510
THE CHAMBER TO THE ACTING COLONIAL |
SECRETARY.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong, 5th June, 1898.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
still remains. No certificate is issued unless a bond for $500 has been entered into by a regis- tered householder of the colony as a guarantee of the good faith of the emigrant.
POPULATION,
The following is the estimate of the number of the population of the colony on the 30th June: -British and Foreign community, 13,700; Chinese, 235,010; total, 248,710.
Sir, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your despatch of the 13th inst. (No. 959) transmit- ting for the information of this Chamber copy of a despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies notifying the appointment of Sir Alfred Dent to be a member of a Committee to consider the question of the Indian Currency. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX, Secretary. To Hon. T. Sercombe Smith, Acting Colonial 1896.
Secretary.
THE PLAGUE,
The number of cases of plague reported last week was 15 and the deaths 12. The daily figures for the present week are as follows:-
Cases Deaths.
June 19th
20th
17
21st
19
22nd 23rd
THE REGISTRAR-GÈNERAL'S
REPORT.
The report of the Registrar-General for 1897 is published in the Gazette, and from it we make the following extracts :-
WOMEN AND GIRLS PROTECTION ORDINANCE.
The number of women and girls detained during the year under Part II of Ordinance 9 of 1897 was 255, an increase of 15 ou the uumber detained in 1896 and of 69 on the figures for 1895. The number of girls under the protec tion of the Office under section 25 of the Or- dinance is 43. 104 women and girls wereo re- ported to the Po Leung Kuk as having disap- peared in Hongkong; 28 of them were subse- quently recovered. Many of the married women reported as missing, no doubt, had their own reasons fer leaving their homes.
I regret to be compelled to again call attenl tion to the large number of " sly" brothels, which will, I fear, coutinue to increase unti- steps are taken to deal with this evil. The Chinese are most anxious that something should be done to remedy the present state of affairs, which they complain is a great nuisance to res pectable residents in the colony and acts as & deterrent to the increase of Chinese family life in Hongkong. There were 424 warrants issued during the year under Section 30 of Ordinance 9 of 1897 to search sly brothels," and 25 girls were rescued by these means.
EMIGRATION.
was
The number of female passengers and child. ren examined at the Emigration Office and allowed to proceed to their destination 8,501 in 1897 as compared with 8,686 in 1896 and 11,008 in the previous year.
The figures for 1894 were 6,455 and for 1893, 9,109. 1897 thus appears as an average year though there is a slight decrease under the importaut heading of Emigration to the Straits Settlements.
CERTIFICATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
In 1896, the Registrar General undertook the issue of Certificates of Identity to Chinese of the "exempt class" proceeding to the United
States of America. A certificate contains
a general description of the holder giv. ing his name, age, profession, height and noting any physical peculiarity he may posses, A photograph of the holder is attached to the certificate, which beras on its face a statement that he is not a labourer and is entitled to enter the United States of America under the Treaty between that country and China, dated 8th December, 1894. A fee of $3.00 was originally charged for each certificate issued and the pro-
MARRIAGES.
The number of marriages solemnized during the year was 93 as compared with 71 in 1896. The number of mauringes between Chinese in Victoria on the occasion of which permits to fire crackers were issued was 251 as against 207 in
BIRTHS AND DEATHS.
The births among the British and Foreign Community wore 243 compared with 255 in 1896, and the number of births registered as having occurred among the Chinese community was 1,125 as compared with 978 in the previous year There were 17 prosecutious under the Ordin- auce in 1897, under the followings:-Unlawful removal of dead bodies, 14 cases; Death, failing to report, 2 cases; Death, wilfully giving false in- formation of, I case.
The number of deaths in the British and Foreign Community was 204 as compared with 253 in 1896; among the Chinese 4,484 as com- pared with 5,607 in 1896; of these 19 died from plague. 174 of the deaths among the British and Foreign Community and 3,033 among the Chinese were certified to by a registered Medical practitioner or were the subject of a Coroner's enquiry. The following table shows the number of deaths and the death-rato per 1,000 during the last seven years.
British and
Foreign
Chinese Total
1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897
.18.20 17.37 17.97 23.28 17.84 19.91 14.89
24.18 21 30 22.03 30.42 21.92 24,75 19,08
23 90 21 18 22.71 30.11 21,73 24,48 18,8g
EXHUMATIONS.
137 permits were issued to exhume human remains for removal to China or for re-burial in the colony.
NIGHT PASSES.
The Regulation of Chinese Ordinance 13 of 1888, section 30, required all Chinese out at night to be provided with passes between 9 p.m. and sunrise unless other hours were fixed by Order in Council.
#
I pointed out in my annual report last year, quarterly passes are now issued to the extent of fourteen or fifteen thousand, and as there is no means of detecting the transfer of these passes to persons who are not really the holders of them, there appears to be a danger of the pass becoming a protection for, rather than a safeguard against, persons on evil bent."
After a full consideration of all the circum. stances, it was decided so to modify section 30
of Ordinance 13 of 1889 as to authorize the Governor to dispense with night passes where such a course could be adopted without pre- judice to the safety and well-being of the com- munity, while at the same time reserving to the Governor in Council the power of enforcing of the carrying of night passes in emergency. This Ordinance was in force dur- ing almost the whole of the past year, and the Chinese have been allowed to go abroad at night without passes. The Captain Superintendent of Police reports that the new Ordinance bas not led to that increase of crime which was
anticipated in certain quarters.
TUNG WA HOSPITAL.
case
Hospital, to which reference was made in the The changes introduced into the Tung Wa last annual report of this Department, have resulted in greatly improving that Institution. This improvement has been frequently com- mented on by the Visiting Justices of the Peace. There is, however, still room for further im provement which there is every reason to be lieve will be effected by the Directors of the Hospital without unnecessary delay.
The Nagasaki Press of the 18th May says:-- All the vessels of H.M.S. ships in port had
(June 25, 1898.
· AFFORESTATION IN 1897.
Mr. C. Ford, Superintendent of the Botanical and Afforestation Department, in his report for . last year says:-
The Superintendent was absent on leave from March 19th to November 14th, during which time Mr. Tutcher, the Assistant Superintendent, acted as locum tenens, and I am pleased to say he discharged his duties satisfactorily.
Planting operations for the year were com- pleted before I left for England in March, the. season having been favourable for early work. The total number of trees planted was 26,066.
Alterations and improvements of roads and the extension of recreation grounds in the Happy Valley necessitated the transplanting of 46 large road-side trees; most of these trees were of great age and about 30 feet Ligh; the opera- tions were successful in all bat four cases.
About 800 feet of the road on the eastern side of the recreation ground extension was planted with young trees of camphor and Albizzia. A hedge of bamboos 2,000 feet in length was placed along three sides of the recreation ground.
Mr. William Fawcett, M.A., Director of the
for October, 1696, refers as follows to a com. Botanical Department, Jamaica, in his Bulletin
munication from a late celebrated botanist:-
14
Baron Sir F. Von Mueller, the veteran Government Botanist of Victoria, who has done so much for the economic botany of the world, sent to the Director in April, 1895, seeds of a Melaleuca (M. leucadendron), to which he
thus refers:-This tree should become of the
utmost importance also to the Western Hemis- phere. As a tropical tree, fit to grow in malarial swamps, and containing in its foliage much antiseptic and antimiasmatic oil, it deserves your special attention. It will grow where no Eucalyptus could be reared.
This tree was introduced to our gardens, where it is an ornamental object, many years ago, and last year I had seeds collected from which about 2,000 seedlings were reared; these have been planted this year in the vicinity of Kennedytown Hospital.
The late Baron Sir F. Von Mueller had rcoresponded regularly on botanical subjects and exchanged seeds, &c., with this department for a great number of years, and to him, I believe, I was indebted for the seeds from which our original trees were raised.
The exhaustion of soil in nurseries owing to repeated cropping and the removal with the trees of a portion of soil during many years renders it much more difficult than formerly to rear trees for planting, and the rapid absorption of lands, previously under cultivation, for other public works and industries has left very little suitable land available for tree nurseries, so that it is impossible to obtain desirable change of
land.
Plantations in 13 localities were thinned by the removal of 23,444 trees.
Illicit tree-cutting greatly increased in the past year, 1,961 trees having been cut. The number of convictions obtained was 59. This branch of work formed the subject of a special report in C.S.O. No. 254 of 1898 where sugges- tions were made for action which, it is anti- cipated, will have the effect of checking the destruction of trees.
Grass fires were again less numerous and des- tructive; there were only 15 fires, and trees were destroyed in only four cases, the total number being 1,185.
THE WIFE MURDER AT PRAYA WEST.
AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY.
At the Magistracy on Saturday afternoon, before Commander Hastings, Wan Heung was charged on remand with the murder his wife in Praya West last September. Prisoner was
undefended.
coeds carried to the revenue of the colony. their flags flying half-mast owing to the sad 1897, 1 was living at 151, Praya West, on the
During the course of 1897, applicants for these certificates became so numerious that the fee was raised to $5.00 in June and to $10.00 on 1st August. The number of emigrants still in- creased so rapidly that the fee was again raised on 20th September to $25.00, at which figure it
death of William Evans, the gunner's mate of H.M.8. Grafton, who committed suicide by shooting himself at noon yesterday. Deceased was 38 years of age and ranked as a first-class petty officer. A Coroner's inquest will be held åt H.M. Consulate to-day at 9 ́a.m.
Yip Chan, wife of Lo Chun, a hawker living at 250,, Queen's road, said-On 18th September, The floor was divided into six: onbicles. I lived in the end one. At 7.30 p.m., first floor.
the cubicles. I saw deceased Chan Sze Kiu, on the 18th inst., I was in the passage ontside the wife of the defendant, como apstairs. I had only known deceased a few days in that