July 15, 1897.]
the breeding of pigs and poultry, the pro- duction of betel and cocoa-nut, it produces little for export, and that its receptive power as a market for imports is very limited indeed. The climate is extremely malarious in most parts and in few places is it at all adapted for even the temporary residence of Europeans. It possesses valu- able deposits of copper, but the climate of the spot where the mines exist is so deadly that few miners will face it for long. No doubt there are other mineral deposits, but the working of them would languish for the same reason. Like Formosa, Hainan is destitute of any really good harbours, more especially on the northern coast; and, unlike the Beautiful Island, its resources do not atone for this deficiency. The interior also resembles that of Formosa, being made up of lofty mountains and well nigh impenetrable forests. It is true that the aborigines of Hainan are less fierce and for- midable than the native Formosans, but the climate is a deadlier foe to its reclamation, and our French friends are not so fond of tropical jungles that they would rush to the new country to cultivate and reclaim. The real truth is that the French are not a colorising people. They love la belle France too devotedly ever to willingly leave her, and her soil is so bountiful and her sons are so thrifty that there is not the same stern necessity that drives forth the Auglo-Saxon
seek a new home in distant lands.
to
Yet, strange to say, while there are absent in France the causes that scatter the younger members of half the families in Great Britain the world over in search of fame or fortune, the successive Governments of the French Republic have, for some occult reason, em- backed upon a career of conquest in
|
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
the restrictive tariff which fetters its trade, | SEPARATION OF THE OFFICES OF Viewed in the light of the utter failure of CONSUL-GENERAL AND JUDGE the French Government to make their colo-
AT SHANGHAI, nies pay, and the unaccountable indifference of French merchants to the loss of opportu- nities for trade, the proposal to add another burden to the back of patient France seems strangely foolish and only explainable by the disease known as earth hunger, with which our neighbours allege that England is so badly afflicted.
We plead guilty to the charge in a degree, for it must be confessed that we joined in the scramble for land in Africa, but we at least had a definite purpose in view. In South Africa there is a great stretch of coun- try in which the white man can make a com- fortable home, and in the course of the close- coming twentieth century millions of Britons and Hollanders will found thriving cities and provinces where now the savage and the beast of prey roam unchecked. Seeing a disposition on the part of most European Powers to appropriate all the countries occu- pied by savage man without a settled govern ment, the British Government was perforce, by pressure of circumstances and the per- suasion of the colonists, induced to extend protectorates over adjacent states and in some cases to acquire new colonies rather than see their present territories hemmed in by new and unwelcome neighbours. Some of our
French contemporaries accuse us of the widest ambition, and the Paris Soleil thus concludes a study of what it believes to be British aims, namely, the founding of an Empire extending from Alexandria to Capetown:-"So far the "Transvaal and
"
“
The last mail brought the intelligence that the Foreign Office has made up its mind that the present system of British repre sentation in Shanghai, by which the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court is also Consul- General, is a failure and must not be con- tinued after Sir NICHOLAS HANNEN's re-
tirement from the joint offices. The Shang- hai community, who have consistently Protested against the amalgamation of the offices as ill-judged and not conducive
to. British interests, will derive consider- able satisfaction from this announcement. Probably the Foreign Office would in the long run have yielded to local opinion in this matter, even had Mr. BYRON BRENAN in his recent report not commented so strongly upon it, but that officer certainly merits thanks for the clear and conclusive manner in which he deed, that that report was the immediate states the case. It is not unlikely, in-
cause of the decision now arrived at, which Under the present regime, Mr. BRENAN removes the matter from the realm of doubt.
says, at the very time that the assistance and advice of the Consul-General would be of most value he feels compelled to keep in the background lest his intervention might be suspected of impairing his judicial im- partiality at a later stage of the proceedings. "I can scarcely imagine," the report con- tinues, 'any important case where, in his capacity of Consul-General, the now espouse "the cause of his countrymen with that energy and show of determination that are necessary when fighting our people's battles, and without which any interven- "tion is unavailing. Whatever may be the question in dispute between a British sub- 'ject and a native merchant, or, perhaps, a Chinese official, the attempt to obtain "redress is futile if we merely leave our countryman to his own resources, He has not access except through his Consul to "the Chinese courts of justice and he can 'look for no measure of justice unless the "Chinese judge knows that the Consul is backing up his national. From the
-
officer in the post can the Orange Free State
"have resisted British absorption. But it "is certain that the two Republics will remote parts of Asia and Africa, and have " sooner or later be drawn into the orbit of built up a colonial Empire of enormous English domination unless they find in extent, though, it must be confessed, of very Europe powerful and effective support. limited utility considering the vast drain it The dream of English Imperialism from is proving on their resources. Within the "the Cape to Alexandria is no longer a last quarter of a century they have acquired "chimera. It becomes a reality. During the whole of Indo-China with the exception "the final years of the century about to close of Sinm, on which it is believed they" England will have succeeded in carving meditate designs, while in Africa they have annexed large provinces, the value of which has to be demonstrated, to say nothing of Madagascar, the second largest island in world. So far as area goes the French- man's pride may be fully gratified when he regards the map of the world. He bas a goodly heritage, and ample room and verge for a redundant population. unfortunately the population of France is not redundant and is not growing. There is no incentive to her sons to cross the stormy seas in search of a competence, and, as a matter of fact, they loathe the necessity, arising sometimes from dissolute living or reckless extravagance, that compels them to
But
office in these lands. French mer- chants or traders rarely indeed can be induced to quit the shores of their native country, and are well content to conduct their export
trade through foreign agents and correspondents. Thus it comes to pass that the trade of French colonies is mainly carried on by aliens and for- eigners, and that the swarm of ill paid officials have little interest in the country and generally scheme hard to get back to their native land at the earliest opportunity. In spite therefore of tariffs framed to rigorously exclude all foreign imports, there is prac- tically no French trade in French colonies, and little real progress is seen in any of them. In the hands of a more enterprising and liberal Administration Tonkin would soon prove a valuable prize, But it is almost stationary, and Saigon, with all its natural advantages, is declining as a port, owing to
<<
"out for herself in Africa, from end to end "of the continent, an empire of which the power of production and consumption will equal if not exceed, in a near future, that "of the Indian Empire." The Paris journal credits us, it will be seen, with the fixed intention of remaining in Egypt, though we are pledged to ultimately with- draw. For the rest the prophecy may prove correct, but it will be due, not to the scheming of the British Government- which has always been exceedingly loth to accept new responsibilities, and has volun- tarily surrendered many rich countries rather than incur new burdens-but, to the colonising genius of the Anglo-Saxon race. The British Government has refused to accept Formosa, would almost as certainly decline Hainan, and has never sought territorial aggraphisement at the expense of China, nor would England now wish to act the part of dog in the manager, and seek to prevent French expansion; but British merchants naturally regard the establish- ment of French rule in any country with scant favour, since the hoisting of the tricolour too surely means another market closed to British trade.
The adjourned general meeting of the Central Stores, Limited, was held at Shanghai on the 28th June, Capt. Parker presiding. The report and adopted, and after an animated discussion of the Investigation Committee was presented resolutions were carried requesting the Directors to retire, and appointing Messrs. J. A. Stewart, F. E. Reilly, and W. Bell on the Board.
#s
if
"
看看
44
蒙蒙
CL
看着
"
C
ff
very nature of the case a Consul must show some partisanship and proceed in a way which would be un- becoming in an officer holding high judicial office.
Our Chief Judge
cannot allow himself to be involved in his capacity of Consul-General in any "affair that may have to be unravelled "before him sitting as Chief Judge, and where there is a prospect of such a case arising the officer sinks the Consul- General in order to keep himself uncom promised and ready to perform in his other rôle. Our interests in China re- "quire far too much pushing and bolster- ing to admit of indulging in such refine- ment of feeling, and the Consul-General should be free to back up British interests to his utmost, without being troubled with any thought about judicial impartiality. Mr. BRENAN quotes a case cited by the Committee of the Shanghai Branch of the
(1
tr
China Association illustrative of the incon- venience of the amalgamation of the two offices, that of MAJOR
JARDINE, MATHESON & Co., in which both parties invoked the assistance of the same Chief Judge and Consul-General in obtaining evidence from the Chinese authorities in support of their respective cases, the dispute turning on the right of riparian owners to pre-empt the foreshore. The
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.