The last two letters from the Times special correspondent recently
in the Far East are of remarkable interest. That on the Japanese in Manchuria in Monday's issue clearly shows that, so far from leading to an aggressive coalition of the yellow races, closer contact between China and Japan and recent political developments in the Far East have only intensified the old antipathy of the Chinese. For this antagonism Japan, by the harshness of her military administration and the miscon- duct of the Japanese settlers and camp-followers of the army in Manchuria, is largely to blame. The Japanese civil officials, however, are now making genuine efforts to disarm Chinese hostility, though they might do much more in expelling their disreputable nationals. The reorganised South Manchurian Railway, hitherto charged with undue favouritism to Japanese clients, is also contributing to reconciliation by its efficiency, and compares most favourably with the extortionate and retrograde methods of the Chinese Northern Railway. The system now operates seven hundred and three miles, and by next winter the main line from Suchiatun to Dairen (Dalny) will be double- tracked to handle the increased traffic from the Fushun coal- mines, now worked by the company, and one of the mos4 valuable assets • of the country. While Port Arthur ia almost deserted, Dairen bids fair to develop into one of the chief commercial centres of Eastern Asia. Here the "open door" is a fact, and the direct connexion between conciliation and prosperity will, it is hoped, induce Japan to extend this broad-minded policy throughout the whole of Manchuria.
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