1080
MACAO
scale. The Home Government, some time ago, decided to carry out an extensive scheme for the improvement of the harbour, and a Commissioner spent the year 1907 at Macao in connection with the scheme. Owing to its being open to the south-west breezes and the quietude always prevailing, Macao has become a frequent retreat of invalids and business men from Hongkong and other neighbouring ports. The principal hotels are the Boa Vista, and the Macao Hotel. In 1907 there was a mild epidemic of plague at Macao, resulting in 172 deaths. Drastic measures were taken by the authorities to exterminate the scourge.
The Hongkong, Canton, and Macao Steamboat Company run two steamers daily between Macão and Hongkong, leaving the former port åt 8 o'clock a.m. and 2 p.ñ. and Hongkong at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. A Chinese Company runs a regular steamer daily between Hongkong and Macao. Between Macao and Canton there is a daily steam service, Sundays excepted. The distance from Macao to Hongkong is 40 miles, and to Canton 88 miles. Macao is connected with Hongkong by telegraph. The population of Macao, with its dependencies of Taipa and Colouan, according to returns made in 1896, was-Chinese, 74,568; Portuguese, 3,898; other nationalities, 161; or a total of 78,627. Of the Portuguese 3,106 were natives of Macao, 615 natives of Portugal, and 177 natives of other Portuguese possessions. Of the foreigners 80 were natives of Great Britain. In November, 1901, an Envoy Extraordinary arrived from Portugal, his mission being to arrange with the Chinese Government for a delimitation of the boundary of the Colony. The line of demarcation submitted by the Envoy included certain islands which the Chinese Government refused to acknowledge as being part of the Portuguese colony, and the Envoy, while not successful in gaining this point, secured a concession for a railway from Macao to Canton. The convention, however, did not meet with the approval of the Cortes at Lisbon, and Sen- hor Branco came to the East again in 1904. In November a new agreement was arranged with the Chinese Government, but the Government at Lisbon regarded the terms as far from satisfactory, and refused ratification. It was announced in the local press that a syndicate of Chinese and Portuguese capitalists had subscribed a capital of four million dollars for the construction of the railway, but there are no indications at present of a commencement being made with the work, and it is generally doubted whether a railway through a district so well provided with waterways would prove remunerative. A railway 50 miles in length is however being constructed under Chinese direction in the Sunning district, and this will doubtless beneficially affect trade and commerce in the neighbourhood of Macao. A New Commercial Treaty was arranged with China in November, 1904, but it does not appear to have been ratified by the Home Government yet. Since the Boxer trouble Macao has been garrisoned with European Portuguese troops.
DIRECTORY
署督門澳
Ou-mun-toc-ch'ü
Governador da Provincia-S. Exa. O. Capitão tenente da Armada Real, PEDRO
D'AZEVEDO COUTINHO
Ajudante de Campo-Jayme da Fonseca Monteiro, primeiro tenente da Armada Official às ordens-Jono P. da Costa Santos, Alferes de Infanteria
GOVERNO DE MACAU
Fu-cheng-az-shü
SECRETARIA Geral do Governo
Secretario Geral-Dr. Alfredo Pinto Lello
房務民
Man-mu-fing
Repartição Civil
Primeiro. Official--S. J. d'Encarnação
Segundo do.-C. J. Borges
Amanuenses—F. A. Vital, J. F. S. da Silva
Porteiro V. C. Fernandes
Continuo-J. Teixeira
Fiel do Palacio-X. Choi
Kuan-mu-fing
Secretaria Militar
Capitão d'artilheria –D. M. P. de Menezes,
chefe do Estado Maior
Adjunto-Ten. d'artilheria, L. J. Cordeiro Archivista- Alferes A. G. da S. Vidigal Amanuense-Manuel dos Santos
2a. Repartição
Chefe-Tenente A. d'Almeida Lima Amanuenses-E. S. do Rozario, A. S. Jaston
Digitized by