Evening star., 1927-05-15

! one hears, good passenger ana
| freight aerial service connecting the
capital with cities within radius of
| 500 miles; all the pilots being Siamese
and apt for the work.
| The planting of rubber is being
royalty encouraged and in general his
majesty zealously fosters the national
| economy. Best of all. if true. he in
ssts that tenure of office shall be de
| termined solely by fitness; and fitness
according to our ideas should not be
! so rare in Siam, since no such thing
as caste exists there. and (as in old
China) it has immemoriably been pos
sibie for the man of meaneSt origin
to attain to the highest dignities
There are, 1 believe (again as substan-
TALLY in old Chinal. no hereditary
titles outside the royal families. titles
of nobility. being conferred for life
only.
French TndO- Ctina.--The French
government has of late addressed it
self to a complete reconsideration OF
the French position in the Far East.
particularly, of course, with reference
| to Indo- China. The menace of Com
| munist contagion from across the
| borders Of China and India, especial
| lv the former, is serious. In all
| French Indo-China. there are only
about 5000 French troops, the re-
mainder under French colors being
natives. 1t is proposed to reinforce
| the French contingent by 5000 spe-
| cially picked men, Frenchmen, two
| Foreign Legion battalions and bat
| talon of Senegalese.
a we'll known French political
| writer in lie Temps, declares that
France must strengthen her posi-
! ton in Indo-China by replacing po-
litical appointees In the important
positions by experts and by striking
accord with Great Britain on colonial
policy.
The latter desideratum flashes into
view from time to time, only to be
obscured again by the murk of imme-
mortal prejudice and jealousy. lie
Journal Des Debats, Figaro and other
respectable organs agree with the
writer of lie Temps. So do we.
Japan.-Both houses having passed
the financial relief bill. The Japanese
special session Of only four days was
adjourned on May 8. Provision is
made to provide adequate aid to the
| embarrassed banking structure. A
special commission will investigate to
determine what banks should be aided
| and the amount of aid to be extended
in each case.
Very significant was the passage by
the lower house tlnajority of 16) of
resolution declaring it to be the
sense of that chamber that the privy
council had acted unfairly in declining
to approve an imperial ordinance aim
ed at relieving the financial situation.
which the late government had sub
mitted to it. The passage of the reso-
luton may fairly be considered an
important step toward establishment
| of genuine responsible government in
Japan. The House resented that n
| merely advisory body should over
ride the government.
| X X X X
United States.-The inundated area
of Louisiana was considerably in
| creased during the week. especially
in the parishes of Tensas and Con-
| cordia and the region, largely planted
in sugar west of the Mississippi and
| between Red River landing and Baton
Rouge. Slowly the crest of the Mis-
sissippi creeps on toward New Or
leans. Popular relief contributions
now total over $40 900 ,000-a tidy sum.
but not enough Refugees under Red
Cross care total in the neighborhood