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" TERMINOLOGICAL
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CARELESS TREATMENT OF
COLONIES.
(Daily Press, 17th April.)
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[April 21, 1906. ^
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
their effect. In the case of the Chinese | juggling of the husting; than the order. we now have new ing of a kingdom, thought more of natives than of the evidence, which is printed elsewhere in this the four or five issue, that they are pampered rather than safety of the Colony-one of the most oppressed. But until the British proletariat prosperous and loyal under the Crown. loses its present "jumpyness" and nervous- Peremptory orders were at once sent out So gross an ness, and regains its traditional stolidity, forbidding the executions. and stoicism, plain medical reports will never interference with the powers of a self--
governing Colony was, of course, unpre- be able to cope with sentimental sketches.
cedented, and the Natal Ministry, having no alternative in view of the urgency of the situation, at once resigned. Who gave so foolish an order does not appear. Under ordinary circumstances Parliament would at once have demanded his immediate resigna. tion; but the circumstances are not ordinary, was not taken, nor did and this course the offending Minister have the courage to take the responsibility. Still it became evident that something must be done, and doue at once; and Mr. WINSTON Churchill was put up in his capacity of Parliamentary Under Secretary to make the best apology he could. Mr. CHURCHILL, whatever failings he may otherwise have, is not deficient in personal courage, and he seems to have been The curious sight equal to the occasion. was witnessed of a powerful Ministry having to withdraw publicly its own obnoxious act The Natal Ministry, more careful of the interests of the Empire than the Home Government, at once returned to office, and for the present the incident has ceased to be a burning question. Fortunately, too, the measures taken by the Colonial Government have by latest accounts proved successful; and the rising, which under the silly action of the Ministry at home at one time threatened to become serious, has been My son, my effectually suppressed. son
said once the celebrated OxENSTIERNA, "little you know with what small wisdom the world is governed". Probably a better instance of the foolishness which besets those in bigh places never was chronicled. It is not for us to pronounce an opinion on home politics, but as Colonials we are in timately concerned with the aspect presented to the rest of the world; and few things more unseemly than the Natal incident disgrace the annals of the British Empire. When we think of the promises and protestations of both parties seeking power, and note the failures of both—“ So much to do: so little done", as the late CECIL RHODES Raid-we wonder that a wave of political pessimism does not overwhelm the land, and cause electors to regard a visit to the polling-booths as a waste of time.
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INEXACTITUDE." coolies in South Africa, (Daily Press, 16th April). Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL has achieved parliamentary fame by his laboured euphemism for a common lie, which he prefers to call
terminological in. exactitude." It is a well-established British custom to tell lies at election times: the candidates on both sides realise the fact and think nothing of it: election lies' is a phrase almost equivalent to 'white lies' and the political helpfulness of mendacity either plain or coloured has over and over again been proved. This explains why the But for the prompt official "climb-down practice, though regularly exposed and the relations between Great Britain and denounced, is as regularly resumed when Natal might easily have been fanned into a occasion offers. It also shows that the flame which would have disturbed the world average British elector is characterised by generally. Although the course taken by here we must adopt the Churchillian method the present Home Government and its sup- —is characterised, we repeat, by philoso- porters with regard to the Chinese Labour phical ineptitude. The things that most Question in South Africa was neither digni- | affect him show this. We need only cite the fied nor truthful, we were pleased to see recorded utterances of Mr. WINSTON that in his speech in Parliament on CHURCHILL'S colleagues, prior to election, February 22nd Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL concerning the conditions attending the deprecated any idea of needlessly interfering by a violent reversal of the policy of his employment of Chinese in South Africa.
what Was Thus, the PRIME MINISTER spoke of them predecessors with regard to as "bondsmen under degrading conditions": acknowledged to be an experiment. The Mr. MORLEY, "not freemen, but chattels"; leading newspapers in China were Lord SPENCER, "confined in cages ; Mr. very profuse in acknowledgement of the LLOYD GEORGE, poor Chinamen chained wisdom, in either its political or financial in compounds"; and Mr. BURNS, "slavery aspect, of introducing Chinese labour for naked and unabashed." Lord RIPON, in the purpose of working the mines in South the House of Lords in February, 1904, Africa; but our objections were practical. declared that "the conditions under which not sentimental; and although we would these people would live would really amount not unwillingly have seen the final abandon- to pure slavery" and in the came placement of the scheme, we could not but feel only a few weeks ago, apparently scorning contempt for the want of political sagacity couvert what some silly terminological equivocations, he plumply which would
bodies, backed up by a party in the pre- denied that he had ever spoken of the con- dition of these coolies as the condition of sent Government who certainly might have slaves. There is no doubt that the ter- been expected to know better, were pleased minological inexactitude was hard-worked. to call slavery, into an imperial question of
With much of At the Bristol elections, men representing importance to the nation.
what Mr. CHURCHILL said iu the House we Chinese were paraded along the streets
were in perfect agreement. Nor are we with chains on their feet, and their hands tied. Similar tableaus and pictures were unwilling to believe with him that "the used in other places. But we are far from mine-owners were beginning to realise that suggesting that the Radicals have Chinese labour was not economically desir. monopoly of terminological deviations fom able, and that low-paid labour might not absolute exactitude. A correspondent of wean high profits." Such a view would the Globe, in virtuous indignation at the not, indeed, disagree with well founded experience elsewhere that low-paid labour "campaign of falsehood," writes:-
by no means implies cheap labour; and that the true ready would have been rather more skilled white labour, aided if necessary by more machinery, and nore skilful direction. Had he, however, only acted on his own subsequent acknowledg ment that too much interference on the part of the Home Country would be unpopular
most directly interested, bei with those himself, and the Government for which he spoke, might have been spared much subse- quent humiliation. A more crucial test of the ineptitude of HIS MAJESTY's present advisers remains behind; and this is the attempt to interfere with the responsible government of Natal. The case is instruc- That is neither exact nor accurate, since tive as affording an excellent illustration of it iguores the fiscal arguments which the principle of "How not to do it."
in China to focus the world's interest in admittedly rent the constituencies from end ugly rising took place among the natives in
that unhappy country. His Excellency to end. The fact is that all parties are in Natal, and the Colonial Government, more the habit of subtly insulting the electoral skilled in the ways of native agitators than Lew SHIн-8нUN is of a different stamp to intellect. By common consent, all candidates the present, presumably able but certainly many of his colleagues, and his opportuni. assume that the British are a maudliv, flaccid Home administration, nt ones took ties have been greater. He had European measures to quell the disturbance. Certain teachers in his native province, Kiangsu, sentimental folk, and they talk and act accordingly, with results that appear to natives were caught red-handed, and were and knows the languages and institutions justify their assumption. The poor, dear court-martialled and condemued to death. of both England and France as very few ill-treated coolie, the nasty, dirty alieu and For the particular natives concerned this of his peers know them. His utterances, the white-faced, consumptive stitcher of may have seemed hard, but any wise admin- beyond their value as evidence that there shirts, the bullet-torn Union Jack, and so istrator knows that the best way to preventis a class of Chinese far removed from the ignorant prejudices on, these are all appeals to sentimentalism; unnecessary bloodshed is at the first outbreak | narrow_views and and once made, no amount of reasonable to act with decision. Naturally the Home observable in the class that stays at home the and wilfully shuts its eyes to the signs of evidence or argument seems able to dissipate | Government, knowing more about
£
Here you
"Mr. Henry Norman, M.P. (the gentleman who saw the gold bricks in the Russian Treasury), in his wild enthusiasm over the recent Radical victories, somewhat gives his friends away in this month's number of the World's Work, of which he is the editor. have a resumé, pictorial and otherwise, of the campaign of falsehood which won his party the day. In view of recent denials as to what was said or not said on the Chinese slavery' question, I particularly call your attention to the photograph of the 'dressed-up' Chinaman used by Mr. Ward, the Radical, in his campaign at Horton. Note the 'Chinaman's' sleeve rolled up showing the chains on his arm and what is, apparently, a handcuff on his wrist. In justice, these should now be on the arms of Mr. Ward,"
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CHINA AND FRANCE,
(Daily Press, 18th April.) CHINA for the Chines" appears to be the newly the avowed watchword of appointed Chinese Minister to France, who, unlike his predecessor, is taking pains to make his opinions known. Chiness am- bassadors everywhere seem to have been popular with interviewers in the last few months, which is natural enough, consider- Aning how incidents are constantly occurring
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