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reform in Hongkong, which now we believe is being seriously if tardily undertaken, and though we have opposed the importation of Chinese coolies in South Africa if any other expedient can be found, we nevertheless must repudiate Dr. EVATT's harmful and unjust libel on this Colony, which in health statistics ranks high in the East. The Surgeon-General may have been writing of Hongkong as it appeared to him in 1898. Even if that be so, he damages his case by sensational exaggeration; and he has no right to apply his remarks to Hongkong of the present day.We trust that the readers of the Daily News will not form their opinions of this Colony from what Dr.
EVATT says.
BRITISH POLICY AT WEIHAIWEI.
(Daily Press 28th April.)
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND must dig out 30ft. of the same material, or anything else there may be underneath it, as the available area is mostly dry at low water. In fact " any comparison between Weibniwei and Port Arthur is as the Guildhall to a rat-trap." The letter con- concludes, "My idea of the proper policy to be pursued with regard to Weihaiwei may be summed up in three words-Fortify or quit."
[May 2, 1904.
FRANCE AND SIAM.
(Daily Press, 26th April.) The much-vexed question of Franco-Siamese relations seems at last really close to settlement. As our readers know, a new treaty has been concluded and only waits to have its terms put into operation. The abortive agreement of 1902 which, favour- able though it was to France, did not satisfy Now it is certainly remarkable that these the French Colonial party, has been super- three, Admirals SEYMOUR (three years ago, seded by another giving France further at least), FITZGERALD, and FREMANTLE, privileges, and the outcry of the grasping who have all been first or second in com- Colonials, if not entirely silenced, seems at mand of the British Fleet in China waters, least deprived of force. M. ETIENNE, the have all expressed themselves strongly well-known writer on France's foreign affairs against the policy of the non-fortification of had in a number of the Dépêche Coloniale Weihaiwei, and that this policy neverthe early in March an article in which he less has been decided on by Great Britain. pointed out the advantages of the new But, in justice to those who directed the treaty. A great argument of the objectors policy in question, we must allow that in was that France agreed to evacuate Chanta- Admiral Sir CYPRIAN BRIDGE, who only | boon-in accordance with the treaty of last month retired from the China com- 1893! In that year, when France and Siam mand, they have a very strong advocate. signed a convention, it was stated at the In the same number of the Times in which end of the document that France would Admiral FITZGERALD's communication ap. continue to occupy Chantaboon until the pears, there is a very able letter signed execution of the stipulations of the conven- simply "J. R. T.," in which great im- tion, "and particularly until the complete portance is attached to the opinion of and pacific evacuation of the Siamese Admiral BRIDGE, whom the Times has posts established both on the left bank of described as "entitled to speak on such a the Mekong and ou the islands in the river, subject with the high authority which as well as those in the provinces of Battam- belongs to intimate local knowledge, to wide bong and Siem Reap and within fifteen naval experience, and to a strategic insight miles of the right bank of the Mekong.' and historic grasp which place him in Now Siam claimed very soon after the signa- the very front rank of living writers on the ture of the treaty that she had fulfilled the teachings of naval history and the principles conditions, but France has persisted in the of naval strategy." These remarks of the occupation of Chantaboon in spite of all Times, it may be remembered, occurred in protests In 1902 she promised to give an article on a paper read by Admiral back to Siam this guarautee of good be- BRIDGE before the United Service Institu-haviour as she considered it, but of course tion at Hongkong in February, 1903, on "The Supply and Communications of a Fleet," which vigorously supported his own advice to the Government against the organi-
$4
In the correspondence columns of the London Times at the end of March, Admiral C. C. PENROSE FITZGERALD brings up again or rather joins in the resuscitated discussion of British policy at Weihaiwei. The Times special war correspondent on the Haimun, telegraphing by the new wireless apparatus from Chinnampo on the 21st ultimo, denounced this policy as "casual in the extreme," a criticism which inspired Admiral FITZGERALD to write. The Admiral bas particular reasons for so doing, seeing that his opinions, with those of his chief, Admiral Sir EDWARD SEYMOUR, have been quoted in the House of Lords. As he points out, Admiral SEYMOUR, serving at present on full pay, is not permitted to publish his opinions; but he himself is not under such restrictions. Admiral FITZGERALD Stats that his views are still unaltered from what they were three years ago, when the Government asked for them; he cannot answer for Sir EDWARD, but at any rate in 1901 both were adverse to holding Weihaiwei in an absolutely unfortified condition.sation of Weihaiwei as a secondary base for They thought, continues Admiral Frrz- GERALD, that the decision to keep the British flag flying on the island, even if we only called it a sanatorium and a watering-place, but with a certain amount of coal, other stores, hospital, playgrounds, &c., within ninety miles of Port Arthur, but without a single gun mounted to protect the place even against a cruiser raid, was to create a strategically false position, as the admiral in command of the station would either have to haul down the flag, destroy the stores, embark the sick, and "cut and run
on the first threat of war, or else he would have to tie his squadron to the place to protect it. Admiral FITZGERALD is glad to be able to quote Admiral FREMANTLE, who was for three years in command on this station, who also endorses the Times correspon- dent's opinion. He then proceeds to demolish the statement of Sir JAMES HOPE, produced by Sir SPENCER WALPOLE in defence of the Government, that both Chefoo and Weihaiwei are worth- less. He says that, while Chefuo is out of the question as being a treaty port, the conditions at Weihaiwei since Sir JAMES HOPE visited it forty-four years ago have so changed as to render his opinion at that time irrelevant to the present. The harbour has been deepened, and the water question has been solved. Admiral FITZGERALD agrees with the Times representative that in Weihaiwei we possess the finest harbour | posed to the Government view. in the Yellow Sea, for that is so not only actually, but still more so potentially; if you want to make an extra berth for a battleship at Weihaiwei you have to dredge out about 8ft. of mud over a given area, and if you want to increase the accommoda- tion of Port Arthur to the same extent you
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the 1902 agreement fell through, and Chan- taboon still remains French. The Colonial party have made vigorous denunciations of the idea of surrender, stating that France, has spent about 12,000,000 francs in public the supply of stores, ammunition, and coal to works there, all of which will have been British warships in North Chinese waters. wasted if the place is restored to Siam. J. R. T." then develops the argument-not They have also alleged that Chantaboon is new, but still potent-that Weihaiwei's important to the defence of Indo-China in proper defence is a predominant fleet, with view of the war proceeding between Japan out which no fortifications would enable it and Russia. Apparently they think that to hold out. He says:-"Poit Arthur and Siam will be emboldened by Japan's "Vladivostock have been fortified at great success to attack Indo-China-truly ridicul
cost and heavily garrisoned. Suppose, ons though the idea may seem to us. "instead of spending the money on brick- However, M. ETIENNE pays little attention laying, Russia had devoted it to such an to such a suggestion, and says that Krat, "increase of her naval power in Far Eastern the port on the coast further south, which "waters as would have given her undisputed by the new treaty is to be given to France, "command of the area of maritime conflict is worth at least as much as, if not more "with Japan. Is it not certain that in such than Chantaboon, which is not a protection a case no Japanese sailor or soldier would to Cambodia or to Indo-China generally, ever even have set eyes on Port Arthur or In his opinion the great disadvantage of Vladivostock, still less have been in a the old treaty was that it left quite vaguely position to attack and possibly to capture defined the frontier between the Great Lake "them?" The argument, though clever, and the sea. Krat now, however, becomes strikes us as a little specious. No one French, and while the 25-kilomètre neutral would wish to see the Fleet here anything zone of the treaty of 1893, sacrificed by the but sufficiently powerful to inspire respect. treaty of 1902, is still formally abandoned, But it cannot be guaranted against all the new treaty offer compensations which accidents, and an unfortified Weihaiwei have their importance. Siam, it is true, has night, in some conceivablo circumstances, access now to the Mekong, but France be exposed to risks which would not threaten receives concessions in the chief trading a place fortified sufficiently to stand a centres of the right bank. Railways may blockade. However, we have no wish to be constructed along the river wherever intrude on a controversy between experts. navigation is impossible. Likewise the It merely seems to us strange that some of grave question of French protégés, a fruitful them, most able men with Far Eastern source of irritation between France and Siam, experience, should be so very strongly opis now settled. A very important conces-
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The latest Bangkok papers announce the death of the mother of the Queen, H.H. Chow Khoon Chom Manda.-At the first day of the April Race Meeting Mr. W. A. G. Tilleke's stable secured four "firsts," including the Revenue Farmer's Purse of 400 ticals.
sion made by Siam is that concerning the policing of the provinces of Angkor, Battam- will be Cambodian, under French officers, bang, and Sisophon. The police service
which would seem to be tantamount to the recognition of local self-government under French control. If France, therefore, pushes through rapidly the railway system asked
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