Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/17



HIS ''work is the outcome of an enterprise designed to give in an attractive form full and reliable information with reference to the outlying parts of the Empire. The value of a fuller knowledge of the "Britains beyond the Sea" and the great dependencies of the Crown as a means of tightening the bonds which unite the component parts of the King's dominions was insisted upon by Mr. Chamberlain in a memorable speech, and the same note ran through the Prince of Wales's impressive Mansion House address in which His Royal Highness summed up the lessons of his tour through the Empire, from which he had then just returned. In some instances, notably the case of Canada, the local Governments have done much to diffuse in a popular form information relative to the territory which they administer. But there are other centres in which official enterprise in this direction has not been possible, or, at all events, in which action has not been taken, and it is in this prolific field that the publishers are working. So far they have found ample justification for their labours in the widespread public interest taken in their operations in the colonies which have been the scene of their work, and in the extremely cordial reception given by the Press, both home and colonial, to the completed results.''

''Briefly, the aim which the publishers keep steadily before them is to give a perfect microcosm of the colony or dependency treated. As old Stow, with patient application and scrupulous regard for accuracy, set himself to survey the London of his day, so the workers employed in the production of this series endeavour to give a picture, complete in every particular, of the distant possessions of the Crown. But topography is only one of the features treated. Responding to modern needs and tastes, the literary investigators devote their attention to every important phase of life, bringing to the elucidation of the subjects treated the powerful aid of the latest and best methods of pictorial illustration. Thus a work is compiled which is not only of solid and enduring value for purposes of reference and for practical business objects, but is of unique interest to all who are interested in the development of the Empire.''

''In all essential features the present volume follows closely upon the lines of the earlier works on Western Australia, Natal, Ceylon, and British Malaya, and deals fully with the history, administration, population, commerce, industries, and potentialities of the territories to which it relates. In one respect, however, it differs from its predecessors, for, while they have been devoted exclusively to British Colonies, this book, as its title indicates, deals also with settlements which are only partially British. But there is ample excuse, if excuse be needed, for this departure from precedent. More than one half the imports and exports of China passes through the various Treaty Ports, and it would have been a negation of one of the avowed objects of these publications if no attempt had been made to show the present-day tendency of this trade and how the proportion borne by the British Empire compares with that of its competitors. Nor must it be forgotten that Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai, the first five ports in China to which foreign merchandise was admitted without hindrance or interference, were thrown open in 1842 as the direct result of British influence, which was also responsible in 1858 for the extension of this privilege''