The Provoking Consulate Since the expulsion of the Consul General for the USSR. and his staff from this Settlement has become a matter of intense public interest several questions _have come up about the precise status of this Red establishment in the sight of the several Chinese Governments, which we hear asked in all sorts of circles but which are by no means easy to answer. It is presumed that Comrade Koslovsky holds his exequatur from Peking, if he still holds one, and that this is his only claim to his title in a Chinese port, unless he holds similar documents from the Nanking Gov. ernment under some agreement of which, we are not aware. It seems, therefore, that if the Municipal] Council wanted to follow the most correct procedure in ridding us of our malevolent and dangerous guests, they would have to appeal first to Peking to withdraw the Generalissimo's recognition from the Consulate General as such and would searcely have the proper technical warrant for expelling] Comrade Koslovsky and his associates at the request of the local "Nationalist" authorities. It is in such terms that one of the problems is propounded, Another question, which has less to do with technical-few years in Hankow, however, with the weight of responsibility that a parental interest inthe British Concession imposed at the close of Mr. Goffe's term of active service, is entitled te count any' one year, in terms of nervous strain, as two; and the Foreign Office has' apparently Jooked upon the question of Mr. Goffe's retirement in that light. Born on January 14,1870, Mr. Herbert Goffe came to' China in 1890 as a student interpreter. Since then he bias held consular posts at, Chemulpo, Korea, at Chengtu, Wahu, Nanking, "'Yonnanfu and Tientsin. The appointment of Consul-General at Hankow he has held since 1920, and these seven years have seldom been anything but years of stress, When it is remem-libered that Mr. Goffe also acted as Consul-General at Hankow during the Revolution of 1911-12, when the native city was burned to the boundary of the Concession and the heaviest fighting of the Revolution went on immediately behind it, no one will wonder that the retiring Consul-General does not propose to linger long in the new Chinese environment of dissolution and elect {in the Concession which it was his Dusiness s0 often to keep immune from the chaos that swept about it. ities, but which puzzles most observfers at this. moment, is the uw accountable tolerance shown to the Soviet Consulates, which are known to be centres of agitation against! China's peace and well being, by both Peking and Nanking. Peking has forced the withdrawal of the Soviet Ambatsador and his staff Hankow shipped Borodin and his army of political and military agents out of Central China, and no! diplomatic agent has ever been sent! into this district in recognition of the Nanking Government as a Government of China. In view of the incessant Red conspiracy -against the less radical branches of the Kuomintang, one might have expected that Dr. C, C. Wa or Mr. Quo Tai-chi would long since have been denouncing the presence of an openly hostile foreign agent in the heart of their realm and have at least asserted their right to demand! his expulsion from the Settlement, using a possible refusal from the} Council as ground for a fresh assault upon the existence of concessions and the like, That they have not taken any such action, but have continued to enjoy seemingly friendly relations and to entertain such protests as Comrade Koslovsky filed with Mr. Quo after the fatal shooting affair on the anniversary of the Red Revolution, is dificult to explain unless one as: umes that while the Kuomintang, in ite anti-Communist campaign, is happy to pin-prick and annoy Soviet Russia, but does not think it politic to bre completely with an old ally while enjoying friendly relations with no one else. The licence which the Tabour agitators now seem to enjoy which can only be attributable to official "Nationalist" policy, would also indicate that while Nar king is determined to safeguard the Inner councils of the Kuomintang from Communist influence, it is considered useful to give the Reds a little rope periodically to annoy and embarrass the foreign communities here and also to keep up an appea ance of amicable relations with the Soviet Consulate so that closer relations may be more easily resumed in an emergency.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.