DIE
QUI MAL
DROIT
THE HONGKONG
Government Gazette.
No. 15.
No. 71.
Published by Authority.
VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 13TH APRIL, 1878.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
CHINA FAMINE RELIEF FUND.
The following Letters are published for general information.
VOL. XXIV.
By Command,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 10th April, 1878.
J. M. PRICE, Acting Colonial Secretary.
To His Excellency
GOVERNOR POPE HENNESSY, C.M.G.
LONDON MISSION, SHANGHAI, 4th April, 1878.
SIR, It was with feelings of unfeigned and special thankfulness, that we received notice of a vote by Your Excellency in the Hongkong Legislature of $10,000, on account of the China Famine Relief Fund.
We have also observed that the vote was sustained by the Secretary of State, and we could not but rejoice at the munificent grant of the Hongkong Government under the auspices of Your Excel- lency.
The letters we are receiving from the North continue to be of the same distressing character as before, aggravated only by the onward course of time.
Her Majesty's Consul at Tientsin, who is one of the Chairmen in our Committee there, has just written me that the appearance of things is worse than ever, the spring crops are totally destroyed, and nothing but the most gloomy prospects are before the starving millions. There are rumours also of a serious rising in Shansi and Honan, which is only to be expected in the circumstances, and the Government is utterly paralyzed by the condition of things. Large supplies of food are at their com- mand, but altogether inadequate to meet the wants of the case, while the means of conveyance are alike unequal to the severity of the situation.
The Committees formed at our instance in Tientsin and Peking are entering vigorously on the work of relief, from the funds we have been able to send them and means have been forwarded to Shansi where we hope good and efficient service is being done.
All our funds are exhausted at this point, having been either sent North by our Treasurer, or supplied to the Catholic Missionaries here for that purpose in answer to their application.
In view of this, I take the liberty of writing your Excellency, to inquire if the vote you so kindly passed in Hongkong can be conveniently sent by remittance to our Treasurer, F. W. LEMARCHAND, Esquire, Agra Bank.
We have received from England nearly Tls. 30,000, and about an equal sum from other quarters. Our hope was that the so-called China indemnity in the hands of the U. S. Government, or rather the balance of it amounting to $150,000 with interest thereon for the last twenty years, would be accorded to us for this benevolent object--the salvation of the millions now starving in China. But our appeals have remained unanswered to the present time. Should they be listened to, and this large sum come into our hands, the honour and credit attaching to it would be heralded far and wide, and be a means of blessing in the highest sense.