The British Broadcasting Corporation does service to the dissemination of knowledge by including in its programmes talks by laymen and laywoman expounding their experiences in the particular work in which they happen to. be experts, if the paradox be permitted, Thus postmen in the Shetland Islands have explained fo the wireless public what it is like to deliver letters in that remote part of the world, Miners tell of their life in extracting coal. from the ground and soon. The other day a New Zealand Dank clarke and an Australian army affeer successively brondeasted from London their periences of being temporarily engaged in Great Britain on their respective occupations, The bank clerk praised the standard of English living, the orderliness of English life but clearly felt that New Zealand gave greater opportunities of variety than a country" where a bank clerk could work for forty years in the same branch office. English hospitality struck the New Zealander favourably and he was mildly tickled by the rigid silence of the crowded English train compartment or tube or bus. He ventured to express the opinion that after daily companionship in a public conveyance it was Feasonable to expect without committing a solecism to be able to interchange "the time of day" at the end of a year. The army ofoer found that life in the British Army gave more holidays than were available to the Australian Army officer yet the British officer did not play games "as frequently as his Australian counterpart. Aust. ralia's Army being chiefly militia, made up of detachments spread over a huge area, gave much greater difeulty in organization than in England where large formations were concentrated ina small area. What struck him forcibly however was the extraordinary haziness of so many British people regarding the geography of the world. This defect was not confined to civilians for the Australien was taken that he hed a cousin in Australia, "stationed in Johannesburg." and. to expose them to continuous obstruction, If'not actual' blackmail, from. their tenante—must of course eact unfavourably, also, upon The mortgage market, The security. afforded. by cal estate inst become an unknown quantity if, when the mortgagee after great _difieulty secures possession of it, he finds Nimsele mult land {axew amounting to twice the sum payable ten years ago, but is Unable. to. collect. more Ber cent. of the agreed rentals. Tf this {in accordance with Chinese law tt veeme high UUme. that "Article 42. of the Civil Code received Tecomsideration, with a view to ensuring equality of protection to. landlord and tenant." 1 is a lopsided arrangement to fay the least, that enablee the tenant. to refuse, and vacate Inthe of a demand for Snereased Fental, but antee to the landlord the Tight. to viet him or collect his agreed rent, ff e makes $elaim for rent reauetion, It wil, of course, be assumed that the Courts administer the law in reasonable manner, but there does seem to be ground for contending that the power of a judge to order the reduc tion—or even the "inerease—of vent' without any apparent limitation is open to abuse. It further undermines the whole basis of the security of mortgage deeds by reducing the elations between landlord and tenant to a farce, It thus deals another blow to. that recovery of credit facilities to which Chinese and foreigners here are so eagerly looking and on which the Chinese Government can hardly cze with indifference in the light of its own important interests in Shanghai's commercial prosperity. In the House of Commons on June 14, Mr, Anthony Eden assured Mfr. C. Moreing that although he had no evidence that the credit of the Chinete Government has. been adversely affected by the attitude of the Chinese Courts to forelim mortgages, he would Bear that point in mind, "A. week laier Mr. Eden indicated that he was further investigat~ ing the whole position of the mortgage problem here for he Informed Sir John Wardlaw-aline that he was considering whether any further steps would be appropriate to deal with the proviso which, as already pointed out in these columns, has so largely Vitiated the recent revision' of the law relating to the auction of mortgaged property, that revision being osten~ sibly though, consequently, ineffectively desiymed to remove the disabilities preventing expedi tious foreclosure in the event of the. mort gagor's default. t is hoped that the attention now being given to this subject by the British Government will assist the Chinese Government in coming to a satisfactorily prompt decision.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.