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April 15, 1896.]
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
emergency arising it might be necessary to maintain the Gap Rock dues, but, His Ex- cellency said, All I can say is that I have "not the slightest intention to apply the rate to any other purpose and if the neces sity arises for it I shall come down to this Board and get their sanction for it.It seems a curious arrangement in this colony, I do not quite understand it, "that the levying of this rate is placed "in the hands of the Governor in Council "It strikes me it would be much better if "the Governor had to go to the Legislatiev "Council for it. It is worth consideration "whether that should be altered." And altered it subsequently was, the last Mer chant Shipping Consolidation Ordinance providing that the light dues are to be fixed by order of the Governor pursuant to resolution of the Legislative Council provided that until such order "is made the dues in table P to this Ordin
Mr. MACEWEN had stated and what the Governor had agreed to would be noted down, and referred to the failure to carry out the understanding that existed when the original light dues were imposed. The Governor then said-" Of course all this "will be recorded, but I think it is just as well that it should be entered on the "minutes that Mr. MACEWEN drew atten- tion to the matter and that I said that this extraordinary rate was intended by me "to be distinctly in payment for the Gap "Rock lighthouse and nothing else." At à subsequent stage of the debate Mr. RYRIE said "I remember when the fund set "apart for this" [the payment for the original lighthouses]" was established. I proposed half a cent, but my colleague at that time, Mr. WHITALL, said, 'No, let S us have a cent and finish the matter as quickly as possible.' In every enlightened country, in America for instance, no charge is made for light dues.
ance shall be payable." If the unofficial "Many gentlemen in this colony interested members by their silence acquiesced in the in shipping feel strongly on this matter. continuance of that table without a formal "You may say, 'It is only a cent per ton,' resolution of Council, now that the Gap "but to persons interested in numbers of Rock light has been paid for, it would be ships it is a very heavy charge.' The tantamount to a complete surrender of the entry in the official minutes of the Legisla- claim that taxes should not be imposed upon tive Council is as follows:-" Mr. MAC shipping beyond what is required for the EWEN addressed the Council and enquired maintenance of the lights. If it be deemed "whether the tax proposed in this_Bill_to | desirable that the tax should be continued "be levied for the purposes of the Gap to meet a temporary emergency the resolut "Rock lighthouse would be withdrawn after tion giving effect to that view should con "the lighthouse had been finished. His Ex-tain a limit of time, say of one year cellency the Governor replied in the within which the existing rate should be "affirmative." The word of the British maintained, so that the question would Government ought to be as good as its come up again for consideration in Hue If the emergency had then passed bond. Will it be so in the present in-course. stance?
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The cost of the Gap Rock lighthouse was about $181,000, as stated in reply to a question in the Legislative Council, and of the telegraph cable connecting with it $87,250, making a total of $268,250. The light dues collected since 1890 are as follows
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896 (first quarter) say
$ 72,028 89,656 92,264
96,064
92,909
107,315
.27,000
8577,236
Of this amount $347,000 may be taken as representing the Gap Rock dues of a cent and a half a ton, the remainder being made up by the tax of one cent a ton, which may now be looked upon as a permanent tax from which there is little hope, certainly no immediate hope, of obtaining relief. The Gap Rock tax, however, has now more than served the purpose for which it was imposed and, in accordance with the solemn declaration made by the Government, ought to be removed.
It will doubtless be urged that this is a very inconvenient time to propose any diminution of the sources of revenue. The Government is pleased to consider itself in financial straits. It is not really so, but its system of bookkeeping so represents it, for the assets of the colony have on paper been di- minished by the amount paid for the Tai- pingshan resumption, while the value of the land so acquired has not been entered. Granting, however, that money is required and that the maintenance of the light dues at their present figure is deemed desirable, the Government ought not to appropriate them without the sanction of the Legislative Council. In the debate in 1889 already alluded to Sir WILLIAM DES VEUX threw out a suggestion that in the event of an
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on her arrival outside the dock pumps were placed on board, as she had a lot of water in her. forehold and was touching bottom.
The Exe did not go into dock until late on the afternoon of the 13th, as the work of pumping out the water from the foreholds and temporarily patching the rent took some considerable time. Four tugs-the Fame, the Dragon, and two Chinese boats-as well as H.M.S. Archer, were engaged in the task of towing the Exe off the rocks on Sunday morning. Operations were com- menced about seven o'clock and two hours and The first pull brought her away about ten feet a half later the stranded ressel was afloat again. and the second pull twenty feet, and just then a nine inch hawser attached to the Archer snapped. There was rather a heavy swell on at the time and there is no doubt that after the second pull the sea lifted the vessel up and so consider- ably helped the final effortain bringing her safely off. Mr. R. Cooke, the Acting Manager of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company, directed the work of saving the vessel.
THE" OCAMPO” STRANDED
IN A FÓỜ,
સ
DAMAGE ONLY SLIGHT, Late on Wednesday night information was received in Hongkong that the British team ship Ocampo (Captain Hawkins) had stranded near the Footow village on Tamtow Island. The Ocampo was on a voyage from Japan to Australia, and was chartered by the Eastern and Anstralian Steamship Company (Messrs. Gibb, Livingston & Co., agents) and her agents are Messrs. Dodwell, Carlill & Co. The vessel stranded in a fog on approaching the eastern end of the harbour, and Captain Hawkins immediately sent a fireman in The fishing junk to report at Hongkong. and arrangements were made for Mr. R. Cooke, arrived here on Wednesday night
the Acting Manager of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Co., Limited, to visit the Ocampo Thursday afternoon. The steamer, however, came into port about noon. A diver was sent below to ascertain if any damage had been done. He reported that the keel was slightly twisted and one or two plates in the fore part bent, so the vessel will have to go into dock. She was to have sailed from here for Australia on Saturday, but of course her departure will have to be postponed.
messenger
the claim for a fulfilment of the con tract entered into between the Government and the shipping community when the Gap Rock dues were first levied could again be pressed. But we do not admit that an emergency exists at the present moment, and, if it does, we contend that light dues are a very undesirable form of raising revenue Nor is a diminution in the sources of revenue in itself a thing to be altogether deplored The ease with which revenue has been raised is possibly responsible to some extent for the enormous increase in the cost of the THE STRANDING OF THE “ACTIV.” administration during the past few years. With a smaller income greater economy would probably be practised. In any case it is the duty of the unofficial members to keep a tight grip on the right of the Legisla tive Council to control the amount of the light dues.
** THE EXE" ASHORE,
The Chunsan arrived in port on the 9th April and Captain Stovell, the master, reported having passed the steamer Ee ashore on the east side Hungof Kong Chan, one of the Samoun group, about midway between Hongkong and Gap Rock. The Ere was dying the signal "Want steam tug and report me at Hongkong Messrs. Dodwell, Carlill & Co., the agents made arrangements for the Dock Company's tug, the Fame, to visit the Exe, and she started shortly after four o'clock.
The tug Fame again went out on the 10th April to the steamer Exe, and about five o'clock in the afternoon the P and O. Dragon followed in order to render assistance, while H.M.S. Swift also proceeded to the spot earlier in the day. The Petrarch, which arrived from Saigon, reported having endeavoured to get the Exe off, but the tow rope broke.
The Exe, arrived in harbour on the 12th April, and at once went over to the Cosmopolitan Docks. The weather was very foggy at the time of striking the rock. Several efforts were made by the Fame as well as H.M.S. Archer to tow the Eze off, but it was not until about half past nine on the morning of the 12th that this was done. She then came unassisted into Hongkong and
PROBABLE LOSS OF THE VESSEL.
It is feared that the Actie which went ashore at Sad Point, Cape Cami, on the 7th inst., will become a total wreck. On Sunday night Mr. A. R. Marty received the following letter from the agent at Hoihow. It was dated March 10th:
Referring to my telegram of the 8th, the Activ on her way up from Pakhoi, which port she left at 7.15 p.m. on the 6th inst., went ashore in a fog at Sud Point, opposite Cape Cami, at 9.30 a.m. on the 7th. Immediately after she struck, water rushed into the forehold and engine It appears room, both of which were flooded. she has three holes in her bottom, that in the engine room being the worst. The captain at once sent the passengers on shore and the chief officer, Mr. Petersen, took a ship's boat and proceeded to Hoihow, 32 miles distant, arriving here at 4 a.m. on the 8th, when he came to my house and woke me up to break the sad
news.
I lost no time in sending four junks and forty coolies to the scene to save the pas- sengers and cargo. Before my junks arrived, however, the captain engaged a passing junk and put all the passengers, thirteen in number, ou board and sent them to Hoilow. By this time (3 p.m. on the 7th) the after hold of the ship was full of water, and on shore the pas sengers were surrounded by hundreds of natives. the upon The next thing I did was to call authorities for protection and they sent-down a gunboat and war junks, with sixty soldiers under two mandarins, the Colonel going down himself to give orders. The gunboat has since returned, but the war junks are standing by the unfortunate ship. Part of the cargo, in- cluding a box of treasure and mails, has becn