The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTRLER. THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1914. CHINA’S PLIGHT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 92, 9 April 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTRLER. THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1914. CHINA’S PLIGHT.

Chinn does not seem any more happy as time advances, and the afflictions of the people must sometimes make the vast populace sigh for a return to the comparatively peaceful conditions of Mancliu rule. The Parliamentary institution, which was to begin the regeneration of China, has been swept aside by the autocratic Yuan-Shih-Kai. It is suggested that he undertook a task far too big for him, or indeed possible for any man, to carry out within a set period, but it cannot be denied that his administration is to say the least faulty. Quite recently it was stated that a British firm had secured authority to build the XankinHunan railway, and the cablegram added that British control of the entire Shanghai-Xingpo railway was “only a matter of time.” A French syndicate has been given a concession to build about a thousand miles of railway northward from Pakhoi, in the Gulf of Tonquin, and Japanese and German lines have also been authorised. 'The right to work mineral areas is being granted to the foreign finan-

ciers in many cases, and according to those who profess to be in a position to know and understand these matters, in every instance the terms of those concessions art' unfavourable to China herself. It is further pointed out that the Standard Oil Company has secured from Yuan-Shih-Kai a monopoly of the oilfields of the Chihli and Shensi provinces, the Chinese Government to receive about one-third of the stock ot a special company which is to he (floated in the United States to control the concession. Many other schemes for the exploitation of the natural resources of the great country by foreign capitalists are finding favor at headquarters, and the President’s anxiety to raise money to satisfy the 6 vsr increasing demand? of the foreigner* who have such a groat footing in

China, is causing people to wonder if China’s present state is not as bad, if not worse, than at any previous period of her modern life.