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man, and the Tsoi clan four, to the authorities as being responsible for the murder of the man who fell in the ditch. This, however, is only a formality. Everyone knows that the District Mandarin will be only too happy to exchange these men for an eloquent sum of money. It is sad to be forced to see in action how the best of these Chinese officials are blind in the face of corruption of this type.
The total cost of this village war was more than sixty thousand dollars. This money will have to be found by a stiff payment from every person affected. The parties will be reduced to such extreme poverty that it will be many years before they can recover. It is as well that the bone of contention is removed from the clans.
However, as it is said "There can be no peace, where men do not sing of the love of Christ". May that love soon be sung throughout this fruitful valley of Sham Chun!
I greet you with the deepest respect and affection,
Yours,
G. Reusch
8th July, 1875."
The 1924 aerial photograph of Sham Chun, and the War Department map drawn up from it, show a broad earth-wall in the position suggested by Reusch, and this is shown on the Map. This probably represents the earth-wall of 1875. If so, the "New Market" of 1871 was not a success. Although the roads from the south (Kowloon and Yuen Long) ran through the centre of the site, the site was not as well sited as was the "Old Market", being further from the nodal point of the road system in the area. It was better located for the river trade, but only so long as the "New Market" and the landing place were in the same hands. Once the landing place had been handed over to the She Hok and to the Tung Ping Kuk which ran the She Hok, and which was dominated by the Cheungs, the "New Market" lost the advantages it gained from proximity to the river. By 1924, there were only a few buildings within the earth-wall
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