404
internal taxes on imports in China.-I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX.
Secretary.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
and asking the Committee to take steps to effect au improvement in this condition of affairs.
I am instructed to state, in reply, that while my Committee sympathise with the exporters under the circumstances as advised, they do not
To Hon. T. Sercombe Smith, Acting Colonial,feel justified in taking up the question, which
Secretary.
EXPORTERS AND THE SHIPPING
CONFERENCE.
Hongkong, 6th May, 1898. Dear Sir, We the undersigned shippers herewith beg leave to draw the attention of your Committee to a matter which repeatedly on, previous occasions has created great dis- satisfaction, and has also caused losses to exporters.
There being a fresh cause for complaint at present we beg to submit that the matter is of sufficient importance to call for the attention of your Committee.
As you will be aware, homeward freights are regulated by the Conference," the manage. ment of whose affairs is, we understand, carried on at home. This Conference has from time to time altered the rates, the tendency in the last year being to raise them.
Now it is not any advance in rates that we are objecting against, but what we do object against, and what we consider as seriously handicapping those firms which are interested in the export trade, is the sudden way in which these altera tions are forced upon shippers without any previous warning, and that as a rule they come in force within a few days after baring been notified.
Moreover, very often the steamship agents do not even cousider it necessary to inform their constituents that changes have taken or will take place.
This, we beg to submit, is a very arbitrary proceeding, and venture to think that the shippers by and supporters of the Conference steamers are justly entitled to be treated with more consideration in the way of being notified of intended changes, and by enforcing same after a reasonable time only, say, at the very
least, one or two months.
The argument put forth by shipping agents that exporters may protect themselves by booking forward does not hold good. Owing to the uncertainty of the dates of departure of the steamers and of delivery of the produce on the part of the native seller, it is nearly always very difficult, if not impossible, for the exporter to bind himself for months ahead to a certain steamer or a certain line even.
Moreover there are certain articles like soy, craokers, essential oils, camphor, &c., which many steamers refuse to take at all or which the steamer agents will decide upon only a few days before the steamer arrives in port.
Trusting that your Committee will share our view of this question and decide to take steps to improve the present state of affairs,-We are dear sir, yours faithfully.
REUTER, BROCKELMANN & Co.
p. pro. H. W. RUMCKER HARLING, BUSCHMANN & MENZELL LUTGENS, EINSTMANN & Co. P. pro. BRADLEY & CO.
F. SMYTH
is really a matter between shippers and ship- owners. They would, however, suggest a united representation on the subject by the exporters to the Conference setting forth the in- conveniences entailed upon them by the lack of sufficient notice of change in arrangements, which cannot fail to receive fair consideration. -I am, dear sir, yours faithfully,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX.
Secretary.
MR. WAT18'3 CASE, Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hougkong, 26th April, 1×98. Sir-Referring to your letter of the 26th ult. in which you conveyed to the Chamber the explanation given by the Fuchuen Magistrate of his action in placing an embargo on the coal purchased by Mr. F. W. Watts at Saiwan, I now beg leave to inquire whether any further action has been taken in the matter.
The prolonged delay in furnishing this ex- planation, and the circumstances (if I am cor- rectly informed) that the Magistrate giving it is not the official who held the post when the embargo was laid on the coal, seem to throw
doubt
upon the accuracy of the explanation offered. Indeed, it appears extremely probable that the explanation is more or less an excuse, and that the transaction would not have been interfered with had the purchaser been a native. Considering the systematic obstruction inter- posed in the past to all foreign trade with the interior, both in imports and exports, by officials for the ultimate gain of their own pockets, and the present efforts that are being made by all Treaty Powers to overcome this opposition to free commerce in the Empire of China, the action of any native officials causing au ob struction to the development of trade calls for something more satisfactory than the explana- the strictest investigation. Unless, therefore, tion so far advanced by the Fuchuen Magistrate be forthcoming, wy Committee will have much pleasure in seconding your efforts wards ob- taining redress by referring the whole cas Her Majesty's Minister at Peking. I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant.
R. M. GRAY, Chairman.
To Byron Brenan, Esq., C.M.G., H.B.M,'s
Consul, Canton.
HONGKONG SANITARY BOARD,
→
On Thursday afternoon a meeting of the Hong kong Sanitary Board was held. The chair was occupied by the President (Dr. J. M. Atkinson, Principal Civil Medical Officer), and there were also present the Captain Superintendent of Police (the Hon. F. H. May), the Director of Public Works (the Hon. R. D. Ormsby;, the Acting Registrar-General (the Hou, E. W. Brewin), the Medical Officer of Health (Dr. Clark) and the Colonial Veterinary Surgeon (C. Vivian Ladds), the latter acting as
CHINA EXPORT & IMPORT & BANK Co. | Secretary.
p. PAUL STAVE
p. pro. WM. MEYERINK & Co.
H. F. MEYERINK
FERD. BORNEMANN
p. C. PLATE
GROSSMANN A Co. LAUTS, WEGENER & Co. B. C. Wilcox, Esq., Secretary, Hongkong
Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
Hongkong, 13th May 1898. To Messrs. Reuter, Brockelmann & Co., Harling, Buschmann & Menzell, Lutgens, Einstmann & Co., Bradley & Co., Wm. Mayer- ink & Co., Grossmann & Co., Lauts, Wegener & Co., The China Import & Export & Bank Co., and Mr. Ferd. Bornemann.
Dear Sirs, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 6th inst. calling attention to the sudden changes in the rates of freight made by the Shipping Conference, and the waut of adequate notice to exporters, whereby the latter have been put to both inconvenience and loss,
MINUTES.
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and accepted as a correct record.
PROPOSED ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC LATRINES.
The DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS had given notice of his intention to move-That the attention of Government be invited to the representations made by the Sanitary Board in 1895, and that this Board beg that provision be made in the Estimates for 1899 for at least two
taken annually for this service, until the wants public latrines in the city, and that votes be of the City in this respect are fully met." Mr. Ormsby observed that in moving this resolu- tion he was.not by any means actuated by a desire to forestall the Board in the report they were about to make. He was merely anxious that something should be done to improve the sanitary state of the city as soon as possible. It was often the case that Commissioners' re- ports were too long delayed and nothing was done. At the present time the estimates for next were in course of preparation, and votes not
year
| May 21, 1898.
put in now might never be put in. Ho there. fore wished by that resolution to get a speciflo vote included in next year's estimate, so that a long felt want might to some extent be met. It seemed to him that on former occasións rather too much was asked for. On one occasion a proposal was put before Government, to expend a sum of $450,000 on latrines. This on the face of it was out of the question. Then the sum of $15,000 was asked for, and this he pre- sumed was also considered out of the question in the then financial state of the colony. The amount he proposed to ask for would be about $3.600, and possibly no objection would be made. The subject of nightsoil removal in a city like this was in his opinion one of the most important with which they had to deal. The non-removal of nightsoil for three or four days was in the opinion of many a fruitful cause of disease. In the case of public latrines these accumulations could be guarded against and regular daily removal undertaken. He therefore begged leave to move the resolution which stood in his name.
The MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, in seconding, said the importance of public latrines had been frequently urged upon the Govern- mout by the Board. and attention had been directed to it himself in bis annual reports.
The motion was carried unanimously. THE PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF QUARAN=1
TINE REGULATIONS,
May 6th it was agreed that a modification of At a meeting of the Sanitary Board held on the quarantine regulations might be permitted in respect of the river steamboats in allowing them to proceed direct to their wharves, and that the medical inspection of the passengers should take place at the wharf, the Europeans being permitted to land as soon as they have been examined by the Medical Officer.
The Acting Colonial Secretary was in- formed of this decision, and in reply he wrote-I am directed to state that His Ex-
cellency the Officer Administering the Govern-
in respect of the river steamboats, and is not the modification of the Quarantine Regulations ment is of opinion that there are objections to
prepared to adopt it.
THE VASCO DA GAMA CELEBRATION AT MACAO.
A meeting of the Board held on May 6th it was decided to recommend the Government to prohibit the immigration of Chinese from Macao for a period 14 days from the 9th inst. In consequence of bubonic plague at that place and of the proposed celebration of the fourth centenary of the discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gama on the 18th inst.
The suggestion was considered at a meeting when the Council could not see its way to of the Executive Council on Monday, May 9th,
adopt the recommendation.
The CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE in a minute attached to the papers dealing with this matter says-I think it ought to have been stated that a majority agreed to the proposal. The Director of Public Works and myself were against it, if I remember rightly. Certainly
was.
2
APPLICATION FOR COMPENSATION, Mr. W. Hutton Potts, secretary of the Hongkong Dairy Farm Company, Limited, wrote on the 5th inst. stating—“ I am instructed to apply for compensation for the five cows slaughtered by order of your Board in February and March last under section 5 of Ordinance 17 of 1887."
The COLONIAL VETERINARY SURGEON, ON being asked to assess the rate of compensation nn- der the section in question, wrote saying "I am of opinion that compensation to the amount of $1,000 should be paid to the Dairy Farm Com- pany."
Mr. N. J. EDE minuted-I think the law
regarding compensation requires alteration. It is very unfortunate if a man's cattle get sick, but I do not see why the colony should bear the burden of it.
A short discussion ensued.
The PRESIDENT said the amount of compen- sation recommended by the Colonial Veterinary Surgeon was $1,000. That meant $200-or £20 -a bead,
The CAPTAIN SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE moved that the paper be re-circulated with any