The attention of the Minister of Communications, Mr. \Wang Peh-chun, who has a name for-energy and ideas, might well be directed to the state of the Chinese telegraphs. Commenting on their unique backwardness the "North China Stana-
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Dut because. the. department. of communications of the Chinese govern-hampering regulations in All perfectly true, Non-journalistic readers may not all be familiar with the letters "RTP." They mean "receiver to pay" and indicate a system under which accredited correspondents may hand in their messages and the newspaper guarantees to pay at the other hand. In any any other country one such authorzation may he made to serve for the whole and there is no charge for ft, the cable companies being gled to get the big messages. In China A correspondent must have an TP. ened (at a yearly $2201 apiece) for every province "and then it is only good for five towns that province. Elsewhere an -T.P. can be fitted up in a few hours. The present writer once had s long telegram to send to London from Hongkong where, a3 he thought, his R.T.P, did not apply. Very courteously the Eas-min Extension Cable Ca, Yelegraphed to Shanghai for an authorization, and in about, three hours the answer came back that all was well as the correspondent's RTP. covered both Hongkong and Shanghai. And we rather think charge was made for the inquiry. But a Chinese R.T.P. takes several to obtain. "The whole aystem in tune with actual been recognized 24 desirable that there should be some method.of anteracting this, in other. words introducing a litle dynamite int the placid existence of these people, bat it is not clear why Ministers lone should be singled out. They have the searchlight of publicity keep them. up to scratch, whereas others. have of, The Chinese Last week we reported the arrival in increasing number of German officers to take up positions as advisers or instructors in the Chinese Army, and there is no doubt that when the whole story of this present movement of ousting the Russian advisers is told will make highly interesting ing. At present we are entirely atmosphere of rumour—with, of course, a few undoubted facts—bat in places it seems that there ig tendency for this rumour to solidify. "For instance with reference to the report that Marshal Ludendord has refused to accept the position of chief adviser to the Chinese Army, one or two additional facts have transpired, "The most important of these is that the first offer was made to him over a year ago, when General Chiang Kalshek is said to have desired to make clean sweep of all the opposing "factions in" China but seems to have been not altogether confident of his ability to do #0, At {the time there was a Chinese military mission in Germany, and through them the Marshal is under. stood to have been offered virtually the command of the Chinese Army for the purpose stated. It is believed that Marshal Ludendorf never refused but _temporized, although apparently he sent out uliciently good men to make Chiang Kai-shek's campaign a success, Now comes a second important. Point—that the Chinese have in mind that there has been 0 definite refusal, and they still hope that Marshal Ludendorff will decide to spend game time personally in China superintending the reorg anization of the Army. Meanwhi'e People are asking what the real ames are of the officers in Nanking, for certain of them are believed to have held anything but Junior rank recently in their own country, Diplomacy as a Career "Tw the Waited "States tt is honoured custom that at the ex; of a Presidential term of office Ministers and Ambassadors tender their resignations, leaving the new augen March, as 22 out of 28 "career" diplomatists have banded themselves together in an agreement not to do so. In th service there are two classes, at least, of diplomats, those who have entered it as a career, hence term "career been made from political motives, while perhaps there might be added third category, those who con bine sufficient wealth and ability t> hold such tremendously expensive posts as those at St. James's, Paris and Rome, a fourth before the war being Berlin. Naturally the political appointees would go on a, change of office, but it may be argued that it is very hard luck on a man who has chosen the diplomatic service ay his career and worked his way up in it until at last he has become Minister to a foreign country, that at the whim, perhaps, of a new President his service should have to finish. President Coolidge, however, puts a different complexion on the ease, for he notes the "disposition on the part of government officials to constitute themselves a self-perpetuating body," and he regards that_as against the spirit of the lave. That disposition is unfortunately to be found in all civil services, and the very security of tenure which they enjoy not infrequently has the effect of making these servants. hide-bound_and. in. different to-the interests which they are supposed to serve. "It has long.
The Balkans All the while the world is signing peace pacts and talking about imitation of armaments, the Bal-moulder. That exciting part europe has given rise to maze trouble in recent generations than place that we can remember, und it has been serious trouble too. If some of the South American republics feel it imperative on occasion to get at eross purposes with their neighbours, means have generally cen found to localize the trouble, but the Macédoine which prevails' la that particularlar region of Europe wear the western Bulgarian fror-tier operates in entirely opposite fashion, serving, in fact, to bring as many nations as possible into the jeonflict' and inflaming national passions. So it is that "one must regard swith a certain amount of misgiving the news which comes today of a sanguinary brush between two groups of Macedonian revolutionaries in Sofia, following upon a political murder which took place in the summer. It is not necessary to sound the depths of these quarrels to know that they are dangerous to European peace, they are dangerous no matter' how trivial, for in a country where no me of demarcation can be drawn between peoples of different races, so much so that the appearance a man any distance away from his} village constitutes the makings of a feud, the possibilities of extensive strife are: always enormous. Of course the machinery of the League of Nations has for its purpose the isolation of these conflicts, but machinery has not yet been devised which will keep up with events when they begin to march in the Balkans, and we are just at one of those paints where a single mistake can. easily bring about sabalo set, of crises, king to-day quotes the conjectures made with reference to the appointment of men to represent El abroad. It is no secret that this is one of the most difficult tasks which has faced the new government, the fact of the matter being that there is not a large field to choose from and it is apparently not being found easy to get men of the necessary qualifications to accept these offices. Men such as Dr. Wellington Koo are believed to have definitely finished their political careers with the fall of Peking, and even if they Were desirous of continuing them, the prejudice against everything! and everybody formerly connected. with the Peking government is 20 strong that it is doubtful whether they would be considered by Nan-King. Both Dr. C. C. Wu and Dr. Wang Ghung-hui have been urged to go to St. James's or Washington, the choice being left open to them, but they do not desire either post, and latterly Mr. Quo. Tai-chi has been given a similar choice. It will be remembered that at a recent luncheon in the Union Club Sir.
Frederick Whyte referred to the rumour then current that Mr. Quo. was likely to go to Germany, where upon Sir Frederick expressed the hope that it was untrue and that Mr, Quo sould ultimately be found in Great Britain. We now know that he has not received: the appointment at Berlin, and Reuter mentions him for Washington. Aa we have said, such a course at once presented itself to the Government when Dr. Wa and Dr. Wang refused the offers made to them,-and it seems possible that Mr. Quo witl be seen at one of these placer. There is, however, we have every reason to believe, somebody in the: background whose name has not 80 far been mentioned, and if accepts it may prove to be the most Interesting appointment of all
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.