MORRISON OF PEKIN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10580, 8 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

MORRISON OF PEKIN.

(By An Old China Hand.)

! .Fifteen years ago George Moirison wiis on a visit to JLondon, an unknown and maybe a somewhat disappointed man. He had just finished a three-tliousand-miles tup through China, in mltive dress, at a cost ot £lB, and writteja a book on it, a book which sold fairly, well for works of its kind. From eighteen to thirty-three he had crowded suitficient adventures into Ins life to miike many volumes. Australian by bitth, he had walked across Australia from Nofmanton to Geelong; commanded, an unsuccessful expedition to New Guinea, coming away with two spear heads in his body; taken his medical degree at JKdinburgh while recovering, from the effect of ins wounds; .signed oh, as aii ordinary seamon. in- the South Seas to study the question; gone as an emigrant to America; served as lassis'tant purser in a ship in the West Indian fruit trade; acted as Court physician to the Shereef of Wazan, in Morocco, and passed through a postgraduate course under Charcot in Paris. lTet here he was, thirty-three years ok], in .London with little money, and apparently no prospects; travel books raijely yield anything but honor and a very few ten-pound notes. At the moment when things seemed least hope-' ful he 'was surprised 'to receive a note asking him to call on the manager' of The Times on the following Tuesday, Wednesday; or Thursday. With characteristic shrewdness Morrison, while wondering what could be wanted of,him—for he knew no one in Printing House-square—resolved to call on the Wednesday. "If Igo on Tuesday," he reasoned with himself, "J will be deemed too eager. If I go on Thursday I will seem indifferent." Accordingly Wednesday found him in the newspaper ofhee. The manager had read Ins book and liked it. He liked it so much, m fact", that he wished Morrison to do similar work for him. It was arranged then and there that he should - start for Indo-China. And so George Ernest Morrison set out on the work which made him, within, three years, ,thc best-known foreign correspondent, and one of the most influential political journalists of the age. ■...Dir Morrison is now in London 'on'co

more, fresh from a journey throiiah; Central Asia. He comes at a linu ".f change in Far Eastern affairs. The past few weeks have seen- a revolution none, the less real because quietly effected—in the lands on the Pacific, shores. The fate of Manchuria has been virtually settled; in China the reform party, after temporary eclipse, has come back to power; the currency is to be mono-metallised and English is to be taught in schools throughout the Empire; Japan, by denouncing her commercial treaties, has entered into a new stage in her' vast business campaigns; Eprea is about to lose the last mocking emblems of her separate nationality.More changes are yet to come. It is not too much to say that a-large.part of the thinking world will form, its temporary views about these doings from the line taken by Dr Morrison.

How has this man contrived to obtain such power as mentor of the world about the Far East? Trav.ei in outlying parts of China and you willsopn learn one of the causes. Wherever you go you are sure to find truces of Morrison, his investigations and Iris friends. Walk; just outside the Legation quarter in pekiii and you 4 come to a typical Chinese iiouse, its outer lodge facing the street, a big courtyard within, a house on one side, and a long, low building on the other. Here Morrison lives when, not on his travels. The long building is his library, containing probably the finest collection of books on the Far East in existence to-day.

It is managed on a plan that reveals the man. Everything is' systematised and indexed. The least fact can he ascertained at once. The . tall, cleanshaven, sturdily built Australian loves to show an . appreciative, visitor his books, his cuttings, and. his Here: he works, here he; maintains constant correspondence with men of all nationalities throughout: the -middle kingdom. System, accuracy,. constant I intercourse with all classes,, and a treI mentions correspondence hav6 been the i foundations on which he has built -up. | his knowledge.. • | Less than eighteen months after his j memorable call i at Printing House- | square Morrison was sent to Pekin jis j resident correspondent. Russia was ! then . making her fight by diplomatic 'means for supremacy in the Far East, | and the policy of our Foreign Office was marked by anything but strength, j Morrison took up a firm line of his.own. (Time after time he was able to publish revelations that shook the Chancelleries of Europe. Our own Foreign Office was angry, and made no secret of it. An-, •nounoemcHts by Morrison would be officially denied on one day and the denials withdrawn on the next. Lord Curzon, then Under - Secretary for Foreign | Affairs, tried to explain the matter away by describing Morrison's statements as "the intelligent anticipation of events before ,they occur," a remark which mad© many people wish that a 1 little! of .the same intelligence might be j transferred to officialdom. By.:' 1900 iMorrison had a world-wide reputation. I In the siege' of Pekin during the Boxer trouble, Morrison's conduct in the work of. defence won universal praise. He showed himself a born and fearless leader of fighting men. Men talked of Morrison as pro.Japanese. They were mistaken. He was, first and always pro-British. When, after the v.ir vas over, lie consideicd some paits oi Japanese policy unsatislie did not hesitate to say so, though his criticism of Japanese policy came as an unexpected shock to his Japanese friends. But it is just to such outspokenness that he owes his real influence Men know that when Morrison says a thing he his allowed neither fear, favoi, -nor dread of readjusting his old views to hinder' him. Thtee years ago, Dr Moi rison paid a shoit visit to London and was invited to the dinner of the China Association, a body laigely made up of merchants mteiested in "China trade. There was much patronising and supenoi talk about China and the Chinese during the cour;e of the dinnei. Then Morrison arose "Theie is much to condemn in China," said he, gravelj "We who know how high are the admnnstratu c ideal* both in this country and m Amenca, who remember how unscathed ne emerged from the inquiries into expendituio during the war, naturalb condemn administrative methods m China that aie not up to our standard It is natural that we, the most superior of all God's people, whose mission it is to pi y into the internal affairs of othci ' less lavored countnes, should condemn procodmc in China that would never be tolerated here. It is natural; for example, that the system of purchase of rank in China should be condemned by those nondescript capitalists of alien oiigm whose entry into their ranks is adding so gieatly to the dignity and piest'ige of our heieditary aristocracy." And so on. "Those of us who' live among the Chinese are reluctant to leave them," he declared. "The more we siee of them the more we admire their sterling qualities and the moic charitably we admire their natural idiosyncrasies." Last year, when-Dr Morrison visited Japan, he and his colleague, Mr yalentiue i'Chirol, were, given an official reception*sucll as probably, was never accoided 'to' correspondents," as such, hefore.j received them and the Government did all it could to honor them. Dr JMorjison may not "have! such a .reception here, but he will receive a T cordial welcome from all' who" know;! and >care for' British 'prestige in the Far' East. \> r *