ASIA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 11, 17 March 1909, Page 7

ASIA.

In Far Cathay Ur. M. A. Stein, leader of the Indian Government mission to Central Asia, has returned to London, after journeying 10,000 miles in some of the wildest and bleakest regions of the earth’s surface. The journey occupied three years. Dr. Stein detailed before the Royal Geographical Society his discoveries in Chinese Turkestan of thousands of ancient documents, some bearing Greek seals. He also found wooden records of Chinese trading and military occupation before the time of Christ to 800 A.D. He discovered that the Great Wall once continued a long distance westward of what was considered its furthest limits. Dr. Stein’s is one of the most interesting stories told for many years. East and West. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., oi Newcastle, and Vickers, Son and Maxim, of Barrow, have almost completed in Japan the erection of steel works for gun-forging. The Japanese Government intend purchasing the owrks, the Japanese Admiralty managing them, assisted by English •experts. Japan has ordered from Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. a large number of gun-mountings. Trouble Will Follow. Sir Edward Grey (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) has warned Persia that should harm befall the British Con sulate at Tabriz owing to the action of the Shah’s troops during the civil war now proceeding in Northern Persia, she will be held responsible to Britain. The Indian Empire. Tn the House of Lords hist week the Indian Councils Bill, minus clause three giving power to establish provincial conn oils, was read a third time. Mr. Balfour, speaking as the gue.st of the City of Liverpool Guild ba.nqiivt, re? ferring to the action of the peers. s;iid that there was a weight of official experience in the House of Lords on Indian subjects to which the House of Cominops •jould never pretend asnire. Sir Sydenham Clarke (LieutenantGovernor of Bombay) was the guest of the Lodge of Imperial Brotherhood of Bombay, consisting of Freemasons, of r all races, aiming at mutual cooperation. He remarked that India’s, system of government was on . the eve of. great changes; he believed, for the , ,ypi in try’s, good. The success of the change \yasj dependent on the co-operation of 411 classes, and creeds. He rejoiced to associate himself with a movement to that, end.

Ousting Great Britain. Dr. Morrison. Pekin correspondent of the “Tinies,- declares that a German e.vndi ate is lending three millions sterling for the construction of the southern half of the ( anton-Hankau railway. This is a direct violation of the agreement of 1905, under which British capital and British material were to be used, mid is al-o a direct disregard of the Bri-tish-German agreement of 1898. defining the spheres of railway interest of the two nations in China. The t 'anton-Hankau railway is one of the most important construction works in the world, traversing the middle of China from Pekin to Canton. It is situated within the British sphere of influence. but in the nineties a concession was secured by Belgians for a portion of the railway. British diplomats were blamed for allow ing the concession, their reply Iwing that Belgian competition was not feared. It subsequently appeared, however, that the true concessionaire was the Russo-Chinese Bank, a Russian State institution. Russia’s grip on the concession was loosed during the Boxer disturbances. and the concession lapsed during the Russo-Japanese war. when it was acquired by Britain, an agreement being arrived at under which onlv BriUah material and money was to be used. To Be Coloured Red. The British-Siamese Treaty, which has been signed, places British subjects under the jurisdiction of the Siamese Courts with European advisers. 'siara renounces suzerainty in favour of Great Britain over the districts of Kelantan. Tringganu, and Kedah, in the Malay Peninsula. Fifteen thousand square miles have thus been added to the flag.