56
85. Distilleries for the making of native liquor are numerous in all parts of the New Territories. The liquor is distilled by fermentation, either of rice or of molasses, of which the latter is gradually becoming the more generally used.
VIV.-LIFE OF THE PEOPLE-CUSTOMS, HABITS AND RELIGION.
86. China is not a country, nor the Chinese a people, easily accessible to outside influence, and to this rule the New Territories are no exception.
87 A visitor to the Territory of 1899, upon returning in 1912, would find changes to remark in the outward appearance of the country, but he would not find the life or character of its inhabitants greatly altered. Roads and railways have indeed been made through the centre of the Northern district: and country folk who used to require a full day to reach Hongkong can now go in and out and do their shopping in the day. More and more of the young men from the country have been tempted into Hongkong or abroad in quest of higher wages, and many have returned with their savings to their native villages: money has been brought into the country to purchase land required for roads and railways, aud with all this added wealth, many more substantial houses have been built all over the Territory a taste has sprung up for many foreign luxuries, and ærated waters, cigarettes, clothes, caps, towels and kerosene oil are now common objects of sale in the small market towns throughout the Territory. Contact with foreign ways has rendered the average villager less superstitious than of yore: not many years ago the cutting off of the cock's head was an almost infallible test of the truth of a country witness' statement: but now it is seldom that a witness cannot reconcile his conscience to a small mis-statement: he is no longer so simple as to believe that "as the cock's head is cut off, so will his line be cut off, if he does not speak the truth
:
88. It is not yet time to estimate the change made in the New Territories by the political events of 1911, but it is certain that it has not been confined to the cutting of the queue and the donning of the foreign cap. The suddenness and the unanimity which marked this step throughout the Territory were remarkable, and Puntis, Hakkas and Hoklos all showed thereby that they had long been ready to join the party of progress, as soon as they were given a lead.
89. There is another feature in the history of the New Territories under British rule that the economic mind of the villager appreciates to the full, namely, the rise in the cost of living. The following is a comparative list of the average prices throughout the New Terri- tory in 1900 and in 1911:—
Rice (best) per picul..
(inferior)
Pork,
53
Eggs per dozen
per picul
Firewood
29
Potatoes Salt
}:
Fresh Fish
27
(at fishing villages)
1900.
1911.
$4.00 3.50 10
$ 8.00
6.50
22
15.00
25.00
30
65
40
90
30
70
10.00
20.00
It can be seen from this table that the price of food has about doubled in the last 10 years, and wages have about doubled too and as money has come into the Territory, so the standard of living has risen continually. Three meals a day are considered necessary to support the day labourer, who never dreamt of a midday meal a few years ago: and decent clothes, caps, and shoes, formerly luxuries, are now among the necessities of existence. House-building, and therefore house-rent, are much dearer, and the Crown rent is much higher than it was under Chinese rule.-or is in the neighbouring Chinese Territory. The latter, though obviously much less prosperous, has still the great advantage of cheaper food and cheaper living, and an advantage, which we may scorn, in a lower standard of living. And the one great merit of Chinese rule is its tolerance: it moves with the feelings of the people, and does not force itself upon them: taxes are obtained from those who can pay, whereas many poor people across the border go on occupying their houses and plots of land for years without payment of rent: again, if they go to law, they are squeezed, but the large majority who avoid the courts are not troubled, and see far less of the law and the authorities than the average We
Vesterner.
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