*
December 16, 1897.] ·
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
467
adds to the stringency, it is a very serious | WHY SHOULD I JOIN THE NAVY| widening circles travelling outwards from a question as to how long they will remain so to the detriment of the trade.
This stringency, combined with the abnormal, almost undreamt of, fluctuations experienced in exchange ou India, particularly during the last quarter of the year under the overtures of the United States and French Government to the British Government for the rehabilitation of silver and under the revivification of the question of the re-opening of the India mints, has quite de- moralized the two principal central markets as also the country markets surrounding these centres. Virtually the heavy stocks are unsale- able at the two centres, and the country markets, on account of the dreadful position into which the continued tightness of money has thrown them, as likewise on account of the probability, verging almost on the certainty, of prices re- ceding under the present juncture well nigh 20 to 25 per cent., have had recourse to nothing but the waiting policy, and as the usual settle. ment time before the Chinese New Year full- ing on the 22nd January, 1898, is approaching, that policy goes without the slightest relaxtion, The nay, it is getting further intensified. Chinese merchants apprehend that the present stocks of yarn and the present intense stringency of money are not likely to find reduction for some six mouths to come, and if heavy importa- tions of the former are continued and no mea. sures in the interests of the trade both on your side and here are adopted to check in some measure the influx in a country already flooded with stocks, the present evil will assume a shape that will be disastrous, possibly beyond recovery, to the spinnings in India. and to the importers and dealers in China. It is for this momentous reason that they have ventured to advocate the adoption of the remedial measure of short hours for working the factories, and hence they have deemed it expedient and to the advantage of all concerned to wire this advocacy by above quoted telegrams. In conjunction with the factors stated above that have guided them to the advocacy in question, the counter-factors of the feasible importations of Japanese yarn in China under the present variation of exchange, as also the element of local manufactures likely to be gaining shortly in opposition to your industry and likely to increase in strength as factories under construction and under contemplation gain completion, have not been lost sight of, and due weight has been given to these factors in their considerations. Under the present overladen juncture it was, however, held that these factors have no scope for some time to come to run in opposition.
a
18
LEAGUE?
Beyond paying my $5 a year there is nothing I could do. I have no vote in England. I quite approve of the aims of the Navy League, but how can I, a British subject resident in Hongkong, impress my convictions and desires on those who rule the Empire ?
"
stone cast into water applies peculiarly to our League, that has increased with gratifying rapidity in other parts of the world. It was with pardonable pride that the Central Com- mittee presented resolutions deprecating the reduction of the Navy Estimates from British possessions as widely apart as Toronto, the Cape of Good Hope, and Hongkong.
Not by refusing your $5 to the only Associa The seconder of the annual report of the local tion that affords you an opportunity of asserting branch of the League referred to the inanition your convictions, of making public profession that overtook most Eastern Associations. We, of the faith that is in you, of assisting-how-however, are not purely Eastern. We are a ever infinitesimally-still of assisting, in the strengthening and preservation of that Empire in which your all is embarked.
Amongst the 93 members and 20 associates mentioned as on the roll of the local branch of the League, the numbers who possess votes for property in Park Lane or elsewhere in the United Kingdom are probably limited. Still, those 113 men evidently consider that the Navy League affords them the means of contributing their quota towards the strengthening and maintenance of that Empire that all thinking British subjects desire.
The Central Committee of the Navy League must have been aware when issuing their manifesto of the aims of the League, and mak. ing request that branches should be formed abroad, that the number of votes at home thus directly secured from celonists would be few. What the Committee had, however, in view was the plebiscite to be thereby obtained from By the British subjects the whole world over. address referred to it appears that 462 British subjects in Hongkong (exclusive of Govern. ment servants) signed a protest against any reduction of the Navy Estimates this year. Did they think in attaching their signatures to that protest that they were doing what was
no They had absolutely futile?
votes in England. If on the other hand they thought that however microscopic was that aid, still their names actually did assist the matter in hand, and which, by appending their signatures to, they presumably held to be a good and worthy object, would it not be well if the 400 signa- tories not Leaguers would now come forward to join and actively support that League of which they approve—at present only passively. The Navy League at home made good use of those petitions, impressing on the British public the unanimity of the British residents of Hong- kong. In this article it is assumed that a travelled, reading, intelligent middle class public like of Hongkong understands the objects and comprehends the needs of the Nary League. Like most other needs it includes cash.
oars
our
In conclusion the Chinese merchants much regret that the solution of the exchange difficulty has again been put off by the reply of The subscription for a member in England the British Government to the Conference held is fixed at one guinea per annum, for which he in London, and they also much regret to receives the Leagne Journal, and is at liberty to assist the League to any extent he observe, under the continued instability of ex- change, that the much petted idea inculcated by desires and in any way of which he may be you on several occasions, first when the Indian capable. One quarter of this, 5/3, is remitted mints were closed, and latterly at one of the to the Central Committee for the great task of rulers the Democracy-by meetings of your Association, that the trade will educating adjust itself to the exigencies of exchange, has lectures, with broadsheets, in history and its undergone no such process of crystalization as lessons, in any and all ways feasible. In Hong- was prophesied, but it has instead according to kong after the first year we concluded that the
high, experience obtained
but here proved
subscription was unnecessarily phantasma, and is likely to prove so again.-expenses being small, so with the consent and approval of the Executive in London, the I am, sir, yours sincerely,
HUNG KEE. subscription was fixed at $5.00, 5/3 being still President of the meeting of Chinese merchants remitted annually for each member, and the fee for associates was put at $2.00 per dealing in Indian yarn.
annum. 2/6 a year (one quarter of the annual subscription at home) has to be remitted for each associate-who enjoy the same privi- leges as members, viz: receiving the journal, and full liberty to labour for the, League to any extent. That there are any British subjects resident in Hongkong who have absolutely no connection, communication, or correspondence with the United Kingdom seems scarcely pos. sible, so though we may have un rote, still we may be the means of sowing the good seed. Through all the larger (not busier) but more varied world of Great Britain it may well be that our League and its aims have not per- colated, so a letter or newspaper to some old friend or relation, whether in the Highlands of Scotland, the wilds of Connemara, or perchance to the wilderness of London, may be the means of awakening the interest of some voter or or voters. The familiar metaphor of the ever
Hongkong, 9th December, 1897. To Sir George Cotton, Kt., President Bombay
Millowners' Association, Bombay. SIR. Since addressing you on the 7th in- stant I have received from your Association in reply to the messages of the Chinese merchants the following wire :—
"Present position prohibits adoption short time, improving local trade owing big grain crops points to reduced yarn ship.
ments."
The Chinese merchants are of opinion that unless shipments are materially curtailed and present stocks allowed to be worked out the present position of the yarn trade in these parts will not find a turn for the better.-I am, sir, yours faithfully.
HUNG KEE.
world-wide Association. Eastern Associations have not the same stimulus of emulation. It should be the business of the committee to en- deavour to instil a healthy spirit of rivalry into the Hongkong branch of the Navy League, and as a first effort endeavours should be made to
induce the 400 signatories to join the Navy League. The committee would then have a wider field to draw from for lecturers, letter writers, &c., than at present.
If the 400 will come forward and join the League, however limited the numbers amongst thei
may be that possess the qualifications in Park Lane necessary for directly guiding the destinies of the Empire, still they can rest assured that each 5/3 is being used wisely and honestly to secure guarantees that Britain's sovereignty of the seas shall be unquestionable, that the ever widening concentric rings from similar insigni- ficant pebbles are spreading over the earth till all British men are comprehended in
LEAGUE.
great
one
THE TRIAD SOCIETY CASE.
The thirty-two men charged with unlawfully attending a meeting of a Triad Society were again brought before Hon. H. E. Wodehouse, Police Magistrate, on 13th December.
Mr. H. L. Dennys (Crown Solicitor) appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. E. J. Grist for the defence.
Mr. Dennys informed His Worship that it was only on Saturday afternoon that he received instructions to conduct the case on behalf of the Crown. He had spent a considerable amount of time in trying to master the intricacies of In his opinion all the documents the case. found, including the book, should be properly
translated.
Detective Inspector Hanson was then called- and stated:-At 12.30 a.m. on the 5th instant I went to the second floor of No. 4, Yee On Lane in company with the Captain Superinten- dent of Police and a number constables. I heard
the last witness knocking at the trap door of the second floor as I entered the house. He was not immediately admitted, but had to make two His first replies to questions put from inside. answer was, "Hung Ying," and the second, "Li Ching Cheung." The door was then opened and we all entered. We shut the trap door behind us and put a constable in charge of it. I have heard the evidence given the account by the other witnesses, and given by the last witness concerning the things
I found is quite correct. our
saw the second defendant in the position described by the last witness teaching two others how to wear their queues. There were several men squatting on the floor in three rows and some of them had their jackets open at the breast, but as soon as they saw me they buttoned them up. I have been in the Police Force twenty-three years. I have heard mention of the Fuk Yu Hing. It is a Society organised not in the interests of the pence or good order, but affording an asylum for persons guilty of crime or wanted by the police, and for all such like purposes. I can mention instances. Last year I found the mutilated body of a Chinaman near Stonecutter's Island. Your Worship made an enquiry into the matter and two arrests were made. The prisoners were committed for trial. I made enquiries at the time about the Fuk Yee Hing and Man On Triad Societies. I learnt that the fight which resulted in the death of the Chinaman was the return fight for one which took place between the Fnk Yee Hing and Man On Societies some time previous. There are documents which I found relating to the objects for which the Society exists. They are five in number, including the
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