the
February 25, 1899.1
hillside by unknown routes, the regular roads having apparently been purposely avoided, and in this way they gained a little, as while the gaze of the defence was to a great extent concentrated on the Pokfulam and other roads leading from the south shore, the enemy had been making their own tracks up the hillside. But they were soon discovered and the Field Battery of the Volunteers immediately opened fire on them with case shot and would have done great execution had the firing been live" instead of blank. The Mount Gongh section of the Field Battery, under Capt. Chapman, had a long engagement with a party of the Hongkong Regt, a well directed fire from the 7-pounders being maintain- ed, and ander ordinary circumstances, should think, the advancing infantry at this point would have been annihilated. The" fire" was sonnded at about 5-80 and the troops were soon ou the march back to Hongkong by different routes. The result of the operations will not be known until the umpires give their decision.
•
PAHANG MINING.
-
A VISIT TO PUNJOM.
WO
cease
Mr. Clifford in his residential report for De- cember describes a visit to Punjom, where he arrived on the 16th of that month. On the 17th he went over all the mines near Julis, in company with Mr. Bailey, the Manager, and was much impressed with the amount of pro- specting work which has been undertaken since Mr. Bailey's arrival, three months before. Hitherto the Punjom Company has been con- tent to work almost entirely at the August shaft; Mr. Bailey, however, has adopted a large and more long-sighted policy; he has already begun to test the value of numerons places in the vicinity of the shaft. Work is going on at Taugkong, at Manuk, at the Coffee Garden Mine, at the New Find above the Dam, at Selango', at. Gelompang, and at Suar; and of these, Tangkong, Manuk, and Snar give very encouraging indications. Suar is situated at a distance of about two miles from the camp. and the long water-race which skirts it, together with other indications, show that in the past it has been the scene of extensive Chinese mining operations. The valley is strewn with large quartz boulders, many of which assay from 15 dwt, to an ounce per ton, and there is more than one solid-looking onterop. Until quite re- cently the owners of the Punjom Concession appear to have been quite ignorant of the ex- istence of this place. It is impossible yet to express any opinion as to whether or no the Punjom Concession will prove to be of solid value; but under Mr. Bailey's energetic man- agement there can be no doubt that its possibi- lities will be thoroughly tested.
FOOTBALL.
SECOND ROUND OF SHIELD TIE.
A team representing the Hongkong V. R C. met the 25th Company of the Eastern Division Royal Artillery on Saturday, at Happy Valley, in the second round of the shield competition. Of the first half there is not much to record, for the play was very even on both sides, the advantage, if any, being on the side of the V. R. C. Those most prominent in this half were Robinson (capt.) and Cooper for the Artillery, and Seth, Henderson, and Tuohy for the Victoria Club, the last-named being particularly in evidence with sure kicking.
It looked as if the second half would be a repetition of the first, as play still waged even for half the time. Then the Artillery rallied and kept Brett, the goalkeeper, busy. On one occasion the civilians ought to have scored, for the ball was taken close to the soldiers' goal, aud Yule had no opposition save the goalkeeper; but Yule made a shockingly bad attempt to seare, kicking the ball to the left of the goal post when within a few yards of the goal's mouth. The Artillery secured the ball after the goal kick, and Robin- son get the best of Yule and then sprinted down the field at top speed and beat Brett, the ball going into the net amidst load shouting from those who wore the cloth of the Artillery. The V. R. C. made strenuous efforts to equalise, but the Artillery prevented them from doing so, and the army men left the ground winners
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
167
of the tia by one goal to nil. although the play was not of the high order | Yeijio Muru to take a quantity of sound cargo The mateb, date consignees the Nippon Kaisha sent the displayed by some of the other teams in the with which, as already intimated, she duly shield competition, was the most even yet played, | arrived. and caused most excitement.
The sides lined up as follows: 25TH CO., R.A,
|
V.R.C.
Wilkins Ritchie
Goalkeepers
Brett
Rose
Backs
Corveth Tuohy
Halves
Cameron Craig Howard
Darby Freuch Mullis
Forwards
Rose Sutton Yule
Henderson Seth
Wilkinson Brown Robinson Castle Cooper
SETILEMENT EXTENSION AT
SHANGHAI.
We understand that though it has not leeu officially communicated to the Consuls yet, the Viceroy of Nanking has agreed to the proposals submitted to him by the foreign representatives, through Tsai Taotai, for the extension of the General Foreign Settlements. Some conditions are imposed, of which we have not learnt the particulars, but it is settled that the enlarged Settlement will extend from the Bubbling Well to the Point and take in a triangular piece of country en- closed between a line drawn from the Bubbling Well to near the Margaret Williamson Hos- pital. The French have not got any extension. owing, we understand, to the strong intimation that the British Government has given China that it will not allow her to extend the boundaries of any settle meat bear Shang- hai in which any one Power claims to exercise exclusive jurisdiction. The work of Sir Claude Macdonald and Mr. Conger in Peking in connection with the extension of the Foreign Settlement has been greatly facilitated by the Japanese Minister's action informing the Chinese Gorerument that Japan withdrew her claims to a separate Settlement to which, under the Shimonoseki Treaty, she was titled. The thanks of the whole community are due to Mr. Byron Breuan, the British Consul-General, | and to Mr. John Goodnow. U.S. Con-ul-General. ¦ for the energetic manner in which they have pushed forward this matter with the Taotai and also to Mr. Odagiri, the Japanese Consul-General, who has, we learu, found ways and means of impressing upon his friends, the Chinese officials at Nanking and Shanghai, the expediency of meeting the demands for the extension of the General Foreign Settlement in a generons and conciliatory spirit. It is said that the Viceroy wishes the foreign authorities to allow a year to lapse being taking over the added area and also that certain concessions be made to Chinese railways passing though the Settlements, which reservations and advantages we take it are not in any way unreasonable.—China Gazette.
ILE FIRE ON HE “ YAMAGUCHI MARU."
The N. Y. K. steamer Yamaguchi Maru. from Seattle, which put into Oginohama on 27th January with the cargo in her No. 2 hold on fire arrived in Yokohama harbour on the 6th February at noon. The Yeijo Maru having on board the cargo discharged from the Yama guchi arrived an hour later. The Japan Gazette says it appears that the fire had been going on for two days to the knowledge of the ship's officers before land was reached. The vessel might have been taken into Miyako, bat, having in mind that no assistance of any value could be got from the shore there, Capt. Allen de termined, and most wisely as it proved, to stand on and get into Oginohama. Even after be arrived at Oginobama he had to fight the flames for days, success only crowning his efforts on the forenoon of the fourth, by which time much damage was done. It had been necessary to beach the ship, but after the fire had been got under she was floated again after some trouble and reloaded part of her cargo. To accommo-
SZECHUEN. REBELLION. AND ATTACKS ON FOREIGNERS.
Chungking, 26th January.
M. Fleury, the French Missionary who bas been held prisoner by the Rebel Chief Yu-Man. tsz for the last 200 days has reached this.city and was interviewed by the writer. He has had a trying experience, having been in daily expectation of death during the last seven months. He was led about by the Rebels and saw the houses of Roman Catholics burned and lives taken of these who would not renounce their fuith. Finally when Yu Man-tee was surrounded and hard pressed by the Imperial troups, the i ebel Chief said he might go, and so he was delivered up and brought by a strong guard to this city. The Imperial troops are now barn. ing and destroying the villages that gave food and shelter to the Rebels, but the obief is nowhere to be found, and it is alleged he is concealed in
one of the coal pits. The country is still in a very dis turbed state and travelling is dangerous.
The Rev. Mr. Parsons, of the C.I.M., while travelling from this city to Pao Ning-fu, was attacked yesterday morning by the local militia at Tu Tob, 80 li North of this and on the banks of the Kialing River. The boat in which he was travelling was Loarded by those armed men who threatened to take his life with their spears and swords, and bis ervant, who sought to protect him, had the four fingers of his hand cut off, and is now himself missing. Two of the Tsai ren, escorting Mr. Parsons, stood faithfully by him and tried to ward off the blows aimed at him, but finally Mr. Parsons leaped overboard and seized a sedan chair, which was floating in the water, and he was after- wards picked up by a Chinese gunboat. The en- raged militia threatened to attack the gunbout and only desisted from the attempt en a thread to tire being made by the ecupants of the gun. beat. This boat then took Mr. Parsons back to Chungking, travelling all last night and ar riving at this city this morning.
This afternoon a report reached the city that Captain Pottinger's Railway Survey party had been attacked near Kiang Chin Haien, and the boat in which the two Indian kurveyors were travelling had been broken, but as this is only from a Chinese source we do not attsch the
sume importance to it.
We have just bad news of another Roman Catholic Mission house having teen turned down by the scattered rebels at a place 25 miiles West of this city.
We would suggest that H.M.B. Woćdcock proceed West to police the Upper River without delay.
French Consul Haas has louched Chentu, where he is negotiating for a settlement of the enormons French claims.—China : Gazette correspondent.
TE RAILWAY WAR AT PEKING.
Private advices from Peking assure us of the culmination of the quarrel between Hu Yü-fên and Chang 1, or, as he is better known. Chang Yen-mao. Hu, as our readers know, has Leen the Director-in-Chief of the Imperial Chinese Railways, and as such has been subject to the endless intrigues, conspiracy, and jealousy inevitable to the head of a great spending department. Mr. Hu perpetuated the policy and system he found existing on his accession to office; he left matters of con- struction and maintenance to the Engineer in-Chief, Mr. Claude Kinder, under whose able direction all the existing railways have been admirably and most economically built, Mr. Kinder's system has been simplicity itself, vis, all material to be put up to tender; cœteris. paribus the lowest tender to be accepted, under financial guarantees that it can be fulfilled. This has answered excellently up to date as China is concerned : the material of the reada has been obtailed at a mimimum expense, mileage cost comparing favourably with any rail- way in the world. On the only occasion this pro- cedure was over deparated from the results were
far