INTRIGUES IN CHINA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9555, 30 July 1909, Page 6

INTRIGUES IN CHINA.

A further cable referring to the dispute over the projected CantonHankow railway throws an instructive light on the keen international rivalries that add so much interest to life in the Far East to-day. The line when it is built w:ll run from the chief centre of trade in the Yang-tse Vallay, to the largest city and port in Southern China, and it will incidentally apcn up great districts teeming with an industrious population and exceptionally endowed with national resources, both agricultural and mineral. The original concession for this line dates back to the time when Russia was in occupation of Manchuria, and the Boxer rising and the subsequent seizure of Peking by the Allies had not yet changed the face of the Far East. Jn the first place an American syndicate received the right to build this line, but in the general confusion of 1900-1 the grant was supposed to lapse. It was sub?e- ---: qucntly revived by a British syndij ccte, which, following up the "entente," accepted the offer or certain French capitalists to assist in the undertaking. This Anglo-French co- ' operation was naturally distasteful ' to Germany, and the Kaiser's representatives had sufficient influence at i Peking to "hold up" the concession while the rights of the Germans to share in the enterprise were considJ ered. But the Germans were unable 'to sceure any controlling interest, and they then ingeniously turned ; their attention to the American claim for consideration. They pointed out that the concession was originally granted to an American company, and they did their best to represent England as having dishonestly manipulated the situation so as to secure this valuable concession for herself and France at America's | expense. The effyct of these insidious influences is seen in Mr Taftfs message to the Chinese Imperial Government requesting that the ratification of the concession be held over till American claims have been taken into account. No doubt the Americans can make out a good case for consideration. But, as Dr Morrison points out in one of his valuable communications to the London "Times," Mr Taft's interference is directly due to German intrigues against England, and it is necessary for England to use the utmost caution in dealing with international claims in the Far East, while Germany is devoting all her energies to misrepresenting the British attitude toward > other Powers, and sowing the seeds of discord between England on the [ one hand, and France and America on ! the oiher.