To ordinary people accustomed to plain English this public declaration of the Government's position in regard to the question would seem to indicate that Great Bi retain possession of present lease terminates, Weihaiwei, and others in position to know the real facts, have also been approached on the subject, and the writer haa received the Comrissioner's permission to state positively that the question of the rendition of Weihai wei to China has not arisen, and t statements on the point which h been so persistent of late in the Pross are entirely unfounded, His Honour, the Commissioner, recently went, vid Tsingtao to th provincial capital. Acaording to reports published in the Europ Tientsin to Hongkong—there was s two-fold object in this!
yurney: (1) to arrange fur the rendition of Weihaiwei, (2) to conclude negotiations about an important railway concession. His Honour authorises me to state that both these reports sre absolutely untrue, and that he undertook the journey to pay friendly visite to of Tsingtao and to ti Shantung, the latter of whom visited the Commissioner at Weihaiwei last It is satisfactory to be able to contradict so emphatically the oxtraordinary and damaging reports that have been current regarding the political fature of England's newest eastern possession.
Hensexr L. Bet
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.