dug. 19.
A copy of the "Berliner Tageblurt" has just reached us from the publishing house of that paper. It is the weekly edition of the journal, and with a certain amount of dread the knowledge arises that for the future we must' be prepared to have our ears assailed with such horrid sounds as are comprised in the "Wochen-Ausgabe des Berliner Tagedlatts."" For the moment, however, we submit to the ordeal, because an article in this number deals with the possibilities of a German economic revival in the Far Last. This article is from the pen of Fritz Secker, formerly 2 member of the staff of the ''Ostasiatische Lloyd," if we are not mistaken, and accordingly he may be presumed to represent the point of vow which Germans formerly in China now hold. His knowledge of sentinients and circumstances in China is quite likely to be tolerably accurate, but we are unable to say how well qualified he is to deal with the retnainder of the Far East. He has, however, made a careful analysis of his subject, and the conclusions he reaches ate, to say the least, interesting. He sees no prospect of an early victory of a sweeping character for German commerce, in fact in his opening paragraph he dismisses quite a considerable part of Far Eastern territory from his calculations. The Straits Settlements, Federated: Malay States, Indo-China and the Philippines ure regarded as more or less hopeless, in the hands as they are of the people who made the Treaty of Versailles, so he is confined to the Dutch " East Indies, Siam, China and Japan. Tgnoring the two former he endeavours to Visualize the chances of German enterprise in China and Japan, and it Japan, he concludes, that Germans must turn their eyes.
Perhaps it is because the Inans have all along held the view that Japan's true policy lay in an alliance with them that Herr Secker now feels that Japan is the most favourable soil for the rebuilding of German trade. The subject he deals with is so large in its ramifications that for the present we must confine our attention fo the aspect of it which refers to Japan, leaving China for a future occasion. Politically as well as commercial ly he believes that Japan is eager for friendly relations with Germany, for in the "fairly independent position' which Japan has maintained for herself he observes the desire to get back to the status quo. Furthermore he reads out of the present Japanese attitude further evidences of this leaning towards Germany, for he so:
Other signs indicate that Japa intends to interpret the Versailles Treaty in a spirit different from that of the leading Powers. Whereas the countries of Entente are anxiously their frontiers against an inrush of Germans, there is no particular difficulty over many entering Japan. The liquidation of German property, to which Japan is entitled the Versailles Treaty, is being ied out in a more conciliatory spirit than is the case with our European opponents. In this action the Japanese are evidently moved by the desire not to shatter the basis on which Germany has carried on trade with Japan.
So much for the political aspect: of the matter. The ''Asahi'' is brought into the case to throw light on the subject of commercial relations, being quoted as saying that the Japanese Government has in view a temporary
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.