The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1930. WEI-HAI-WEI.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 May 1930, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1930. WEI-HAI-WEI.

The signing of the convention for the restoration to China of Wei-hai-wai marks practically the last step in negotiations which were commenced at the Conference of Washington in 15)22, and, incidentally foreshadows, says an Otago paper, the severing of a link in the chain of those diplomatic events with which the statesmen of a past century were associated. The territory of Wei-hai-woi was leased to the Mother Country by China in 185)8 “in order to provide Great Britain with a suitable naval harbour in North China and for the belter protection of British commerce in the neighbour-

ing seas.*’ Viscount Grey of Eallo-

iien in bis “Twenty-live Vears,” explains the British Government’s anxiety to secure the Wei-hai-wei concession as being due to a desire to counteract the Russian occupation of Port Arthur, and lie states that so far as he was aware China willingly agreed to the lease being made. Justin M’Cartliy, who deals with the matter more fully, relates that after China had conceded all the demands of Russia, and the Russian Government had decided to fortify Port Arthur as a naval station, the British Government obtained a 'ninety-nine years’ lease of Wei-hai-wei as Chinese recognition of England’s agreement in these concessions. As this chronicler tersely comments, a good deal was hoard of \) ei-Jmi-wci during the events which followed, and some of the English newspapers treated the lease of that port with ridicule and contempt. At tlie time, however, there is no doubt that the British Government considered thut it had obtained a territory of considerable value. Lord Salisbury, in. 1898, spoke of the “enormous advantages” possessed by tiie port, chief among which was the fact that it “can be defended, and defended .without difficulty, from the sea,” and the Duke of Devonshire, in announcing to the House of Lords the steps the Government had taken to secure the lease described it as having very great strategic value. During the same period Lord (then Mr) Balfour made the somewhat more measured statement t.lia.’u Great Britain’s action in leasing the territory “would at all events preserve it from being reft from the hands of the Sovereign power of Peking.” Some four years later, when the decision was made by the British Government not to abandon the port, opinion is found to be more at variance upon its strategic value—ridicule and contempt had done their work. Lord Onslow, for example rather diffidently expressed his belief that Wai-hai-wei would become a very popular sanatorium, to which Eord Roseberry gibingly replied, not without truth, that while the acquisition had been announced with a flourish of trumpets, all that was now thought of it was apparently that it was a second-class watering place. It must be admitted, now that Wei-hai-wei is no longer a pol j.i’eal issue of any import, that Lord Salisbury’s sanguine hopes were never very amply fulfilled. Until 1922 the territory had to be assisted annually by a g,raMt-ih-aitl from imperial fiinus } though siilce that.,time it has been seif-SuppOrting, unfits strategic value has long ceased to be a matter for debate (During the summer the port has .been used by His Majesty’s fleet on the China station ns a sanatorium and exercising ground, and at times it has been found useful as a convalescent camp for officers and men of tne Shanghai Defence Force, but it nas failed to justify any expectations of thirty odd years agendas to its usefulness as a military or naval asset. Wei-hai-wei has prospered under British administration, as have other parts of China whereon the Union Jack nas been planted, both owing to the growth of business in the port and the influx of inhabitants of neighbouring Chinese districts, who have learned to prefer the foreign yoke to the depredations of the banditry and military. Nevertheless, possession of a portion of China which has proved more costly uian valuable is naturally not desired by the British Government, and negotiations for the rendition of uei-liei-wai were already far advanced in 1924 in accordance with the decisions taken at Washington. The absence of a settled Government in China at that time resulted in the actual surrender of the territory not being made, but during the past five or si years the National Government has given every earnest of its desire to handle its own affairs, and it may be assumed that the British Government has delayed no longer than was necessary in approving the terms of the convention as now announced. Not the least interesting episode worth recalling in the history 1 of Wai-hai-wei is that, being formerly a Chinese n«val station, it was/captured by the Japanese in 1896 and occupied by their troops until 1898, pending the payment of an indemnity.