December 9, 1899.)
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE PIRACY NEAR FA TAU CHAU. the dead body of the third excise officer. The |
second excise officer, who had received several wounds, was found in the vil age. Several ar- rests were made, including two men who were found wounded in the legs by Evans's shots. They are now in Hospital.
PROCKEDINGS AT THE MAGISTRACY, At the Magistracy on Thursday, before Mr. Gomperts (Acting Police Magistrate). Chas Sam, Tai Tok, Cheung Chenng, and Tai King, all'of Hoi Fung, were charged with piracy near Fa Tan Chau it being alleged that prisoners were the men who attacked a junk and stole therefrom money and property to the value of $47 and shot one of the occupants of the junk in the thigh.
Mr. Bowley (Messra Dennys and Bowley, Crown Solicitors) appeared for the prosecution.
Chan Tung said he was a native of Pinghoi in the Kwai Sing district, on the coast between Hongkong and Swatow. He was steersman of the Kin Li junk, owned by Lam Kin Taoi, who was also the master. The junk had two masts and her capacity was over 100 picals. Since he joined her the junk had been engaged first in carrying salt and then she carried turnips from Pinghoi to Hongkong. The voyage from Hong. kong to Pinghoi occupied one day when there was a favourable wind. He remembered Satur. day, November 25th. They sailed out of Hanghom early in the morning for Pinghoi. There was no breeze that morning and they had to row. They went through Lyeemoon Pass. where they got sand for ballast. There were five men on board the boat including himself. After passing through the Lyeemoon A Kwan waE steering and witness was rowing together with the other three fokis. They rowed past the south point of Fa Tau Chau, where the Cus-
Subsequently Captain Superintendent May and Chief Detective Inspector Hanson proceeded to Ngeu l'au Kok for the purpose of investigat- ing the affair.
One of the men admitted to the Hospital has since died.
THE MISSING FUSILIERS.
THE VERDICTS.
On Monday Mr. Gomperta returned his ver- dicts as the result of his enquiries into the cir- cumstances attending the death of Privates Jordan and Jones, of the R.W.F., his finding being as follows.—
(1) That the body found in the harbour on the 18th November was that of Private 4,787 David Jordan, R.W.F. Death was due to syn- cope resulting on shock by a fracture of the base of the skull. There is no evidence to show how this fracture was caused."
on
() The body found in the harbour the 21st November was that was Private 4,888 Haring Jones, R.W.F. Death was probably due to drowing, but the cause of death cannot be determined by the medical evidence, owing to the body when recovered being far advanced in decomposition."
THE VICEROY.
THE ROBBERS DEMAND BLACKMAIL OF $300,000.
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and a hundred wounded. On the native side the loss was very heavy. The French carried back all the wounded to be treated in the hos pital in Haiphong.
On the 17th November the French released Captain In Yut-lau and his five attendants, but Chan Toatai and Colonel Chan Leang-kit and the other soldiers were still kept in custody.
Chau Tostai was sometimes compelled to wear on board the French gunboat a cangue of tin plates on his shoulders. The French decline to release him till he has surrendered the Magis. trate of Suikai, surnamed Li, who is alleged by the French to have have given assistance to the natives to fight against the French.
It is reported that the question of the de- limitation of the boundaries is progressing favourably, General Su being willing to comply with all the French demands.
THE SHANGHAI COTION INDUSTRY.
Messrs. Noel, Murray & Co., in their piece goods trade report dated Shanghai, 25th No- vember, say:
Referring to the letter written by a Times of India correspondent published in our last report, just to illustrate the spirit in which Indian Spinners regard the local enterprises here, we would point out to those gentlemen the utter unreasonableness of their expectation that the Mills here should think of falling in with their views and curtailing the output, so long as the raw staple is obtainable The
toms House used to be, and soon afterwards THE RWANGTUNG BRIGADS AND vindictiveness displayed by the Indian Mills in met a small boat at about 9 a.m. containing five men, who rowed up to thent and called out to them to stop rowing the men in the bost then oame alongside and told those on the junk to go down into the hold. It is reported from reliable sources, says the Just as they were about to go down the hold Chung Ngoi Ron Po, that some notorious rob- some of the men in the boat fired. Witaess bers have sent a letter to the Viceroy Tan was hit and became senseless. He was shot in Chang-lin demanding $300,000 as blackmail, the right thigh and had been to Hospital since, the money to be paid within this year at Shin- The ballet was extracted from his leg on Wed-hing, where the robbers will be present to re- nesday by the doctor, witness adding "The ceive it. If their request is not complied with, doctors are very clever." When he recovered the robbers threaten that they will use some consciousness he found himself at Shankwan.
way or other to take away His Excellency's That was about 11 am. He could not identify head. The old Viceroy, having been terribly prisoners. He identified some of the property frightened, has ordered over a thousand Hunan produced as his. They did not fight with the soldiers to be stationed round his yamen for his men in the boat because they had no arms on protection. It is said that the robbers simply board.
make a joke of the old Viceroy, for they know him to be perfectly useless.
Further evidence was taken and the prisoners were remanded.
SERIOUS AFFRAY ON THE MAINLAND.
AN EXCISE OFFICER KILLED.
On Tue-day evening Special Constable Evans, of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, proceeded with three excise officers in a boat from Kowloon City Police Station to the village of Ngau Tau Kok, which is about half-way between Kowloon City and Lyeemoon, for the pur oss of execut. inga search warrant for prepared opium. A house was searched and some opium found, and one man was arrested and taken charge of by Evans. On their getting outside the house a crowd of about 100 persons gathered together and commenced to stone the party, also attacking them with bamboos. The party got separated and Evans, after being hit with a stone, fired a shot in the air from his re volver. His revolver was then knocked out of his hand by a blow from a bamboo and the prisoner was rescued. Evans recovered his revolver, and being closely pressed fired on the erowd and retreated to the water's edge with the objest of gaining the boat in which the party had crossed over from Kow. loon City. The crowd drove Evans into the water, and the boatman, who had also been stoned, having disappeared with the boat, Evans reloaded his revolver and fired at the crowd and gained the beach again. Having exhausted his 12 rounds of ammunition he escaped with one of the excise officers to Kowloon City. A second excise officer found refuge in a house in the village.
On the matter being reported at. Kowloon City Police Station a party of police under Ser- geant Wright proceeded to Ngan Tau Kok. At the water's edge and in the water they found
swamping the China markets with Yarn at prices that the majority lose money on judging by the poor returns they make to their share- holders-is greatly to be desprecated, the prin- ciple of unknown to them. From a share list published live and let live," seemingly being
at the end of last month out of 72 Cotton Mill Companies the shares of more than two-thirds were at a heavy discount, and yet the sharehold- this cut-throat policy. But the time of retribu- ers allow the managers or agents to continue
tion is upon them, if the latest mail reports re- garding the poor out-turn of the Indian Cotton crop is anywhere near the truth. The crop for the coming season is estimated at one-half the bales, whereas the Indian Mills, and band Spind- average of the last three years, or 1,550,000
les in the country, consumed last year 2,063,000 bales alone, the export to Europe and the East amounting to 1,414,000 bales in addition! It seems plain then, these figures are correct, and they are certainly borne out by the Official re- ports, that the Indian Mills are forced to work short time, or shut up altogether, and therefore there will not be sufficient Yarn to supply the China demand, unless the Japan and Local On the 15th November a small number of Mills are able to make up the deficit, as there French marines landed and marched to the is no reason to believe that the Yarus re-export- interior. When they reached a village nameded from here this season have not been for Kongcha, the natives, all being well armed, legitimate consumption, but in spite of the en- sprang forward and fired on them. The French ormous increase in this respect the supply sent were completely surrounded. Two French to China from India is just 200/o'in excess of officers were killed and several marines were requirements. wounded. A French marine got through the surrounding force and ran back to get assist. ance, and about a hundred French soldiers were sent to the scene. When the natives saw the approach of this additional force they all made good their escape. The French then returned to the harbour and boarded the gunboat Kwong Yuk, where they seized Chau Tsotai, Colonel Chan Leang-kit, captain In Yat-lan, and a number of sailors, together with all the weapons and ammunition found on board. The said Chinese officers were detained on a French gun- boat.
A CHINESE ACCOUNT OF AFFAIRS AT KW \NGCHAUWAN.
The Chung Ngoi San Po publishes the following as the report current at Canton of the recent occurrences at Kwangchauwan :-
On the 16th November about a thousand French soldiers made an attack on a market town named Macha, where the natives had made every preparation for their defence. The French, seeing that the position was not favourable to them, left this place and turned their attack upon the villages Pakhum and Chakhum, where the natives again fought very bravely and successfully drove the French away. On their way back the French set fire to a number of houses in a village named Chanchuen, and a large number of women and children were barnt to death. While they were in the set of setting fire to the houses the villagers fired on 'them. Of the French about twenty were killed
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Our Mills have certainly had their share of reverses to contend against since they started, as did the Indian Mills, expecially as regards obtaining the raw staple, and this difficulty will no doubt be overcome in time ás it was in India. The improvement in the position shown to some extent by the annual accounts of the International Mill that have just been published, the last twelve months working enabling them to reduce the balance at debit of Profit and Loss Account by Tls. 30,356.11 and write off Tis, 25,000 for deprecia. tion besides, representing nearly 7 per cent, on the capital.
A local manager writes:-"The pessimistio views held by an Indian Mill manager should not be all wed to prejudice the shareholders of the Chinese Cotton Mills, as the drawbacks mentioned with regard to the work people are fast disappearing. This every manager here knew would exist for some time, knowing it was a question of training an agricultural into a manufacturing people, the majority of whom had never attended school or beu subjected to discipline of any kind. When these points are considered and that in 21 years these faults› have been eradicated and the work people every | day becoming more docile and expert në their
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