Some disappointment is expressed certain quarters that the Bill deal-_ ing with the British share of the Boxer Indemnity has had to be held over till the autumn,' but, that. disappointment is not shared by those who care either for the welfare of China or for British prestige in that country.
The Bill as brought in was a mere framework, and the Under-Secretary: for Foreign. Aftairs asked the House upon presenting it for a blank: cheque, The purposes of the Bill were not to be stated. As amended, defines its purposes as being "educational or other"—a pointless: eoncession—and arranges to set up. 'a statutory Advisory Committee of 10 persons, which shall include at Toast one woman and at least one: citizen of the Republic of China, and further requires, the Foreign Secretary to consult this Committee before taking action. These amendments, good in their way, do not go nearly far enough. It is a noteworthy fact that members draw from all three political parties have put their names jointly to an amendment defining the purposes as "educational for cultural," thus bringing British, American and Japanese aims into line, From an Anglo-Chinese, as well as from Chinese, point of view this Is a matter of supreme importance, Pressed by both America and Japan in the Chinese markets, Great Britain cannot afford to take a lower Hine, even in name, than the}
Certain other amendments also ave of importance: these are directed to the constitution of the statutory committee which, if already proviso anally constituted, may be a misfit, should the main amendment be: carried, as probably it will be. A committee arranged for "educational or other" ends ought not to be the same as that constituted for "edueational or cultural" purposes. In the Tater persons having: knowledge and experience of educational and medical work would be essential, and the Chinese citizen to be appointed would lave to be a scholar of repute whose lection would favourably impress Chinese opinion. Unless that condition were fulfilled, the presence of this citizen would do more harm than. good to the purposes which the Committee will have been appointed to promote, A further interesting point raised by an amendment that the Advisory Committee shall contain a Chinese woman, cational Aid.
There is only one way to help China permanently and_ radically. That is by education. To educate many Chinese on a broader system. than that country now possesses, to colour that education with a tradition of service to the community, instead of merely to the family, and to infuse into it a desire for corporate wellbeing and voluntary sorvice—to seck, in fact, that temper which has ways informed the best educational tradition in England and steadily' promotes the healthy development of our body politie—would be to confer on China an inestimable boon.
This. would mean looking to the next generation for ultimate results, but there are no short cuts in eduea-8 especially true of China, ously conceived, but disappointing, experiment at' Tsinghua College, in Peking, where, at the expense of that portion of the American quota of the indemnity which was remitted in 1908, 400 young Chinese boys drawn ' from' influential families spend six years acquiring English and the clements of an American education before spending " furth six years in America. What is! wanted is not a new institution, but. aid for as many existing institutions. and activities, whether under Chinese or British management as the fund can afford, whether secondary, trade, or technical schools, and colleges and universities. Scholai ships should be given to enable promising students to proceed to universities in the British Empire. Moreover, in London a Chinese institute and hostel should be estabished.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.