As regards the Chinese themselves, we have only to add
that it is precisely those who know them best and have their interests most at heart who are most dissatisfied at the manner in which the experiment has been carried out. The Rev. Arnold Foster of Wuchang in the January number of the Chronicle of the London Missionary Society tells once more in full detail the ugly story of the Transvaal recruiting agents' advertisement, published in Chinese on March 30th, in which almost all the restrictions and repressive conditions in the English original were omitted. The correct and certified translation of the real contract was not published till the second week in June, when, as Mr. Arnold Foster contends, in view of the limited intelligence of the coolies and the extremely technical nature of the document, it was impossible to bring home to them its full significance. He therefore maintains that the coolies from Tientsin at all events—i.e., the recruits from North China—were entirely deceived by the conditions of service• shown to them when they were seeking information, and in virtue of which they decided to go to the Transvaal. In other words, he makes it clear that precisely the conditions on the strength of which the Archbishop of Canterbury gave his reluctant acquiescence to the Ordinance in his speech in the House of Lords on March 21st last were rendered impossible of felfilment by the negligence of the Government.
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