BOOKS.

A WANDERING STUDENT IN THE FAR EAST.* THIS is the best book Lord Ronaldshay has written, and one .a the most genuinely informing works of travel which we 'Lave met for some time. The title, which recalls Mr.

llogarth's book, exactly describes the contents. The author is a student of policies and peoples, travelling widely with open eyes and a quick, discriminating mind. In his former works his interests were with sport and the problems of frontier defence. Here he travels in a region where sport is out of the question, and the only British frontier is that where Burma meets Yun-nan, a frontier rich in problems, of which that of defence is the least vital. His tour took him from Shanghai up the Yang-tee to the rich province of Ssu-chuan, and thence through Yun-nan to the Burmese frontier at Bliamo. From there he retraced his steps, visited

Japan, and finished his journey by visits to Korea and Man- -churia. He writes of what he saw in a pleasant, half-ironic

style which recalls the manner of some of Lord Curzon's

books. But these volumes are by no means carnets de voyage and wayside pictures. The author has a purpose to perform,

and he is very resolute in his duties. He is on the quest for clues to the future developments of China and Japan, more especially in their relation to British interests. The main 'questions being mercantile and industrial, Lord Ronaldshay probes into the ways of trade and the tastes of consumers with a zeal which would put most commercial travellers to shame.

We are very oertaiu that no mission sent out by a Chamber -of Commerce and no emissary of a great business house ever -did their business more thoroughly. We know little about

the real state of affairs in the Far East. How many people realise that Hong-kong in 1905 was the first shipping port of the world, or that in Peking there are eight postal deliveries

P The East is in motion, though the goal is not -clear :— "Japan, a conquering and colonising nation, is engaged in a .grim endeavour to become an industrial and commercial Power : China, the home of a peace-loving, trading people, is groping blindly after proficiency in arms. If the Japanese are successful tin cultivating in the fighting classes a love and aptitude for -commerce, without at the same time impairing their fighting qualities, then it may be predicted that, despite the comparative poverty of their natural resources, they will become a great people ; but it is worth remembering that up to the present time -the history of the world can provide no example of an Eastern race which has found it possible to cultivate in the sante class both the love of commerce and the love of fighting."

'These are the outlines of the Far Eastern question to-day. Let us see bow Lord Ronaldshay amplifies them, for he is never content with a generalisation which he cannot support with a regiment of facts.

The Yang-tee journey is delightful reading, for the author Las a quick eye for the secular anomalies of the land. Here are a few. The intrinsic value of the metal of the ordinary coin, the cash, is considerably in excess of its face value. Hence there would be a profit on melting them down were

it not that the penalty for this act is death. A new silver dollar has been coined which for some inscrutable reason professes to equal seventy-two cents instead of a hundred, thought up to now no one has succeeded in changing

• A Wand:ring Student in the Far East. By the Earl of Ronaldshay, 2 vols. London W. Blackwood and Sons. [21a. net.] one for more than seventy-one cents. The li, the unit of spatial measurement, varies according as the road is uphill or

downhill,—which, by the way, is precisely how the back-veld Boer treats the English mile. In Shanghai a Chinese Volunteer corps is actually embodied in the corps which the foreign community organised for their protection. During the Yang.

tee trip Lord Ronaldshay discourses of many interesting things. He tells of the doings of the great Viceroy, Chang

Chih Tung, who may be said to represent progressive con-

victions superimposed upon a conservative temperament. He credits him with an ardent admiration of Japan, though we

should be inclined to think that in this respect the Viceroy had lately moderated his views. The main commercial problem of these parts is the navigation of the Yang-tae rapids. A British gunboat recently made the passage from Ichang to Ch'ung-k'ing in six days ; but in Lord Ronaldshay's opinion the fluctuations of the river's flow will make it impos- sible ever to establish a really quick and trustworthy service.

Railway problems both in Ssu-clruan and Yun-nau are com- plicated by the desire of the Chinese to make their own lines.

They get no further forward, but they block foreign enter- prise. Lord Ronaldshay discusses at great length the old vexed question of a line from Burma to Yun-nan. One line from French territory is already almost completed. We have

only space to quote his conclusions, which are that a British line is desirable, that the route should be from Bhamo by

T'eng Yuan to Tali Fa, and that while commercial grounds would justify the first half, the second would be based only on political necessities. He admits, however, that it would be very difficult to induce the Chinese Government to view the scheme with favour.

Turning to more general conclusions, Lord Ronaldshay has some excellent remarks on the opium traffic. There is no doubt that the Government of China and the better kind of public opinion are determined to make every effort to reduce the vice. But to achieve this the production of the drug in China itself must be suppressed, for China produces at least ten times as much opium as she imports. The suppression of the export from India, so far from doing good, would only encourage the poppy-growers, who are making strenuous attempts to widen the area of cultivation. The attitude of the British Government is therefore seen to be the only wise one; they agree that, if they are satisfied that the production of the drug in China itself is being really curtailed in accord- ance with the Imperial Edict, they will reduce gradually the export from India until in ten years' time it will come to an end. Lord Ronaldshay is convinced that China is doing her best to get rid of the vice, and will succeed in the long run; but the "national righteousness" party in Britain, in this as in other matters, seems to be ill informed about the facts. We have no space to follow the author in detail through his description of the awakening of China. There is no question about her genuine enthusiasm for a national system of education, and her resolve to exploit her own wealth. For the ordinary British merchant he does not think there is much chance of increasing trade, unless new wants are created. A kind of industrial nationalism is strong in the land, and China is anxious, for example, to build her own railways without recourse to foreign loans,—a task for which Lord Ronaldshay believes she is still unfitted. This temporary revolt against foreign assistance may retard development, but her potential wealth is indubitable, and she has a great commercial asset in the character of her people. The industrial awakening of China may be as great a fact in the second half of the twentieth century as the military achievements of Japan have been in the first half.

The Japanese chapters of the book give some charming glimpses of the elder Japan, which is not yet clouded by the smoke from factory chimneys. But the author devotee most of his time to the new activities of the people,— the dockyards and factories, the immense commercial develop- ment, and the aid given by the State to nascent industries. In two decades Japan has increased her foreign trade from £10,000,000 to 295,000,000, so that with a population of only forty-eight millions, and no hereditary aptitude for commerce, she is only eighteen millions short of the total foreign trade of the four hundred million inhabitants of China. The Govern- ment is on the side of the trader, and laws have been passed to assist in the formation of "combines" and exempt them from taxation. There is a seamy side to all this energy, for women and children labour in the mills without the protection of any factory laws, and wages for a day of twelve hours vary from fivepence for a woman to tenpence for a man. Lord Ronaldshay is a sympathetic student of Japanese policy, and in his chapters on Korea and Manchuria he warmly espouses the Japanese cause. His criticism is therefore the more weighty when he casts doubts upon the future of all this activity. He thinks that the character of the people is impulsive and speculative, liable to sudden elations and severe reactions. Commerce, too, having been a despised business for centuries, a code of honour cannot be created in a day, and the Japanese have a name in the Far East for a low commercial morality. It is only fair to say that Japanese statesmen are very conscious of these drawbacks, and are striving hard to correct them. On the whole, Lord RonaMalley thinks that we need have no cause for nervousness about the industrial expansion of our ally. He will grant her no more than "a considerable industrial future," for he feels that in the long run "her position as an industrial Power will be restricted by the comparative poverty of her natural resources, while her position as a commercial nation may suffer on account of certain national characteristics."