He has held the portfolio Foreign Affairs four times since, and brought into the administra:
ion of his department n_ brusque and businesslike manner. Diplomats abroad are said to have complained that the Foreign Minister treated them as though they were subordinate clerks in the Foreign Office.
For many years Kato enjoyed immense popularity. 'The first -re-bu he met was in 1906 when' refused to consent to the nation: alization of the railways of the country. He was accused of eatering to the interests of the Twasuiks and preferring the interests of thi family with which he was connected by marriage to those of the Empire, and, although no evidence was pré- duced to support the charge, the outery against him was so. vehement that he was forced to resign, He then went into the newspaper business and purchased the "Tokio, Nichi Nichi" ("Tokio Daily News"): which was then under different pr6: prictorship to what it is now. 'Tite Iwasakis supported him Journalistic venture, but it provetl only a flash in the' pan, After a period of comparative obscurity, -he was offered the Ambassadorship to Great Britain where he had been before Minister Plenipotentiary. "He vead\- ly accepted, declaring that nvthing pleased him more at the time tun to go "to my second home,"
The Twenty-one Demands.
When the European War broke out, Marquis Okuma was Premier and made Viscount Kato his For-gen Minister. It was then that famous Twenty-One Demands werd resented to China. A scandal th connexion with the eneral elections libeld while the Okuma Cabinet. war in power led to the fall of that Ministry. "Marquis Okuma, on resigning, recommended to the Throne Viscount Kato as his successor, The clan chieftains and the Elder Statesthen, however, disagreed with the recommendation and Field-Marshal Terauchi, during whowe regime Jupan played a lone and ile starred role in Siberia, stepped into the shoes of Marquis Okuma, For several 10 years after this Viscount Kato kept out of the Government, but was very active as an, Opposition politician, Kato was made a haven in connexion the revision of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and Viscount in relation to the recent war. Ho is a fluent, but careful, specially when discussing polities, His language is the quintessence of politeness, but he can uso sarcasm. with sufficient effect to make an ade versary squirm. Viscount Kato is committed to giving the manhood of Japan the franchise.
If the appointment of Viscount Kato means the disruption of the balance of power held by the various clans; and the growing conseiousness that Japan's future really lies the "hands of her bank merchants and economists rather than in those of the military hierarchy, then the appointment is not merely a step forward, but an augury of good. It is also the beginning of the end of the absolute control that the Genro' (Elder, Statesmen) have for so long wield-fed, and ushers in the dawn of responsible, party government, "TaoUBLE-stAKERS Will be arrested and shot without hope of pardon." Thus reads a proclamation Marshal Hsiao Yao-man at Hankow with reference to the agitation ther lover the affairs of the Electic Light and Waterworks Ca. The Marshal says that those who wish to com-Plain of the alleged irregularities of the company must do so through the. proper legal channels. Any other demonstration of disfavour is 9 capital crime!
A Reuter's message dated Pekin the Sth instant, states that tht plans being made for the establishment of a British School in Pekinty are proceeding satisfactorily. prospectus giving full particulars about the school will be issued later: and in the meantime parents wht. have prospective pupils are-asked communicate with" Miss Leach former Austro-Hungarian Legation: If. the response warrants vit, kindergarten daes will be: formed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.