Aug. 6.
The evacuation of the Chinese Post Offices from Manchuria a few days before the Manchukuo administration proposed to seige them by force and establish its lown postage stamps was a dignified vindication of the service which, for ten months, in circumstances of extreme provocation, had managed to function land which was about to be treat-Jed t> further and final humiliation. There is no such ground for defending the postal blockade which is supposed to be in force against the usurping authorities. The qualification is deliberate for it would seem that, partly' because the Chinese Post Ofice itself is alive to the undesirability of refusing a large portion lof the mail matter coming from Manchuria and partly because the complete severance of postal communication with that, territory is virtually impracticable, lonly "a sort of blockade" exists, In fact it is not too much to say that the relationship between the Chinese Post Offi former domain is fa also gives most serious irritation to businessmen and_ private individuals whose correspondlence is already sufficiently dislocated by conditions over which the Chinese Post Office shas no present control. It cannot lbe believed that this tragic use lof the Chinese Post Office as a is palatable to the high postal authorities here. They are known to be proud of their service, anxious to see it jon good terms with its clients and firm, usually, in deprecating departure from the principles which what, after all, is concern.
Just as any attempt to enforce "Customs blockade—an idea which, it is hoped, the Finance Minister will have sufficient power and strength of mind to reject—is bound to lead to a marked increase in the already serious evil of smuggling, so the tentative effort to institute embargo on mails to Manchuria has merely stimulated evasion and so deprived the Government of legitimate "revenue. It moreover, d criminating against the poor in favour of the rich. There are some 27,000,000 Chinese in Man-Ichuria. "Their connections China South of the Great Wall must be extensive. Is it good policy to let them know that the Government of China, while protesting against the creation Jof an independent State, is, by its own action, cutting " off [communications between Chinese the well-to-do man can, withly here and Chinese there? While [4
some difficulty, it is true, ensure ithe transmission of his correspondence to Manchuria and
jepend- receipt of probably, provide for reciprocal itters thence, the bulk lof the inhabitants of Chit doomed, by the decree of Jown Government, to forego that privilege. Moreover the raphle services, to, which cost, are less of the poor than the rich.
No position would be surrendered, no principle infringed by the acceptance and delivery lof letters from Manchuria, even though they carried Manchukuo stamps, It may be conceded that to ask the Chinese Postal [Service to remain intact for the transmission in Manchuria of mail matter bearing the lof a rebel administration ive unreasonable. That is why the evacuation was held by this journal to be justified. But to pass on letters bearing the new stamps in territory outside Manchuria is a service which lean be rendered to the public without the slightest prejudice to China's political position on ithe Manchurian issue. Tt can be regarded as nothing more th: the handling, by a service within the International Postal Union, lof letters emanating from a country without that union. Here again the unwisdom of fusing a policy of pinpricks to Jenforce a righteous cause is pointedly illustrated. If the: postal blockade would, within a measurable time, bring the Manlchukuo State to the dust and reject the Japanese Army from Manchuria, there might be something to say for it. As it is, it is merely an ineffective gesture Jwhich does little harm to the delinquents and a great deal of harm to the Government and to ithe people over whose interests {the Government claims to watch. As already Dinted, the blockade is only partially esi [Chinese Postal Authorities would ido well to abandon it entirely. They can do so without any lose Jof prestige for, so far, the
with Manchuria may be quite fairly attributed, in the main, to the change of services. If there were a speedy restoration of facilities within the power of ithe Chinese Post Office to provide, the temporary, lof the last ten di readily condoned. Generally the Postal Administration "here shows such good sense and 80 mach capacity for efficient service that its response to a suggestion of this kind is confidently expected.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.