474
THE GUN TRICK EXPOSED.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
doubtless accounts for the mysterious silence of many of the heavy guns at Weihaiwei, and the The few foreigners who were 1resent at Wei- early and discreet desertion by the old German haiwei when it was captured by the Japanese instructors and gunners from the place. They marvelled much when the Japanese military knew their weapons to well to try them with the experts decided to blow up the great guns in
grim test of war. the eastern and western forts, instead of taking an early and masterly retreat back to the Accordingly they executed them to Japan to be mounted in the forts along civilized comforts of Chefoo and Tientsin. to the Inland Sea. Guns of every size and make rival McGiffen and von Haneken in their were taken literally by the hundred on the island marvellous tales of valour done and noble of Linkungtao and on the mainland forts.
deeds performed Their aggregate value must have been tens of such men, such guns!
·for China. Poor China, millions of taels, their size ranging from the
They remind one of Falstaff's army.
The whole smallest to the greatest calibre, from Nordenfelt is sickening. Now it has at last been effec- business rifle bores to the splendid looking Germanually borne in upon the du minds of the giants, 30 centimetres in diameter. The magni-highest Chinese officials in Peking that they ficent looking batteries in Kinzanzee and the other western forts appeared intact, and at most there was only a breach block or bolt taken away from each, and these deficiencies were soon supplied, when the missing pieces, which the foreigners in the Chinese service removed when the Chinese garrison, headed by their general, so ignominiously bolted, were sub- sequently found in other places. The guns in all the forts bore the most modern dates, and seemed to the unskilled eye to be perfect weapons of destruction. Good roads led up to the forts from the sea. a light ammunition railway was even laid from the lowest of the western forts to the iron pier, alongside which was quite deep water. There were sheers in abundance, with scores of Japanese transports in waiting in the harbour, and ample means were at hand to remove and transport the tremendous mass of Chinese artillery to Japan. Why then were they destroyed in so many cases: The guns in the western forts had never fired a shot during the siege or hom bardment in the last days of January and on the first and second of February. but many of the huge weapons at Yohorie and the other forts on the eastern arm of the gulf had been worked by both Chinese and Japanese gunners. The guns at Nitao (9-inch Armstrongs on Mon- crieff disappearing mountings and on Koto, the fort at the western extremity of Liukungtao. were worked for several days. Nitao up to the 7th February (if we remember righ_without re- ferring to notes made on the spot at the time) and Koto up to the 11th. When, therefore, the Japan ese commenced to destroy the costly German guss in the forts instead of taking them away every- one, including many of the Japanese officers who were not in the secret, were perfectly as- tonished at what seemned this wasteful piece of destruction. Now We learn the reason. Amongst the hurdreds of guus taken at Weihaiwei a mere fractional part only were found that would repay the comparatively low cost of transportation to Japan, and were not. considered by the Japanese artillery experts to be worth that trouble. Score upon score of these seeming triumphs of modern artillery science were minutely examined by the captors, and were, mirabile dieta, condemned as being only fit to be blown up. They were flawed and faulty, and would never have been chased by the Japanese. Faults of the gravest character were discovered in the case of many of the heavier guns, and of those that were not faulty through flaws most were of obsolete dates, though the plates bearing the makers' names recorded that the weapons were of recent manufacture-from 1887 up to 1893, Many have since been found to be as old as 1877, though they evinced, on the makers plates, a feminine inclination to take a decade or so off their
'The ages.
tricks of the trade were thus fully exposed. It was obvious that deception and trickery of the grossest kind had been practised by the unscrupulous arms dealers upon the "poor heathen," though the chances are that the poor heathen" were in the know all along, but found it more profitably to themselves to be taken in by the gun agents, whose commissions are popularly supposed to be on a sufficiently liberal scale to indus the patriotic Chinese Government officials, charged with the lucrative business of providing arms for the defence of China, to wink th her eye at such little slips from com- mercial lity. The Japanese, therefore, knew what they were about when they condemned millions worth of heavy ordnance to destruc- tion, whera most people would think they would only be too glad to take the prizes away and mount them for their own use. The discovery |
have been plundered out of millions and stuck with guns that the German Government, or any other government in the world that knew what it was about would not pass on account of struc- tural defects, antiquity, or flaws in the metal. Experts know well how to plug up the latter so as to deceive the eye, but lot to stand the test of war. Consequently Peking is in a flutter of excite ment. They have just found out their friends," and widespread consternation roigus. Doubt- less the Chinese have learned from the Japanese diplomatic and military officers the cruel decep- tion of which they have been the victims for years, in being tricked with defective weapons at fabulous prices by their friends. The anxiety of the Tientsin gang during the war to do everything so as to stave off exposure by enlisting every agency on earth that they could think ostensibly on China's side (but really to protect and cover up their own tracks) is now apparent. The reason for their loyal devotion to China is disclosed and it stinks horribly The columnus of the Peking Gazette have recently formed of the unholy treatment that his borne ovidence that the Emperor has been in- friends," who recently joined the Russians and French to save China for further exploi. tation and the Imperial wrath is said to be invoked at the discovery of this gigantic system of treachery and deception. The friends are out in the cold. It was therefore neces- sary that Germany should do something to recover the gold-bearing ground so suddenly cut away from under her feet by the astute practices of some of her traders, her gun dealers. Henes such
น tried and trusted diplomat as Herr von Brandt, who had built up her iron industry in China, was sout to the res- cue. No one. however, willenvy him his humiliat ing task of explaining away the little tricks that have been so unfortunately laid bare, as one of the results of Japan's exposure of the rotten- ness which pervaded and still pervades the entire Chinese body politic. People who have no in- terest in these matters beyond that of the spectator will, we fear, only rin uufeelingly at the tribulation of those who have made millions in a few years where the honest trader can barely make a living. Not that whether the Chinese had the best or the worst guns really made any difference, for they abandoned all alike when it pur- came to the scratch. The papers received from Japan tell us that it has been necessary to take the Chinese ships, and to replace them with guns from the Chen-yuen, the best of others. One thing, however, the war has shown, both by the experience on the Japanese war- ships and the Chinese ships and forts, namely, that the English guns were what they were sold for and gave a satisfaction which none of their rivals attained. Armstrong to day holds the field in China and Japan.---China Gazette.
**
away the
HONGKONG.
Friday and, as usual, there was a general holi- The annual regatta was held on Thursday and day ou both days, and a large number of people witnessed the sports. On Saturday a meeting of the Legislative Council was held, when the estimates for the year were passed in opposition to the votes of the whole of the unofficial mem- bers. During the week there were two fires.
It is stated that Her Majesty's cruiser Royal Arthur will remain at Victoria, BC., all the winter, ready to proceed to the Far East.
79.9 on the 9th, and the minimum 54.2 on the The maximum temperature last month was 4th, the mean for the month being 67.6. The rainfall amounted to 0.325 in.
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[December 19, 1895.
H.M.S. Tweed paid off on Monday and has gone back into the reserve.
Museum last week, of whom 122 were Euro- There were 2,132 visitors to the City Hall
peans.
Pinero's popular farce Dandy Dick," to be The A. D. C. advertise two performances of given on the 26th and 28th inst.
eleven in number, arrived on Friday afternoon Another consignment of subscription griffins, by the Choysang. They were drawn for at Kennedy's Town Repository at Saturday.
noon on
The stamp revenue last month was $16,234, a decrease of $1,650 on the amount collected in made up under the head of probate, the probate November, 1894. The difference is more than duty in November, 1894, amounting to $4,535 as against $527 this year.
The match on Monday afternoon between the S.D., R.A., was most evenly contested." Al- Hongkong Football Club and 12th Company, though several excellent attempts were made by each team to make a score, nothing was
made and a draw resulted.
Hongkong Chess Club was held on Monday A special meeting of the members of the afternoon in Mr. Pollock's chambers. It was unanimously resolved to engage a club. The room will be open every afternoon Thomas's restaurant for the purposes of the in the week.
room in
the Singapore Secretary, says :-"
A telegram from Raub, dated 3rd inst., to ing up of battery yielded 1700 oz. amalgam, Rough clean- estimated quantity of stone crushed being 1.400" result is equal to nearly 60 ounces of gold- tons. Prospects romain unchanged." This say, roughly 81 dwts, to the tou.
following promotions:--Acting Chief Inspector The police orders on Wednesday contained the Corcoran to be Chief Inspector; Inspector Quincey to be second class inspector, Inspector geant Duncan to be third class inspeetor. The Butlin to be second class inspector; and Ser- promotions were brought about by the re- signation of Chief Inspector Mathieson.
evening near Bay View. A number of Rifle A regrettable accident happened on Sunday men were rowing in a gig when the boat cap- sized. All the men with the exception of one named Killick were rescued by a launch, and up to last night the body of the missing Rifleman and was picked up yesterday off Tsatsimui. had not been recovered. The gig drifted away
At the Happy Valley on Saturday afternoon Mr. W. A. Cruickshank decided a wager he had entered into. He was challenged to walk a mile. run a mile, and ride a mile in twenty miuntes. Mr. Cruickshank walked the mile in 9 mins. 123 secsį, ran the mile in 5 mins. õõ accomplishing the feat in the good time of 17 secs.. and rode the mile in 2 mins. 283 secs., mins. 36 secs., or 2 mins. 24 secs. under the
time allowed.
80.
The Hongkong Legislative Council is run on teetotal principles. At Singapore it is not According to The Moralist of the Straits Times, the anti-room of the Council Chamber there is turned on Council days into a high and soda, and cakes, and other stimulating class refreshment room, where tea, and whisky
members of Council to endure the labour of drinks and viauds are kept on call, to enable listening to each other.
Mr. George Grimble's organ recital at the Union Church on Tuesday afternoon was largely attended, the church being full. The selectious were all of the highest class and it is needless to say that Mr. Grimble's playing was much appreciated. He was assisted by three vocalists
Mrs. P. Sachse, Miss Lammert, and Mr. feeling. The recital was given in aid of the Erust Mirow, each of whom sang with much organ fund, which should benefit to a cosiider- able extent.
arrived at Saigon disuasted, as already re- The British ship Lillian J. Robbins, which ported, was, it
seems, towed in by the steamer Machew, We learn from the Progrès Com- mercial de Saigon that the Machew fell in with her iu lat. 14.05 N. and long. 110.05 E. and towed her to Cape St James, where she arrived on the 24th November. The Lillian J. Robbins had lost all her three masts in a typhoon on-the 2nd November and until the 21st, when the Machew found her, she had seen no other vessel.
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