CO129-499-3 Canton situation- governor's despatches 12-2-1927 - 10-3-1927 — Page 67

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the 1st July last year (1926) when the reactionaries had been entirely suppressed, the Nationalist Government was formally inaugurated, and at the same time the Provincial Government of Kwangtung was also established on the representative system. The representative system was only

adopted in our Country as an experiment, by which all political questions are settled in conference. The rule of one man has been practised in China for several thousands of years, and respect for the feudal system has become deeply rooted in the minds of the people. Therefore

the success of the experimental representative system was

very uncertain. But after a trial of several months, we made some improvements, and all the problems which had been very difficult of solution, were easily settled by the representative system. Formerly we were afraid that the adoption of the representative system would lead to more or less trouble, but now we have found that the

despotic system would be even more difficult to work. Though there may be some defects in the representative system, they are not constitutional defects. Therefore it has been resolved at the Joint Conference of the Central,

Provincial and District Committees that the representative

system should also be adopted in all provinces and

districts. When the Nationalist Government was first

established, the only ministries to be set up were those of Foreign Affairs and Finance, and all their affairs were dealt with by the Government itself. Recently the Joint Conference has approved the organisation by the Government of several new ministries, which however have not yet been

all set up.

This is an outline of the reorganisation of

the Nationalist Government.

Next I shall refer to the political position during

the