CLOSES HARBOUR TO SHIPS AT 6 P.M.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18092, 28 February 1927, Page 7

CLOSES HARBOUR TO SHIPS AT 6 P.M.

SHANGHAI'S DEFENDER TAKES STRONG ACTION. CONSULAR BODY" PROTESTS AGAINST ACT. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Aus. and X.Z. Cable Association. (Received February 28, 9.45 a.m.), SHANGHAI. February 27 A piquant situation lias arisen by the action of General Li Pao-shang. the Shanghai Defence Commissioner, issuing a proclamation that the Wonsung entrance to Whang-poo, which is the only approach to Shanghai from fTTe Yang-tszc delta, will be closed from six o'clock in the evening to six o’clockin the morning to all shipping in order to prevent a possible attack on Shanghai by the nationalist naval forces. Notice of the proclamation was served on the Consular Body, which protested. although no other action has so far been taken. Tt. is generally recognised that Li Pao shang has a good print a facie case as he is in the position of defender of .Shanghai. He must have'some sort of examination of the shipping entering, but it is equally well recognised that Shanghai’s immense shipping, which enters and leases the port as the tides dictate, cannot thus be interfered with. It is generally expected that the matter will be settled by amicable compromise, but at present all the ships

violating the order arc subject to a thorough search by the Chinese authorities.

FOREIGNERS IN CHINA. All that Englishmen, in common with other foreigners, want in China is the right to live in security and trade in peace, says the London “Spectator.” It seemed that the Washington resolutions of 1921-22 would give the Chinese enough for their satisfaction. Certainly the conferences which met at . Peking to put those resolutions into operation were entirely benevolent. All the Powers were ready to modify the customs system administered by foreigners administered, be it said, with great efficiency and honesty- so that the Chinese might impose extra duties for their own benefit. All the Powers were ready,, again. to abandon the extra-territorial rights of foreigners in the treaty ports and the concession in order that China might become nationally an equal among equals. The only condition imposed was the reasonable one that foreigners should be really guaranteed safety for themselves and their property. All this was only intended as a start. Unhappily the dream was rudely ended by the Civil War. which deprived China of any Government whose writ would run. The blame! therefore, for the immediate disappointment cannot fairly be laid upon the Powers. . . . The granting of extraterritorial rights was as much due to the Chinese themselves as to foreigners. At .first the Chinese did not like the idea of foreigners living freely among them wherever they pleased, and it was at thy suggestion of China (hat the resident foreigliers were as far as possible grouped in Treaty Ports and Concessions. It is not true, therefore, to say that these rights have been merely grabbed. Rights, even some of those which are questionable in origin, become sanctioned by lapse of time, by custom, and by the active recognition qf them by both parties. This is certainly true of China, where not only the Pekin Government, but the people, have entered into contractual rela tions with foreigners on the strength oi which vast financial and commercial organisations have been built up.