While there are features about the debate on the state of affairs in China, in the House of Lords, initiated by Lord Elibank, which are completely satisfactory, eyes cannot remain closed to the fact that it was on the whole inconclusive. That is perhaps inevitable at the present time, for if ever there was a problem which requires to be dealt with the greatest circumspection it is that of securing the restoration of British trading rights in China. Fortunately, judging from the tenor of the report of the debate, it is clear that those who were criticising the Government were just as clearly convinced as the Government itself that something will have to be done, sooner or later, to remedy a state of affairs which does no credit to the Japanese themselves, and demands corrective action on the part of the British Government as well as the Governments of other nations whose rights are imperilled. The "North-China Daily News" has shown consistently how foreign interests, including British, have been threatened by Japanese action in China. To general assurances that Japan is not deliberately interfering with, nor discriminate ing against British and other neutral shipping, it has quoted chapter and verse, showing the ports in the Yangtze with which the Japanese have been and are carrying on mercantile trade, giving the names of the ships and the nature of the cargo they have been carrying. Lord Elibank in his speech in the House of Lords has produced similar information covering a wider area, and it is not now posble for the Government to plead that it is of fully acquainted with conditions.. Indeed it has to be said for the British diplomatic and consular representatives in China that on the face of the debate they have kept Whitehall fully informed of what has been happening, and, if at this late date there does exist any misapprehension as to the actual state of affairs in this country, it is by no means the fault of those entrusted with watching British interests here. The same may with equal justice be said of the various representative bodies, such as the British Chamber of Commerce, the China Association, and the British Ratepayers Association—nor must British correspondents be neglected in this respect Shorn of their thin veneer of inexactitudes the replies of the Japanese Government to the 4 can, British and French notes on the subject of the reopening of the Yangtze amount to point blank refusals. The general attitude of the Japanese authorities in China towards neutral interests permits of no mistaken conclusions. The discrimination ich is being employed is a patent fact, and it is only natural that there should be a measure of indignation such as that demonstrated by the various speakers in the course of the debate. Lord Barnby's contribution to the discussion is not satisfactory. It suggests that even more will have to occur before Great Britain should be anxious, that it should look at the whole situation from the angle of common sense. He pleaded for patience—more patience!—and the necessity of doing nothing to produce a situation in which a settlement would be more difficult to effect.
It is not suggested for one moment that precipitate action should be taken, but it is argued with all earnestness that the British Government should now take into the fullest recognition that the time may be quickly approaching when something more than the registration of mere protests will have to be considered. Lord Plymouth's exposition of the Government's attitude is satisfactory enough as far as it goes. The Government takes the view which has been repeated on Several occasions in these columns that a steadily and increasing Japanese trade is being developed by Japanese vessels in the Yangtze. That view has been supported by evidence, which, according to Lord Plymouth, the British Ambassador has "supplied to Whitehall, and it is now clear that the expose of conditions which appeared in the "North-China Daily News" is corroborated by the information in the possession of the Govern. ment. But yesterday reference was made in this column to conditions appertaining in Tsingíao, and it can be said without fear of contradiction that the conditions which are to be found in that port may be seen in other districts under Japanese domination. A carefully, and well-designed onslaught is being made upon the trade of neutral foreign powers in China, and even those who at the moment are in receipt of discriminatory favours have no justification for believing that in the long run their lot will be any better than that of the nations which are at present being so attacked.
Lord Strabolgi's speech was of interest as indicating means of combatting what is now being done, but he asks rather a lot when he suggests that even Germany might be persuaded to help in the task of appeasement by realizing the commonalty of its trading interests in China with those of the other nations who have already made their protest.
Whatever may be the ultimate outcome. the purposes of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis at the present moment are best served by bringing about the state of dissatisfaction which has at the present time to be noticed. Any step towards appeasement which envisaged a weakening of the support given by Germany and Italy to Japan at this juncture would not receive the endorsement of Berlin and Rome, and the fact will have to be faced that if Britain, France and the United States do by the application of that powerful pressure, which they have it in eir power to apply, secure a redressment Of their very patent wrongs in the Far East both Germany and Italy would automatically benefit from it, That is no reason why a very definite stand should not be taken by Britain and the two other Powers in the Far East. At the moment it is apparent that the best results may be expected from the adoption of parallel action by the three Powers which have already manifested to Tokyo their concern over the situation which has been created in China by the total disregard by the Japanese of their Treaty obligations, and the assurances which they have given that they will be scrupulously respected. The process may be slow, but the most superficial survey of the general situation shows that the three Powers concerned have means at their disposal of bringing a pressure to bear upon Japan which could not in the long run be denied. Indeed there is a great likelihood that the display of firmness, which a threat to employ some of the means available would entail, might in itself be productive of remedial effect. Their employment need mean nothing in the shape of war, though there might for a time be unpleasant repercussions, but it is difficult to avoid the.conclusion that a definite hardening of the attitude of the three Powers concerned would have more effect than all the polite Note-writing which up to the present has been productive of precisely nothing.
New Territorial. Chief An appointment of considerable importance to Britain's expanding defence plans and of particular interest to Shanghai is that of Lieut.- Gen. W.D.S. Brownrigg to the post of Director-General of the Territorial Army. Lieut-Gen. Brownrigg, who was G.S.O.1 at the War Office until he came to China with the Shanghai Defence Force as Quartermaster General, and afterwards Quartermaster General in charge of the Administration of the North China Command and later China Command, succeeds Gengral Sir Walter St. G. Kirke. He has a brilliant war record, and in addition to honours he was mentioned in dispatches six times. After his China experience he commanded the 159th (Welsh Border) Infantry Brigade, the 1th Infantry Brigade and ihe 51st (Highland) Division of the Territorial Army before going as Commandant of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and, before his new Territorial appointment, Military Secretary to the War Secretary. In the latter post he is succeeded by Maj-Gen. George Gifford in whom Mr, Leslie Here-Belisha will find a competent and able collaborator. As Director-General of the Territorial Army, Lieut-Gen. Brownrigg brings with him organizing and administrative ability ies of a high order capable of meeting the demands exacted by the new status of the Territorial Army as an integral part of Britain's national defence. During the Great War, this organization which earned for itself the undeserved and scandalously deprecatory title of "Saturday afternoon soldiers," proved to be the nucleus of Britain's fine civilian army which yielded to nobody. Since the war, it has been maintained but without the encouragement worthy of its usefulness. On July 1 last year, which can be taken as 'a definite pre-crisis date, although its establishment was 203,- 000 the actual strength was only 155,000. National mobilization urgencies emphasized by European developments nearly leading to another big war have corrected this tendency and this year's recruiting has drastically altered the situation. Two divisions with a nominal establishment of 19,500 were converted into anti-aircraft divisions and at the time of the crisis the Government was able to announce that the Territorial anti-aircraft force was 50,-
000 strong. There has been considerable criticism. in and out of Parliament on the defence question but there has also been an acute perception of the value of a civilian army typified in the Territorials and the necessity for developing this unit, It is to this task of supreme national importance that Lieut-Gen. Brownrigg now applies himself.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.