NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13839, 27 August 1908, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

CHINA AND JAPAN.

Remarkable determination has been displayed by a large section of the populace in Southern China in maintaining the boycott of Japanese goods which has lately overshadowed all other events in the Far East. The boycott *ae instituted as the only practical means of expressing the public resentment at what was regarded as the wanton humiliation inflicted on China over the case of the Tatar* Mam. It was also intended as a protest against the supposed supinencss of the government at Pekin in yielding to the demands of Japan. Revolutionary propagandists, such as the notorious Sun Yal-een, leader of the antiMancnu Society, are suspected of having had a hand in stirring up the trouble, but those most competent to judge assert that the movement is a genuine and spontaneous expression or popular feeling, and is no* to be regarded merely as the work of political agitators, although it may well serve to stimulate agitation in the inc. There is no doubt that in Canton and other populous centres all classes* fee! keenly on the question. Indignation -meetings have been held, inflammatory resolutions have been passed, and thousands of sober citizen? have "sworn death" to the Japanese. Much more serious is the tact that for the time being Japanese trade ha* been seriously crippled. The boycott is paid to bo far more potent and widespread than that formerly directed against American produce. The Pekin Government are natural!', alarmed at the outlook, fearing further trouble with their powerful neighbour. More than once Viceroy Chang has been reproved for failing to stop the movement, but apart from the fact that he is in entire sympathy with the teelings which prompt the boycotters, that official is absolutely helpless. Merchants have destroyed their stocks of Japanese goods; eatinghousekeepera have tabooed Japanese food products ; European firms, from whom merchandise has been ordered, have even been asked not to forward it in Japanese ships. And these doings are not confined to Chinese territory. Chinamen in Hongkong, the Philippines, and even in Australia, have joined in the boycott. On the Japanese side there is a disposition to discount the seriousness of the situation, although it is admitted that losses have already been severe. Japanese shipping is said to have Wen badly hit, vessels having to make trips without passengers or cargo..

3UN-RUNNEES IN PERSIA. s Nothing, says the Times of India, could be move .symptomatic of the virtual collapse of authority in Persia than the news from Regan. This is an important junction on the main caravan routes from the coast to Seistan. The main route from Bunder Abbas to Nasratabad, the capital of Seistan, passes through Regan, 250 miles from he coast. From Regan another caravan route branches off to Herman. Regan is also- on the lino from Chahbar to Nasratabad, and is on the 'direct road from Gwadur to Seistan. Yet it is reported to have been seized by 700 armed Afghans, who hold possession of it. We may allow a margin for Oriental exaggeration, for Regan is, after all, in. ruins, and the caravans have to draw their supplies from the adjacent villages. Rut if the numbers of the Afghans have been overestimated, there they are, in possession of Persian territory, hundreds of miles Irora the Afghan frontier. Nor arc there in Persia any force.- capable of turning them out. There is little reason to doubt that these Afghans belong to the parties ot gunrunners ivho received such an unpleasant check from H.M.S. Proserpine, at Jask. It would be a convenient centre from which to protect arms caravans from the Mekrau coast, bound for the Afghan frontier. The episode illustrates the extent to which the arms traffic has grown, and it indicates also the little real in which the gunrunners hold the Ameer of Afghanistan. We have here the beginnings of just tho trouble which the Russians have experienced at Beliasuever. No matter what steps the Persian Government may desire to take, they have not the power to put them into execution. There 'will be no desire on the part of Great Britain to press unduly on the Government of the Shah, although Regan is within out sphere of influence, and covers an important trade route. But there are ugly possibilities in such a situation, and it is a fortunate occurrence that the British force at Robat is strong enough «to meet any ordinary eventualities.