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Kwang Tang, Kwang Si, Tonquin, and other places as at present-all of which are ander foreign control
MARKETS.
In previous reports, I have from time to time pointed out the urgent necessity of providing increased market accommodation, but as yet without any result.
In a letter to the Board, dated December 20th, 1899, I pointed out the necessity of a market for the wholesale and retail dealers in poultry and fresh fish, recommending that a site be retained for this purpose on the Praya Reclama. tion in front of the present Central Market.
The proposal was adopted and forwarded to the Government.
FOOD STUFFS,
During the past five years the price of all. food has been gradually advancing until st the present time nearly every article consumed by both Europeans and natives shows an increase. of at least 100 per cent, and in a few instances
much more.
The present high price of provisions may be partly due to the high rents which are paid by many stall-holders in the various markets. For instance, in the Western Market two stall-holders pay $75. and 847.50 respectively per month for two beef stalls, the dimensions of which are only 6 feet by 3 feet. A pork butcher in the same market also pays $70 a month for a stall of similar dimensions.
Many of the shops and stalls in the other markets are rented in a like proportion. Al- though I believe the cost of erecting the Western Market in the first instance did not exceed $9,437.12, yet, during last year, the revenue derived from its stall rents amounted to no less than $23,465.64.
MARKET COOLIES,
THE HONGKong weekLY PRESS AND
These coolies are still underpaid, and conse quently I experieuce great difficulty in obtain- ing suitable men, good ones simply engaging | themselves temporarily, and then passing on to more lucrative employment outside I have repeatedly pointed out the wisdom of paying these coolies slightly above the ordinary market rate in order to obtain good men who would take an interest in their work, and remaiu some
length of time in the Government employ, in- stead of joining for a week or two as at present and then leaving to better themselves.
THE HARBOUR OF MASAMPO.
Mr. J. N. Jordan, British Cousul General at Seoul, who recently visited Masampo, describes the harbour as follows:-
-MANILA
[PROM OUR CORRE-PONDENT.]
THE COMING OF THE OJMMISSION-AN
OVERWORKED ADMINISTRATION.
Manila, 10th April.
Judge Taft as president, and the recent publica- The coming of the new Commission, with
have placed matters on a different basis and tion of a new system of municipal government, infused new life and enthusiasm into a much werried and somewhat stiff-necked administra- tion. I stiff-necked not in the
say
extreme
[April 21, 1900.
Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon his work here, and yet. I am sure that the majority of thinking people will gladly welcome his sno- cessor and look forward enthusiastically to the new possibilities and the new regime.
CANTON.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Canton, 14th April. Of the four ancient classes, the literary or of. ficial, the agricultural, the mechanical, and the mercantile, the agricultural takes the second meaning of the word, but rather as indicative
place i importance. So on the 9th ult., bé- of a kind of solidity, of a state of affairs brought chang and all the principal Chinese officials
ween 8 and 9 a.m., H.E the Viceroy Li Hung-> about by routine and red tape during nearly
went in court dress by chair to the temple of two years of the hardest kind of drugery, in which laws were often made and rulings given
Shen Nung beyond the east gate, and worship- where mature deliberation
ped the patron saint of agriculture and the Civil matters of every conceivable descriptionceeded on to a bamboo stage lined with flags on was impossible. spirits of land and grain, after which they pro- have been adjusted and certainly more compli cated cases then those met in the Philippines
do not exist.
The time has come when there must be many chauges; demands are coming in every day from all quarters for modification of the laws, adjust- ment to circumstances and the establishment of precedents in new sets of circumstances. The present administration has handled the con- ficting condition most ably, but at the same time the whole system has grown into ruts and routiue and has been so occupied with new questions, that little time or inclination can be found to bring about changes. To begin with, its procedures are essentially military, and all who have any acquaintance with military affairs must know the tremendous aversion that is manifested toward changes, aud also the endless complications and red-tapeism that have to be overcome before alteration is
effected. Rulings which were given a year ago, under which things have been existing since that time, are no longer convenient and often unjust, as the conditions and circumstances have vastly changed. Manila itself is held in check and retarded in many ways by the back of the necessary legislation and adjustment.
Thus it is that in view of the many changes that are expected to result from commission, e nsiderable enthusiasm is mauifested. I have heard an officer of high-rank say- "I myself feel that perhaps my removal for a time at least, with substitu ion of a new man, would be productive of good results. Much as I like my work and am interested in it. I feel this to be true. complex questions tends to narrow any man, Months of grinding and studying over
and unless he is given a change he is not able to produce such good returus.",
two sides and seated themselves. Then came an old man leading an ox to the front of the stage followed by two husbandmen carrying a pair. of boes and two sets of harrows, and twelve The Provincial Governor, the Tartar general, boys representing the signs of the Zodiac. the Judge, and the magistrates descended from the stage, and assisted at the ceremony of tilling and harrowing by handling the hoes and har rows and scattering seeds, while the twelve boys sang songs to the accompaniment of music. This ceremony of agriculture is performed once a year by the officials three days after the tomb- festival.
A Bureau of Commerce is institut d by order of H. E. the Viceroy Li Hung-chang, of which the provincial Treasurer and the provincial Shoucho, and Wong Chun-shjen, alias Chee Judge are presidents, while Lao Hok-shan, alias
Chien, are appointed directors. These two gen- tleman are well known to most of your readers. The latter was once a president of the lekin bureau and secretary and adviser on foreign affairs to the 'late Viceroy Tan; the former was a monopolist of the Wai-shing lottery, and on account of money trouble had to leave Cauton for a few years, Of late he has ! been showing himself pretty prominently and taking an active part in the case of King Lien- ·- shan at Macao. The bureau is in the princely mansion of Lao Hok-shun, the finest building in Canton. As a preliminary measure it is to take over from the Shan How Cook (the Board of Reorganisation) the business of issuing li censes for coal, licenses for steam-launches to take boats in tow, and all questions between merchants and officials are to be submitted to it. This will offer many chances for the officials to make money.
As a rule with the Chinese officialdom, wherever an official is degraded or even ignominiously dismissed for an offence, he get himself reappointed to another position, or can always manage by bribery or otherwise to
sometimes to be reinstated
The idea is undoubtedly correct and applies not only to the officer who uttered it but to have told heavily against many of the heads of many others. The rigours of a tropical climate
the administration, while the work both in more arduous than the home routine. A large large and powerful clans, Lum, Sew, aud character and quantity has been and is far
In the district of Houngshan there are three percentage of the governmental corps is tired-Lee. Lum is the richest and most powerful of and worn and stiff. The fresh blood and energy that is needed to wrestle with the unusual work is not there and results are not up to possibi-
lities.
f
INCESSANT WORK LESSENS RESULTS.
Douglas inlet, which forms the entrance to the har our of Masampo, lies between the two large islands of Kojedo and Tondaisan, and is about five miles in breadth. It is divided into three chanuels by Cone and Taipong islands, all of which contain abundant depth of water and ample space for the largest ships. Masam- po contains a population of about 2,000 people, with a monopoly of filthy surroundings out of all proportion to the number of its inhabitants. If its commercial value is doubtful, the import- ance of Masampo as a barbour can hardly be over-rated. High naval authorities of various nationalities agree in considering it one of the finest in the world, and some would even go the length of denying that it has any superior in
Sundays, holidays, holydays, bank holidays the possibilities which it affords for naval pur-
and eve. other day, the machinery of the go poses. The special feature of the place would erneut is at work; it never stops and much seem to be the uniform depth of water-six to
of it runs through the night. Civil questions seven fathoms and excelent holding ground are rapidly overtaki gand subordinating mili- found everywhere in the large expanse of land-tary affairs and the problem is too large, too locked water that lies between Sir Harry Parkes Sound and the gate below Masampo Reach. The area of the Settlement is about 60,000 square metres (150 acres), and the situation aeems to be admirably adapted for commercial purposes. containing abundant good sites for business and residential quarters.,
Among the arrivals by the Japan we note the names of Lady Carrington, who has come out to rejoin her husband, Sir J. W. Carrington, and Miss Carrington.
The number of visitors to the City Hall Library during the week ending 15th April included 310 Europeens and 116 Chinese; the Museum was visited by 133 Europeans and 2,042 Chinese.
intricate and too chaugeable for the military administration. Matters are constantly gravi- tating in the right direction, as they must ne- cessarily do under a just and wise government, but when the trained and qualified agents for this profession come here and begin work, pro- gress will be rapid. The proposed cha ges will advance the work of reconstruction six months at least
GENERAL OTIS TO RETURN,
to America in a short time after the new com- It is probable that General Otis will return
mission arrives. He has been rounding up his work and preparing for any changes! As long ago as the 1st of January he made it known in an interview that he was thinking of leaving the Philippines if it would be convenient to the Washington Government.
|
the three, numbering over several thousand olaus men, while Sev is second and Dee third in. importance. Amongst these tribes of mixed characters there must be plenty of thieves, rogues, and vagab buds. Ou the 3rd of March last a sailing vessel, the Sun Cheong, left Hong- kong fully laden with a cargo of rice for Heung• . shan. When she reached Taiching, about thirty vagabonds from the village went on board and carried away all the rice and sold it openly in the market place for $2 a picul. The olan of Lum was contesting with that of Sew in buying at cheap bargains, while Lee, being
weak, did not take in part in it, for fear of trouble. he owner of the cargo. oame to Canton and prosented a petition to the Viceroy, who ordered 300 soldiers to be sent there on the 10th ult., and compelled the elders of the two clans Lam and Sew to produce the ringleaders or any person connected with the rob- bery. The soldiers went and established them- selves up in the ancestral temple of the Lum. clan. As it is not large enough to accommodata the whole lot of them, part of them had to live in mat-sheds, their food and quarters being provided by the elders of the two clans Lum and Sew nutil they have given up the offenders.
On account of many thefts and robberies Canton large number of soldiers and watchmen
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