Rear-Admiral Masao Kanazawa, the newly appointed spokesman to the Japanese Navy Ministry has, as was to be seen in the issue of this journal for last Saturday, taken issue with us in connection with the revelations which have been published concerning the exclusive and widespread trading by Japanese along the Yangtze. He vigorously denied that any such trading as was described was being carried on, or that there was any discrimination against the trade of British. French and other neutral shipping. He did. however, admit that there may have been a few isolated cases of Japanese shipping carrying ordinary mercantile cargo along the Yangize,—somewhat reminiscent of the servant girl's "Well, after all, mum, it's only a very little one,"—but denied that there was any ground for the strong complaints being made by British and other foreign interests in Shanghai. It is apparent from the general trend of the Admiral's remarks that he only had before him the issue of this journal for November 16, which stated the case in somewhat general terms, and at that time had not seen the second and third more detailed reports which quoted chapter and verse in support of this journal's contentions, for he suggests that the latest report of which his department has been in receipt must of necessity be more authoritative than hearsay accounts or stories told by individuals without proper means to obtain accurate information, The Naval spokesman, however, h de a partial admission regarding the possibility of Japanese vessels carrying mercantile cargoes along the Yangtze, and that he has not been able to go the whole distance and make acknowledgment of what this journal knows and alleges to be the real facts of the situation, is in all probability due to the paucity of information on the subject which the Ministry of Navy has received in Tokyo. This journal does not for one moment suggest that the Admiral is wilfully endeavouring to distort the facts, but does suggest that if he were in possession of what is very common knowledge in Shanghai his replies at the press conference would have been somewhat different.
It is common knowledge that forwarding agencies engaged in sending goods up the Yangtze have advertised their activities in the local Chinese press. The number of people who have been engaged in handling the goods at the various ports as well as in Shanghai have made it quite impossible for the business to be transacted with any degree of secrecy, and this journal repeats that it is by now notorious that such trading is in progress and has been so for a number of months past. It is equally notorious that the Japanese authorities in other Chinese ports which they occupy have been also engaged in this work of active discrimination, and a reference to the conditions prevailing in Tientsin, Chefoo, and Tsingtao will provide ample proof of the assertion. In the circumstances it is quite easy to understand why the Japanese replies to the American, British, and French notes on the subject of reopening the Yangtze have aroused the keenest dissatisfaction in the countries to which those replies were addressed. They diverge so widely from the known facts of the situation that it would be the height of folly to expect that they could ever bavet! contributed to the adjustment of what is a very real grievance against the Japanese. It was consequently only.to be expected that the British Ambassador to Tokyo should have been instructed to inform the Japanese Foreign Minister that His Majesty's Government could not accept as valid the arguments adduced against reopening the Yangtze, and while the attitude of the American and French Governments has not yet been revealed it is believed that they will adopt precisely the same position. There has been some suggestion that the Japanese Government may be induced to reconsider the question, in the light of the reaction to its original reply. It is to be-hoped that this will be done, but unless it is done in manner favourable to the desires of the western Powers involved, it can bring about no settlement of the issue, but only tend to exacerbate the impatience which is already being expressed.
There is much to be said for the complaint in one British journal, that the authorities at home appear to have been regarding developments in China with an unfortunate degree of complacency. That has undoubtedly been due to preoccupations elsewhere, but now that those matters have been disposed of, it is only reasonable to expect that attention will now be given to their interests in the Far East which have too long been neglected. The time for the taking of very definite action for the purpose of securing the righting of those wrongs under which western nationals have been unnecessarily subjected to for well over a year is long overdue, and it ought to be possible by means of parallel action by the three nations most chiefly concerned to bring sufficient pressure upon Japan to recognize the rights which they undoubtedly have in China. Vaguely expressed requirements that they should recognize and appreciate Japan's position in China, or that the foreign Powers should display a greater degree of sincerity fall on deaf ears because of the obvious falsity of the premises upon which such claims are made. It is an absurdity to expect that they should acquiesce in the destruction of their trade and interests in China simply because Japan refuses to honour the very definite commitments into which she has entered, and if any real appreciation of the situation, if any sincerity is required, it is surely the duty of Japan to give palpable evidence of the possession of those most important ingredients. If this discriminatory trading on the Yangtze is being carried on without the knowledge of the Japanese Government, then it is a racket of which it should immediately obtain information for the purpose of stopping it.. If it is not a racket, but is being pursued with the knowledge and consent of the Japanese authorities, then it is a blatant breach of Japanese undertakings. The remedy would be either to stop all mercantile trading on the Yangtze, even if it is as small as the Admiral would have had his hearers believe, or it should be thrown open to all, in accordance with those generally accepted principles under which foreign trade with China has heretofore been carried on.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.