earmark the entire outstanding indemnity for promoting what a Chinese critic recently described
as
"an educational Chop Suey? Many educationalists, Chinese and foreign, naturally endorse the proposal to devote the British in- demnity to education. It would he surprising if they did not. But the disposal of the remitted in- demnity ought not to be decided upon regardless of the interests of the Chinese people as a whole,
The scheme we have put for ward makes liberal allowance, in our opinion, for the support of higher education under British auspices. China herself, will have no difficulty in finding wople funds for elementary education when the military incubus has been
removed. She will not then need, and would probably resent, tareign interference in the national ed. ucational system. If the real in- terests of China are consulted it can hardly be denied that projects cher than education ought to re- ceive careful consideration,
The alternative projects we have selected will benefit millions of Chinese, instead of one or two hundred thousand. The money invested, moreover, will not be lost, but will be turned over again and again, ensuring a permanent income for the prosecution of pub- lic works of general utility. We have selected the Canton-Hankow Railway only because the uncom- pleted portion is the missing link in the trunk railway system from China's furthest North to Canton, If it were demonstrated that any other railway could be ex- pected to confer equal benefits over as large an area we should be quite willing to accept an alternative rail. way project. Using the surplus pro. fits of the railway for feeder-roads should enable the line to develop its goods traffic to an extent that has proved impossible with any exist ing Government Railway in this country. The line would become the absolute property of the Chin- ese nation in 1945, together with a feeder-road system of three thon- sand to eight thousand miles. It would imply an extraordinary lack of perspective to take the view that the completion of this important link in China's system of railway communications concealed a selfish motive-an attempt to benefit Bri- tish industry. Britain exported iron and steel manufactures and machinery to the value of over one hundred and twenty millions sterling in 1923. British manufac. turers would be lucky if they re-
8
reived orders amounting to £400,- 000 in connection with the Canton Hankow Railway scheme. And, as far as the employment of British experts is concerned, there seems to us to be no difference in prin- ciple between the engagement of British engineers and accountants, and the employment of British ed- ucationalists.
The Chibli River Conservancy scheme has been put forward be- cause it seems, at the moment, to be the most urgent of the con- servancy undertakings of which China is in need. The Chihli River Commission, formed after the 1917 floods, has been unable to tackle its task seriously for lack of sufficient funds. There is no
probability of adequate funds be- ing secured from any other source, and until the improvement of the river system can be undertaken on a comprehensive scale, thousands of square miles of fertile territory will annually be threatened with flood or with drought,
We come, finally, to the ques- tion of the extent of British con- trol over the railway and conser- vancy undertakings. Any form of foreign control of any public un- dertaking in China, which may create political pretensions, is dis- tasteful to the Chinese people, Since the Tientsin-Pukow preced- ent was established the Govern- ment has been reluctant to pledge the revenue and properties of any projected railway as security for repayment of A foreign loan, though it has frequently had to overcome this reluctance in order to secure foreign capital. In the present scheme, except for the am. ortization charges of the railway loan, the Customs Revenues would constitute the sole security. And seeing that both the railway and the conservancy work would be gifta from the British nation, it seems scarcely conceivable that the Chinese would resent the adop tion of conditions or restrictions which would ensure compliance with British standards of efficien-
cy.
It would he desirable that British, and British-trained en gineers and accountants should be employed in connection with the railway road, and conservancy schemes, with sufficient authority to prevent the waste of what is, after all, the British taxpayers' money. And it might be hoped, also, that British co-operation would be secured for the efficient policing of the railway after its completion,
9
We submit then, that the whom I refer. He has been back- scheme which we have outlined in ground of every policy for which this and previous articles, or one I have been responsible, of every aimilar thereto, would make a far surplus of which I have assisted wider appeal to the Chinese than in the disposition. We see him the earmarking of the British in- not in the splendour and opulence, demnity solely for educational pur Dor even in the squalor, of great poses. The views of representative cities; he reads no newspapers, for Chinese, other than educationalists, as a rule he cannot read at all; do not appear to have been soughi he has no polities. But he is the in connection with the allocation bone and sinew of the country, by
It of the remitted indemnity. the sweat of his brow the soil is seems to have been taken for tiled, from his labour comes one- granted that education hald the fourth of the national income, he field. Yet an expenditure of should be the first and the final eleven million pounds on educa object of every Viceroy's regard." tion in China, over a period of twenty years can benefit only a very small fraction of the nation. And the traditional British policy in politically undeveloped coun tries has been not merely to pro- vide for better education, and thus to increase the opportunities of the educated classes, but to keep in view the larger canvas, which as Lord Curzon said in his farewell speech in Bombay is "crowded with untold numbers, the real people of India, as distinct from any class or section of the people. It is the Indian poor, the Indian peasant, the patient humble, silent millions, the 80 per cent. who subsist by agricul- ture, who know very little of pol- Icles, but who profit or suffer by their results, and whom men's eyes, even the eyes of their own countrymen, too often forget to
Mutatis mutandis Great Britain might well apply this policy to China, seeking through the renit- ted indemnity, with the co-opera- tion of the Chinese Government, and the advice of representative Chinese, to formulate a plan which will not only give due weight to education, but will also promote the prosperity of the people by the development of communica- tions, and the prevention of re curring floods and famines. We have put forward a scheme which we believe to be financially prac ticable, But we shall be content if the arguments we have advane- ed and the figures we have quot- ed, serve to bring about a recon- sideration of the proposal to ase the British indemnity solely for "the promotion of the education of Chinese on British lines."
337
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.