August 4, 1897.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
be need also for some efficient protection, for a time for the steamers. The monkey myth has pretty well disappeared, but multitudes of boat- men and trackers continually going to and fro would not unlikely be disposed to hinder the opening of a traffic they would consider ruinous to the junk trade, and need stronger repression than the officials might care to give. Be this as it may, things are bad bere just now; and the deadlock may continue indefinitely as it is said there are 30,000 piculs of rice to be sent up yet.
Tseng, as representing their respective Gov-as the natural obstacles to overcome, there would ernments, that these arrangements should be reserved for further consideration be- tween the two Governments. Here the mat. ter stands, that further consideration never having been given to it, though twelve years have elapsed since the additional articles were signed; and yet it is a fact, though it is difficult to believe, that the ingenuous Princes and Ministers of the Tsungli Yamên are now rely. ing on the Chefoo Convention in support of their claim that likin must be paid on foreign goods entering the city of Foochow.
As the question, however, is not regulated by the Chefoo Convention, it must be referred to the Treaties of 1842 and 1858. The Treaty of 1842 opens in so many words "the "cities and towns" of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai to residence and trade, and there is no limitation as to the area that is to be open in each case.
The Treaty of 1858 says that in addition to the five original ports, British sub- jects may frequent the cities and ports of Newchwang, Tangohow (Chefoo)," etc., and they shall enjoy the same privi- leges, advantages, and immunities as the said towns already opened to trade,” etc. The Treaties with other Foreign Powers generally follow the British Treaties. The Treaty of Shimonoseki, under which Soochow and Hang- chow have been opened, says: "The following cities, towns, and ports, in addition to those already opened shall be open to the trade: with the same privileges and facilities as exist at the present open cities, towns, and ports of
China."
The question is, we know, being vigorously taken up by the Doyen of the Diplomatic Body at Peking, and the Foreign Ministers, we may be sure, will resist this among the many other obstruotions that the Chinese are so prone to put in the way of the carrying out of the Treaties.-N. C. Daily News.
THE SHANGHAI-WOOSUNG RAILWAY.
SINKING OF THE “TAÍHOKÚ MARU."
A telegram from London received by the Osaka Shosen Kaisha on the 14th July states that the Company's new steamer Taihoku-maru, 3,100 tons, while on her way out to Japan, has collided with a vessel in the neighbourhood of Lisbon and finally sunk. All the crew are safe, The ship is insured to the full amount. Referr- ing to the news the Jiji Shimpo remarks that the Taihoku-maru had been ordered by the Shosen Kaisha through the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha and all responsibilites for the ship rested with the latter Company until she was delivered to the owners on arrival in Japan. The vessel is fully insured and therefore the loss will be borne by the Insurance Companies. She was one of the three vessels ordered from England and was built by Messrs. J. L. Thompson & Co., Sun- derland, at the cost of £60,000. She left Lon- don on June 22nd for Japan, the captain and the drew being all foreigners. Her cargo, which consisted of rails and other railway materials, became a total loss.-Japan Gazette.
Wiring with regard to the wreck of the steamer Taihoku-maru, Mr. Kurino, the Japanese Minister in Paris, also accredited to the Court of Portugal, states that the steamer foundered off Lisbon as the result of a collision with a British merchant vessel. A Portuguese man-of-war went out to the rescue of the crew on the rapidly-sinking Japanese steamer. All the crew were saved and afterwards sent back to England.
119
Life belts were distributed, distress signals given, and the boats on the lee side prepared for launching. Those on the weather side had already been washed away. In the meantime, seeing that some hours were likely to elapse before it would be possible to launch the boats, the passengers gladly accepted the assistance of the crew to obtain more clothing.
The storm continued to increase in violence. Great seas washed the vessel with terrific force. Daylight brought no relief and only served to reveal still further the awful situation.
Misfortune followed misfortune. A life boat was lowered, only to be swept away immediately, with three Lascars and the first officer, Mr. Carden. The gig was dispatched to the rescue, with Mr. Miller, the second officer, but to the despair of all, both boats were swept away.
The only remaining lifeboat was then lowered cry of amid a scene of intense emotion. A anguish broke from the lips even of the men when this half capsized, throwing the sailors After great efforts and the stores into the sea. the boat was righted and the women and ohildren were lowered into it, with exception of Madames Gillett, Pearce and Strain, who heroically resolved to share the fate of their husbands, and Miss Lloyd and Miss Weller, who remained behind. The boat, manned by a European crew, left in a tremendous sea, and drifted rapidly out of sight.
Vast waves were still sweeping the wreck, dashing the people about and leaving them almost prostrate on the deck. One by one, men and children growing too weak to with- stand the repeated buffetings, were washed over- board in sight of those who were momentarily expecting the same fate. Among the first thus engulfed were Mr. and Mrs. Strain and their two children; Misses Lloyed and Weller, the missionaries; Mrs. Pearce's baby, with its Chinese nurse and then Captain Hill, whose leg was broken, but who had borne himself calmly and bravely. He was washed overboard, with several of the native crew.
All day the victims were picked off, one by one, until 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when those who still survived retreated below Many were badly hurt and passed the night in suspense and A New ShipbuilDING YARD FOR bodily pain, huddled in the small cabin which
KOBE.
The earthwork in connection with this rail- way, between Woosung and Kwangwang, is being rapidly pushed forward, and the work of constructing the abutments for the bridges is now in progress, but owing to the difficulty of accurately ascertaining the owners of certain
It is reported, says the Kobe Chronicle, that plots of land near Shanghai, the work from the Mitsu Bishi Company has under considera- this end has not yet been commenced.-Chination a scheme for building a shipbuilding yard Gazette.
SEIZURE OF A CHARTERED JUNK Mr. Okamoto Harumichi, one of the principal offi-
AT ICHANG.
THE CHINESE GIVE WAY.
The Tchang correspondent of the N. C. Daily News writes:-I told you in my last that a chartered junk had been seized by the officials ostensibly to be used for conveyance of famine rice. I am glad to say that the Consul's firmness at last succeeded, and that the junk is released. After ten day's shuffling on the part of the deputy Taotais, the Consul carried ont his threat and telegraphed to Peking. As soon as they found that he had really done so they gave way, and so the episode, in the meantime, is at an end. Direct inter- ference with the ordinary traffic is thus stopped, but the indirect interference with trade is very great and that from causes for which the officials are largely responsible. They impose such low rates upon the boats and trackers they employ, that the men prefer to make themselves scarce, and hence not only can they not get the rice up as they want to, but the junks chartered by foreign firms, many of which have been lying for weeks loaded and ready to start, cannot get crews either. It is easy to see what dislocation this means to the trade of the whole Upper Yangtze. If stocks which should have been at Chungking accumulated here, it must ore this are tell seriously on the present contracts and arrangements of merchants in the West, interfere with future orders, and so rebound on others below, the steamboat com- panies themselves among the rest. One won- ders when these companies will seriously con- sider the possibility of running through to Chungking. A time like this, which may easily recur, would be a harvest to them. But as well
in the vicinity of Kobe that will be large enough to construct a war vessel of the size of the Fuji. cials of the Company, recently arrived in Kobe, and is said to have entered upon negotiations for the purchase of the Wado shrine and the grounds attached thereto, amounting to some 1,500 tsubo. To this will be added the premises of the Wada Warehousing Co., for which it is said the Mitsn Bishi offers 450,000 yen, and also other property adjoining. The paid-up capital of the Warehousing Co. is 157,500 yen, so that if the figures given are correct the Company will make a large profit by selling. The Government is said to have suggested the undertaking to the Mitsu Bishi, which finds its works at Nagasaki too limited and the locality unsuitable for expansion.
66 THE ADEN" DISASTER,
A despatch to the Daily Mail from Aden says:-Two days after leaving Colombo the Aden was struck by a severe monsoon, with squalls, violent and incessant. Day by day the weather grow thicker and the passengers became more and more alarmed. At 3 o'clock on the morning of June 9th, the vessel struck upon Rasradeista reef, on the eastern coast of the island of Socotra. The engine room instantly flooded and utter darkness ensued.
the
Was
Wild with panic, the passengers rushed from their cabins and fled terror-stricken to the up- per deck in the scantiest of clothing. The women and children screamed in fright and con- fusion, but the men remained cool and retained their self-possession and courageously the officers and crew to do their best to the vessel and to inspire calmness. But it was soon seen that the steamer could not survive the shook and that the only chance for safety lay in the boats,
they expected would be their tomb. None of the survivors whom I have seen cares to talk of this terrible night.
The storm abated slightly on the morning of the 16th, and those who were able to move began to search for food, hunger until then having failed to assert itself over more acute privations. This proved a task of the greatest danger, as the big seas were still sweeping the vessel. The fourth engineer, while trying to procure water near the poop, was struck sense- less and almost washed overboard before he could be dragged to a place of safety. Arti. ficial respiration and similar expedients were resorted to, but it was five hours before he was saved from being washed overboard by the restored to consciousness. Mr. Pearce was only
prompt action of his dauntless wife.
The search for food resulted in their getting very little of it and this was shared out equally and in very small portions. All the time des- vessel was sighted until the 13th, and then the perate men kept a sharp look out. But no
distress signal was not seen, On the 17th and again on the 20th other vessels were sighted, but the signals either were not seen or were ignored. These unhappy episodes caused pain- ful and half-crazy scenes of rage among those who had been previously self-controlled. Each
rations. Mrs. Gillett did the catering and day it was necessary to curtail the allowance of contributed greatly to cheering up the ship's
company.
The weather usually moderated in the morn. ing, but always increased in violence during the afternoon. Frequently a sea thirty feet high would sweep the decks from stem to stern and carry away portions of the vessel.
On June
25th, when things were at their worst and the food supply was almost exhausted, Messrs. White, Kelt, Cave and Valpy bravely ventured across the deck to the storeroom and got's fresh supply. That evening two steamers- were sighted. One proceeded without paying any attention to the distress signals. The other anchored under the lee of the island. A she was sighted a pascar mounted the rigging and signaled her. In reply candles burned in