Sept. 25.
Last week's official bulletins from Nanking contained the welcome news that press censorship is to be abolished. This is the outcome of a resolution by the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, leading due course toa mandate by the State Council. The mandate says that as the Goverment has drawn up two sets of regulations—which are being ambo ed in a Press Law—for the registration and examination of all published matter, censorship of the press in general has become unnecessary and "is hereby declared abolished". A further reason is given, which puts the case against the censorship, as it has been found to operate, with considerable candour, thus:
As there is no unified control no3 regular procedure in the enforcement of the duties of censors, not only has little result been attained, but there have also arisen complications, which constitute a hindrance to the press.
A marked and most undesirable phenomenon latterly has been the number of "mosquito" publications, which burst forth for a day or two, nobody knows, and then disappear, others of the same kind appearing soon after. They are scurrilous and inflammatory, but they attract attention far beyond their merit in proportion to the stopper put upon the criticisms of responsible and self-respecting Chinese papers. The mandate says that! censorship will still prevail "within definitely stated periods in particular localities which, in the opinion of the Centrat Authorities, present peculiar conditions." This reservation is no doubt justifiable, but.one may hope that it will be employ-sparingly as possible, or the good effect of what is cer tainly a step in the right diree~ tion will be spoiled.
Readers may recall that we commented upon the Press Law when a draft of it was published at the end of August. We do not recall that it has actual-been promulgated, but Apparently, from the mandate mentioned above, its provisions are- already in force. The powers this law. confers are certainly ample. Anything de-~ scribable as "reaction paganda, violation of Government orders, detrimental to public morals, customs and conventions, to public peace and order" niay lead to a paper being suppressed. 'The question, however, i8 not so much of' what is an offence—all laws have necessarily to be framed wide—as who is to decide that an offence has been committed. If a paper is prosecuted in the regular way and the question threshed out before a judge, there should be no ground for complaint. But to allow the censor to be the sole arbiter of the paper's conduct, is to put far too much power into the hands of a departmental official. The censorship, as the mandate abolishing it implies, has un~ doubtedly worked irregularity. Last week, for example, all the three Japanese papers were banned: it seems improbable. that all of them can simultane~ ously have, committed an offence great enough to deserve such treatment. And there is the further consideration that very: few Chinese can read Japanese, so that the actual harm these papers might do among the Chinese people might be infinitesimal, The same reflection applies papers published in English. Tu the main, it is safe to say that these are only read by Chin intellectuals, who are quite capable of forming—their opinions independently and are unlikely to be influenced by what any foreign paper says. If they are influenced, it will probably be in exactly' the opposite direction to that taken by the writer. Tt is a common human trait that we may all ready enough to abuse our country's institutions, but when we find an outsider doing so, we are up in arms at once in their defence.
But it is for the sake of the Chinese press and the welfare of China that the abolition of the censorship is most to be welcomed. Paradoxical may seem, the Government stands to gain in popularity and support directly in proportion as it shows that it does not fear responsible criticism. The leading Chinese papers of Shanghai have made for themselves a position which they would surely be careful not to endan= ger by abusing the freedom them, and the more they ale encouraged to discuss the events of the day, the more will the public feel that they are being brought into touch with the affairs of state and have a real share in them, There is no greater danger to the stability of the present administration that that the public should think of it as something apart: from and wholly uncomiected with themselves, No' Government in the world is exempt, from criticism and in the colossal task of rebuilding "China, mistakes must occur and can be forgiven. The only effective way of tiding them over, and by far the best defence against. the plots of those who are try-° ing to overthrow the whole machinery with no alternative.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.