Weihaiwei, Oct. 2.
The first meeting of the Weihaiwei Retrocession Commission opened to-day at nine o'clock, Mr. A. P. Blunt, the Administrator, opened the proceedings with a speech, in which he said that the task of the Commission wag to arrive at an agreement to secure to the people of the territory of Weihaiwei in the future a history similar to that of the past 24 years, It was reasonable to expect that the existing foreign interests would not suffer. Weihaiwei had during the summer of every year a daily average of 600 foreign visitors. The secrets of success were the climate, scenery and good sanitation.
The policing of Weihaiwei was second to none in the rest of the country where similar places were necessary for the ever-increasing foreign population. The more visitors there were, the> greater prosperity, and also the. greater criticism and the greater opportunity for China to demonstrate to the world her fitness to govern. On the other hand, failure to carry on the government as it was always run, in accordance with Chinese customs and_ cheaply, would hardly afford very strong arguments in favour, for instance, of the abolition of extraterritority.
Turning to the Chinese delegation, Mr. Blunt said: "Mr, Liang and Chinese. members of the Commission, you have a great opportunity to do work for China which all real friends of China hope to see you fulfil." The revenue in 1902/3 was $31,715 and the expenditure $142,500, while last year revenue was $199,000 and the expenditure $226,667. In his "opinion, the territory was just self-supporting and there was an opportunity for China to create 1 model Government of the territory.
The last word argued the lease of Weihaiwei ox any caSe in 1923 and that Britain's action at Washington was dictated not by generosity, but by the desire to gain credit for forestalling the inevitable and to save money. With regard to the former contention, Mr. Blunt said that "he would be a bold man who would assert that, if Britain had desired to continue the lease, China would he justified in refusing under the "most favoured nation clause." With, regard to the latter he had chown that the territory was now just self-supporting. Mr. Blunt then asked Mr. B. Giles, the Senior British delegate, to take the chair -at this and at the following meetings.
Mr. M. T. Liang, the head of the Chinese delegation, replied to Mr Blunt's speech and Admiral Y. F.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.