CHINESE QUESTION.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 283, 3 May 1898, Page 2

CHINESE QUESTION.

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—COYrRIGHT. London, April 30. An debate took place in the House of Commons yesterday oyer the correspondence on Chinese affairs. Sir W. Harcourt, leader of the Opposition, said the negotiations had resulted in a series of Russian triumphs. Sir Charles Dilke and Lord Charlos Beresford condemned the withdrawal of British ships from Port Arthur. Mr Balfour, in the course of his reply in defence of the policy of the Government, said it was never intended that British .varships should remain at Port Arthur. He considered that the Russian position was worse now than it was eight months ago. Germany had come on the scene, and England had been forced to lease a port in the Gulf of Pechili. There was, he said, no objection to Britain conciliating Germany, and giving her assurance that her sphere would not be interfered with. He denied there had been any abrogation of the Tientsin treaty. England had obtained, without the Chinese loan, nearly all she had hoped to secure with it. Russia, on the contrary, had evoked distrust and bitterness in China, which had led that country to grant far-reaching concessions to England instead of to Russia. England, ho added, was quietly consolidating her position, while if she had precipitated events she would have roused forces which must have proved a serious obstacle in her path. As for Wei-hai-wei, that port, he stated, had been obtained for military purposes, without reference to trade or commerce. The newspapers in commenting on the debate commend Mr Balfour's dialectics, but are not satisfied with, his explanations. The Times attributes the weakness of Lord Salisbury and Mr Balfour to their having to discharge the double duties of the Foreign Office.