Above are shown four liners berthed along the Shanghai waterfront, representing nearly 60,000 tons.
right thay are the Aramis, the Kaiser-I-Hind the Empresd of Russia, and the Victoria, Other big ships the Suwa Mary, the Empres¢ of Canada, the President Hayes, and the General. Sherman Consuls desired it to be explicit, That is the only difference—ot form rather than spirit. From comment which has appeared elsewhere it would seem that this decision has been interpreted as an obstructive gesture, Nor is there dimidence in assuming that the Consuls are inspred by a determination to. impede factory inspection. The baselessness of that view can be: readily shown. The Consular Body is composed of the representatives of Governments most of whom, in their own countries, have for many years applied stringent factory con-rol. Putting the matter on its lowest grounds these Governments would be the last to desire Shanghai factories to work free of all restric~ tions and so be able to compete: at a distinct advantage with overseas concerns. But on broad humanitarian grounds those Governments, with surely very few exceptions, must be anxious to see Shanghale in its newly-found industrial "activity, taking proper measures for the regulation and control of factories.
The critics who are unconvinced by the argument have a ready remedy. The Consular Body, if it cherishes the reactionary notions ascribed to it, has really delivered Itself into the hands of the Shanghai Municipal Council and the City Government of Shanghai. Let those two authorities immediately carry out the verbal amendment desired by the Consuls—an amendment which, on their own showing, does not affect the broad principles of the agreement or its practical operation—and they will automa cally assert their right to the full endorsement of the agreement without further question by the Consular Body. It obviously would not be open to the Consuls to make any further objection once their sole reservation had been met, especially as certain Governments represented among them have expressly given their blessing to the efforts of the two municipalities to solve political problems attendant on the conflict of jurisdiction, Incidentally the Consuls have never suggested that they are opposed to the application of factory inspection to their own nationals. All they require is that such inspection should be enforced according to law—the Chinese Law on factories subject to that law and the Council's Regulations on_ factories subject solely to the Council's authority. It will be seen, therefore, that if the Consuls have' machiavellian pro-Densities or sinister purposes in view, they can be hoist with their: own petard by the zealous reformers of the two Municipal authorities with the minimum expenditure of thought and energy. All that is necessary is to incorporate in the agreement a few words on the lines so thoughtfully proposed by the hard-hearted Consuls.
This seems to be preferable—especially in these days of high temperature—to the exhausting Procedure of tearing a passion to tatters. The "China Press," in a well-intentioned exposition of this subject, has accused the Consuls of resorting to "legal niceties to shield unconscionable overlords" and asks an indignant public to note that in the "Settlement, " "hundreds of thousands of Chinese are slaving beyond description and belief." It might be suggested that this sort of argument Is apt to develop the on behalf of his native country. It also equally true that Ireland has
amid all the political upheavals which have brought the Irish Free State into existence, he" has been content to fight Ireland's battles on ithe English side of St George's Channel. London made him a cockney without any formal instrument of naturalization. Although he now has his followers in every Continent, particularly in the United States of America and has made a tour of the world in the manner of a triumphal progress, the "Sage of the Adelphi" cannot disclaim the significance of that affectionate sobriquet. It stamps him as a denizen of that very English part of London, where traditions of literature and the "NaC. Herald" Photo.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.