The conversations which-recently took place between Lord Halifax and Herr von. Ribbentrop have aroused keen anxiety in the House of Commons with regard to Germany's desire to regain possession of the colonies which she lost as a consequence of the Great War. That anxiety: led to red questions being asked to which satis~ factory answers have been given to the effect" that the matter has not been and is not being considered. While. the opinion Is held by sub-{ stantial numbers of people In Britain that one of the best contributions to the cause of peace would be the satisfaction of Germany's colonial ambitions, there is, perhaps, a_ stronger feeling that no such action should be taken. The most. Important. reason for such sentiment arises {rom re-thas declared s second interim dividend for the year ending March 31, 1937, of $0.10 per share.
My. Harold Reynell_has_ returned to Shanghai and resumed charge of hhis exchange business at his office in the Hongkong Bank Building.
Mr. Maurice A. Bach of the Auto Palage Ca. notifies the public that he not related to and has no business connections with Mr, Alfred Bach.
The Ayer Tawah Rubber Planta-ton Ca, Ltd, has declared: an interim dividend for the year ending September 30, 1937, of $0.10 per share. membrance of the inconvenience Involved in dealing with German colonial forces during the Great War anda natural reluctance to recreate conditions which were then countered. There is also the opinion that the economic reasons which Germany gives for the desired rehabill-{ation have no solid foundation in fact, and that possession of the colonies would not in any way relieve the conditions under which Germany labouring. If it could be shown that Germany is in any way being denied access to the world's markets for raw materials, there would obviously be a grievance which would need adjust~ ment, That could probably be effected a conference "of the interested Powers. as has been suggested, On the other hand the diMiculty appears to be not that Germany is denied faeees 10 such markets, but that she not in a position to pay for what she needs, by reason of the policies she has been following in recent ears. If that is indeed the ease, then the remedy is in Germany's' own Dr. Howard Barrie has been aprainied bythe administrator of the estate of the late Dr, G. F. Hume to continue his practice at' 142 Museum Read, It has been decided that the Cara van Commercial Ca. (1923) Ltd, be Wwoundeup voluntarily and that' Mr. Richard Price, 175 Soochow Road, be appointed liquidat A meetin fof members of the Brit ist Residents' Association of Chins the held on February 26, Mr, 8. Young will speak on "Police Administration in the Settlement."
The Gulf of Aden and Red Sea Ports Conference have increased all rates of freight under tari No, 2 by Wiper cent, with the exception of silk! moody and hardened sh all, Persons having claims against, the estate of the late Noel Wallace Hickling, who died at Shanghai on January' 7, 1937, are requested to send particulars of same to Mr.
Master, 83 Peking Road:
'THE ARMS BILL, When Mr, Secretary Pepys cons Aded to his diary his sense of al at the increasing and somewhat futile aval expenditure during the war with Holland he was laying, even at that early age, the basis of the general astonishment. manifested at the (tremendous cost of armaments. An-redating Mr. Neville Chamberlain by three centuries, the war was. being waged with the financial help of the the present Chancellor of wequer finds excellent precedent in_his efforts to float a Joan of '£400,000,000 also in the City. The only difference is in the proportions. Pepys records that the City had voted to lend the King £100.00 for further and more vigorous prosecution fof the war which was costing British Shipping dearly and that the Duke of Albemarle also "Aid offer the King with £100,000 provided he would be Treasurer of i, to see it laid out for the Navy." That was a considerable sum in thoss days but in comparison with the colossal amounts mentioned In the defence budgets of modern powers it is infinitesimal, Some sur-Prise was caused when Japan an-hounced a six-year re-armament plan volving a sum of Y3,000,000,000. 'The present British plan involves. a sum Of £1,800,000,000, which convert-fed' into yen Ix about -¥23,000,000,000 fr seven times as large as the Sapanese total, The astonishment at such staggering figures is tempered. only by the calm assurance of the British Chancellor that the country's finances will not be disrupted by the fulgiment of such a undertaking the terms and proportions of which make the brain reel.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.