AWAKENING OF CHINA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3112, 7 January 1911, Page 3

AWAKENING OF CHINA.

A PARLIAMENT PROJECTED

••Within three years China is to have Pa;, ament on tlie Western model. That is the decision of the Government, which h-'.s its hand forced .by popular opinion as expressed in the Provincial Assemblies anti the National Assembly, ' savs the “Daily News.” ‘••In 1607 the late Dowager Empress issued an edict outlining a scries of steps by which China was to advance in nine years* to a Oonstitional system more or less on the Western model. The two most important of these stages .were the establishment of Provincial Assemblies and of a National Assembly. the Provincial Assemblies met last autumn. They are elected bodies, chosen by a ‘silk-clad;’ electorate of officials, notables, and men of learning. They took in hand forthwith the control of the absolute authority of the Provincial Governors and the reform* of local administration. j' “Every Western observer _ wjiro has had the opportunity of watching thfese bodies at work speaks in the highest praise of their zeal, their sobriety, their capacity ’ for business, and their determination to *do what within them lies for the regeneration of their country. The resolution with which they have stamped out the opium habit is only one illustration of their ouality. “The National Assembly, met at Peking on the 3rd of last month. It is a body of 200 members. One-half are nominated by the Government to represent certain privileged classes, such as the Royal clan, the Manchus, the officials, and the scholars; the other half are nominated by the Provincial Governors from among members of the Provincial Ascsmblies. The composition of the National Assembly was plainly intended to secure the Central Government against any unpleasantness., and the edict constituting* the National Assembly laid down that “the .law-making power must absolutely and for ever be the prerogative of the Emperor.” The National Assembly is a purely advisory and consultative body; it can discuss, but has no control over finances, legislation. or administration.

“According to the original scheme the National Assembly was not to give way to a Parliament for another seven years. This period is now reduced to three under irresistible pressure and against the desire of the Regent. In January and July the Provincial Assemblies sent delegates to Peking urging that the mnnnoning of a Parliament should be hastened, but the Regent dismissed them with a contemptuous refusal. —Chinese Resolution—“ln September of this year a third deputation arrived. Its members took up their stand outside the Regent’s Palace, and! declared tint they would Stay there until they received a favorable reply; some of them are said even to have out off their finger joints and written their appeal with their own blood. The Regent at last gave them a more favorable, but general, reply. It remained for the National Assembly to extract something more precise. By the unanimous vote of its members of all classes the National Assembly demanded the summoning of a Parliament with the minimum possible delay. The edict published in .Saturday's papers is the Regent's response.”