Sept. 10.
Nowadays the fashionable pose of scepticism in regard to any public' announcement has acquired a pertinacity which becomes excess sively boring. A Government. or a private citizen has only to declare that a certain decision has. been taken and immediately the floodgates of speculation are opened, not to examine the question on its merits, but with the object of showing that some ulterior design has been ingeniously devised and is being still more ingeniously cam-outaged by the movers inthe enterprise. This is all very dis~ tressing. Perhaps the sceptics will argue that they have cause f6¥ their chronic state of disbelief, in that Governments—to say nothing of private followers of Ananias—huve Invented a technique called propaganda which might often be better and more economically described by an English word of three letters. However that may be, the fact remains that dreariness overwhelms the mind when the search for improbabilities is the inevitable retort of the public to an apparently simple statement of fact. This sentiment irresistibly emerges from the study of telegrams, the collection of rumours and' the absorption of gossip generated by the British Government's decision to send Sir Frederick Leith-Ross on a special mission to China. Disrogarding the inventions of sceptics let a plain statement pumice, even if it be repetitive.
'There has been in China of late! considerable uneasiness regarding the economic situation and, in particular, its relation to certain monetary' difficulties whereof, Shanghai, at least, has come knowledge. The Chinese Government has indicated its desire to have the ce-operation of the bank= ing interests in maintaining reason-currency and exchange stability, That ce-operation has been assisted by the Government's own action. Nevertheless it has been suggested that China's state is such that some practical measure might be taken by Great Britain or British interests to effect a mutual ly satisfactory easement. 'The situation being abnormal, examination of it demanded expert' financial attention beyond that ordinarily at the disposal of British diplomatic representation in the Far East, As His Majesty's Ambassador, Sir Alexander Cadogan was bound to report to His Majesty's Government accordingly. Action of the most effective kind followed. At Sir Alexander's disposal was placed, Rot a distinguished expert who. happened to be at the moment dis~ engaged, but the Government's own Chief Economic Adviser, still in harness, and actually discharging most responsible duties at the Treasury of which he is so senior an official that he was specially selected to visit America in 1933) to negotiate on the question of the War Debts and he was the chief official representative on the, British Delegation to the World Economic Conference in the same year. It is true that, for no fault of Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, both missions Proved abortive. Absit omen. Tt was understood that in thus sending Sir Frederick out to China, the British Government was showing its readiness not only to give its Ambassador the best possible advice but also to attend to such proposals as might eventually be examined by Sir Frederick for the assistance of the Chinese Government in the light of the conditions already outlined. It was, of course, recognized that due regard would have to be paid to the whole political situation and, therefore, that Great Britain's own substantial interests in China would not afford the sole criterion of the merits or ~demerits of such plan as might be devised. 'The ce-operation of other Powers, if available, might be welcomed and, in' certain circum~ stances, might be essential.
(On the face of it this seems to be a straightforward interpretation of Sir Frederick Leith-Ross' mission. It does not justify extravagant expecta~ tions or lurid suspicions. Yet from the time that Sir Frederick's depar-ure became imminent until this very moment when he is approaching the shores of China, a welter of theory, speculation and criticism has been ingeniously developed around his devoted head. Even British residents in China seem to have caught the infection and have been inclined to regard his visit as a possible means of solving their own particular difficulties. Having come fo the conclusion that the solution is impossible, they then murmur something to' the effect that it is useless sending out this high financial authority. They fatter themselves, of course, for, after all, the primary purpose of his visit is [to advise the Ambassador, not to act as Yairy godfather magically ac~ cepting. all the diplomatic con-un drums which British distress may be disposed to press on his attention. In Japan where Sir Frederick is temporarily breaking hhis journey to China, even more elaborate efforts have been made to compose bricks without straw. Tt is assumed that he brings with him all kinds of commissions—to solve Anglo-Japanese economic issues, to formulate ideas and, perhaps, pass judgment on subjects ranging from the state of Outer Mongolia to the Telephone Tangle in Shanghai, Sir Frederick may be amused at such genial tributes to his omniscience and stamina.
They cannot be said to be particularly helpful. They are certainly calculated to arouse aspirations which are likely to be disappointed. They are just as wide of the actualities of his visit as some of the quaint comments by which certain journalists in London saddled him with the awful responsibility of restoring that impalpable quality known as "British prestige" in the Far East. Sir Frederick is fan experienced financial official. He comes on a simple mission. He is to report in due course on a precisely-defined problem to a Government, which whatever its faults, is not quite as simple as some of the agile commentators in the press and elsewhere appear to imagine.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.