DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17006, 20 January 1927, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

“ Great Britain gets all the. kicks in

Britain and China.

China,” says a writer in the Contemporary Review, referring to the "iangtse affair and other recent

happenings in the East. Why, it will he asked, does Britain take this sort of thing lying down? She has a fleet that could batter any Chinese fort or coastal city to pieces? Is she going to let herself be hectored by the Red or parti-coloured mc-hs that are roaming, with Bolshevikinspired ideas throughout China? The answer is that Britain is bound by her commitments with the other Great Powers. She has pledged herself not to act alone against another nation. She is also pledged to what is called the Washington programme. The difficulty of Lhe position becomes apparent when a horde of armed Orientals grows rampant and threatens actual violence to British residents in the East. There are times when decisions have to he made quickly, and when it is not possible, with life and property at stake, to wait for the considered judgment of distant allies. Of one fact only wc can be sure. The British Government understands the position, and is more closely in touch with it than we arc. The rights of British subjects will not ho overlooked, nor will such happenings as the Hankow' affair he minimised. Britain is strong enough to act alone, and to act decisively. She will not wantonly , disturb the world’s peace—that is out of the question—but neither will she hesitate, if necessary, to teach the aggressors a lesson. Her despatch of a squadron to Chinese waters shows that she is is fully alive to the dangers of the situation.