The visit in April, 1920, by Sir Beilby Alston, K.c.M.G., 0.B., to Shanghai en route to. Peking to take up the vast of His Majesty's Minister in China was an opportunity; and avery pleasant one, of discussing in a friendly and informal manner current affairs. Sir Beilby has'on divers occasions been in charge of British affairs in Peking, besides which, having been specially attached to the China department in the Foreign Office at Home, he is, therefore, more than qualified to hold the position of British Minister to China. In' this connexion it is specially advantageous to have a gentleman appointed to Peking whose duties have for so many years connected him with the Foreign Office. Rightly or wrongly, the belief has become prevalent that the British Government, unable to take all world questions simultaneously into its purview, has been compelled to concentrate on other problems momentarily more pressing from a British point of view and to leave in abeyance those Far Eastern ques-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.