ABOUT CHINA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 113, 30 January 1918, Page 6

ABOUT CHINA

TALK BY DR. MORRISON THE NEW GOVERNMENT PART PLAYED BY FOREICNERS. Dr. G. E. Morrison, the distinguished visitor from China who is now in Wellington, was the guest of the New Zealand Club at luncheon yesterday. In a very interesting speech which ho made to the large company which had come to meet him he told of the establishment of the now Government of China, and especially of the part played in the administration of that Government by Europeans. The chairman, introducing the visitor, made apology on' behalf of Sir Joseph Ward. Dr. Morrison said that he was rather at a loss when required as he was to speak of China in a space of twenty minutes by the clock. It was a country of such yast area, with such an enormous population. It was popularly believed that the area of China was densely populated over its whole extent, and that the population was four hundred millions. In actual fact, there were largg areas in China which were not inhabited, and the population of China did not exceed 325,000,000. The people were spreading beyond the borders of China, and for some years past there had existed the phenomenon of the great increase in the. population coexistent with a diminution of the area under cultivation. -Every year the population increased by five millions, so that the yearly increase equalled the population of Australia. ■ The Revolution. Six years ago tho country changed its method of government, and the oldest Empire became the youngest republic in the world. It was inevitable that some blood should be shed in a revolution of this magnitude, but it could , bo claimed that never in tho history of the world had a revolution been effected with less bloodshed. The Manclra dynasty, when it was apparent tliat the cause of the monarchy was hopeless, voluntarily abdicated, and the family wont into retirement. The Provisional Government established by the revolutionary leaders from the various provinces met at Nanking, and there passed a provisional Constitution. This provisional Constitution was framed by one of the ablest of modern Chinese. Now the Government was established in Peking. There- was a President, a Vico-President, and a bi-cam-eral Legislature. Tho President held office for five years, with right of reappointment for a second term, but he had to be appointed by a two-thirds majority of both Houses of tho Legislature sitting together. The affairs of the country were administered by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet of nine Ministers, and every one of the Ministers must have his appointment sanctioned by a two-thirds majority vote of both Houses of Parliament. Parliament consisted of an Upper House of 295 members, and a Lower House of uOO members. One member nf tho Lower House represented 800,000 of tho people, and every subject of China living beyond the borders of the country, many of them overseas, had a right to a vote for a member of tho Lower House of the Legislature. Making a Constitution. When this Government had been firmly established, and' had been recognised by every foreign country in tho world, a special committee of thirty members of each House was established to draft'a permanent Constitution for j the Republic of China. These men were | specially selected for this task, and the measure of their ability and fitness for tho task might be gauged from the fact that an American 'professor in the University in Peking declared as his deliberate opinion that the men draft- I ing the Constitution of the Republic of ! China were not inferior in intellectual equipment to the men who drafted tho Constitution of the United States bf America. There wero differences of opinion in China, and there was conflict as,to the constitution of the Government, but China had had this form of government for only six years, and any observer could speak with favour of the achievement made in such a brief period of time. There were bound to bo sporadic disturbances in the country until the relations of the Central Government with the provinces could be more clearly defined. Ablo Helpers. When this Government was formed there was appointed to the service of the new Government an Englishman who was t'upposed to have some knowledge of the internal and external affairs of China. With his help the Government appointed other foreigners to important positions of State, every man being selected for his special knowledge. As a constitutional adviser to tho Government there was appointed a Japanese jumt of international fame. With him was associated a distinguished American, now president of an American university. His successor, another American professor, had also recently been recalled to the States to take up an important appointment in his own country. A Frenchman who had rendered conspicuous service in Siam was -appointed to assist in the reorganisation of the administration of justice in China. A Belgian was appointed adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A Frenchman was appointed to reorganise the gendarmerie of China, and this soldier had a splendid record of service in the present war. These, particulars would serve to show the class of men appointed by tho Chinese Government to help China to improve its standing among the nations. Finance. Already China had raised her status among the nations. The finanml position of the country was good. The outside foreign debt of China • amounted only to £160.000,000, and of this £67,500,000 was the amount of the Boxer indemnity imposed on China in 1901, in punishment for crimes committed against civilisation in 1900. Of this indemnity the German share, onefifth, had been confiscated, and in recognition of the services rendered by China to the cause of the Allies the Powers had agreed to postpone the payment of the rest of the indemnity payments for live years. Oniy some thirty million pounds of the remaining debt of China could be nroperly called Government debt. Some of those other debts were incurred in the construction of railways l and other profitable enterprises in China. The moneys were considered to be public debt, because, although they were secured on the railways being constructed, there was a clause in all the contracts by which repayment was unconditionally guaranteed' by the Chinese Government. The only interest China required to find for'the payment of interest on her out- . side debt was seven millions sterling. The Customs service was directly under tho control of au Englishman, and it produced six millions sterling. The service vas created by an Englishman, Sir Robert Hart, aiid it was strictly provided that the Customs service must remain as it was at present until every foreign obligation of China secured upon the. Customs was repaid. On the salt revenue loans of thirty millions were sociyred, and tho snlt revenue was ten millions annually. This revenue was entirely paid into tho foreign banks, and none of the money collected in this way could bo released for the service of the Chinese Government until every obligation had been mot. The other great sourco of revenue

was the land, and there was reason to hope that when this 'revenue was reorganised tho return would be not loss than 21 millions per annum. Who should ho entrusted with thotask of reorganising this great service iiad hot yet been decided. There had been international jealousies about the appointment. It was hoped that the reorganisation of the land revemio would havo been entrusted to a distinguished Indian administrator, who had rendered valuable service in the Pimjaub, because it was considered that the, land problems in China were analogous to those existing in India, but three other countries protested against the appointment of another Englishman in another high post ill China. Foreign Relations. ■ China's foreign affairs werein almost every respect satisfactory. The debacle of Kussia, the Power co-terminous with China, had indirectly added to the strength of China. Jt'reviously sho had feared Russia, but so long as conditions continued in Russia as they were now China .need not fear Russian aggression in Asia. China's relations with America were wholly satisfactory. If the term altruistic could ever be applied to the relations between nations, it could be applied to the relations of America and China. For years America had worked for the uplift of China. There were 1350 Chinese students in tne American universities, and there was nothing more remarkable than to hear from a man in an out-of-the-way place in China, as he had heard from a man not long ago, that his son had graduated at Harvard, and that he had won the prize for oratory! America's workin China had been largely work for the education of the Chinese. Even tho inrtuence of the Standard Oil Company had been good, for the introduction of an illuminant into China had materially altered the conditions of the people-. It enabled them to read in the evening. ■ Tho name .of Englishman stood high in China. Tho educational work done by the English in China, was not so highly endowed as that of the Americans, but it had been longer established. The whole movement was under Anglo-American co-operation. An Englishman created the Customs service, an Englishman established the salt revenue, and an Englishman established the postal service. The postal service was now under a Frenchman, and it must be.so while China employed any foreigners'in its public service. The relations between China and Japan were satisfactory. Japan's victory over Russia appealed strongly to the Chinese, .who believed that what j tho Japanese could " accomplish they themselves could accomplish. Since the war many more Chinese students had gono to colleges in Japan, until now there were no less than 5000 Chinese students in Tokio alone. In China the Japanese had established schools in which Japanese residents in China were taught along with Chinese pupils. The Crcat Disability. The right of extra-territoriality claimed for subjects resident in China by all nations was the great difficulty in the administration of China. Every foreigner , in China was under tho jurisdiction not of the Chinese Government, but of the Government of his own country, and when it was remembered that there were 135,000 Japanese in the country along with people of, other nationalities the difficulties in the administration of justice must bo apparent, especially in the remote parts of the interior. This disability could only bo removed, whon the administration of justice in China was much improved, for by a treaty signed m China, on behalf of tho Government of China it was provided that China would recover ther extra-territorial rights when tho administration of justice in China μ-s considered to bo equal to the aclim'inistration nf justice in Europeo/i I countries. This was the goal of the Chinese Government, which hart tho assistance nf distinguished legal advisers in its effort to reach that ?oa . Tt would appear from what he had said that in his opinion the domestic affairs of China were not unsatisfactory. The four-lino paragraphs published in ; the newspapers ns coming from China were quits misleading, ami lie was at .a loss to know on what basis the news was selected for transmission to the Press of Australasia. The financial position nml the external relations of the country wero good, the communications were constantly improving, and when it was realised .that Chum was so vast in area, that its mineral resources were as yet undeveloped, that its population was so huge, that the people were of such keen intelligence, it seemed to him a. matter of common sense that a country with such productive capacity as New Zealand should take a jirepwr interest in a country which stretched all the way from India to the Pacific Ocean. The Prime Minister Speaks. The Prime Minister was invited by the chairman to propose a vote, of thanks to the speaker for his address. Mr. Massey said that when he had been listening to the speech, he could not help thinking that Dr. Morrison was one of those British citizens, like Sir Robert Hart, who had been responsible for the very happy relatious between the British Empire and the Chinese Government. (Applause.) It was very fortunate for us that this satisfactory state of things did exist,, in view of tho crisis through which the British people wero passing, and the dangers to which they were exposed. Even the war had not been without good to us, if we would be wise enough to learn tho lessons it had taught. The war had given an opportunity to the people of China and Japan to show their friendship for Britain; it had given to the teeming millions of India an opportunity to show their loyalty to I the Empire. The war had shown to us i many of our own weaknesses in comI mere'e and in other things. These lesi sons must not bo forgotten. Different parts of the Empire wore cemented toi eether to-day as never before, and he had no doubt that this w<.r, and the Morions traditions it would leave beI hind it, would keep the Empire to- ■ trefcher as nothing .■■lμ could have done. j They had read, and read without any ' pleasure, the recent speech of the GerI man Chancellor, an ir.wlsnt and arrogant speech. He had no hesitation m saving that the answer of this representative meeting to that sneeeh wouN bo, "Let us fii-ht on." He belied that we v/ovo goir.g to fight on, light on until victory came. Mr. Massey proposed tho vote or thanks, which was carried by acclamation.