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ING ORDINANCE.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND niality generally, do more perhaps to restore to | PROSECUTION UNDER THE BUILD- health persons whom you treat than all the medicine you know so skilfully how to ad- minister. The Hongkong Police Force, their wives and children, bid you hearty farewell They trust to see you back again restored to health, and they will give you a loyal welcome when they see your kind face back once more in this compound. (Applause).
Dr. Ayres, in reply, said he had always had much pleasure in attending the police force, be- cause its members were very amenable to what he had to say, and they were always very kind to him, and did not give him more trouble than was pocessary. He sometimes thought they overdia their kindness. They might have saved themselves considerable trouble if they had called earlier. (Laughter). It was not altogether that they did not care to trouble themselves, but that they did not care to take the physic. (Laughter). He hoped the health of the force would | increase. He bad boped to see, before this, the Central Police Station slightly altered. In 1878 he did his utmost to urge upon the Goveru- ment to build the Central Police Station on the site of the old hospital, and if his advice bad been acted upon the Government would have saved a lot of money in building a new wing of the gaol. The ground was offered to the Govern- ment for $15,000, but unfortunately it was decided not to accept the offer. In consequence of the great economy that had been practised the colony had been put to considerable expense. If there was as good a Police Station as there was a hospital he should be very well satisfied. In conclusion he tharked the members of the force for the kindness they had shown to him in every way and he hoped to return to the colony next October twelve months and find the force in good health.
RESIGNATION OF THE NOMINATED MEMBERS OF THE SANITARY BOARD.
Below we give the letter in which the Hon. Ho Kai and Dr. Hartigan tendered their re| signation as members of the Sanitary Board and the Colonial Secretary's reply :—
Hongkong, 27th April, 1895. Sir.-We have the honour to resign with much regret into the hands of His Excellency the Governor our appointments as nominated members of the Sanitary Board.. While fully appreciating the good intentions of His Excel- loney in appointing the Medical Officer of Health, giving him his present status on the Board and investing him with independent powers, we are humbly of opinion that his present position and powers, uuless considerably modified and in complete accordance with the unanimous resolu tion of the Board passed on the 22nd instant, are inconsistent with its constitution and dignity; and holding this opinion as we do, we are obliged, however reluctantly, to resign our seats on the Board. We have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient and humble servants,
HO KAI. WILLIAM HARTIGAN. The Hon. J. Stewart Lockhart, Colonial
Secretary.
Colonial Secretary's Office,
30th April, 1895. Gentlemen. I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th instant tendering your resignation of your seats on the Sanitary Board, which is Excellency the Governor has been pleased to acc-pt.-I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
J. STEWart LockhaRT, Colonial Secretary. The Hon. Dr. Ho Kai and Dr. Hartigan.
During a gale at Tientsin on the 22nd April the steamer Taksang, while attempting to move into deeper water at the outer anchorage, drifted upon the Chungking and in some way got the latter vessel's cable foul on her propeller. With the assistance of native divers, working under the direction of Captain Freeman and Mr. Macrae, of the Taku Tug and Lighter Company, the Taksang's propeller was cleared and the cable recovered. We (Peking and Tientsin Times) understand the Chungking's steru sustained some slight damage in consequence of the fouling.
At the Police Court on Saturday, before Mr. H. E. Wodehouse, Mr. Edward Osborne, Secre- tary of the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, was summoned for erecting a shed, or structure of wood, upon Kowloon In- land Lot No. 212, without the previous sanction of the Director of Public Works, as required by Section 58 of Ordinance 15 of 1889. The sum mons was taken out at the instance of Mr. H. E. Tooker.
Mr. Frederick Pearson, overseer of buildings, | Public Works Department, said-On 4th April I noticed a wooden shed with a tiled roof at the back of the Kowloon Godowns. The shed is used as a dwelling-place. It was put up with ont the permission of the P.W.D. On the 16th April I served the notice produced on the Wharf and Godown Company. I served it on Mr. Georg, who accepted service. It ordered the Company either to pull down the shed or to obtain a permit. No notice was taken of the notice.
May 9, 1895, Rock at which these were heard, the result being as follows:
2,394 yards distant inaudible.
2,059 1,662 1,678 1,843 2,587
"
"
25
19
alightly audible. andible.
2
15
audible.
"
1.
audible. inaudible
The weather at the time was fine and clear, with a light S.E. wind.
The conclusion I come to is, that, on the wind- ward side of the Rook, one sea mile is the ex- treme distance at which the fog signal should] be expected to be heard, and even then it should be looked for with extreme caution; I would deprecate its being considered a warning of approach towards the Rook as anything more than
itself, and would recommend its not being used for the purpose of navigating past the Rook on either side.
Further, after the enquiry, I see no reason for doubting that the fog signal was being properly worked on the morning of the 8th instant, or that the intervals were properly timed. The chief lightkeeper was attending to this duty himself, the remaining stock of gun cotton charges and detonators is correct, and with s clock within a yard of him when firing the charge I see no good reason to rely on the time taken on board the Polyphemus in preference to that taken in the Light room.
The defendant said the shed was erected in August of last year without permission. On the 16th April notice was given to the Company to abate the nuisance or to obtain permission. On the 17th April the Company applied for per- mission. Between the 17th and 20th April an officer of the P.W.D. inspreted the shed. On the 20th April the P.W.D. asked of what The Honourable Director of Public Works material the shed was constructed. The Com-accompanied me on this occasion and kindly gave pany answered on the 24th April. On the 25th me his assistance in making the observations. April the Company received a letter stating I have, &c. that the shed could not be sanctioned, and on
R. M. RUMSEY, the 27th Apil he wrote asking the Department
Harbour Master, &o. why the shed was not to be allowed. No reply was received, and on the 3rd May he was sum- moned. Between 17th and 20th April the officer who inspected the shed said it would not be necessary to remove it.
Mr. Tooker said the shed bad now been re- moved, but he asked for a penalty as the defend- ant had not complied with the notice.
Me. Wodehouse said it was evident that Mr. Osborne, as Secretary of the Company, wanted to know why the shed should not be allowed when there were similar sheds on the Praya occupied by coolies over night. As no answer had been vouchsafed to the civil letter sent, the Secretary felt justified in keeping up the shed. Mr. Osborne was not asking anything out of place, and his Worship therefore dismissed the case.
DEATH INQUIRIES.
On Saturday Mr. Wodehouse held an enquiry respecting the death of Frederick Henry Brown, son of Sergeant Major Browo. The deceased, who was 24 years old, was drowned in a cesspool near Lyemoon Barracks, and it is supposed that he was playing there at the time. Worship found that the deceased was accidentally drowned.
His
An inquest was also held on the body of the Chinaman who was burned to death at the fire at 19, Jervois Street. A verdiot of accidental death was returned.
A similar verdict was returned in the case of a Chinamen who was accidentally shot at the rifle range at Kowloon during shooting practice by the Rifle Brigade.
THE AUDIBILITY OF THE GAP ROCK FOG SIGNALS.
The following report by the Harbour Master on the audibility of the Gap Rook fog signals has been forwarded to us by the Secretary of the General Chamber of Commerce:-
Harbour Department, Hongkong, 30th April, 1895. Sir, In furtherance of my intention expressed to you when forwarding the finding of the Marine Court on the stranding of the Polyphemus on Jubilee Island, I yesterday visited the Gap Rock and afterwards proceeded in the Fame to a position south of the Rock approximate to that ascribed to the Polyphemus on the morning of the casualty. 1
From this position I steamed slowly towards Jabilee Island on a course nearly approaching that which took the Polyphemus on shore.
The fog signal on the Rock was by my orders kept going every five minutes, and observations were made by me as to the distance from the
The Honourable J. H. Stewart Lockhart,
Colonial Secretary.
THE CURRENCY OF FRENCH INDO- CHINA.
An enormous quantity of Japanese yen are now in circulation in Cochin-China, says the Progrès de Saigon. The Chinese at Cholon, much in- convenienced by the scarcity of the ordinary dollars, have resolved to adopt this money for their transactions. The idea is an excellent one. The Japanese yen contains a few less conti- grammes of metal than the Mexican dollar, but that does not matter. Our contemporary goes on to praise the yen as a coin and expresses the hope that it will be accepted by the Govern ment departments.
The Hanoi correspondent of the Courrier d'Haiphong writes:-On Monday, 22nd April, a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held at which M. Verrier, Inspector General of the Colonies, was present. Very interesting ques- tions concerning the dollar were discussed, on which the members of the Chamber were called upon to express an opinion. The first question was this-Is there a scarcity of dollars P No. was tha almost unanimous answer of the members, and the proof is that up to the present neither the Bank nor the Trea- sury has ever been in want of dollars. Nor is there any greater scarcity in the interior, for dollars; it is very rarely that payments are payment of taxes is made almost entirely in
made in notes.
To this question succeeded the New British dollar be admitted to oir. the following:-Should the Japanese yen and culation in Indo-China? The Chamber was un- animously of opinion that they should, but dollar be admitted in Japan and the English on the express condition that the French trade colonies. Finally, should the trade dollar be reduced to the weight of the Mexican ? To this the Chamber replied that long ago there ought of a value and weight equal to the Mexican to have been placed in circulation trade dollars dollar. The dollars hitherto strack by the metropolis having a value in excess of that of the Mexican it followed that they commanded a premium as soon as they appeared and that the Chinese immediately commenced dealing with them in such a manner as to drain them away, the dollars having almost completely disappeared at the present time.
The Nippon Ynsen Kaisha is reported to have purchased the British steamer Ardgay, of 1,081 tons, and renamed her the Shorikimaru.