Although Japanese official clrci stil aMem that they have comple! inith'in Mts, Wang: Kehemin'e obit snd sincerity, they quality thi eeognition by carefully adding tha course, they cannot interfere in matter of this kind and would not venture to force him upon an unwilling community to whom he now Appears to have Become persona non grata, To those who have watched the proceedings of the Japanese Army in North China during recent years, this sudden coyness and tender eave for Chinese public opinion will Appear searcely convincing. Tt seems! diMeult to credit that, If they had really wanted Mr. Wang, they would Rot have seen to it that he received the warmest of welcomes.
One cannot therefore help suspecting that something must have recurred behind the scenes to cause the Japanese military to halt half= way In their plang in this matter, Nor would it be the frst time that they have suddenly changed their minds with regard to the suitability of Chinese oMcials, whom they are the habit of first backing up and then promptly dropping again easily as one changes ones clothes.
The "inauguration of the Hopel Charhar Inspectorate-General is another ease In point, where original plang have been changed and halt measures adopted. There seems to be little doubt that the first reports f the establishment of an independ. ent Customs for Hopei-Charhar and the levying of a fee of one-eighth the tariff of the Chinese Maritime Customs were perfectly correct, in $0 far as they represented the first Mteps in the plans of the Japanese Army for setting up, an entirely independent Customs administration in North China, This plan was afterwards slightly: toned down. Whether that was due to the protests Chinese business circles or "owing to the opposition of the Japanese Foreign Mee, on account of the complica tons that were likely to ensure and the dimeulty of opening a general discussion for the reduction of tariffs, not clear.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.