November 26, 1898.]
THE NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA'S AUSTRALIAN LINE.
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CHINA ÓVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE RECOMMENDATIO S OF THE BRITISH RESİDANTS AT NEWCHWANG,
The following letter and resolutions were handed to Lord Charles Beresford by the Chair- Newchwang:- man of the meeting of British residents at
Newchwang, North-China,
7th November, 1898.
you herewith two copies of a series of resolutions My Lord, I have great pleasure in handing passed unanimously, after full and free discus- sion, at a meeting of British residents this morning. Further, I am instructed by the meeting to request you to be good enough to communicate one copy of these resolutions to Lord Salisbury with such comments as you may consider advisable.-1 am, obedient servant,
my Lord, your
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lightest draught steamers, True the visitor has the increased.benefit of seeing some beau- tiful hill scenery, and if he be a sportsman he has the chagrin of passing immense flocks o the numerous sand banks, This feeling, however, wild fowl-ducks, geese, und swan-darkening is scarcely shared by the captain of the vessel, who with the aid of a Russian sailor installed as a pilot keeps anxions watch ahead as the steamer following the narrow navigable channel passes from one side of the river to the other. The marks for the guidance of the pilot, but at night river is buoyed and there are numerous shore the ships have to anchor, There are two chief impediments-bars-(the "heaven-sent barriers of China") the greatest depth of water on each being 14 feet, generally less. When the town of Nikolaevsk, is first sighted the steamer is creeping along close under the northern bank and one naturally presumes the vessel will keep a straight course and anchor close off the town. But the river and the ideas of those early founders upset this calculation, for the ship steers off at an angle and is brought to an anchor a quarter of a mile from the opposite shore and over mile from the wharfs of the town! Why the builders of this Siberian collection of log cabins erected them ou such an inaccessible spot when numbers of more suitable sites are close at hand is unapparent; but in Siberia as in western Russia it ie not wise to reason. At Vladi. vostock for instance one may question why the roads, with the heavy vehicular traffic, are never macadamised, but are left to be sloughs of mud at wet periods and to provide whirlwinds of III. The right of owning land in the inter- dust in dry weather. Or with a sea frontage ior and establishing there filatures and other no system of drainage exists beyond that similar enterprises worked by foreign machinery. beneath the planks which perform a double duty IV. The right of working mines in any part of forming a footpath and covering an other of the three provinces where Chinese or otherwise open drain or dug-out channel intended to foreigners may or do work them, and on equally be one. favourable terms.
(Sd.) J. J. FREDK, BANDINEL,
Chairman of the Meeting. To Rear Admiral Right Hon. Lord Charles
Beresford, C.B.
The Nippon Yusen Kaisha's Australian line was inaugurated in October, 1896, under mail contract with the Imperial Government of Japan, and a monthly service has been main- tained since that day with the three steamers Omi Maru, Yamashiro Maru, and Tokic Maru, between Yokohama and, Melbourne, via Kobe, Shimonoseki, Nagasaki, Hongkong, Thursday Island, Townsville, Brisbaue, and Sydney. The development of the trade on the line and the necessity to accommodate the ever- increasing passenger and freight traffic have given rise to the building of new steamers better fitted for the service. The three sister ships Kasuga Maru, Yawata Maru, and Futami Maru, each 3,500 tons gross, have thus been ordered and were built on the Clyde with the object of replacing those above cited. Among the three new steel steamers the Kasuga Maru is the pioneer steamer of the new service, and may justly be termed splendid specimen of the latest maritime ar. chitecture. On 23rd Nov. she was in Victoria harbour while making her maiden voyage to Australia, and on the invitation of her owners she was visited by a large
and repre- sentative company, who inspected her and were loud in their praises of her excellent appointments. Mr. Mihara, manager of the Hongkong branch of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and Captain E. W. Haswell welcomed the visi- tors aboard, and were unremitting in their at- tentions to them. The vessel was gaily decorated for the occasion, and music, including selections from "The Mikado," was provided by the band of the Hongkong Regiment. The Kasuga Maru (a sketch of which is applicable to the other two vessels) was built under special survey to Lloyd's highest class, and fitted in accordance with the Japanese Government Rules, and British Board of Trade Regulations. The general dimensions are: Length, 375 ft.; breadth, 44 ft.; depth, 27.8 ft.; with a top-gallant fore- castle, long bridge, full poop, and partial shade deck. She has a cellular double-bot.om for water ballast, and the most modern appliances for the efficient working of the ship and her cargo, including refrigerating machinery and chambers, mechanical ventilation, steam heating, and a complete installation of electric lighting with duplicate dynamos. Luxurious accommo- dation has been provided amidships for the first class passengers, and as the steamer is intended to trade in tropical climates. the commodious staterooms with the latest improve- ments for the comfort of passengers have been placed on the upper deck, which admits of per fect ventilation. Above, on the bridge deck. are a spacious handsome dining saloon, a music or social hall and a smoking-room, in polished oak and fitted with swivel side-lights, electric faus, &c., the ventilating arrangements having had special attention. Overhead the boat deck forms an admirable shelter to the spacious pro- menade on the bridge, and on it are situated the chart-room, captain's and officers' cabins. The second class accommodation, which is scarcely inferior to the first, is situated on the poop deck, with a large dining-saloon, a com. fortable smoking-room and roomy staterooms; while spacious quarters are reserved in the 'tween decks for the intermediate and steerage passengers. A barber's shop and a surgeon's laboratory are likewise commodiously fitted. The machinery consists of a set of triple expan- sion engines, having cylinders 29 in.. 48 in., and 79 in., in diameter, by 54 in, stroke, with two double and one single-ended boilers for a working pressure of 185 lbs., and fitted with the most modern appliances for efficiency and economy. The Kasuga Maru has two masts and a single funnel. We hardly need to add that the cuisine is under able management. Only duly qualified surgeons, experienced stewards, stewardesses, well trained servants and barbers are employed on board these steamers.
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Copy of Resolutions unanimously adopted at a meeting of British Residents at the Port of Newchwang. North-China, on the 7th of November, 1898 :-
We advocate-
I.-Obtaining a British Concession on the North bank of the river, that is to say on the side opposite to the present town.
Telegraphic information has been received at Nagasaki from Korea to the effect that the man named Flanagan, arrested on suspicion of the murder of Mr. G. Lake at Chemulpo, had been found guilty and sentenced to penal servitude for life.-Nagasaki Press.
11-Forming the East end of the town with in the walls into a foreign (not necessarily British) Settlement.
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V. The maintenance of our right to inland navigation with power to stop at any town or village on the bank, equally with those enjoyed on any river in China.
VI-That the rights and properties of the Protestant missionaries and their couverts should be maintained intact according to the rights existing by the Treaty as heretofore of Tientsiu and the Edict of 1891.
VII. That a British Consular agent be permanently stationed in Kirin as formerly in Chungking.
VIII. We deprecate most strongly the au- nexation of this port and of the three provin- ces by any foreign Power, and we rely on the British Government to maintain the open door. IX. We object to the right claimed and exercised by the Russians, of landing railway material without examination or payment of duty; especially as this diminished the security ou which money has been loaned by British subjects to the Chinese Government.
X-We view with apprehension the establish- ment of Russian military posts throughout the provinces us at Kirin.
XI. That the Russian Government should be requested to appoint a Consul at this port in view of the large and increasing Russian in- terests, and the possibility of complications aris. ing which would demand immediate couference between Consul and Officials ou the spot.
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XII-That a copy of these resolutions be sent by the Chairman to Lord Charles Beres- ford, also another-copy with the request that he will communicate the same to Lord Salis bury, and that another copy be sent to Her Majesty's Minister at Peking.
J. J. FREDK. BANDINEL, Chairman of the Meeting.
ON SIBERIAN SHORES: NIKOLAEVSK,
Nikolaevsk may be accepted as a very good specimen of a new and gradually thriving Siberian township. On the eastern coast of Siberia it is entitled to rank next to Vladivostock in trade and influence. It is situated, by some curious freak of the original founders, one hundred and twenty-five miles north of Castries Bay, on the northern shore of the Amur River. To the uninitiated visitor there appears no reason why the township should not have been built a hundred miles nearer the month of the river and thus a very dangerons passage for even the
Bave
The visitor is all the more solicitous of that reason when he hears of an occasional pe. destrian disappearing momentarily and nuex- pectedly through a plank, grown rotten with service and inattention. Last year, it is stated, the foreign European inhabitants at Vladivo. stock petitioned the governor with a large sum of money to keep the roads in some sort of con- accepted with dua official dignity, and up dition better than at present. The sum was to now-twelve months later a few blocks of stone have been carted on to a quiet bye street: monuments of official energy. They reck not of sanitary, local boards, or parish councils sentative of H.I.M. must suit the people. Pro- on Siberian shores. What suits the head repre gress does not therefore proceed on wings. Yet the city of Vladivostock, built on the slope of the hills and overlooking the bay, is impressive. The houses are large, commodious, and well-built, and brick and stone edifices have risen in all directions on the ruins of the old log-houses-of former times, few of which remain. The busi uess is mostly in the hands of Germans and Chi- nese, Russian energy being chiefly confined to the naval and military services, and it is difficult to rub shoulders on the streets with a Russian who is not an official of some sort. At Vladivostock we become acquainted with the Russian soldiers Russian convict. Neither personally is im at Nikolaevsk we are introduced to the ex-
pressive, unless it be the amount of dirt each carries on an unwashed person. The soldier and the labonring-class of Russian in Siberia regard with a jealous eye their articles of cloth- ing, especially the boots, for it is apparent, following the example of the Chinese, they doff not their clothing from the commence- ment of winter to spring The Russian labourer in Siberia appears dirty, ill-fed and degraded. The morning tub is there unknown, clean linen is a luxury. The food of the soldiers and labourers appears to be coarse brown bread with tea, with occasional snacks of dried salmon The Chinese coolies appear to be of the lowest type of that class, and hail mostly from. Shangtung and further north The na tives of the coast appear to be a mixture of Mongol and Tno. Chy live in huts, are too lazy to build log cabins-though examples have been set them-to protect them from the winter's cold, and maintain an existence by hunting and Buaring fish, which are sold to European agents. They are insatiably fond of alcoholic liquors and many rich bargains in skins and But the natives are growing wiser as game spirits are told.
grows scarcer and they now realise the bet ter value of their goods. All the skins go