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it still further in the market. On the 17th it was announced that the Chinese Government had made up its mind to accept the Hongkong Bank loan and the affair was considered practically settled. That it will come to this eventually there does not seem the least shadow of doubt, but at present the question is still open; better offers are in the market and the Chinese are determined to take the lowest offer.
Later.
The loan is not yet fixed, although not far from it. The negotiators, it is understood, have lessened the discount somewhat-the price will therefore be now slightly in advance of the figure given above, say 90. By a wire from London of the 22nd we learn that the 6 per cent. loan was standing at 108, which would make the price of the proposed 5 per cent loan 90. and the silver loan at the same rate of interest 73. At such figures the transaction is not likely to be a profitable investment for the Banks or syndicates concerned. The Chinese feel more security in negotiating through the German and British Legations as it provides & sort of guarantee. The loan will be settled within the next few days.
THE CUSTOMS RETURNS.
The following table gives the amount of duse collected by the Chinese Foreign Customs during the fourth quarter of 1895 and 1891:—
Port. Newchwang
1895.
Hk.Tls.
Tientsin
280.705
Chefoo...
108,075
Chungking
Ichang...
Hankow
Kiukiang
Wahu
Chinkiang
Shanghai
Ningpo
Wenchow Foochow
Amoy
Swatow
Canton...
Kiungchow. Pakhoi...
1894. Hk.Tls. 143,261 249,403 86,630 157.122 91.335 230.026 95,361 380.557 416.286 213.536 202.015 147,838 103,562 341.152 333.964 1.612,655 1,513,574 322,035 286,559 5.472 3.501 294.192 412.354 199,694 216,062 301,138 278.579
462.684
485.538
21.564
17,450 37,999 59,513
The above shows a total collection of dues and duties of H.Tls. 5,212,380 for the last quarter of 1895, against H.Tls. 5,200,254 for the same period of 1894, or an increase of about H.Tls. 3,000, although the Formosa ports have disappeared from the list.
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[February 19, 1896:
During the race, while rounding the Channel Rocks, my boat, the Ladybird (drawing 3 feet) grounded for a short time (less than a minite) on a rock at the outer end of the reef above mentioned. This rock was about 2 feet 6 inches under water and was 20 to 30 feet away from the rocks which were above water at the time.
The Ladybird came in third, but the Payne entered a protest against her for fouling a mark, and the matter was referred to the Protest Committee of the Club.
On the hearing of the protest I contended:- First. That the Ladybird did not foul the mark, as the mark must be considered to be the portion of the Channel Rocks above- water, and the rock she touched was an outlying one some 20 feet away from the main rocks which were above water. Second (which was my main point).—That
even if I had run into the Channel Rooks. themselves, this is no breach of the rules and no ground for disqualification. Rule 24 of the Y.R.A. rules is the one applicable to the case, and runs as follows :-- Each yacht must go fairly round the course, and must not touch any buoy, bost, or vessel used to mark it out, but shall not be disqualified if wrongfully compelled to do so by another yacht."
The Channel Rocks cannot by any possibility be called "a buoy, boat, or vessel,” and-there is no rule against fouling a rock or beacon used to mark the course. Supposing the race to be round a large island, such as the Isle of Wight, could a yacht be disqualified for running on the shore of that island, as the Britannia and Vigilant did, I think, on one occasion,
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Tungehow which will suffer severely by the transfer of the traffic to the railway. The course proposed for the line passes through poor land and past small hamlets. The country is not densely covered with graves an import ant consideration for the Chinese-as both banks of the Peiho are. The line would form a junction with the proposed Hankow line at Lukou Bridge, where land which was utterly valueless has already risen in the market ten- fold in prospect of the terminus being situated here. Rice as imperial tribute, if it continue to come, will doubtless still come by the river to Tangchow, The boats, three or four thousand in number, engaged in transporting this rice will doubtless still be engaged in this traffic. The grauaries are situated in the east of Peking, adjoining the canal and stone road which lead to Tungchow. Besides the opposition of the Chinese boatmen and others, there are also, we hear, the opposition and intrigues of the French, who, by virtue of the Fournier Treaty, claim to have the sole right to construct railways in China. This, of course, is absolutely false; nevertheless in China's present state of collapse, and the good service rendered China in the Liaotung retrocession, it does well enough with which to bully China. That clause in the above treaty which has given so much unbrage to China and other trading nations, and a handle to the French for reserving to themselves the ex- clusive construction of railways in China, when properly interpreted as pointed out in your late able leader on railways (21st Dec ember), only promised France the preference if her materials were of the same quality and cost as those of other countries. France at- tempted to get exclusive rights of railway con- struction and the working of the mines in South China in her late Sino-Annamite Con- vention, but failed; the "must" address them selves first to French engineers and manu. facturers being changed into "may," although the original French text, to judge from the translation in the London and China Express, seems to have been sent to Paris. This action of France, if true, will retard, if not stop, the construction of railways in China. China must have a free hand to buy in the cheapest market without pressure; if not, she must again put a stop to railway building. China cannot fight, and rather than put the construction of her rail- ways into hands that are likely in the future to be unfriendly, she must stop all railway work. This is not an enviable position to occupy. It is understood some of the railway material has
Shanghai, 7th February. already been ordered from the United States His Excellency Hsu Yin-ts'iang, a Taotai of and Germany and if the railway construction is Kwangtung (brother of Superintendent of the not to proceed these countries may have some-Peking Granaries), the party appointed by their Imperial Highnesses Princes Kung and Ching on the 3rd day of the 11th moon to secure subscriptions and organize the Lu-keo-chiao and Hankow Railroad Company, left Shanghai yesterday for Canton, having in the short space of ten days secured from a strong American and English syndicate of railway contractors the whole amount that can be taken by foreigners, vis. :——— ten million taels, and he is now proceeding to secure from Chinese capitalists the remainder of the capital required. Under the preliminary contracts entered into with the constructing syndicate the road is to be built on the 4 feet 84 inch gauge, first-class in every respect, and to cost less than forty thousand taels per mile. The contractor leaves on the Yokohama Maru to-morrow, intending to catch the Pacific Mail steamer China, sailing from Yokohama on the 18th inst. Now that the preliminary step has been taken in good earnest it is be hoped that it will be the forerunner of a brilliant future for China.-China Gazette.
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Dues and duties collected at Kowloon and Lappa amounted to H.Tls. 264,087, which compared with the same term of 1894 shows anthing to say. By later information, which we increase of about H.Tls. 25,500. The amount collected at Lungchow and Mengtsz WAS H.Tls. 35,574, showing an increase of nearly A.Tls. 10,000.
THE RAILWAY QUESTION.
FRENCH CLAIMS.
The Peking correspondent of the N. C. Daily News, writing on the 24th January, says
We chronicled in a former communication the Imperial Edict sanctioning the construc- tion of the Tientsin-Lukouch'io railway. Memorials have ever since kept ponring in against its construction. The Peiho boatmen are strongly in evidence, their memorial it is said having received over ten thousand signa-
tures. The towns on the Peiho which are to
be injured in their river traffic without any com- pensation from the railway are also alarmed. The people who are to receive no benefit from the railway, as they think, and their numbers are legion, are strongly opposed to those who are to be immediately benefited. It is reported that an Imperial Edict has already been issued dis- allowing the construction of the line, but of this there is so far no real indication. The memorials are of different kinds. Those of the Censors blame Judge Hn for purloining at least four hundred thousand taels out of the two million four hundred thousand which the line is calculated to cost; the building of the line so far south, instead of making it run along the river and thu benefiting a poor tract of country which has no claim whatever to have a railway, to the loss of such towns
as
| give, however, with all reservė, it is stated that the Russians have taken up the building of the railway in as far as the iron work is concerned, the earthworks and ballasting being left to Mr. Kinder. This, if true, will be a strange com. ment on the Liaotung and loan business. Pre parations are proceeding for the construction of the line.
A POINT OF YACHT RACING LAW.
At a meeting of the Protest Committee of the Royal Hongkong Yacht Club the Ladybird was disqualified on the protest of the Payne for the race of the 9th inst. on the ground that she had fouled a mark by grounding on the Channel Rocks. We understand that the following letter has been addressed to the editor of The Field on the subject:-
TO THE EDITOR OF "THE FIELD. SIR, I should be glad of your opinion upon the following case, which occurred in a recent race held under the auspices of the Royal Hongkong Yacht Club.
One of the marks in the race was the Channel Rocks, a small rocky islet, roughly circular in shape, and about 25 yards in diameter, situated to the eastward of Hongkong Harbour, in the the strait which separates Hongkong Island from the mainland of China.
There is deep water all round the Channel Rocks, except on their north-eastern side, whence there runs a small reef of rocks, under water, to a distance of about 20 to 30 feet from
the main rock.
The Protest Committee, however, held that the rock touched formed part of the Channel Rocks, and that, being one of the marks in the race, the touching of it constituted a foul, and they disqualified the Ladybird, and awarded the third prize to the Payne.
It appears to me that the case is neither within the wording nor the intention of the rule. I should be glad to have your opinion or that of some of your correspondents on the point, which must have arisen frequently before..- Yours faithfully,
(sd.) JOHN Hastings. Hongkong, 15th February, 1896.
A GREAT RAILKOAD DEAL.
THE PEKING AND HANKOW RAILROAD.
The master of the silversmith's shop in Queen's Road West, who was charged with receiving. gold bangle well knowing it to have been stolen, was brought up at the Police Court on the 13th February before Mr. T. Sercombe Smith. The evidence showed that the man convicted of stealing the bangle, which was worth $35, went to the shop and offered it for sale. The master said he would melt it before buying it, and after doing this he paid the man $5, although the gold was worth · over $17. The Magistrate sent the master to gaol for three months,'.
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