Unlike the encounter of Grek! with Greek, there comes no tug-of-war, but protracted conversation, that interferes with the manipula tion of traffic signals. Thus, the very able guardian of the put peace who is stationed at the} Junction of the Maloo and Szechuen Roads is et times oblivious of what is required of him, the while indulge ing in fruity gossip with some fellow member of the force oF sot itinerant compatriot. The result is Jo stream of vehicles stretching wel towards the Yangkingpang, in the tone direction, and Soochow Creek, in the other, until it shall please the official "light-manipulator become conscious of his surroundings once again. One does not for moment dispute the importance lof settling such vexed questions as whether the Mountain came to Mahomet, or the converse. These] are. high matters which have; troubled' many who have gone before, and will doubtless engage the attention of not a few to come, little, if any, less vexed is the probleni of getting on one's way, {if one be ina motorcar or a riesha, or of crossing the street in safety, if one be on foot. In the latter contingency, in particular, there the desire to avoid embarrassing: the motorist by crossing in front] of him unexpectedly, to say nothing of the equally commendable wish to avoid being rammed in the small of the hack by a riesha. To act either or both of these worthy ends, tone is all too frequently kept waiting at the crossing until it shall lease the oficial deflector ftraffe streams to create a diversion. One is content to await his pleasure in this so long as he is actually controlling traffic: but there is far les reason for patience imposed by a long-winded conversation between the controller and some acquaintance who has no right whatever to divert the form attention from his duties, The Need of Peace Mr. T. Vs. Soong's appeal for peace, in 'a "Hongkong which we published last week "ought certainly to make him popular with the Chinese commercial eon-munity. throughout this country, and it goe without saying that it' echoes tHe foreigner's sentiments. Mr. Soong was a member of the Hankow Gov ernment ard is Mrs, Sun Yat-sen's brother, while with the reported return of Eugene Chen from Mos. cow, en route to Canton, this latter city' Is under suspicion as a new pondent dated November 8, which Red rendes-vous, 30 that a public we appeal from Mr. Soong will natural- difference between Wang Ching-wei ly be received with some scepticism {in all Chinese political circles and its siticerity doubted bably be suspected that the Com-rust element wants to regain, voice in the higher council of the Kuomintang, and that, since is not strong enough to move an army northwards with any hope of success, Mr. Soong has been delega ated to come to Shanghai to try fair words and has given out this statement about his great yearning for peace by way of heralding: hin: [self with a popular appeal. As i happens, this does not concern ua} one way or another.
His sincerity fof insincerity does not interest Us. What does interest us is that a prominent Chinese, who has been a
worked infinite damage member of several groups that have country, has publicly confessed the war, has admitted: ens which such' campaigns inflict upon the Chinese people, and has further confessed that all the victories won are futile. The foreigner has said this over and over again, but rarely a Chines official, except in polite and platitu cons confidences. War and disorder have been farmed by the oficial classes, both civil and. military, throughout north and south, to auch enormous profit since the collapse of the Manchus that it is very bad advertising indeed for any member: of the exploiting classes to make fany really serious effort to bring we learn about peace. It is all right to/ disagrees and deplore the ravages of war and ft is quite according to precedent to' make war to restore peace, but to suggest publicly that these wars furposeless and the viet nies that. come of them futile, is quite un novation in officialdom and ix not ikely to make Mr. Soong popular: [with the leaders of any party. - It ig nevertheless profoundly true that the form of the various Governments and the personnel of th' various Governments is really tittle concern to the masses of the Chinese people or to the foreigner:
China, What all want is a protracted peace so that the Chinese people can do what they want to do, work and trade, and see son: fof the products of their weary' efforts zo to other than destructi enterprises.
Safeguards in China The nothing in the plea made merchants for the retenig safeguards to trade in Ching which was quoted from the "Times" ina Reuter telegram yesterday, which would appeal to anyone here as a novel argument. 'The opinions expressed have been voiced here in as many' different ways as the range of the English Janguage would permit and reiterate ed almost ad nauseam. To the British public, however; many. of the ideas in the appeal will undoubtedly seem radically new and startling, and we can imagine that the publication of such a document, endoreed as it appears to be by all the influential persons who are in close touch with commerce in this country, will create quite a furry in Government circles. British merchants here ought to devive real satisfaction from it because it roves definitely that the people at Home who are in a position to present the case of the trader in this Jeountry havea thoroughly clear anderstanding of the situation in China, including the merits of ""Nationalist," are ready to abandon whi pered and confidential conferences in Whitehall for a_publicity campaign against the British Government's policy of conciliation at any a display of weakness in of a purely destructive, anti-foreign force is much more costly than any boycott could possibly be. The suggestions that the negotiations for the partial retrocession of the Tientsin Concession should discontinued and that the British Concession in Hankow be veoceupied are bold, but they are no bolder than common' sense ever is and we, of course, heartily endorse them, The Canton Puzzle Those of our renders who ave interested in the state of things in Canton must have m much deeper insight into Chinese affairs than we have if they can profess to know what is actually going on. In a letter from our Hongkong corres published yesterday,—the and Chang Fa-kuei on the hand and General Li Chi-hsin, the man Te will pro-lin actual military control "of the situation, was emphesived, and it was suggested that an open breach was imminent. Before going fur-Ther it might be well to- point. out that this General Li has a name that has been more variously rendered in the press than that of any other public figure in China, In the north he would be Li Chi-hein and in Canton Li Chai-sum, bhut no one is content with ringing the changes on these two alternative 10 that in a contemporary five different spellings of hi" mame in different despatches. To carry on with the. story, it will be remem= lieved that Wang Ching-wei after his return from Europe, deserted Chiang Kai-shek and his Nanking Government and proceeded to Han-to take part in the administration there while Borodin and. his staff were still in supreme control, General Chang Pa-kuei of the 1s Cantonese Army also operated under direct Russian guidance and control for many months and had no part in the eventual dismissal of Borndin. Both thet worthies returned to Canton when the Hankow regime collapsed rather than join Nanking. The natural assumption is. that they: still have Commistie leanings, if not affiliations with Soviet Russia, From or Hongkong correspondent that General Li, who with them in' most talk about the delights of peace matters, believes in fiar play for the foreigner and is opposed to demonstra outrages, strikes, and boycotts. This, of course, would constitute a subject of serious disagreement with persons. like Wang Ching.wei and Chang Fas nel, yet we are informed in a Toho despatch from Tongkong, dated November 16, which we also ied yesterday, that Mr, Wang had arrived together in Hongkong. tand had set out together for Shanghai with the idea of jointly making three proposals to the. Nanking Government about the prospective Kuomintang conference. This hard to believe. When Geners last left Canton to make war on the Communists at Swatow, General Chang Fa-kuei took advantage of bris absence to rut some of hig own subordinates in office in Canton; and it was only because General Li retarned a victor and had twice fs many troops as General Chang that he was able to remove these persons gently but firmly from their posts. One would seardaly think that he would risk coming to Shanghai while Chang Fa-kuei remained Canton and while his subordinates fare pushing an expedition into Honan against Tang Song-chi. Either Toho is in error or some bewildering adjustment has been reached in Canton of which we have not Leen: advised,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.