Aug. 9.
Worps can hardly express the indignation which will be felt at the outrage committed upon Mr. George Shaw of Antung by; the Japanese authorities of Korea, a detailed account of which by our Mukden correspondent appears on page 23 to-day. If Mr.! Shaw were twenty times ''guilty" of whatever crimes the Japanese} allege, the treatment meted out to him would still be barbarous. Actually there cannot be the slightest doubt of his innocence of all but forgetfulness to carry his passport, in a place moreover where he is known to every gendarme. Mr, Shaw is a man of the highest repute, the last who would be likely to traffic with Korean revolutionaries. And as our correspondent says, supposing he had done such a thing, would he have been fool enough} to trust himself, passportless, in: the clutches of Japan?
Actually, it can only be con-' cluded that the Japanese are} gratifying a personal spite, with} the further hope of driving out! of the district one who has proved} a strong competitor to Japanese) trade. 'The incidents of the Yalu; bridge, when Mr. Shaw not only made the Japanese spend more'* than they meant but also checkmated their scheme to deprive the upper river of big traffic, and' his very proper refusal to permit! them to search the str. Kueilin—in which connexion Mr. Shaw) exposed them in a _barefaced falsehood—would be quite enough to excite their animosity. If the Japanese authorities had any real! charge against him, why did not they take proceedings in the ordinary way through the British Consular court? Why did the gendarmes at Shingishu allow him to go on to meet Mrs. Shaw, when he explained that he bad no passport? Why are none of tis friends or even the British consular authorities, except for i in the presence of panese, allowed to see him?
Why has he been kept in a loathsome prison for four weeks, in the height of summer, untried?
We may anticipate the usual: ery from the Japanese Press of "exaggeration and misrepresent: tion'' with the remark that what. ever minor inaccuracies there may be in details, the ill repute of Japanese gendarmes, and we regret to add of soldiers also, is too well attested in Korea and Manchuria, from 'Tsingtao to' should send your chronic grum-Vladivostok, to allow of any lene to reside ye an ce city doubt as to the substantial truth for a year or two; they woul of the story as a whole. Nor return in a much more apprecia-is there any reason to doubt that tive frame of mind than most of Mr. Shaw's long incarceration is them seem to be in at present.'" due to the desperate efforts of There was, doubtless, a good deal rake together some sort of evi- most part we lead easy lives out the local Japanese authorities to of truth a man dence, Shereby to justify their here in the East and are far too conduct with their superiors.|much given to pitying ourselves Ultimately, we suppose, Me.{ for the real and imaginary hard-Shaw must be released. But that! ships that have fallen to our lot. is ''not good enough." Compen-' It ' true ae weather ort very hot sation is due to him and, inland one feels that the grass-Japan's own interest, the bring- hopper is a burden and to coning to book of his oppressors. tinue living at all is to achieve For not the least striking feature, considerable success in the face of the scandal is the utter folly of of adverse circumstances. But it. It will take Japan years tothe weather is equally hot in live "down the story of Mr. places where there is no ice nor Shaw's wrongs (just og the treat- electric fans; where there are no nent of Mr, Willard Straight at parks with green lawns and Mukden thirteen years ago is still fowers and fairy lamps and well remembered) while the lurid, music. Moreover none of us is tales of Korean sufferings under compelled to carry heavy loads in Japanese acquire new probability. the sun or do other severe manual For the good repute of the Japan-; toi! as thousands of the people ese nation, it is to be hoped that, around us must do to live, Con-Tokio will see the wisdom of in.|'litions in Mesopotamia, for in-fioting severe punishment on the'tance, are infinitely more trying authors of this outrage. than they are here and yet at this moment men are marching
and sometimes left on the sands and fighting and being pounds IN HONGKEW PARK to die, that the Empire, of which Aue. g, {We are @ part, may maintain unbroken its far flung battle line.
TxHose who are so unfortunate) \Vj]] we thank those men because as to reside in parts of the town) they have done, in heat and thirst from which Hongkew park is not! and deadly peril, those things readily accessible miss @ goodithat were commanded them? Is deal on these summer nights) there not a danger that we shall when the band plays there. accept their sacrifice and say they Japanese coloured lanterns hide have done what it was their duty amongst the foliage outside the to do? But we can learn from gate and inside stretch in long) them to carry on in our turn and chains from a Venetian mast 00' do the tasks that fall to us with the island. The bandstand is steadfastness and courage if not brilliantly lighted and the ranks, \ith pleasure and cheerfulness. of chairs in concentric rows, be—On the night already referred ginning far enough from the! to, when the band was playing, centre to escape the glare, stretch, and the people were sitting in the away into dim space. The stars; coo! shadows as quietly as though Kkle overhead in the dark blue in church, s Chinese amah push-and there is always sufficient/eq her way into the brilliantly breeze to give refreshment after lighted vacant circle surrounding the Jong hot day. The music}the band-stand and stood there Lenape beenves lede wot divan ce nona: tines i, bec: selections. Vhether the ed by the rattle of passing tram-} woman was entranced with' the cars, the raucous screech of motor} music or enamoured of the good horns or the screaming of sirens looks of the bandsman must re-on the river. Neither do wreaths; main a mystery, but she stood lof filthy smoke drift across the! alone in the centre of the picture, audience soiling their clothes and: for full fifteen minutes evidently stifling them with sulphur fumes.' utterly unconscious that she was A gentleman. who had spent attracting the amused attention of several years up country was the audience. Once or twice in taken to the park after dinner on: the evening a daring couple a recent Friday evening and said c: ossed this light drenched circle, to his host, "Why, this is like! but they did so with a self. fairy-land; you people don't know; conscious air and sought, with what lucky beggars you are. You rapid steps, the friendly shadows,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.