And that was all—for although the general was plied with questions by inquisitive correspondents, he managed very skilfully to avoid giving any direct answer to any of them. Cen. Kita would appear to have a delicate Sense of humour, for he got out some of the more awkward questions by saying that they were a matter solely for the Chinese government of whose intentions he was uninformed. Such important points therefore, as ihe date when the real government will be formed, what form it will take, whether it will be given de jure recognition by the Japanese government, what extent of territory it will inelude—all these remain unanswer-
Having enlightened us to this extent, the general handed us over to his assistant, Col. Nemoto, who proceeded to give us a lecture on the virtues, principles and objects of the New People's Party, the so-called Hsin Min Hui. The gallant colonel appears to be a deep student of things Chinese, for he was able to tell us things about China that one hat never heard before. The Chinese, so he said, had had a political system for over 2,000 years, a system quite peculiar to themselves. It was neither monarchical—the poor inter-prefer had some difficulty over this Awkward word—nor was it republican.
Though what the colonel actually said it was the interpreter could not explain, so I am unable (o tell you either. Anyhow, it was this system that the Hsin Min Hui was going to get the country back to. For, said the collonel—and now I have something really exciting to tell you, so sinologues please listen carefully—the word "hsin" does not mean "new," as one had hitherto been taught; in fact it isnot an adjective at all, but a verb meaning "to take action." And the Hsin Min Hui, one gathers, is going to support the government in taking action that will enable the fortunate Chinese to revert to the golden age of Confucius or thereabouts.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.