10 -

463

power to apply the Indemity Fund and make investments in accordance with the general scheme and principles to be laid down by the Advisory Committee.

There is, as I have previously stated, no central Government of China. On the 6th October, 1926, the North China Daily News published a leading article entitled "The Tacuum in Peking" from which I quote the following:-

*Every Chinese, great and small, knows that there is no Government in Peking, therefore that there is no cabinet. The Minister of Finance controls no finances except the revenue which is collected under the supervision of foreigners. The Minister of Communications controls no railways,

the militarists having helped themselves to bolling stocks, roadbeda and ticket offices.. The Minister of the Interior cannot appoint a single civilian official without first obtaining the consent of some militarist. The Minister of Foreign Affairs now finds all his real functions performed by local commissioners of Foreign Affairs while he

is a sort of radio-broadcaster to tell the world

that things are not what they seem and are untrue, anyhow, no matter what one may say on the subject.

The Premier has no authority at all, while there

is no President, Parliament or Constitution."

These statements cannot be controverted and

there is not the slightest sign that this state of affairs is merely transitory. On the contrary, everything at the moment seems to point to greater provincial

and local independence. Marshal Sun Chuan Fang'a representatives, Dr. V.K.Ting (a member of the Indem- nity Deputation) and Dr. Haü Yuan, recently negotiated

the Mixed Court settlement in Shanghai with a committee

12

of

نه ش

4

Share This Page