June 10, 1896.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
MENT AT TIENTSIN.
tion. It is probable that in the first instance | THE EXTENSION OF THE SETTLE- the conveyance of passengers only will be per- mitted, but doubtless as time goes on these ves- sels will also be utillised for carrying cargo.
The net total value of merchandise arrived and merchandise departed during 1895 may be seen from the following table :-
Net foreign imports, market value. Net native imports, market value
Net imports
Deduct duties and likin paid at Amoy
Net imports, minus duty...
Deduct 7 per cent. for importers'
profit, etc.
Imports, value at moment of landing
Original exports, market value Add duty paid at Amoy
Exports, plus duty
Add 8 per cent. on market value for
exporters' profit, etc.
The Tientsin correspondent of the Mercury writes under date of 26th May :---
That Sir Claude Macdonald, H.B.M.'s Minis- ter to China, is a man of his word, and one not Hk. Tls. likely to be humbugged by the Chinese, is 7,358,564 evinced by the smart way in which he has 3,529,190 already arranged the grant of 800 mow of land for the extra settlement for the British. 10,887,754 He only had two interviews with the 463,266 Tsungli Yamen officials and word has already reached us by wire to the above 10,424,488 effect. H.E. the Viceroy knew all about it almost as soon as the affair was settled. Sir 729,714 Claude is making the Chinese toe the line, and will have no talkee talkee pidgin like several 9,694,774 of his predecessors. If he continues in the Hk. Tls. way he has begun it will not astonish me to 2,579,138 hear that the Chinese will be glad to get rid 163,807 of him and advise Her Majesty's Government to send him back to the Gold Coast. Lord 2,742,945 | Salisbury has evidently chosen the right man for the right place. British prestige 206,331 has been on the wane in China since the lamented death of Sir Harry Parkes. What we want at Peking is a man who will not only talk of bringing his ships but will back up his demands. The question now asked by the Chinese is whether Russia will protest against the concession made by China to Great Britain, the Chefoo coup d'état. The whole matter as Her Majesty's Government have done over
seems to me like a storm in a tea cup. Out of the 800 mow of land conceded to England for an extra settlement 400 of it is already pur. chased by the Tientsin Municipality.
Exports, value at moment of shipment 2,949,276
JAMES W. CARRALL,
Acting Commissioner of Customs.
THE NAVIGATion of the pEIHO.
The Tientsin correspondent of the N. C. Daily News writes:--The river continues to be a source of great annoyance. There are no indications of a scour as yet, nor can it be looked for before the heavy rains begin. I think we have not far to look for the cause of this trouble. It is not simply the output of "Mud river," it is largely the lack of volume of water and less current in the steam. Until about five or six years agó there was very little complaint of the river silt. ing up, such as we have had regularly for several years past. There was occasional trouble for a short period, but it was of short duration, and in every way less persist- ent. Several years ago began the digging of several canals to the eastward from the Peiho to relieve the congestion of the main stream, and the increasing danger of flooding to the city itself, and of breaks in the bank which would flood all the adjacent country. As a result, the navigation troubles began and have increased as the number of canals has increased, and the volume of water been carried out of its proper channel. As a further result, a large tract of country has been flooded for a series of years, and the people improvished because they cannot plant their fields. For this suffering and destruction of the means of subsistence of thousands of agriculturists in hundreds of villages, the authorities are directly re- sponsible. Further, breaks in the river banks have not been prevented, nor the danger to the city obviated. I believe it could easily be shown that instead these dangers have increased, because with the decrease of the volume of water and current in the river, there has been a corresponding decrease of scouring power, and hence an increasing increment of sediment deposited which remains as a perma- nent deposit. There is good reason to believe that the stoppage of these canals would be the beginning of a return to the old conditions when the steamers came up to the band almost the entire season as a rule, and the return of prosperity to those villages which have been ruined by the canals. Devices to help the scour would have been much less expensive and more beneficial. But such work does not appear to commend itself to the Chinese-as witness your barred approach to Shanghai.
A cricket match between the Yokohama Cricket Club and the Fleet was played on the 27th May. The Navy went in first and made 66. Yokohama's score was 157. The Fleet in their second innings made 123 and their last wicket fell just as time was about to be called. A return match was played on the 30th, when Yokohama in their first innings made 156, the Fleet's score being 112. When time was called Yokohama in their second innings had made 72 for five wickets,
FOREIGN EDUCATION IN CHINA.
The Shanghai correspondent of the Hyogo News writes
During the past week we have had amongst us a large number of missionaries from various parts of China, assembled for the triennial con- ference of the Educational Association. To the general public, the quiet meetings, held day after day in the Presbyterian Mission Press Church, have been of little interest, and our newspapers do not appear to have caught their real significance.
|
487
It may not be generally know how large an army of educationalists are labouring in China, nor how far-reaching is their work. There | are:-
For For
males. females.
.747
225
45
69
14.
Primary Schools Secondary Schools Colleges and Training Classes 32
824 -308
or a total of 1,132 schools and colleges. The number of pupils is as follows:-
Primary Schools Secondary Schools... Colleges, &c.
Males. Females, .11,817 4,262 1,532 2,048 1,224 416.
Totals
14,573 6,726 The foreign teachers number about 350; their pupils over 21,000.
Now were these schools and colleges the only gift of the Christian civilization of the West to China, it would be a magnificent contribution to the country. Why the officials do not see that China has no such friends as the mission- aries to whom she affords a grudging and inadequate protection and whose motives and work she so persistently suspects, it is hard to explain. It cannot be that all Western know- ledge is distrusted; for there are Government colleges here and there, like the Tungwen Kwan in Peking and Canton, supported at great cost.
AGREEMENTS IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE.
IMPORTANT JUDGMENT,
In Her Majesty's Court for Hyogo and Osaka Mr. Justice Mowat on the 27th May gave judgment in the case of Reynell v. Cameron, in which the plaintiff, in whose employment the defendant had formerly been, sought to recover from the defendant the sum of £500 as liquidated damages for an alleged breach of agreement, the breach consisting in the defendant's engaging in business on his own account. Judgment was given for the defendant. the judgment is as follows:-
The full text of
This action, instituted in H.B.M's. Court for Hyogo and Osaka, was heard by me there under the provisions of sect. 38 of the Order in Council of 1865, as applied to H.B.M's. Court for Japan by sect. 7 (2) of the Order of 1878.
The editorial mind is nothing if not com prehensive. It likes to settle Imperial politics; to direct the policy of Britain in the East, to The question in the case arises out of an expose the vast designs of Russia and counter-agreement made in October, 1888, between the act her secret plans; to settle the loans, the plaintiff and the defendant. In and prior to foreign relations, and the internal economy of 1888 the plaintiff carried on business at Hyogo the Chinese Empire; to lecture Japan and watch and Yokohama as H. E. Reyuell and Co.,. over Korea; to guide affairs in distant colonies, general merchants; he was also carrying on a and pat Admirals and Generals on the back. distinct business, but at Hyogo only, under the In the editorial grasp the cosmos is a small and style of “ W. Down." The nature of the busi- easily managed affair; but even the micro- ness of W. Down (or, as it was later called, cosmos of local history proves in reality too large for the would-be heaven-storming omnipotence
of the editorial mind,
The Educational Association is not aggressive and makes little trouble in China; but it repre- sents a power mightier than that of battalions and battleships. No one could have attended this series of meetings and heard reports of the educational forces at work both in great centres and remote corners of the eighteen provinces and not have apprehended that a real upheaving and liberating power is at work. It is lack of know- ledge from which China suffers most. Ignor- ance is the soil in which its stupid isolation and overwhelming pride flourish. It may not be that we are on the eve of great upheavals or reforms, but it cannot be denied that in the mission school and college an entirely new character is being formed, and a most potent force is being developed.
|
The Kobe Drapery and Furnishing Com- pany,") is not described in the agreement, but from the evidence it appears to have been that of a drapery and furniture business. Being minded to extend that business by the addition of a tailoring department, the plaintiff, through an agent in Scotland, engaged the defendant, who was a tailor in Grantown, Elginshire, to come out to Hyogò under a five years' agreement of service. De- fendant was to manage the business of W. Down, and also to conduct the new tailoring depart- ment. On the expiry of his agreement defen. dant went back to Scotland, but after some 14 months he returned to Hyogo, and commenced business there in the spring of 1895 on his own account as general shipper and import commission merchant. In the agreement of 1888 between him and the plaintiff it had been stipulated (clause 7) that "the said Alexander Cameron shall not at any time
I do not refer to the somewhat showy Anglo-hereafter in Japan *** carry on or to (sic) Chinese education which fills our counting. be engaged or concerned or interested in houses with English-speaking but uneducated Chinese, and supplies mechanical interpreters to our various" Services;" but to the solid educational work, of vernacular colleges and schools where on this foundation is built up a structure of civilizing knowledge and useful scientific enlightement. All honour to the workers who devote themselves to this splendid service. They are preparing the reformers and scientists and leaders who shall be China's saviours in the future.
the (sic) business at all resembling or connected with that of general merchants or tailors * * * without the consent in writing of the said H. E. Reynell & Co., first had and obtained; " and in clause 10 it was further provided that "in case the said Alexander Cameron shall not per- form all and every the stipulations and agree- ments contained in clause 7 of this contract, then the said Alexander Cameron shall pay to the said H. E. Reynell and Co. the sum of. £500 as liquidated damages and not by way of
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