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KOREA

requires, he can cable to Shanghai, Osaka, or elsewhere for whatever may be desired.

Attached to the English Colony in Korea, which numbers one hundred and forty-one, there is the usual complement of clergy and nursing sisters, under the supervision of Bishop Corfe, the chief of the English Mission in Seoul. Miss Cooke, a distinguished lady doctor and a kind friend to the British Colony, is settled in Seoul. A number of Englishmen are employed in the Korean Customs; their services contributing so much to the splendid institution which Mr. McLeavy Brown has created, that one and all are above criticism. Mr. McLeavy Brown would be the first to acknowledge how much the willing assistance of his staff has contributed to his success.

The importance of the American trade in Korea is undeniable. It is composite in its character, carefully considered, protected by the influence of the Minister, supported by the energies of the American missionaries, and controlled by two firms, whose knowledge of the wants of Korea is just forty-eight hours ahead of the realisation of that want by the Korean. This is, I take it, just as things should be. The signs of American activity, in the capital alone, are evident upon every side. The Seoul Electric Car Company, the Seoul Electric Light Company, and the Seoul (Fresh Spring) Water Company have been created by American enterprise, backed up by the "liveness" and cuteness of the two concessionaires, whom I have just mentioned, and pushed along by little diplomatic attentions upon the part of the American Minister. The Seoul-Chemulpo Railway Concession was also secured by an American, Mr. Morse, the agent of the American Trading Company, and subsequently sold to the Japanese company in whom the rights