Page
'Pare 2
CHUINGANTS
CENTON
HONGNONS
JIKANSSAI
THE CHINA MAIL TUES DAY, OCTOBER 15, 1946.
CHINA MAIL
Windsor House
Managing Editor: W. Keates. Telephones:
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BIRTH
WALLER-On Sept. 27, 1946, in London, England, to F/0. and Mrs. Raymond Arthur Waller, a daughter. Both well.
A Little King In Hong Kong
We have heard such a lot stemmers were contructed for Intely about the Suez Canal the Nile and the Mahmoudich being the life-line of the British Canal; a hotel was bought in Empire. Yet less than a century Cairo for use by the company's ago this vital waterway did not passengers; and the desert exist. It was only in 1869 that journey was made more toler the Suez Canal was opened able by the provision of reason- Before then, travellers, to India ably clean rest houses. crossed Egypt by the ancient 250-mile overland route; and prior to 1840, disease and dirt, unestable food and undrinkable water, combined to make it a nightmare journey for Buro-
peana
Travellers were still depen- dent on the East India Com- pany's steamers to take them: on from Suez to India, but in September, 1842, the P & 0. Hindostan, the largest liner then built, mailed from South- It was not surprising that ampton to go on the Indian most people preferred the longer run. She carried. 150 passengers, EMPIRE PREFERENCE but more comfortable voyage whose fare for the 91-day by sailing ship round the, Cape. journey round the Cape aver- But the Governor of India, aged 440. Lord William Bentinck, was Before long the P. & O. ser- pressing for better communica- vice to India was in full swing. tions with Britain, and in this The passengers fared sump- country he was backed up by tuously, but in every age there Parliament and Press. In-1840 are grousers. An Australian Company-al-squatter partook liberally of
DENTRAL AIR TRANSPORT CORP. Hong Kong are vitally interested,
Shell House Queen's Road Central,
11.
Hong Kong.
Tels: 23278, 27811, 27855.
Service for Passenger and Freight
Safety and Speed
SCHEDULE
BHANGHAI-CANTON-HONGKONG-CANTON
CANTON-KUNMING-CANTON-11ONGKONG,
SAT:
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SUN:
MON:
HONGKONG-CANTON-SHANGWAI
TUE:
SHANGHAI-CANTON. HONGKONG-CANTON
CANTON-CHUNGKING-CANTON-HONGKONG HONGKONG-CANTON -SİLANGHAI
WED!
THUR:
At the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool, the sub ject of Imperial Preference in which many manufacturers in
received the attention which was the to be expected. The immediate oc- casion for the discussion was the somewhat equivocal manner in which this question was treated in the trade proposals attached to the Washington Loan Agreement There the proposition was set forth that members of the United Nations should enter into ar- rangements for the substantial re- duction of tariffs and for the eli- mination of tariff preferences, setien for the elimination of tariff
For particulara regarding services between all other cities preferences being taken in con- In China please apply at above office..
BONGKONG.CANTON
HONGKONG SHANGHAI
MONGKONG-KUNMING
BONGKONG-CHUNGKING
FARES
HK S GO
$560
$400
$700
ENAE
航中
FREIGHT IK $2 (per kilo.)
$22.-
$16.- $28.-
CHINA NATIONAL AVIATION CORP.
PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS
announce inauguration of
REGULAR HONG KONG
11
SAN
FRANCISCO, U.S.A. AIR SERVICE
via Manila, Guam, Wake, Midway & Honolulu
Leaving Hongkong every Monday & Friday
Fare: Hongkong-Manila
Manila-Honolulu
Manila-San Francisco
Manila-Midway
Manila-Wake
Manila-Guam
HK$ 600 US$ 726 US$ 681 US$ 433 US$ 357 US$ 191
All US$ fares payable in Hongkong Currency Freight rate: One percent of fare per kilo China National Aviation Corp
Gloucester Building
Tel. 27068, .26031, 31166, 31167, 31168.
FAR EASTERN AIR TRANSPORT, INC.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES HỒNG KÔNG
to
MANILA-SHANGHAI-BANGKOK
by
C-54 "SKYMASTER" 4 ENGINED PLANE
FARE: Hong Kong-Manila
Hong Kong Shanghai Hong Kong-Bangkok Manila-Hong Kong Manila-Shanghai
NEXT DÉPARTURES:
HONGKONG SHANGHAI HONGKONG MANILA
HONGKONG-BANGKOK
HK$ 600.
HKS 550
HKS 700. US$ 150. US$ 225-
Monday 14th Oct. Tuesday 15th Oct. Thursday 17th Oct.
Agents: HONG KONG GANTON EXPORT CO., LTD. 3rd floor, French Bank Building, Telephone No. 28000
BRITANNIA BATTERIES LTD.
for
Alkaline Storage batteries
Sola Agents in Hong Kong & South China:
REISS, BRADLEY & CO., LTD.
National City Bank of New York Building. 2 Queen's Ed Co Telephones 28006/7.
Hongkong.
OLD
Peninsula
By WILFRID WEBSTER
ready carrying mails regularly across the Bay of Biscay to Spain and Gibraltar in small, low-powered steamers was given a contract for the Egyp tinn mails; and at the end of that year there was establish- ed. under Royal Charter, the Peninsula and Oriental (P. & 0.) Steam Navigation Company
3
T
soup, fowi, turkey and ham, roast joint and preserved game, all with vegetables, followed by pastry, cheese and desert. This modest meal was washed 'down with wine, provided free by the company, and after it the pas senger said: "Well, when I get ashore, I hope I shall get some food fit for an Englishman to eat!"
History Of A Word
-..
A slang term still in current use is said to have originated. on the P. & O's Indian run about this time. High officials were given the coolest cabins, and these were to port on the outward and to star-board on the homeward passage. The ini- tials of "Port Outward; Star board, Homeward" gave im- portant persons the label "Posh."
junction with adequate measures A Colourful Career The Charter called for for the substantial reduction of! barriers to world trade.""As "an regular service between Britain initial step in the process if and India within two years,
after it had
been eliminating tariff preferences," it and soon was recommended, inter alia, that granted a remarkable man went to improve all negotiated reductions in mest-out to Alexandia
the arrangements for the over favoured-nation tariffs should
land part of the journey. His operate automatically to reduce or name was Arthur Anderson, The opening of the Suez climinate margins of preference, and he rose from direst pover- Canal in 1869 was a gala occa- and that margins of preference ty to being head of the great sion. A procession of ships of should in no case be increased or P. & O. Line
all nations passed through, led by one with the French Em press Eugenie on board. The P. & D.'s Delta was there, but it was a black day for the com- pany. Exclusive control of the Overland Route had been bring- ing.big profits. Now the P. &0. faced not only a great decrease iu these, but also unlimited competition in shipping ser vices to the East.
new
One of eight children born to the wife of a humble fisher man in the Shetlands, Anderson had to go to work at the age of eleven, curing, scrubbing and washing fish. At sixteen he joined the Navy and served off Spain in the Peninsula war, He was made Captain's Clerk, an appointment which gave him valuable training in ship's management.
I
re
enes. introduced. On the most favourable interpretation these principles involve restrictions on the freedom of countries of the British Empire to fix preferences, and on the least favourable they appeared to envisage the elimina, tion of preferences in return or the mere reduction, not the elimi- nation, of tariff barriers by other Countries. Some, though by no
Before the opening of the means full, reassurance was af- After Napoleon's 'abdication, Canal the tariff for general forded by Mr. Attlee when he young Anderson was paid off cargo to Australia had been told the House of Commons that with the rest of the ship's com from £20 to £25. By 1875 the there were no commitments in ad- pany. Tramping from Ports-rate had dropped to 42. By vance of negotiations, and that mouth to London, he eked out then, too, the company's whole the a bare living as a copying clerk fleet had become obsolete and there was no question of unilateral surrender of preferences for a year. His letters home its entire service needed
coat 18. Ed. each, and to keep organising. Revenues fell, without adequate-compensation. up the correspondence meant credits diminished, and angry This pledge cannot remove mis real sacrifices for both parents shareholders kept calling for giving. Everyone agrees that and eon, This doubtless influen the removal of the directors. trade barriers ought to be re-ced him to strive for faster The line" was in danger of duced but there is no suggestion, and cheaper mail services in sinking. that universal free trade is prac- after years.
At this critical period out- ticable at this stage in the world's When Napoleon escaped from standing service was rendered economic development. So long Elba, Anderson joined the Navy to the company by another as tariffs exist-there is no reason again. Paid off after Waterloo, Scot, Mr-Jater Sir Thomas why preferences should not exist. he came back to London and Sutherland, who became manag- As Col. Stanley put it, there is then his luck turned. His future ing director in 1872, and Chair- father-in-law introduced him man nine years later, continu- no need to apologise for a systema man named Wilcox, who ing at the helm for thirty-four of Imperial Preferences. The in was starting as a shipbroker years. An 'Aberdonian, Suther- ternational conference at which and commission agent. He took land joined as a junior clerk the trade proposals in question Anderson into partnership and and was only 38, when appoint-
to be discussed has been by 1822 the firm was doing ed Managing Director: postponed and is not yet in sight. well with sailing ships running If and when it comes into being to ports on the Iberian Penin its proceedings will properly de- sula. mand the vigilance of Britain's representatives, and those of the Empire too.
were
PARIS WINDING UP
Paris, Oct. 11.
Backing The Queen Two years later, when the business was threatened by at insurrection in Portugal, Wil- cox and Anderson, decided to
support the Portuguese Queen, They bought a schooner which The World Peace Conference had been stranded near Dover. delegates prepared to complete fitted her out as a man-of-war their long session Tuesday and set her running Terms to morning and hand over to the Portugal. Anderson sailed on Foreign Ministers of the United her first run. Later, travelling States, Russia, Britain and as Mr. Smith, he brought back France for final decision the two of the Queen's Ministers draft treaties with. five German to negotiate a loan in London satellite nations,
When the Carlist rising of The conference will close cured in Spain, the partners Tuesday with an address by supported the Queen there too. President Georges Bidault of In 18 their 300-ton steamer, France and perhaps speeches by Royal Tar landed the first con U.S. Secretary of State. James tingent of British volunteers F. Byrnes as well as Foreign These services led to trading Minister V. M. Molotov of Rus- privileges for the firm of Wil- sla and Ernest Beving of Bri- cox and Anderson, which are commemorated in the P. Os tain-Associated Press.
diagonally quartered house PRESTON PROTEST lag: the top half is white and blue and the second red and Preston, Oct. 13. yellow, that being the colours Following a meeting here of of Portugal and Spain resper the Board of Directors of the tively, on too Knights of St. Columba, coples Just before Queen Victoria's of resolution protesting accession to the throne, Wilcox against the 16 years sentence and Anderson were able to ad- at. Zagreb on Archbishop Ste vertise sailings of their "Dew. pinac, Primate of Yugoslavia, powerful, Jarge and splendidly, were sent today to the Prime fitted up Steam Ships, carrying Minister, Mr. Ernest Bovin and mail from His Majesty's Post Mr. Winston Churchill. The Office. The largest, Don Juan, resolution urged that this Pre- was 985 tons and of 300 horse late has been the crurageous power contrast to the mighty defender of civil liberties and P0.'s today freedom of worship, has, it ap-As soon as he got to Alexan- pears, proved sufficient under a dris Anderson set to work on totalitarian regime to ensure improving conditions on the his conviction."-Reuter
Overland Route Specially built
For twelve years he had been the P. & O's Superinten dent for China and Japan. “Ho is a little king in Hong Kong," a colleague wrote home: "Even the biggest Chinaman would lose face if he was not on a good footing with the P. & 0. and out here that means with
Sutherland."
Faced A Crisis
CARNIVAL
By Dick Turner
WELCOME GLBRIDES
COPR. 1945 BY NEA SERVICE, 190. T. M. REŠ U. 2. PAT, OFF,
$22
Oak Track
"But, honey, I only asked the War Department for YOU!"
A Memorial in the Making
ABBEY
COMMANDO
Westminster Abbey, resting- the passing of the great during place of kings, warriors, poets, the last thousand years. is to prelates and statesmen, bouse a memorial to the men who died in battles fought by Combined Operations in World War Two
And it may be the last war memorial to be erected in the Abbey, for the grey walls and cloisters are almost filled with marble tablets commemorating
The Commando statue för Westminster Abbey will be inscribed: "To the Glory of God and in memory of all Ranks of the Commandos who fell in the Second World War 1989-1945. They per- formed whatsoever the King' commanded.""
Optimists will say that this possible last memorial in the Abbey heralds the coming of the Millennium, a happy augury for UNO....
A sub-committee consisting of representatives of the Com- mandos, Airborne Forces and Special Air Service, and Sub- Gilbert Ledward, RA, famous mariners have commissioned London sculptor, to set to work on the memorial: The 'Com- mandos Old Comrades' Assocía- tion are paying about 21000 as the cost of their part. of the memorial and the Airborne Forces Security Fund is to launch an appeal for a similar amount. Representatives of a naval ex-Servicemen's associa- lion are attending to their side. of the project'
Three Figures
Memorials to soldiers and. sailors in the Abbey have varied considerably. Typical of the earlier memorial is one erected by difconfolate parents to an Army officer "who 'was killed by a cannon-ball while reconnoitring French lines at Ticonderagee, North America, on 25th July 1759. It is a large: aquarc marble slab. The memo rial to the men of Combined will Operations
be moro elaborate.
Chatting to Mr. Gilbert Led- ward, I learned that the whole memorial will occupy a bay of the Abbey cloisters. There will be three bronze figures, a para- · chutiet on the right, a comman- do in the centre and a sub- mariner on the left, symbolising Combined Operations. The Com mando will carry a tommy-gun and the completed memorial: will be framed in an architec- tural setting harmonising with the walls of the cloisters. The three figures will be about five fest high- and will rest on a corbel of limestone
Erigadier P. Young, DSO, MC, a Vice-President of the Commandos Old Comrades' As- sociation, was instructed to see
(Continued on Page 6) A
Not the least of Sutherland's troubles was the struggle be tween British shipping, inter- ests of which the P. & O. was the Suez the largest and Canal Company in its early the Indian Mutiny reinforce, tic with the loss of forty lives. years. The Canal Company's ments were sent from Cape Almost the whole of the P charges were prohibitive; and Town and Mauritius by P. & & O. passenger fleet was no there were continuous delays in O., and during the South Afri-sembled for the North African passing through ships, coupled can war 150,000 troops were campaign in 1943. In the land- with frequent accidents, the carried in the company's ships. inge of troops which these costs of which had to be paid Memorial To The Brave ships carried from Britain, the
In the 1914-1918 war some Viceroy of India and the Cathey- by the shipping companies."
Things got so bad that "The liners were speedily converted were lost on November 11: The Thines" led a campaign press-into-armed merchant cruisers, gallant old Narkunda went down on November 14, and the ing for another Canal to be and many others were used as made across the Middle East. troopships. Between them, the Ettrick, specially built as à But Sutherland saw de Lesseps, P. & O. and its associated com- troopship Just before the war, builder of the Suez Canal, and pany, the British India, lest was sunk on the following day. satisfactory terms were ar- thirty-eight ships. In the Aus Then od December 14 the ranged after prolonged nege- tralian War Museum at Can- Strathalion, the largest. P. & 0. tistions. The P. & O. then went berra, there is a fitting memo liner, was sent to the bottom
From War To Peace on from strength to strength rial to the bravery of P. & 0. and with it the Canal Commen. in 1915-one of the De pany, whose shares more than vanha's lifeboats, bullet-riddled Though the war is over, all and shell-torn, which survived the surviving P. & O. ships are doubled in. value.
the Gallipoli landing,
still under Government control, Early in the second world and when the company does get war fifty P. & O. men were them back it will be a long time killed and five taken prisoner before they can be fit for pro- when the company's Rawalpin- per peacetime use. This must di, converted to an armed mer be particularly irksome for the chant cruiser went down to P & 0 for the company was glory; her White Ensign stila pioucer in pleasure cruising, Lying, after a hopeless battle Even its firat steamer, 206ston with two enemy warshiper Her William Fawcett, book passen- sister ship, the Rajputana, was gers on health-seeking trips to torpedoed in the North Atlan-Madelra..
During his long service with the company, Sir Thomas Sutherland saw P: & O. ships employed in several wars. The need for them as troopships in the Crimean War compelled the suspension of the newly-opened mail, service to Australia, For this war the Government took eleven of the company a ships, totalling nearly one third of the feet's total tonnage, In