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shown him to be in general agreement with Lord LANSDOWNE's policy, and we autici- pate, therefore, no violent disturbance of the country's relations with Foreign Powers. Nothwithstanding that the Liberal Party generally has viewed with some disfavour
agreement to
secure the assistance of Japan in the defence of India, both Sir HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN and Sir EDWARD GREY have publicly declared that a Liberal Government would loyally carry out the Anglo-Japanese alliance as they nreservedly approve the treaty so far as it is intended to maintain the integrity of China. Equal confidence will be felt in the Earl of ELGIN and KINCARDINE (formerly Viceroy of India) as Colonial Secretary, but the appointment, especially at the present time, of a notorious "little Englan- der" like Mr. JOHN MORLEY as Secretary of State for India, will doubtless appeal to many as somewhat humorous. We fear it is not improbable that this bodes further trouble in India, for we doubt if Mr. JOHN MORLEY will be found so com- plaisant towards Lord KITCHENER's plans as his predecessor has been. As to the other appointments in the Cabinet there is little that need be said. The appointment to office of Mr. LLOYD GEORGE, the fire- brand of the Party, was generally antici- pated, and perhaps no safer place for this turbulent spirit could be found than the Board of Trade. The inclusion of Mr. JOHN BURNS in the Cabinet is the first occasion on which a Labour Member has been so honoured, but few who have watched the career of Mr. BURNS as a member of
the London County Council and a member of the Imperial Parliament will cavil at the selection. Neither Mr. LLOYD GEORGE nor Mr. JOHN BURNS have held office of any kind in previous administrations, nor have Mr. HALDANE, Mr. BIRRELL and Captain SINCLAIR. It is, to say the least, unusual to find so many men in a new Cabinet who have not qualified by service as Parliamen- tary Under Secretaries. The prolonged ex- clusion of the Liberal Party from power affords the explanation, no doubt, for it will generally be admitted that the new ininis
of commanding ability in the ranks of the Liberal Party.
ters are men
SHANGHAI MIXED COURT TROUBLES.
(Daily Press, 14th December.) We presume that most, if not all, of our readers know what is meant by the Shang- hai Mixed Court, a tribunal where a sort of justice is dispensed by a Chinese magis- trate assisted by a European. The Euro- pean is supposed to participate in the judgments pronounced; and the object of his presence is, of course, to prevent as far as possible those varieties of native justiciary methods which are repugnant to the more tender heart of the Occidental The mixture of methods has arisen from the anomalous conditions prevailing owing to the omission to make Shanghai really and truly a foreign settlement. It is still Chinese territory, nominally, and the Chinese residents are Chinese subjects, subject to Chinese jurisdiction. But Shang- hai could not countenance in its very midst the old notorious customs of Chinese yamens. Augmented apparently by the policy of an anti-foreign Taorai, the jealousy and mistrust of the rival elements at the Mixed Court have for a long time been very pronounced. The Europeans interfered in the matter of the lock-ups at the Mixed Court, and succeeded in having the typical Chinese dens substituted by
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
[December 16, 1905.
apartments more consistent with the foreign | of the value of Sir PAUL CHATER'S services treatment of the innocent or unconvicted to the Colony if His Excellency the accused. They also found it necessary to
GOVERNOR still retained him as a member take steps to see that judgments pro- of his Executive Council. We believe there nounced by the mixed tribunal were not is no precedent in the Colony for the reten secretly revoked or nullified by au informal tion in the Executive Council of an unofficial native tribunal. Particularly in the treat-member who has ceased to sit as a repre- ment of female prisoners were the Chinese sentative member in the Legislative Council. officials averse to reform; and it is To such a departure from custou, however, evident that the more or less veiled we believe there is no official ba; at least, hostility and resentment on this head there is, so far as we are aware, no hard- came to a crisis
the 8th instant, aud-fast rule that the two unofficial seats as set forth in the startling report which on the Executive Council must be occu- we reproduce from a copy of the N. C. Dailypied by members of the Legislative Council. News received last evening. In this case it It may be remembered that unofficial mem- will be noted that the girls in question were hers were first appointed to the Executive not prisoners, not accused, but victims of a Council about ten years ago as the result cruel feature of Chinese society. They also of a Petition addressed to the House of appear to have been of tender years. Under Commons praying for the amendment of these circumstances, we conceive that not the Constitution of the Colony. Inas- even the most bigotted foreign upholder of much as the Colonial Government dis- the rights of the Chinese will sympathise charges municipal duties it was recognised with the side which wished to thrust these by the Rt. Hon. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, children (infinitely more sinned against then the Secretary of State for the Colonies, than sinning) into the cells at the Mixed that "on that account representatives of Court, pending the adjourned hearing. The the citizens may fairly be given a place on Chinese officials, notably the VICEROY at the Executive." The Colonial Secretary Nanking, the TAOTAI at Shanghai, and their went on to say :~~ creatures, insist that this Court is a Chinese Court. The Europeans insist that it is not and are determined to protect the Chinesa who take refuge in the Settlement from the treatment to which they are exposed out- side. The Chinese point of view may be described as patriotic; it is certainly anti- foreign and Chauvinistic in its spirit; and in its results, if successfully established, would be disastrous to Chinese as well as to the
squeeze
11
settlement. The European attitude is usually described as purely humane in character, but there is no doubt a good deal of policy about it. But whatever criticism one side may advance against the other, it is certain that accomplished facts must be faced. Shanghai is a place of foreign residence, the land in foreign ownership, and must now, for all time, be administered according to foreign ideas. There must be no pidjin or persecution there; and since the Chinese who are so eager to re-assert their rights are of the sort who cling hardest to old and lindcustoms; they must be rigorously put into their place. We can readily believe that our contemporary expresses the position appropriately in saying that "the wave of exaltation that has come over the Chinese since Japan so easily defeated the big Power which has fascinated China for years, as the python does the rabbit, must be checked before it becomes dangerous."
SIR PAUL CHATER.
(Daily Press, 15th December). While the public will cordially approve the motive which has prompted Sir PAUL CHATER after nineteen years' service to retire from the representation of the Justiers of the Peace on the Legislative Council-that is to say, the desire not to monopolise
a position which many other prominent men in the Colony are wel qualified to occupy-there will nevertheless be a wide-spread feeling of regret if the step Sir PAUL CHATER has taken involves his total separation from the governing body of the Colony. Sir l'AUL CHATER has lived in the Colony upwards of forty years and everybody is well aware how intimately and how cousincuously he has been identified with the history and progress of the Colony which we are proud to know is now the first shipping port in the world." It has been suggested that notwithstanding his retirement from the representation of the Justices, it would be a gracious recognition
I therefore propose that the Executive Council shall in future include two unofficial members to be selected at the discretion of the Governor. It is obviously desirable that they should, as a rule, be chosen from among the unofficial members of the Legislative Council, and the choice should, and no doubt will be, inspired by considerations of personal merit, and have no reference to the particular class or race to which the persons chosen belong.
We may conclude from this extract that the
unofficial seats in the Executive Council need not necessarily be occupied by unofficial members of the Legislative Council. In framing the proposal as he did it is not improbable that the object Mr. CHAMBERLAIN had in view was to limit to some extent the exercise of a personal preference on the part of the Governor of the Colony for the time being, and to insure that the gentlemen chosen to occupy those seats should enjoy such n measure of confidence on the part of the community as is expressed in an election to the Legislative Council either by the Justices of the Peace or the Chamber of Commerce. If such were the considera- tions which dictated Mr. CHAMBERLAIN'S proposal, there are sound reasons for creat- ing an exception to the rule of selection in We have the case of Sir PAUL CHATER. not the least doubt that had Sir PAUL seen fit to offer himself for re-election by the Justices he would be returned to the Legislative Council with the same unanimity that has characterised his election on previous occasions; and if moreover the choice of a member of the Executive Council be inspired by con- siderations of personal merit, no man in the Colony is botter entitled to a seat on that ground than Sir PAUL CHATER. In say ing this we are Bure we are giving expression to an opinion which will be universally endorsed in the Colony. We have written on the assumption that Sir PAUL CHATER'S retirement from the re- presentation of the Justices would be regarded both by HIS EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR and by Sir PAUL CHATER him. self as involving his retirement from the Executive Council, since the one appoint- ment no doubt orginally led to the other. But if Sir PAUL is willing to serve the Colony as an unofficial member of the Executive Council, His EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR may rest assured that no appointment could give greater satisfaction to the com munity; for while it would be appreciated
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