As an old member of the Chinese Maritime Customs service
Mr. W. F. Tyler has had some strange experiences, and his breezy narrative, Pulling Strings in China (Constable, 15s.),is well worth reading. He volunteered for the Chinese Navy when Japan declared war in 1894, and was present at the decisive action off the Yalu. Mr. Tyler says that Admiral Ting's naval adviser was a poltroon and that the fleet lacked shells and powder through corrupt officials ; the Chinese battleships survived the fight because of their armour, but most of the cruisers were destroyed. Mr. Tyler has much to say about Chinese pirates and smugglers, and about the diffi- culties of the Customs officials in preserving neutrality in the late War. He likes the Chinese, but he speaks frankly about the defects of their administrative system.
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