ANNEXATION OF KOREA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 119, 27 August 1910, Page 5

ANNEXATION OF KOREA.

PRESS COMMENTS. Si Catole. —Press Association. —Copyright London, August 25. Morning Post, dealing with the annexation of Korea, says the change ie more nominal than real. Doubtless Hipan has consulted; all the Powers which have treaties with Korea, and / arrangements will naturaliy he made to safeguard n-l! foreign interests. rhe Daily Mail says that it is of the utmost importance that the British Government should satisfy themselves and the country regarding the commercial aspects, so that there shall be no opening for any of those misunderstandings which have increased the difficulties of the Japanese in Manchuria. The Daily News says there could be no more complete illustration of the destiny which, under the conditions governing international relations, is reserved for the smaller peoples, or of the way great Powers solemnly agree to override the claims of nationalities and ignore obligations to which they in the plainest terms h.ave piled'ged themselves. The iDnily Graphic emphasises the tremendous significance of the annexation as a turning point in Far Eastern history. Japan is now a continental State with a frontier little beyond ft day's journey from Pckin.

THE TATCIFF QUESTION. ' Received August 26, 10.50 p.m. London, August j 26. The Daily Mail reports that it is un(officially .stated that the Korean tariff on exports' will remain unchanged. The Commercial Intelligence Department of the Board of Trade is informed that the new Japanese tariff will no.t be enforced in respect of Korea. "Until 1894 China was the suzerain of Korea, but on the conclusion of the war in 1895, China relinquished her suzerainty, and the independence of Korea was acknowledged. Then a struggle began with Russia, which culminated in the Russo-Japanese War, and by the Peace Treaty between Russia and Japan, - 1905, the' paramount interest of the latter country in Korea was acknowledged. A treaty between Korea and Japan, signed at 'Seoul, November 17, 1905, provided that Japan, through the Department of Foreign Affairs in Tofcio, should control and direct the external relations and affairs of Korea; that Japan should be represented at the Court of the Eml- - of Korea by & Resident-General< residing at Seoul, and have the right to station Residents at the several open ports and such other places in Korea as it might deem necessary. On the abdication of Yi Hem a new convention was concluded oh July 31, 1007, and the control of the country placed more fully in the hands of Japan. Under the Treaty of Portsmouth, which concluded the Russo-Japanese war, the Russian lease of the Kwantung Province, which includes the Port Arthur and. the Liaotung Peninsular, was transferred to Japan. This lease expires in 1023. The iSouth Manchurian railway was also transferred by Russia to Ja-. pan. The Japanese maintained that this line was "the one and only tangible asset accruing to Japan in the sequel of a war which cost her 100/JOO men and 200 millions of treasure."

The ©ld regime in Korea swept away by Japan {says "The Times") never deeerved an atom of sympathy, but the Koreans are not the only Oriental people who are apt to prefer misgovernjnent at the hands of their own rulers to all the advantages of a civilised but alien government. The magnitude of the task assumed iby a nation like the Japanese, themselves still in a state of transition, in undertaking to govern a Ttust and backward country with a population* of ten millions, would have taxed the resources of a country trained to colonial enterprise by the. experience of inany generations; and that it has been marred by the high-handed section is not to he wondered at.