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proposal they could hardly greet with undiluted enthusiasm (Applause). It was hardly with that idea that the man who had spent the best years of his life perhaps in keeping open the door to British trade in China and Manchuria, and being often severely pinched in the process, turned homeward. It WBS not exactly the picture he had in his mind soon as he turned homeward to lay his ashes with those of his forefathers, he was to be met on the wharf by a rubicund and portly member of the Excise who had evidently never suffered from malaria and perhaps had never even seen a mosquito, with the demand “ Ten per cent. of your money or I will make the rest of your life a burden to you!" (Applause).
that 88
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If the officials present would look around they would see men of substance, many of them, but certainly all men of merit-(Laughter and applause), with simple faith and child-like simplicity, and even those who had fallen from grace slightly, still clung to the hope that the promises told them in their youth were true, especially that one that ran "And the wind shall be tempered to the shorn lamb (Laughter and applause.) All of them had many and various causes for going to the seat of benevolence and mercy, but they did not want to have reason for being unduly importunate, nor did they wish to be shorn any closer than their neighbours (Hear, Hear). It might be that some of them who had lived in British Colonies might be allowed to scrape
in
to
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the present financial paradise of shilling in the pound, but that was a kind of colonial preference that they did not want at all. They all belonged to one piece, they had all been to the place where the sun rises, they were imbued with the sense of good fellowship and they would sink or swim together-(Applause).
not take the They did
attitude of the Scotch minister who spoke to an inattentive gathering as follows: "You may hope to climb into Heaven on my coat tails but I tell you at the Day of Judgment I shall wear a jacket" (laughter). Thus they of Hongkong did not wish to leave their brethren of the China Ports to be mulcted under any two-shillings-in-the- pound scale. He was sure the Foreign and Colonial Office, would give the members of the Association a good character, and he hoped the officials present if the evil day came would give them their protection. He spoke with bated breath before many governors of Colonies, but they and many of these present would know that they in the Colonies had a profound belief in the inertia of government departments when views were propounded to them that did not com- mend themselves to their judgment (Applause). He apologised for using the word
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
(November 28, 1908
restless and the Cape an unknown quantity, Į maintenance of the trust bequathed to them surely it was becoming more and more importan still rested, and always would rest, apon to make sure of their strength and their pre- individual effort and achievement. At the paredness, to hold their wide territories intact. same time the complex conditions of modern However they hoped the new army would ap- life and the annihilation of distance proximate in some degree to the old soldiers of brought those individual efforts so closely the past who had made their history one of great together that they might be likened to deeds in drinking to the toast they would A continuous chain-link within・ link-of remember the old army and hope for the best reciprocal interests and the China Association for the new army. They had many distinguished might be said to represent the combined strength members of both services present. On behalf of of that Far Eastern chain. (Applause.) ~It the Association he extended to them a most was that wider view of reacting wants and sincere and hearty welcome. (Applause.)
interests which induced the members of the British Association of Japan to join their forces with those of the China Association. In the enthusiasm and energy of the members of the Japan branch, now numbering about 250; the China Association had acquired a valuable naset.
It was true that China because of her greater possibilities loomed larger in the public eye than Japan, but from the present trade rolqme point of view there was not much difference. He found in 1907 the exports of British products to China includ- ing Hongkong were valued at fifteen and a half millions sterling, and to Japan, during the same period, at twelve and a half millions. Besides there was no question as to the lead already secured by Japan in the Councils of Far eastern policy, and so there could be no doubt that the presence in that country of a strong and representative membership would be found of great advantage to the Central Committee sitting in London. On the other side, the advantage of an influential and well-organised London support was fully appreciated by the members of the British Association of Japan, Above all they looked beyond their own im- mediate problems and foresaw the importance of united effort in determining the answer the pressing question set forth by the author of The Coming Struggle in Eastern Asia. Those who had read the book would remember the significance of the closing lines
Admiral Sir GERARD NOEL was very heartily cheered on rising to respond. After complimentary references to the Association he proceeded to say that China was of all parts of the world the most interesting. He was first there forty-two years ago, and probably few members of the Association could go so far back. Then he was recently there as Commander-in Chief and most thoroughly did he enjoy that period. He was not merely interested in the Russo-Japanese war, but the friendship of many in China was a very agreeable memory. China as a nation was undergoing very great changes. He had been very anxious on many occasions as to what might happen on the rivers. His report home was that for perhaps five years or longer until the railways had been fully extended, there was great liability of trouble in China. He was seriously distressed when just before he left the station they removed a large number of his small craft. but he was thankful to know that several had been replaced -(Applause). He would like to say a few words on the commercial aspect. He held that one of the most important things. for British commerce in China was the railway terminating at Kowloon. If that was fully developed and in connection with it lines of railways were run throughout Southern China. Hongkong would have an extraordinary revival (Applause). He thanked them all cordially on behalf of the guests for their warm welcome (Applause).
Mr. C. V. SALE in proposing the health of the Chairman, attributed his selection as the proposer to his connection with the British Association of Japan, an association now work. ing as a branch of the China Association in the Island Empire of the Pacific. It was a matter for much satisfaction that several members of the Japan Committee and several of the first promoters of the Japan branch were present that night (Applause). He would merely make brief mention of the feelings of warm regard and high esteam in which the President
was held.
the
The large attendance and enthusiastic reception of the toast required Protection."
no emphasis. In the realms of commerce they but they were all united in its favour when it
looked upon him as the exemplification of that
and persevering. cautious came to the protection afforded by the force of persistent
but the Crown. First, as to the senior service. He enterprising. Scottish character, which had contributed so much to the extension of was truly glad to see there Admiral Sir Gerard
British influence. What would the Noel. They knew him well in the East and they
Em without the pioneer effort one of the finest specimens of pire be liked him, as
of the British oak. All in China would remember in
Scotsmen? (Applause). What would the British share of the Eastern trade be without their upbuilding work? And what would the authority of the China Association be without the public spirited sympathy and co-operation of men of whom Our Scott
was a leading examepl. It augured well for the future success of the Association that one engaged in many of the greatest enterprises supporting British com. mercial prestige in the East should give so freely of time and thought to the promotion of the general welfare (Applause). As a newcomer he would take that opportunity of saying how greatly he appreciated the privilege of member- ship in a Society founded and supported by
the Russo-Japanese war what reliance they placed in the British fleet under his command. They knew it was ready for any emergency. Now that he had been changed to a station at the Nore, they knew he would keep his eye on the If the clouds gathering there North Sea. came to a point where they had to be met by the fleet he felt sure they would be given a reception suitable to the occasion, and their distinguished guest and his men would do their duty brilliantly. When it came to the Army it was a more difficult matter to know where they stood, for it was in a continually changing state. The Volunteert had disappeared altogether. How many men they had he did not know in the new Territorials. He believed some people professed to know but The military he did not think they did. correspondent of the Times last week was most hazy about it and if he did not know who could be expected to do so? But now they were filling up the forces from the ranks of the unemployed. (Laughter.) They only heard last night that while the inexperienced and untrained unem. ployable was coming in at the door the trained reservist was going out at the window to the end of the universe.-(Laughter). Were they wise in waiting till bad times in trade came to recruit their forces? With the "mailed" fist on the horizon, treaties torn up before their eyes, India
those who thus showed their earnest and
thorough belief in the virtue and efficacy of organised-self help. In the present day there was far too little of that belief. The State was apparently expected to undertake the duties and responsibilities of the individual, the Go
vornment
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to
Eastern Asia is once more on the eve of great events. What part shall England play! That was the question to which members of the China Association, because of their commercia interests in China, Japan, and Korea, must largely determine the answer. Nearly fifty' Fears ago Sir Rutherford Alcock, the first British Minister to Japan, answering a similar question with reference to the same countries, wrote: What British interests are at the present day, and what the sole object of our policy, needs no explanation. Commerce is, with us, the one sole object." In the half century since those words were written, many proofs of their honesty of purpose and sincerity of intention had been given both to China and Japan, proofs which ought to carry weight in all future discussions affecting. mutual rights that that statement regarding the scope of British interests in the Far East remained just as true to-day as it was fifty years ago. They sought no selfish advantage, they did not want political control, they had no ambition for territory. But they did claim reciprocity-the liberty and the right to carry on their trede in a fair field and with no favour (Applause) With such a policy and with such long standing proofs of its continuity, the goal at which they simed was perfectly clear. the removal by peaceful means of all the ob stacles, natural or artificial, to the easy and free exchanges of commerce; the removal of all discriminations or subventions which made for unequal or unfair competition. (Applause.) Such a policy must redound at least as much to the benefit of the people of the East as to themselves and when widely known and as fully understood as it should be and in that regard each member of the China Association could render good service-it entitled them to the fullest benefits of the open door without any question. (Applause.) It was in that connection that the China Association justified its exist-
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once. was increasingly regarded as the
only source of all initiative and enterprise, the fountain of employment and the universal pro- rider for every want from infancy to old age (Applause). Those of them who had been in outposts of Empire" knew and beyond the -“ that the Commonwealth of Greater Britain, its Fast extent of trade and the far reaching influence was not reared upon such ideas. (Applause). They were convinced that the
It was
co-operative body permitted to voice the needs of the members to the respons- ible officers of His Majesty's Government they could say what they wanted and what they did not want, and so exert an influence in securing conditions necessary to their purposes. was the only form of representation possessed by the commerce of vast and varied extent; the figures relating to the share of the British Empire in the imports and exports of