108.
churches in memory of the great hero; there will be a civil procession from the Leal Senado to Camoen's Grotto, where a garland of bronze will be fixed on the bust of the great poet; and in the evening general illuminations and fireworks. On the following days there will be bicycle races and other sports at the Avenida Vasco de Gama (now known as the Campo de Victoria), the laying of the founda. tion stones of the monuments to the three
heroes Vasco de Gama, Governor Amaral, and Colonel Mesquita, a ball at Government House, the inauguration of a public library to be į. named after Vasco de Gama,
theatrical entertainments at the Club Uniao, a dinner given by the Santa de Misericordia to the poor of the colony, Chinese lantern procession and Chinese theatrical entertainments, flower show and curio exhibition, and a battle of flowers at the Ovenida de Vasco de Gama. The com-
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
·HONGKONG.
of the homeward mails created a long interval The alteration in the day for the departure between the last mail and the mail this week. During most of that period interest has been chiefly centred in the Supreme Court, where a most important case connected with transactions in shares has been in
progress. On the 6th inst, a big fire broke out in Manila and caused damage amounting to $889,000. An interesting boxing contest took place at the City Hall on the night of the 7th inst., the combatants being Bailey and Northcott. Admiral Buller leaves Hongkong for England in the Ganges on the
19th inst:
Vice-Admiral Seymour left for the North on 8th February in H:M.8. Alacrity.
On 7th February Vice-Admiral Seymour, mittee isoing to appeal to the Portuguese in accompanied by Commodore Holland, inspected the various foreign colonies and settlements of
the Kowloon Docks and the torpedo depôt. the Far East for subscriptions in aid of the
Captain J. R. Jellicoe, R.N., Lieut! F. A. Powlett, R.N., and Paymaster Eldred, R.N.,
[February 12, 1898.
Five men from Aberdeen were on 3rd Feb. sworn in as constables in the Hongkong Police Force. They arrived by the steamer Glenavon, Hongkong Hotel early on Saturday morning, 5th An impudent theft was committed at the Feb. A man went to the roof of the hotel, stole a quantity of hose piping and a bydrant box, put the property ander his coat, and then descended in the hotel lift. Fortunately he was stopped by an Indian watchman and locked up. The prisoner was sent to gaol for six weeks with
hard labour.
A telegram from Raub, dated 31st January, states: The rough cleaning up of the battery yielded 2,300 ounces of amalgam, the estimated quantity of stone crushed being 1,950 tons." This gives about 805 ounces of gold or a little over 15 dwts to the ton. At the previous clean- up, on the 3rd January, 2,026 tons of ore yielded 1,623 oz. 1 dwt. 0 grs. smelted gold, being an average of 16 dwts. per ton of ore crushed.
The Secretary of the Punjom Mining Co.,
celebrations and also to ask them to organise arrived by the P. & O. steamer Coromandel | Limited, advises us that he has. received the
local celebrations in the places where they reside. Eight sub-committees have been formed to take charge of the different departments and sections of the celebration.
The monument to Vasco de Gama is to be erected at Campo Victoria and the joint monu. ment to Amaral and Mesquita on the little hill at Boa Vista near the British cemetery.
The Green Island Cement Co. has begun to uke the electric light at its factory and three or four powerful arc lamps bave been fixed at the wharf and near the workshops.
The Right Rer. the Bishop of Macao is ex- pected to arrive about the middle of the month
CANTON NOTES.
[FROM THE "CHUNG NGOI SAN PO:"| According to the Chinese almanac spring commenced on the 4th instant. It is customary on the day previous for the Canton officers to proceed to the place named Tung-kao- cheung to receive the spring, which is re-
on 4th February.
It is notified in the Government Gazette that His Excellency the officer administering the Cyril H. C. Platt to be his private secretary. Government has been pleased to appoint Mr. His Excellency the officer administering the Government has been pleased to appoint Captain Francis Richard Loveband, of the West India Regiment, to be His Excellency's Aide-de-Camp. of Lam Chu Wan, who committed a double murder On Tuesday morning, 8th Feb, the execution in Shelley Street and then tried to kill himself, took place privately in Victoria Gaol. The usual inquest was afterwards held.,
At the Polie Court on 5th Feb., two mạn were fined $10 and one man $20 for being in possession of unjust weights. A shopkeeper who illegally stored some tins of kerosine was fined $25. Inspector Duncan prosecuted in all the
савев.
His Excellency the Acting Governor has been pleased to appoint Mr. Marcus Warre Slade to be a Lieutenant in the Hongkong Volunteer Corps vice Lieutenant W. K. Wylie, deceased, with effect from the 3rd February,
garded as the happiest season. On the 3rd instant therefore the Prefect of Kwangchow and the Magistrates of Namboi and Punu districts proceeded with a large guard to Tung-kao-1898. cheung to perform the usual ceremonies. When they arrived, the said officers acted as farmers, one of them taking charge of a paper cow, one holding a paper plough, and one performing the act of sowing seed. When the ceremonies were finished, the large assemblage tried to stone the paper cow to fragments. The people are of opinion that if the paper cow is stored to fragments, the year will be prosperous.
Liu Yung-fu, the Black Flag General, has received an order from Viceroy Chang Chib- tung. to enlist a few thousand soldiers to be despatched to Chinkiang. The wages of the soldiers are six dollars a month. Over a thousand have been enlisted. The flag of the regiment is black, with seven white stars, just like that of the god of Pak-Tai, and is to be held as a victorious flag.
On the 29th ultimo a juuk named Wing Tai burned paper to chin-chin joss. A spark from the paper, reached the touch-hole of a loaded gun on board, which went off. There were two men standing by, one of whom was severely injured and the other was thrown into the water and instantly killed.
As has already been repeatedly reported, famine visited Kiuchow after the flood and typhoon of last year and many letters have been received by the charitable institutions in Canton asking for aid. Rice and money have frequently been sent there lately. A few days ago the gunboat Nammo was despatched to the suffer- ing district with a heavy load of rice sent by the Government.
Over one hundred robbers made an attack on the village named Tsung-nok-loong, in Namboi district, on Chinese New Year's eve. When they entered the village, they first tied up the In- kongs on duty and then commenced their plan- dering. Fourteen houses were ransacked. Gongs and drums were beaten to give the alarm, but no one dared to come forward. The robbers cooked some chow-chow in one of the houses. After they had satisfied themselves with sham. su and chow-chow, they carried away all the valuable spoils and got off scot free with no.
ursuers,
The Government Gazette contains a notifica- tion that His Excellency the acting Governor has been pleased to recognise, provisionally and pending the arrival of the Queen's exequator, Kisaburo Uyeno, as in charge of the Imperial Japanese Consulate in this colony.
The Hon. Treasurer of the Alice Memorial and Nethersole Hospitals begs to acknowledge with thanks the following donations to the funds of the Hospitals.
Wing San Tak Tong Wong Lai Yün Tong T. T. Lee
$100 100 5
It is notified in the Government Gazette that Mr. Wong Wan On has been appointed a public vaccinator under the provisions of section 4, sub-section 1, of Ordinance 5 of 1890. It is also notified that Europeans can be vaccinated free of charge at the Government Civil Hospital daily between the hours of 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
At the Police Court ou 3rd Feb. the hearing was resumed of the change against three privates in the Hongkong Regiment of drugging and robbing another private who had obtained his discharge from the Regiment. Evidence was given by Mr. Frank Browne, Government analyst, as to the nature of datura alba, which the prisoners are alleged to have put into the prosecutor's food. Further evidence was given and the prisoners were then committed for trial at the Sessions.
Some Chinamen are curious mortals. In- spector Duncan, armed with special authority under the Weights and Measures Act, has lately been energetically hunting up shopmen with defective weights and scales. The shop- men know him well and as soon as they catch sight of him many hide their scales and also their weights, even although they are perfectly correct. Of course it is an offence to play hide and seek in this manner and the Inspector is obliged to take such silly shopmen to the police station. Two were charged at the Police Court on 4th February and they were each fined $25. There was nothing wrong with their scales or weights.
following telegram from the mines giving the result of the January clean-up: The mill ran 28 days crushing 2,400 tons of headings yielding 300 ozs of smelted gold. Thirty tons of concentrates were ground in the Berdan pans yielding 36 ozs. of gold. The cyanide plant ran 26 days treating 726 tons of tailings yielding 264 ozs. bullion of an average assay value of 15/6 per ounce."
employ of Mr. C. A. Tomes was charged with At the Magistracy on 1st Feb. a coolie in the stealing six Spanish dollars, the property of his master. The dollars were wrapped up in a parcel and the prisoner was told to take it and a letter to Dr. Bell, Government Civil Hospital. The coolie returned to Mr. Tomes minus the parcel and with the letter opened. He ex- plained that he had dropped the parcel near the market and was unable to find it and he there-- fore opened the letter to see how much money was in the parcel so that he could reimburse his employer. He told the Magistrate that a man found that the parcel was missing. The explana- pushed against him in the street and then he tions were palpable falsehoods and the prisoner was sent to gaol for three months with hard
labour.
At a meeting of the Odd Volumes Society. held at the City Hall on 9th February an interesting lecture was delivered by Mr. J. J. England." Colonel Elsdale, R.E., occupied the Francis, Q.C., upon Seeley's Expansion of
Professor Sesley's notable work, dwelt on the chair. The lecturer gave an able review of lessons to be derived from it, and commended to his hearers the perusal of the book itself. At the close the Chairman, in tendering the thanks of the audience to Mr. Francis, said be believed there was a period of storm and stress in store for the Empire, that sooner or later we would have to fight a coalition formed against us, and he urged that the educational system of the country, primary, secondary, and advanced, should be conducted on more patriotic lines, attention being given to the lessons of history bearing upon Imperial defence.
The right of working the coal mines at Uling. and Lutac, in the province of Cebu, was let by public tender at Manila on the 22nd January. Mr. N. Macleod was the purchaser and the only tenderer. The Manila papers contain the abridged prospectus of "The Philippine Min- ing and Development Company, Limited," which has been formed to acquire coal mining coness- sions in the Philippine Islands and promote other industries. The Company is established under the Hongkong laws, and the capital is $1,600,000 divided into 160,000 shares of $10 each, of which 100,000 are to be issued now and the balance as may be hereafter decided. The promoters take 40,000 shares in consideration of the property to be transferred by them to the Company. The directors are Mr. Neil Macleod. of Manila, Mr. Enrique Castillo, of Manila, and Mr. Hart Buck, of Hongkong, with power to increase the number to five. Messrs. John D. · Humphreys and Son are the Hongkong Agents and Mesers. Macleod and Co., of Manila, Iloilo, and Cebu the General Agents. The Hong- kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation is the Company's bankers, and Messrs. Deacon and Hastings the solicitors..
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