September 4, 1909.1
built; third, Japan works the Fushan and Yentai collieries; fourth, the railways will be taken into the city of Mukden; fifth, the Newch wang and South Manchurian Railways
199
of men as is proposed of women should be made to the voters' lists, it is obvious that this would be considered a measure of so serious a character that no
will be joined up, and connection made with measure as the general enfranchisement of Government could be asked to dateman or
the port and settlement at Newchwang. Now, all these things are very much for the advantage of China, as they will be also very much to the advantage of Japan; and
we
CHINA CVERLAND TRADE REPORT. change in the government of the country. It is obviously going too far, even if some specific grievance were alleged, to assume that it can be righted only by so sweeping a women. Certainly in such a case all other methods should be tried before resorting to so serious a ramedy. How serious it is is very plainly shown by Professor DICEY by
alteration, which would be effected in
entertain it
except for very grave reasons. If the mat- ter is looked upon in this light, there can be few people-whatever their views may be upon the desirability of women voting in
the whole world having any interest in the electorate, if women suffrage, age change asked for by the suffragists is of so
may go still further, and say with the statistics which he gives as to the the abstract-who can fail to see that the bas
assurance they will be for the advantage of
concerns of the Far East. But more advant ageous in the immediate future is it that the scratching and catterwauling which has now been going on for two years, very much to the annoyance of the neighbours, and of not the slightest benefit to either of those concerned, will now have no more occasion for breaking out afresh; and we hope may be considered as finally ended. China has lately had much to answer for in the way what might be of seeking to place herself at cross purpose with her best friends, and it would be well for her also did she take to heart the lesson, though, in this particular instance, it is to her credit that she has succeeded in controll- ing her temper under somewhat aggravating circumstances. Still, with every desire to give credit for the dispersion of a very ugly and dangerous position to both Japan and China, we fear we can congratulate neither on having materially contributed to the result the real influences at work having been the effect of the recent rapprochment between Russia and England. The confer ence between the two sovereigns has really had more to say to the satisfactory result than all the wisdom of the East. Still, as it bas come about, the least said as to the means the soonest mended.
now gigantic a character, 'as electoral matters actually stand in the United Kingdom, that no one possessed of common prudence can be expected to favour so hazardous and complete a leap in the dark:
crudely demanded, were introduced. The result of doing so would be to more than double the electorate and make it one in which women would be in the majority. If it be considered for a moment what this must mean in regard to the representation of the country at large, the seriousness of the change proposed will be at orce apparent. No one can in any way estimate the result of such a step. Some of the opponents of any such idea, among them the Spectator, point out, not without some plausibility that it might actually mean that the whole strength of the country would be dissipated by mea sures of a yielding and anti-warlike charac- ter, which might terminate in nothing less than the downfull of the Empire. There may or may not be just ground for quite so serious a view of the subject as this, but it is nevertheless, a contingency which may well be considered in the present un- settled times. We may be at least certain that such an alteration in the electorate would affect a large number of burning questions in the most serious way, and cer- tainly the present is not a time for any such heroic experiments. Professor DICEY points out-and really the fact requires only to be pointed out to satisfy any reasonable per- son of its truth-that the change proposed is nothing less than revolutionary; and no ground whatever has been shown for any step of so far reaching a nature. Nothing of the kind, indeed, is stated to exist. The At last the suffragette question, which has claim is made client is gome kind of de- on the ground that caused so much trouble at Home, has been their inability to brought into a definite shape and framed privation of rights to women, This idea into a clear issue by an essay which has Professor DICEY shows to be entirely erro- been published by Professor DICEY on the neous, as there is no abstract right to a subject. As most people, who gave them-vote on the part of anyone-voting not selves the trouble to think seriously on the matter, have seen from the first, the question really only required to be dealt with by some authority thoroughly acquainted with the facts and of sufficient critical ability to estimate their value, for its true bearing to become perfectly clear. Professor DICEY who thoroughly fulfils both these require ments, has done good service in the pam- phlet which he has recently issued, dealing with the whole question in a perfectly fair and judicial manner; and it will be surpris ing, after such an exposition of the real merits of the matter, if the claims which have been so intemperately put forward will not be abandoned, or at least modified into something with which practical states men can deal..
THE CASE AGAINST THE SUFFRAGETTE.
(Daily Press, September 1st.)
+
being a personal right, but a power to be exercised for the benefit of the public. It is simply a means to an end-that end being the government of the country in conformity with the wishes and interests of the community at large, with, of course, due consideration of what is just to each particular class. This is a point upon which an eminent lawyer like Professor DICE is specially entitled to be heard, and he has made it perfectly clear and placed the matter in its true light. The question of voting is thus a purely practical one, and not one in any true sense of abstract right, and before any great change is made in the way of voting the point to consider is whether it will be to the benefit of the State as a whole, and whether if, there is just reason why any specific class should be more fully represented, this can be done without serious injury to other classes. In the case under consideration there is cer- tainly no special grievance from which women suffer which could not be remedied as matters stand, and certainly none has been alleged by those who advocate a change which would be, as stated, nothing short of revolutionary.
Broadly stated, what Professor DICEY makes clear is that there is no grievance which women have, or claim to have, in the present day which can warrant any such extreme action as is demanded. He shows that any substantial grievances that women had have of late years been always fairly remedied by a legislature composed of men; and this statement made by an eminent lawyer porfectly acquainted with the course which legislation has taken ought to be It seems somewhat strange that the point sufficient to convince those who doubt that which Professor DICEY makes so clear as justice will be done to women in any indi- to the seriousness of the alteration proposed vidual matter that is fairly brought before in the electorate has not been put forward the legislature, and that, in order to secure sooner and in an even more forcible form. this, it is not necessary to make a complete. If the proposal were that the same addition
THE KOWLOON RAILWAY,
(Daily Press, September 2nd.) While the REUTER'S telegram published yesterday giving the substance of questions and answers in Parliament re garding the Kowloon Railway contains nothing that the local community has not heard before, it is at least gratifying to observe that there are two or three members of the House of Commons who take an interest in the Colony of Hongkong very different from that of the anti-opium faddists who are continually proclaiming their ignorance of the place by declaring it to be "one of the blackest opium spots in the Far East." While it is evident from recent statements made in Parliament that the latter group would view without regret the financial embarrassment of the Colony, the interest which Mr. GINNELL, Mr. H. C. LEA and Mr. KESWICK have shown in the Kowloon Railway enterprise main. fests a more sympathetic attitude towards the taxpayers of Hongkong. In the re- plies of the UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE to the questions put by Mr. GINNELL in the House on Monday we have over again the answers given in the Legislative Council by H.E. the GOVERNOR.
The original to be exact." Nobody expects an estimate to estimate was very r
y rough and never intended
be exact, but, when the Colony pays a sum of something like $40,000 for surveys and estimates, something better worth the money might have been expected than an estimate
"the
to
on which it is now contended no reliance whatever could be placed. Colonel SEELY'S evasive answer to Mr. GINNELL'S question, as to how the Railway could ever be made to pay (having regard to its capital cost) in competition with the shorter navigable river, should be carefully noted. The UNDER SECRETARY pointed out that the direct profit of the line was not the only matter to consider: indirect profit accruing from the improve- ment of trade facilities was far more im- portant." Looking at the matter from the Imperial standpoint, that is doubtless quite a sound view, to take; but this small Colony, and not the wide British Empire, pays the interest on the loan, and will in time have repay the capital, so that the question of whether any direct profit may be anticipated in the immediate future is one which most intimately affects the taxpayers of this Colony, who, when the railway is completed and paid for, will have to find the interest payable on a loan of about a million pounds sterling. We dealt more fully with all these points in a series of articles which have evidently come under the notice of Mr. GINNELL. The replies of Colonel SEELY to the questions asked by the hon. member for West Meath as we have already remarked, practically re-echo the utterances of H. E. the GOVERNOR in the Legislative Council, except on this one
point of the remunerative character of the undertaking,
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