September 30, 1896.j
THE INCREASE OF The Eastern Extension
sia and China Telegraph Company, Limited.
་་
CABLE RATES. The Great Northern Telegraph Company of Copenhagen
Hongkong Station 16th September, 1896. R. Chatterton Wilcox, Esq., Secretary Hong- kong General Chamber of Commerce. Sir-As there seems to be some misunder- standing regarding the acceptance of Chinese telegrams at half rates, it may be convenient to place it on record, for the information of the Chamber, that it is confined to local telegrams only, that is, between stations in China or be- tween China and Hongkong, and does not apply to international correspondence.
It is open to Chinese to use foreign languages and codes, in which case their telegrams are charged at full rates, but, as is well known, the nly way in which a telegram can be trans- mitted in Chinese is by the cumbrous but the only possible system of numbering the char- acters. These are limited to ten thousand for the purpose of telegraphy, which practically means that the bulk of such telegrams are in plain language a sufficiently heavy penalty.
For this reason the Chinese Telegraph Administration, when it commenced operations in 1883, admitted, and still admits, over all its lines local Chinese correspondence at balf rates, provided the telegram is compiled from the list of characters published by the Administration for the purpose. The Cable Companies there fore, unless they desired to debar themselves from carrying this traffic, have been obliged to adopt the same system on their cables for such local native correspondence.-I am, sir, your obedient servant,
J. M. BECK.
Acting Manager.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
17th September, 1896. Dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of yesterday date, and will lose no time in placing same before my Committee.—I
dear sir, yours faithfully,
am,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX. J. M. Beck, Esq., Acting Manager, Eastern Extension and Great Northern Telegraph Co.
CHINESE TABIFF REVISION.
China Association, Shanghai, 4th Sept., 1896.
F. Henderson, Esq.
Hon. Becretary, Hongkong, Dear Sir,-You will no doubt have observed a telegram through Reuter's Agency received here on the 4th August to the effect that Lord Salisbury had resolved, before expressing any opinion in regard to the proposed increase of the Customs tariff, to consult the principal Chambers of Commerce in China. The local Committee here thought it advisable, under the circumstances, to take the Committee of the Shanghai Chamber into their confidence and explain the action taken here and in Hongkong in response to Mr Gandry's inquiries embodied in his telegram of 17th July and letters and memoranda of previous dates.
The two Committees met on the 2nd inst., when the situation was thoroughly discussed, with the result that the Chamber of Commerce wholly endorsed the suggestions made by the Hongkong and Shanghai Committees of the China Association, and requested this branch to forward the following telegram to London :-
"Referring previous telegrams notify For- eign Office Chamber of Commerce entirely concurs views Shanghai Hongkong Com- mittees Cotton Mills claim terms Japanese Treaty provided raw cotton totally free all exactions with native mills same basis."
CHINA QVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE WEST RIVER.
Peking, September 4th, 1896. Sir, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 4th August requesting further information with regard to negotiations with the Chinese Government in reference to the opening of the West River.
In reply I beg to state that negotiations are still in progress in London on the point.
All necessary information, charts, etc., re- specting the river and the inland waterways of the Two Kwang Provinces, is now in this Legation, and I expect detailed instructions from home very shortly to commence negotiations. I am, sir, your obedient servant,
CLAUDE M. MACDONALD. The Secretary, Hongkong General Chamber of
Commerce, Hongkong.
TRADE STATISTICS.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
21st August, 1896.
Sir, I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 13th inst. on the subject of the statistics of trade included in the Harbour Master's report.
In reply, I am directed by my Committee to state that they would, were it possible to obtain trustworthy and exact figures, be only too glad to accede to the request made to afford information to the Harbour Master to enable him to render his returns more accurate. They are, however, only in a position to criticise from the knowledge possessed by certain members of certain imports; the exact figures are not in the possession of the Chamber any more than they are of the Harbour Master, Had they felt justified in offering such assistance the Committee would have preferred to tender it rather than to assume the much less pleasing office of critic. I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX,
Secretary.
To Hon. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, Colonial
Secretary.
1
SUPREME COURT.
28th September.
IN ORIGINAL JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR DR. CARRINGTON (CHIEF JUSTICE.)
TONG WONG CHIU », CHEUNG KAM TIN AND
CHAN KING PO.
The plaintiff applied for an interim injunction against the defendants to restrain them from excavating and laying drains on plaintiff's property. The plaintiff is the owner of sub- section 1 of section 6 of Inland lot 62 and occupies 6, Pak Chi Lane. The defendant, Cheung Kam Tin, is compradore to Messrs. Meyer & Co., and Chan King Po is a contractor.
Mr. J. J. Francis, Q.C. (instructed by Mr. Bowley, of Mr. Dennys's office), appeared for the plaintiff and said the defendants did not appear. Only the second defendant had been served with the writ of summons; the other was said to be absent from the colony. Mr. Francis then read the notice of motion, the sections of the Ordinance relating to the case, and an affidavit filed by the plaintiff. The affidavit stated that the plaintiff owned three houses in Pak Chi Lane, in one of which he resided. On the N.E. side there was an open space or court belonging to the plaintiff and abutting on it were three houses in Gage Street belonging to the defendants, who were entitled to a right of way in, over, upon, and along the N.E. part of the space. On Friday, the 18th This message has been forwarded to-day. September, the defendants entered into the It was understood at the meeting of the two open space and wrongfully erected scaffolding Committees that copies of the minutes of the thereon. On Sunday, the 20th, they broke up proceedings would be forwarded to the Hong- the surface of the court and dug, a trench kong Chamber of Commerce, and I presume for the purpose of laying drains to drain they will be sent by this mail. In any case the defendants' houses. On the 24th they placed Shanghai Committee believe that you will drain pipes down and so hindered the plaintiffs materially strengthen the situation by confer in the ingress and egress of his premises. ring with the Hongkong Chamber and acquaint-Since the 24th no work had been done by the Ing the General Committee in London with defendants. the result by telegraph.—I am, dear sir,
His Lordship-The defendants commenced WH. TALBOT, work on the 18th and "nothing was done by the
Hon. Secretary. plaintiff until the 24th ?;
aking action was
Mr: Franois. The delay caused by the difficulty there always is in getting Chinamen to understand their rights... and the position in which they stand. They have to turn over things in their mind before- they consult a solicitor and they have no com- prehension to apply to the Court for an immediate injunction.
Continuing, Mr. Francis said in the action. the plaintiff claims $1,000 damages against the defendants for wrongfully entering the plaintiff's land and excavating and laying drains therein, and secondly the plantiff sued for an injunction restraining the defendants or their agents from continuing the work. He also claimed his costs.
1
Evidence was given of the service of the writ on the second defendant.
His Lordship ordered an injunction against the second defendant to issue in the terms off the notice of motion and to last until the hear ing of the suit or until a further order was: made..
THE LAST OF LÁI MIT.
*
A
On the afternoon of the 23rd September Lai Mit, who shot a Hongkong lukong dead in a lane some Sundays ago, was beheaded at Kowloon City. Since the arrest of the criminal at Nam Tau considerable interest has been manifested in the date of the - execution, many people wishing to satisfy an unconquerable and morbid desire to witness the punishment of death by decapitation as inflicted according to Chinese custom. The date of the execution was not known in Hongkong until Monday morning, but the announcement we made yesterday was sufficiently in time to enable unpwards of a hundred residents to journey over to Kowloon City to view the proceedings. Early in the morning. In spector Stanton went to Nam Tan to: see that no counterfeit of Lai Mit was handed. over for execution, but although the In- spector arrived at the district margs- trate's yamen at six o'clock it was not until half-past ten that the prisoner was taken on board a war junk. He was penned in a small wooden crate, so small that he had to remain squatting all the time, and,-as an additional precaution against escape his hands were firmly bound with a strong cord and his feet with a heavy iron chain. The junk, which had to be towed, was expected to arrive at Kow- loon City about one o'clock, and at that time everything was in readiness to receive the mandarins who were accompanying the party. A host of miserably clad and undisciplined "braves," many of whom looked almost as ancient as the muzzle-loading güns which they were armed with, were drawn up in as straight a line as they could get themselves in; various flags were hoisted at the fort and on three or four junks; hundreds of Chinese loitered around in hungry expectation of what was to happen, and the Europeans, who had ventured over whiled away the weary time as best they could. It was not until ten minutes past three that the junk was sighted, a fact which was made known by the loud boom of a rusty cannon. About twenty minutes later the junk arrived at the pier, salutes were exchanged and gongs beaten, and a big crowd assembled on the spot. where the execution was to take place, a few soldiers in the centre of a horseshoe-shaped; space being present to give dignity proceedings and to keep order. But the spectators had a long time to wa Various officials had to pay their respects. to the
the
Nam Tau district magistrate, who was on the launch and who superintended the carrying out of the execution, and the ceremonies occupied a long time, during which the prisoner was transferred to the launch. It was probably a surprise to him to find that he was at Kowloon City, as in order to prevent him from biting his tongue and so (bleeding to death, he had been informed in the morning that he was going to Canton to be re-tried. He appeared to be quite unconcerned at his approvching greedily drank a pot of samshu giyen to him.
were handed to him but seem to relish; at any rate and guardedly. It wa