NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13699, 16 March 1908, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

SIR ROBERT HART. China, like Japan, is jealous of the foreigner ; but not having as yet vanquished liny of the'great military Western^ Powers in war it is still content to accept, reluctantly and grudgingly, instruction from the white man. Sir Robert Hart, the famous Irishman who abandoned the British Consular service in 1863 to organise the foreign Customs service of the Celestial Empire, and who lias been in the employ of the Chinese Government ever rince, is now quitting his post and returning to England after half a century spent in the Orient, thoroughly embittered and broken by the treatment which he has received. In spite of his whole-souled devotion to the interests of I lie Chinese Government and of the Chinese nation, for whose sake lie declined the office of British Minister Plenipotentiary in China, besides making many other sacrifices, his home in Pekin was apparently singled out for special devastation at the time of the siege of the Legations; and although the Chinese Government owes to his powers of organisation arid to his iutcgrity not only its one reliable source of revenue, but has been enabled solely and entirely through the credit which he enjoyed to obtain loans abroad, yet lie lias found himself not only an object of distrust, but has even been superseded of late by native dignitaries. He, too, is returning Home, like Henry Dennisori, probably asking himself whether his many years of exile'spent in serving a foreign and Oriental Government have not after all been in a measure wasted, since the one anxiety on the part of those to whom he has devoted the best years of his life is that his memory should pass into oblivion. He will be (succeeded, though with sadly shorn powers, as inspector of Customs by his brother-in-law, Sir- Robert Bredon, like himself an Irishman, born of a Canadiar mother, and married to an American wife, the daughter of Thomas Crane Banks, of San Francisco. .The treatment which Sir Robert Halt lias received at the hands of the Chinese during the last 10 years is calculated, however, tc destroy any illusions which even so great an optimist as Sir Robert Bredon may entertain as to his hopes of ever winning any real gratitude from his Oriental paymasters. FARMING IN THE FAR EAST. Consul Wilbur T. Grucey, of Tsingf.au, supplies the following information concerning agriculture in the Far East:—"lt is reported from I-chou-fu, a purely native city in the interior of the Chinese province of Shantung, that foreign residents at that place have been trying for many years to introduce the cultivation of white potatoes among the natives, and that the efforts now seem-likely to be successful. It is said that many' of the native farmers are raising the vegetable, and that the restaurants on the streets have discovered that the potato will admirably take the place of the more expensive 'ishasytreC or yam (Dioscorea batabaSf. It is also said that the dairy started under foreign patronage 17 years ago now sells more milk to Chinese patrons than to foreigners. It is interesting in this relation to note that hitherto the Chinese have never used fresh milk to any extent,"their cows being kept for field purposes only. Condensed milk has, however, become popular, and is now being used to a considerable extent throughout the Empire, and it now seems probable that a demand for fresh milk will soon be created.- It is stated that prominent Japanese propose the establishment of an Oriental colonisation company, primarily to operate in Corea, by sending well qualified and organised immigrants to cultivate the barren lands there with the assistance of the proposed Colonial Bank. At'the' eame time the company would co-operate in assisting native One an farmers. Prince Ito and other influential personages are said to support the enterprise. It is proposed to carry it out for one year.''