Weird and wonderful tales hav filtered down from Manchutia yee garding the unhappy. manner "in Which the Japanese authorities have reared distinguished. visitors and Journalists, engaged in the perfors mance of their duties. Tt seems une fortunate that the carlier practics of putting journalists in' the hands of "an expert press liaison official has not been maintained. Otherwise, presumably, he woft have been able fo prevent the senselessly iritating intrusions of Japanese secret service Hesse, elaborate action taken by visitors that there fz in. Manchu, Japanese military to impress on
much which should hot) be seen by the anxious inquirer must, of course, have only one effect: tg contr the ica that, all is not well in the state Sanchukuo, "The: Japanese ale have lately shown extreme ration in this respect; the "climax is reached with the di ful tvatment of two journalists. of undoubted standing—from the New York "Times" and Switzerland, Lov Lytton has promptly repudiated thy bation that these two gentlemen Lad any dealings with the League's Commission. It is to be hoped that the Japanese Government will "see that" adequate recognition of the Dlunders of its subordinates is foxthcoming. No body-of mien has been more anxious to give Japan's casa fairly and squarely to. the world than' the majority' of. the' correspondents" who. have Manchuria, Tt i most unfortunate that every' effort, should be made to thwart them, with contumely into the bargain. "The Japanese press in Manchuria, which eainot. be secured of possessing much freedom, has given publication te scurrilous, attacks of a grossly personal char. acter on Journalists of the highest standing. "These attacks. will in the Jong run, recoil on the heads' of the authorities countenancing. them.
Those Harz Mountains 'The second attempt to transform a he-roat into.a youth of surpassing beauty on a Walpurgis: night in. the Harz Mountains. ended in failure. That vas, naturally, expected. by those who' regard black' magic. with that' degree of scepticism which is very much its due. Had it been a suees, however, the results might have been very' embarrassing, for the' introduction into the. world of a young man not fully ae: nointed with its. ways might be misfortune for him and decidedly fin lucky for those who had brought him into being, Obviously it: would of|have been a horrid thing, if the goat had been changed into'a young man, that he should be left to the tender meveies of a very matter of fact world, though on the other hand it would be a little dificult to decide who should adopt the young person and keep him from becoming a public charge, The only solution jot the difficulty which " presents itself, had the experiment been suece's, would have been to sue the young woman responsible for the metamorphosis, to. obtain a maintenance order'of s0 much a week until the young man reached a state jof worldly knowledge to enable. him to earn his own living. Apart from that, however, success would have been a perpetual embarrassment to Parents of lovelorn, girls, especially if they commenced' making trips to the Harz Mountains to get themselves new young men The "Cat"
The "North-China Daily News" correspondent, writing from Pretoria, refers to the manner in which the South African Courts "deal with gentlemen addicted to gangster methods. For shooting two clerks in an attempted bank robbery, a white man and a native were sentenced to. twenty years hard labour and" twelve strokes, and fifteen years and twelve strokes' respectively. Practical experience in many parts of the world has shown that where persons Jembark on a career of violent crime sickly sentimentalism should be no factor in deciding the penalties to be inflicted. Making the punish. ment fit the crime has a great deal commend it, and sinister gontlemen who ply their trade with the assistance of violence deserve everything that is meted out to them.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.