The debate was initiated by Lord Peel, formerly Secretary of State for India, who said that the situation in North China demanded constant attention, "Detailing the extent of the smuggling there, he remarked that there had been {wo consignments of munitions and armaments, and that doubtless drug traffickers were taking the opportunity to pour stuff into China, 'A large' proportion of this cargo was of Japanese manufacture, and this had not gone without protest. It was not hard {0 foresee the result on China's finances, and, when they remembered that there was not only disturbance to British trade but Chinese loans secured on the Eu toms, it could be seen what a deplorable effect this might have on the whole Chinese system of Government and on China's currency.
Many appeals to Japan, he pro-corded, had been made during the ast ten "weeks by the British and American Ambassadors. in Tokyo to stop the smuggling, but little or no practical notice had been taken, The Japanese problem was based on suspicion, economic pressure and a general feeling of isolation from the fest of the world, The Japanese seemed to be at loggerheads with the British inasmuch ar British Interests were detrimental to. their own, but, lately, there had been many "feelers" in Japan in the di-Feetion of yetting a general under standing with Britain, Lord Peel asked whether it was not possible for the British Government carefully to test the value of these feders, approach Japan quite frankly to find precisely what she wanted, and reach an agreement not only appealing to Japan but embracing. China's rights and welfare. 'This, In is opinion, would go far' to dispel the clouds "of suspicion,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.