THE next speaker in the debate was Lord Balcarres, who added some amusement but very little know! dge to the discussion.
He recognised 390! that Russia was dominant now in 890|North China, and characterised Weihaiwei as being worthless strategically, economically, poli tically, socially, and commercial mockedat the Russian (trans-Siberian) 891 railway.
"There was no railway skill in Russia. They sai! could not make a tunnel each rail-!
Mr. Brodrick then replied on behalf of the Government, and we quote the summary of his speech from the "Times" of the 31st of March Mr. Brodrick replied, observing at the outset that the sparse attendance of members during the debate showed that less interest was taken in the subject than for-morly. He than pointed out to Mr. Walton that if Sir Claude Macdonald had not always been able to exert his influence with success the representatives of other Powers had failed in the same way, for we were not the only people who had met with obstruction from the Yamen. He asserted that the Government had not been backward in obtaining concessions, but these could nut always be forced upon the Chinese, especially when the financial support of the proposed undertakings was not considerable. In too many cases concessions had been obtained and no work had been done, and the Chinese Government were justified in requiring that some substantial progress should be made with the railway concessions already granted before they proceeded further. Serious undertakings such as that promoted by the Peking Syndicate would be sup: orted and pressed forward. With regard to the internal navigation of China, be stated that the employment of guubosts would be continued and that other expedients were under con
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.