Beptember 30, 1896.1
men can register, obtain badges and on application at the Sanitary Board's
"By Order,
HUGH MCCALLUM, Secretary.
Sanitary Board Offices,
Hongkong, 24th September, 1896.
THE CHINESE SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE JAPAN RELIEF FUND.
We (Kobe Chronicle) reprint the following
article from the Yorodzu Choho
Our attention is elsewhere called to the fact that among the many subscribers to the Seismic
Fund in Hongkong there were perhaps dozen Chinese represented; and considerable ress in laid on this fact, as proving that our recent foes are by no means so black-or shall we say, yellow as they are painted. We are bidden to find among them traits of singular generosity and magnanimity; and magnanimity great enough to cause them to send gifts of money to sufferers in the very land whose prowess they were so recently made to feel. And thereby hangs a tale.
It has not been forty years since Chinese learning and Chinese ideas were all-powerful in this our Empire. Not fully understanding the depth and breadth of Western science, we took the best we could find close at hand. The Buddhistic lore of India, with its wonderfully developed metaphysical science and all else, had some to us by way of China; our graphic system was based on that of the sister Empire, and there were then tens of thousands who knew no higher moral code than that taught by Confucius, Mencius, Licius, and Laocius. It did not take long, however, for us to learn that Chinese science, as such, was incommen- surate with the great problems of the century; that it represented a semi-pastoral stage of exis- tence wholly impossible in these later days. And so we cast in our lot with the broad humani- tarian, more truly scientific, ideas of the West. Yet have we never forgotten the educational debt we owe to China, and the fact that our greatest teachers and scholars in the past drew their inspiration from that source. And so we never have, for an instant, denied the Chinese the possession of certain high moral qualities which would do honour to any nation. In the late great war with that Empire, we are fully conscious the bravery of the troops we had to meet with. At Kangwasse, Tienchwangtai, and a dozen other places this was amply proved. But our then enemies were miserably ordered and always handicapped by this extreme in- efficiency on the part of their leaders. Yet the Chinese can fight, and most courageously at that. The last days of the once famous Pei- yang squadron at Weihaiwei are proof posi- Live, if indeed any further demonstration be wanting.
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On the other hand, we claim that the Chinese are morally obtuse. They have an over-exalted idea of what is meant by filial piety; yet know not the real meaning of fidelity or loyalty; they prate of uprightness and benevolence, but the practice of these two virtues is, outside of novels and ethical handbooks, well-nigh a dead letter. The Chinese are clannish, patriotic in so far as they believe the soil of their country pretty much sacred and the nation itself the one hub of the universe, and commercially the keenest the keen. We are compelled, if reluctantly, to noknowledge that Chinese merchants seem to got along better with Westerners than we do; but just why that is we do not care to elucidate at present. Best of all are those Chinese merchants who for long years have had connection and dealings with large foreign importers and exporters. And so we come to the Chinese mercantile community of the Crown Colony of Hongkong. Here we find
proportion actually acknowledg he Queen as their Sovereign. They are Chinese in name only. And if a big
list is started by the eminently foreign firms of Hongkong, would it think you, or would it be “ pidgin " firms and big merchants to hold aloof in toto ? They are far too astute of the kind. Does the Kobe Chro
indeed any other foreign- edited Journal, actually suppose that
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT: Chinese subsoribers really sent in their shekels | out of bona, fide feelings of pity for and kindly sympathy with the Japanese Seismic Wave sufferers? Well, well let us give them the benefit of the doubt. The millennium certainly is not very far off.
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But, such considerations apart, we are exceed- ingly obliged to the good Chinese who sub- scribed to the Hongkong Seismic Wave Fund." Whatever may have been their prime motives in making donations, Mr. Sim has undoubtedly put the Mexicans to excellent use. And we pro- mise that the very next time a tidal wave sweeps over the Woosung bar and up the muddy Yang- tse we, too, will head a list of subsoribers for a Chinese Relief Fund.
SPECIAL OPEN PORTS IN FORMOSA.
The following are the regulations for the special open ports in Formosa:-
The foreign trade of the island is permitted at the four open ports, viz., Tamsui, Kelung, Anping, and Takow, and shipment and dis- charge of cargo are prohibited in other ports. Junks owned by natives of China will have the same privileges as others and are not allowed to enter or leave any other port than those above mentioned.
Lately, Lok-kang and Kin-kang were speci- ally opened for the trade of the mainland ports for the subjects of His Imperial Majesty and natives of Taiwan, but as the surveillance of the illicit import trade of junks was unsatisfac tory on account of the mixing together of Chinese and native junks, the Governor-Gene- ral in Council has introduced certain regula- tions for the guidance of junks trading at said ports, and certificates will be granted to every native junk to carry commodities and trade on the coast, on reporting to the Customs Office the egress and ingress of said junks.
✨ Art. VII-Every applicant for e ence shal pay one yen as fee.
An applicant for renewing a licence shall pay a fee of fifty sen.
Art. VIII-Junks plying along the coast of the island shall report their departures arrivals to the Customs or their branches, or the gendarmerie, or police station, there be no Customa or their branches, 24 hours.
Art. IX. The officers on receiving the report of sailing, according to the procedure presori under Art. VIII., shall, after inspection, issue a certificate, containing the names and number of passengers as well as of the crew, the nature and quantity of the cargo, along with the names of the ports of departure resorting to and finally detailed.
Junks furnished with such certificates shall, on entering the port of temporary resort final destination, report their arrivals and ten- der the said certificates.
The same procedure shall be followed when, under some unavoidable circumstances, junks have entered, under stress of weather, other ports not specified in said certificates.
vided with the said licence, or who purchasej; Art. X.-Those who ply their junks unpro sell, or borrow their licences to others, or who violate the second clanse of Art. III. or Arts: IV., V., VI., or VII., shall incur a penalty not exceeding twenty-five yen.
Art. XI-These regulations shall be en month of the 29th year of Meiji (October 1st, forced on and after the first day of the tenth
1896).
The 5th day of the 9th month of the 29th year of Meiji (Sept. 8th, 1896.)
(Signed). KAsura Taro (Viscount).
Governor of Taiwan.
THE SAMSON AND WHANGPOO.
COLLISION.
The Customs Office will provide a certain number of revenue ornisers (one of which has been
ARBITRATION AWARD. already purchased) for the purpose of preventing On the 27th August a collision took place at junks entering the harbours clandestinely, and Shanghai between the Messageries Maritimes consequently the examination of illicit import tender Whangpoo, which was bringing pas of goods will be more rigorous then heretofore,sengers up from the Saghalien, and the Shang and smuggling will soon disappear.
The following are the regulations under which junks are to trade in Formosa:-
Art. I.—Owners of all junks are bound to have them registered in the local Government Office, making, at the same time, an application for a licence.
Art. II.-On the said licence the following details shall be written :-
(1). The name and residence of the owner. (2). The name of the place where registra-
tion has been made.
(3). The name of the junk. (4). The kind of junk.
(5). The Government number of the junk. (6). The date on which the licence was
issued.
On the licence shall be stamped the grand seal bearing the name of the local Government where the licence was issued.
hai Tugboat Company's Samson, which was. going down the river. The question of damages was referred to the arbitration of Capain A. M. Bisbee and the following is his finding
The evidence obtained in this case shows that each of the two vessels involved claims to have been proceeding in strict accordance with Article .. 21 of the Regulations for Preventing Collisions - at Sea, which reads as follows:
"In narrow channels every steamship shall, when it is safe and practicable, keep to that side of the fairway or mid-channel which lies on the starboard side of such ship."
On behalf of the Whangpoo it is stated that coming up the river against the ebbtide, she was, as in duty bound, keeping near the bank which forms the Shanghai side of the channel, and that the collision occurred close to this bank somewhere nearly abreast of the Point Hotel.
Art. III.-Should a junk or junks be built On the other hand, the Samson claims that or procured in any other place than the place she was keeping close to the Pootung side of where registration has been made a new process the channel and that the two vessels came to- of Fegistration shall be taken, and an applica-gether at a spot between 100 and 175 yards tion be made to the local Government for a above the mouth of the Hsikou Creek. temporary licence, which may be used for the feal one.
These statements are in direct conflict with each other, and to my mind, the evidence shows ✨✨ that neither of them can be correct. sic
The owner shall follow the process prescribed under Art. I. within half a year, commencing I am of opinion that neither vessel was adher- from the day on which the temporary licenceing properly to the rule in question, and that -- has been issued.
neither took decisive action towards getting to her own side of the channel in time. Moreover,ir- the master of the Whangpoo gives, as a reasone for not porting more than he did, that by so doing he would have run his vessel aground, and the master of the Samson says that if he - had not stopped he would have run on the Joss House Spit
Art. IV. When the details written on the licence have been altered, or the licence lost, injured, or made useless, an application should be made to the local authorities for the re- writing or re-issuing of a new licence.
Art. V. When the ownerships of junks have been transferred, or junks have been injured, sunk, lost, gone astray, or dismantled, a report should be made to the local Government.
It is evident that both these men need to have it most emphatically impressed upon their, In case the ownership has been transferred minds that under no circumstances, when they: or junks have been dismantled, the licences of have to choose between running ashore in the such junks should be returned to the authorities. Hwangpu.or getting into collision, will they
Art. VI.--If the owners of junks do not re- be justified in accepting the latter alternative side at the place where registration (of junks) for in the one case they have only to » has been made, their agents should be stationed possible detention through p
grounding on in the porte, and the report thereof shall be made bank, whilst in the other there is a I by them to the local Government. ts agedies of the sacrifice of many lives.