We shall be much interested in reading what the Hongkong papers have to say in reply to the "Daily News" article complaining of the wrong still being done to Commander and Mrs. Haslewood in connexion with the Mui-tsai at Hongkong. One reply is obvious and can be made with a good deal of fairness. At the time Commander and Mrs. Haslewood were in Hongkong and the subject was raised by the latter, Great Britain was in the throes of the most deadly war it has ever had to face. Hongkong, it is true, was merely on the fringe of events, but in common with other parts of the Empire was doing what it could to provision the British forces in the field and at sea. While such a struggle was being waged it was no time to dissipate energies on reforms, however important, and Hongkong accordingly did right in declining to trouble the British Government about the matter. Further the Government of Hongkong was deeply concerned that life there. should pursue the even tenour of its way, and any disturbing influence was to be deprecated. The Chinese of Hongkong have said themselves that a reform such as this was a factor calculated to upset the populace, and to that extent they. justify the Colonial Government in the steps it took to remove that cause. When zeal outruns discretion _officialdom cannot be happy, and Governments would be something more than human if subsequently they proceeded to reward those who had planted thorns in their path.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.