears that Mr. CowEN has not yet been de- po:ted; at least the fact has not yet been stated as such, and the China Tim's is pro- testing against the senteuc. This, our coute orary urges, was given without any trial, without evidence, and without Mr. COWEN being allowed to make a lefence. Mr. CowEN's stand for the freedom of the Pre-8 has evoked the sympathy of war correspondents in Manchuria, who have telegraphed their cougratulations to him.
We are in a difficult position here for forming an opinion on the cas, sincs, o ving to the fact that all communication, not of a tel graphic nature, with Tientsin has been much delayed by the usual effects of winter in North China, we have not received any
i
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. troops in North China, or the Municipal Council concerned are doing. However, as we are without any data about the case except our own telegrams, we can only auspend judgment until we get further particulars and have an opportunity of seeing the articles complained of. At pre- sent it looks as if a most urbitrary line of conduct has been adopted by the military authorities in Tientsin.
INDIA AND THE FISCAL QUESTION.
(Daily Press, 10th March.)
In the last number which has reached us of the Bomby journal the Times of India, there is reproduced a highly important despatch from the Government of India to Mr. BRODRICK, dated the 22nd October last, and published last mouth. It deals with the question of India and tariff reform at considerable length and in an able man- ner. Our Bombay contemporary, white publishing the bulk of the despatch, has also a leading article which is worth reading by all those interested in the subject of the atitude of the various parts of the Britis Empire on the fiscal question. In respons to Lord GEORGE HAMILTON's desire to receive suggestions, from the point of view of Indian int rests, as to the resolution passed by the Colo il Premiers' Conference in London in 1902 in favour of preferential tariffs, the Indian Govern eut made an endeavour to examine the conditions of In lian trade and finance in their relation to the present tar.ff, and to consider bow they would be affected by any scheme of preferential duties within the Empire, and whether it would he of advantage to India to participate in them. The despatel has been characterised in India as' succinct, lucid, and statesmaulike, and the Times of India declares that it will be difficult for the most convinced advocate of Imujerial reci- procity to disagree with the logic of the document. The conclusion arrived at by the Indian Governments that it is unlikely that any material advantage will accrue to India from p cipation in Mr. CHAMBER- LAIN's scheme. We could not in the space of a single article follow the reasoning of the despatch with any minuteness, but we may try to give an outline of it.
At the present moment India enjoys the alvantages of free interchange of comnio. dities to an exceptional extent. If the matter is regarded from an economic standpint exclusively, India has some- thing, not very much, to offer to the Empire; but she has a great deal to risk. The financial danzer to India of reprisals by foreign nations is so serious tha. Ind a would not be justified in embark ing on any new policy, unless assured of greater an more certain benefits than the writers of the despatch have in mind. These three sentences give the main conclu-ious
of the Tientsin papers of a recent date, and|o the India Government. Of India's pre- so cannot judge as to the permissibility or seat enjoyment of free interchange of ex- otherwise of the language employ. d by our ports there can be no doubt. As the Times colleague on the Chila Times. Mr. Cowen of India points out, Indian come ce al- is a journalist of long exp rence, and it is ready has the alvautages for which tariff difficult to imagine that he can have mi-lülgel reformers at home are conten-ling. There in statements of such a kind as t warrant is not in India, as in England, a condition the extraordinary step of the joint military of rapidly rising barriers against the prin- authorities at Tientsin. For the proce dings | cipal exports and of declining foreign trade, must indeed be callel extraordinary. In | The circumstances giving rise to the the first place, that it was the m litary au thorities who acted is remarkable, se ing that Tientsin has Municipal Cuncils an is not under martial 1. In the sc nl, the absence of any trial or fac li i s defence is abhorrent to all sentiments of justice. We cannot understand what either General VENTRIS, commanding the British
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of the United Kingdom, with duties leriod for revenue. What the Government have to consider, says the Times of India, is not how to secure a freer interchange of goods, but what would be the effect upon a free- dom of interchange already existing in an 'unique measure of participation in a pre- ferential scheme. The risks run by India from foreign reprisals are plain. Iodian im- ports from the British Empire exceel exports by seven millions and a half sterl- ing; Indian exports to foreign countries, on the other hand, exceed imports by upwards of thirty millions sterling. The despatch comments hereon :-" Inasmuch as India is G a debtor country it follows therefore that
we are at présent dependent on "trade with foreign countries for the dis- "charge of our net international obliga "tions. This is an element of first
demand for reform at home are absent in India, where the low tariff for revenue pur- poses only is entirely free from any trace of protection or preference, and, especially with the excis, ucts as no barrier against imports. Of Indian export tra le one half pays no duty at all, and the remainder is charge with relatively moderate duties, or, as in the case
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our
importance in the consideration of the present question.". Later, the despatch continues:
:-"By ten years of effort, sacrifice, "and perseverance we have slowly built up a fair measure of public confidence in the stability of our finance.
But, if
f
by n change of the fiscal policy, the "balance of trade in our favour should "dwindle or disappear, the whole work of "ten years would be sacrificed, and a set-back "to our trade, our revenues, and our credit "would immensely outweigh any benefits "that we might reasonably expect from a "most unconditional surrender of our
opponents in the war of tariffs." Against this danger, the preferential advantage which might be hoped for is light in the balance. If duties are not to be imposed ou raw materials imported into the United Kingdom, India can receive no advantage in the home market for these. This would rule out all India's staple exports except wheat, the most fluctuating of all. Even wheat would have to meet the competition of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom itself on even terms. Indian and Ceylon tea already command the home market. The only articles of Indian production likely to benefit by pre- ferential treatment are tobacco and indigo, unimportant items in the export returns.
The conclusion of the Indian Government's
despatch considers the case of the United Kingdom adopting a policy of preferential tariffs or of retaliation, when if India adheres to ber former principle of refusing to differentiate between different countries' import she might become the battlefield of conflicting interests in which she has no direct concern. A foreign country, secure in possession of a free and equal market for its goods in India, might be emboldened to penalise Indian trade in order to bring pressure to bear on the mother country or the colonies. This danger would be less threatening, says the despatch, if other countries were to know that Indis would b prepared, if need be, to retaliate in-kind on their imports into India. In no circum- stances, however, would India allow a policy of retaliation to develop into one of aggres- sion. The writers of the despatch are hope ful that the mere announcement that India's hands are free to act against those penali- sing her exports will suffice to maintain her in enjoyment of her present measure of free exchange or even to- exten' it. The Times of India points out that the able antlysis of India's pre- sent fiscal policy contained in the despatch is inferentially a powerful argument in support of Mr. BALFOUR's plea for retalia tory powers. India owes her present advantages partly to the nature of her export trade and partly to the circum- "stance that she has a tariff to bargain