134
before the Foreign Office.-I am, dear Sir, Yours faithfully,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX,
Becretary. Alex. J. Gunú, Esq., Secretary, Singapore
Chamber of Commerce.
REDUCTION OF THE PERIODS OF CROWN LEASES.
Colonial Secretary's Office,
Hongkong, 18th January. Sir-With reference to my letter No. 1879 of the 10th October last, I am directed to inform -you that after due consideration of the views expressed by you on the subject, the Secretary of State for the Colonies adheres to his decision that Lenses shall in future be reduced from 909 years to 75 years or at the longest 99 years.
Terms will be embodied in future leases that leases will be renewed to the original lessee or the assignes in possession at the time of the expiry of the lease upon such an advance in Crown rent as is justified by the then value of land aud without fine for a further period of 73 or 99 years, and that in the event of the land being resumed by the Government for public purposes compensation will be given. have the honour to be, etc.,
T. SERCOMBE SMITH, Acting Colonial Secretary. The Secretary Chamber of Commerce.
THE BANK OF CHINA, JAPAN, AND THE STRAITS CASE,
Peking, 31st December, 1898. Sir.-I am in receipt of your letter of the 8th instant, with reference to the judgment, recently given by the Shanghai Taotai in the case of the Bank of China, Japan, and the Straits Limited versus certain Chinese shareholders, and beg to inform you that I am in communication with the Tsungli Yamen and the Shanghai au- thorities on this question.-I am, Sir. Your
most obedient Servant,
(Signed) CLAUDE M. MACDONALD. R. M. Grey, Esq., Chairman, Hongkong General
Chamber of Commerce.
HONGKONG SANITARY BOARD.
On
the 16th February a meeting of the Hong kong Sanitary Board was held under the Chair- manship of the President (Dr. J. M. Atkinson, Principal Civil Medical Officer), there being
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
PRINCE AND PRINCESS HENRY
OF PRUSSIA.
THEY LEAVE HONGKÒNG FOR THE NORTH, T.R.H. Prince and Princess Henry of Prus- sia left Hongkong on the 15th February in the Deutchsland. On their arrival at Amoy they will be joined by the Gefion, which left Hong- kong on Tuesday. After a stay at Shanghai they will proceed to Kiaochau. The Geflon will remain at Kiaochau as receiving ship. The Princess will return home by the Prina Heinrich, which is due to leave Hongkong for Eu ope on the 26th of April.
1
Mh., J. J. FRANCIS, Q.C., ON SPHERES OF INFLUENCE AND T{"
OPEN DUO
On the 13th February Mr. J. J. Francis, QC, gave an address on "Spheres of Influence and Room at the City Hall. under the auspices of the Open Door." in the Chamber of Commerce
the Odd Volumes Society. There was a very large audience, the room being much too small Amongst those present were H.E. Sir Henry to comfortably accommodate all who attended.
Blake and Sir John Carrington. Mr. T. Jack- son occupied the chair and briefly introduced
the lecturer.
[February 18, 1899. land to prevent its falling under Russian influence. The lecturer then passed
consider the meaning of the phrase z
open door," which be enid was entirely commercial. as the phrase "sphere of influence" was wholly political. It had its origin in the phrase the opening of China," with which all were familiar. Briefly referring to the history of foreign interconreo with China and Japan. he said the opening ef China was almost exclusively the work of England, with some little assistance from France, but England had never sought to seonre any exclusive advantages in China, bat on the contrary had rendered all the assistance she could to other Powers in making their taties, and these were in the main modelled on be treaties with England! All the advantages secured by England enured to the benefit of othe and under alike. But recently China had granted exclu- the favoured nation clanse were su, Fed in by all
sive privileges to certain Power in breach of her treaty engagements. Up to the time of the China-Japan war in 1894 Eugland might
•
have enforced the policy of the open door in China, no by using threats at Peking, which was of no use, but by warning other Powers. as in a recent case elsewhere, that any en- croachment would be regarded as an unfriendly
con-
act. Now he feared it was too late, and that Mr. FRANCIS in his opening remarks said the spheres of influence were being created which Daily Press of that morning had furnished him would be transformed into spheres of action with an introduction. That paper emphasised and authority, the leases that had been acquired the danger of using imperfectly underst od catch-being converted into cessions of the leased phrases, as it termed "spheres of influence"
territory. England therefore had to and the "open door," by reference to an article in
sider how her i terests could best be conserved. the Times of the 9th January. He did not think day that there was no necessary contradiction It had been suggested to him only the previous the illustration applied; the Times, he thought, between spheres of influence and the open door had not misused the phrases, though it might In England the door was open to all, and be raistaken in its statement of the circum- stances as they existed at Shanghai. But foreigners could enter and buy land, opeń undoubtedly the phrases were frequently might be tha Powers that acquired territory mines, or engage in any form of industry. It misunderstood and misapplied, and as the subject matter in respect of which they were
in China would keep the door open 18 used and misunderstood and misapplied-our he very much doubted it. He also expressed it was kept open in England, but trade with China and England's position in China-was of the utmost importance to us and
the opinion that the creation of spheres · any mistake might have dangerous consequences, of the empire.
influence presaged the disruption it was as well to try and clear up the misunder- standings and avoid the mistakes. This was the object of his lecture. He did not propose to tell them, as the Daily Press said was his object, all about fluence and the open door. The subject was spheres of in-
of
The lecture was listened to with the keenest interest by the large audience.
Mr. GRANVILLE SHARP proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Francis.
The CHAIRMAN, in supporting the motion. said he believed that under Lord Salisbury the
also present the Hon. R. D. Ormsby (Director of much too wide. Neither could he uarrowly foreign policy of Fugland had been conducted ·
Public Works), Mr. E. Osborne, and Dr. Clark (Medical Officer of Health and Acting Secre- tary)..
THE PLAGUE AT CALCUTTA. Dr. CLARK read a telegarm dated Feb. 13th which said: "Another case of plague has oc- curred in Calcutta.“
the plague at FORMOSA,
Dr. CLABX presented a report as to the out- break of bubonic plague at Tainan, Formosa, showing that from Jan. 20th to Feb. 4th there were 55 cases and 36 deaths.
The PRESIDENT-There is no direct com- munication between Tainan and Hongkong?
DR. CLARK-No.
On the motion of the PRESIDENT, seconded by the Hon. R. D. OEMSBY, it was decided to sak the Government to enquire how many cases of plague have occurred at Tainanfoo.
-MORTALITY RETURNS.
The mortality returns for the colony of Hongkong for the week ended Feb. 4th show a death rate of 14.6 against 170 the previous week and 214 for the corresponding week last year. The rate for the following week was 16-6 against 230 for the corresponding week last
year.
The return for Macco for the week ended Jan, 29th shows 42 deaths.
This was all the business.
With the China New Year many changes, we understand, are taking place amongst the mandarins at Canton, at least sixteen vacating their present appointments ou transfer or re- tirement. The Namhoi Magistrate retires and is to be succeeded by Yeong Chan-wing, and the Punyu Magistrate it to be transferred to Swatow, his successor at Canton being Lao Ping-ful.
-
+
on principles of right and justice and that when we were considering our interests in the. Far East we must remember that the home Government had a very wide horizon to scan. beard Mr. Francis's lecture would feel the he He thought that every one who had
was much better informed on the subject thau before.
Mr. FRANCIS acknowledged the vote, and proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, which was heartily accorded, and the meeting terminated.
A FJURE GERMAN TRA
ASINTIC RÄILWAN,
¿
[CONTRIBUTED.]
defiue the terms; they were not capable as yet of accurate definition. They had only recently come into use, the open door quite recently and only in connection with China, spheres of in- fluence of less recent date and in connection with Africa. They were of such recent date that no authority on international law had yet discussed or defined them. The things the phrases substantially represented had always more or less existed, but the phrases themselves were new and applied to new circumstances. He proposed to deal first with the order of the two, spheres of influence. He then pro- ceeded to fanalyse the idea according to the dic- cionary meaning of the words, "sphere" beiug ta ircle, an area large or small, a field of action. and one of the meanings of fluence." ac- cording to a recent authority, being controlling or directing power not based upon authority. He explained the meaning of the phrase as applied to the conditious as they existed in Africa, namely, that two Powers, say England and France, having established themselves at neighbouring points on the coast. looked naturally to extending their jurisdiction to the Linterland, and in order to avoid collisions and for their mutual convenience they agreed that each should recognise certain areas Germany had for some time been looking under the influence of the other, that was,
round for a suitable place in China where she that each Power in its own sphere should be conld locate a combined naval and trading base free to do what it liked to the exclusion of all and doubtless her first intention was to negotiate ... interference on the part of the other. The with the Chinese Government in a friendly way phrase "sphere of influence "could not be applied for the cession of a port suited to her wants. to territories already in our possession or under The locality her agents first aspired to our protection, but only to territories which was Mirs Bay, thinking donbtless to draw were looked upon as spheres or future action away some of the German merchants who and from which it was intended to exclude the made the colony of Hongkong their head. influence of other Powers. This was illust-quarters to changing it for the new German rated by a reference to the case of colony to be established in the neighbourhood. Afghanistan, which was an independent Certainly Mirs Bay was an admirable place for kingdom, and recognised as such, but which locating such a port as far as depth of water, had been twice if not thrice invaded by Eng-shelter and facilities of approach and departure
ELL
Few of us realized when Germany occupied. Kiaochao, iu Shantung, that she was laying the foundation of a great Asiatic colony which would stretch from the Mediterranean to the Yellow Sea. Before proceeding with our main topic, the Trans-Asiatic railway running in temperate zone, it will perhaps be as well to look to the events which led up to the final seizure of Kiaochao.
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