Some grim sort of humour, it might have been imagined, first prompted the Tuchun of Sinkiang to bring the charge against the Britich consular representatives in his province of attempting to induce Chinese to become British subjects, and as such the matter could have been dismissed lightly. Only a hectic imagination could picture a representative of British majesty hunting over the province for people who might like to become subjects of King George, and it would require something more to conjure up the reason for such a desire. One would have thought that the matter was too ridiculous even for a Tuchun to proceed with, but he of Sinkiang seems a creature of more than ordinary determination. He again returned to the attack a fow weeks ago, and now he goes further than ever and according to a report in the Chinese newspapers alleges that the "Consul in question is trying to gain his ends by all means, such as cheating and advertising." In such circumstances it no longer belongs to the realm of comedy, and looks more like a fanatical outburst of Anglophobia on the part of this official, At this distance it is difficult to say what manner of political currents are in motion in that province, but until the Tuchun can give us' something better than his own vague eust picious as evidence, Peking might manage to do something in the way of cutting the telegraph lines and 60 preventing the spread of these pernicious and false rumours. That, so far as we can see. would
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.