348
FEARFUL TYPHOON IN ANNAM.
OVER FIFTEEN HUNDRED LIVES LOST AT TOURANE.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND It appears that at about half-past two on Sun- change is the first instance of a party Ca day morning Mrs Crombie awakened her husbinet, strictly speaking, in the history of band and told him that someone had broken into the Japanese Government, almost all the the house. Her suspicions were roused at first ministers being the members of the Seiyukai by noticing that the light was out, and they were (Constitutional Political Association), organ- confirmed by hearing a bang in the front room. ised and presided over by the distinguish Mr. Crombie at once searched the rooms, ed statesman. How the reins of the Japanese but could find no one. He, however, missed a Government will hereafter be held, how the tiger skin and a telescope. He then dressed diplomatic complications will be solved, and how and reported the matter to Sergeant Ritchie, the Eastern (or rather Chinese) problems will at No. 2Police Station. The Sergeant at once be dealt with, may well call for the attention sallied forth with some lukongs and his dog. of the Powers interested in the Far East. The lukongs were placed around the premises, outside the shrubbery, whilst the Sergeant, Mr. Crowbie, and the dog investigated. They had not been beating about the bushes long before they started a Chinaman, who made for the highway and was promptly secured by one of the lukongs on watch. The man was taken down to the Police Station and at dawn the shrubbery was searched and the tiger skin and telescopes were discovered, together with several articles which Mr. Crombie at once recognised as belonging to Sergeant Major Wilson, who lives next door to him. Mr. Wilson's quarters are at present being re-painted, etc., and for the time being are unoccupied. Sergeant Ritchie and Mr. Crombie inspected them and found foot-marka on the wet paint all over the place. They invited the Chinaman whom they had found in the grounds to see if the prints correspond- ed with his feet. He at first showed a strong disinclination to submit to the test, but he was ultimately persuaded to do so, when it was found that his feet fitted the marks exactly.
Later on the police visited a room in Moon Street, Wanchai, occupied by the captured man and another coolie. Both the men's boxes were broken open and part of the stolen property, including some of Corporal Eddy's, found there- in. It should be stated that the men, whose names are Wong Hing and Wong Tung Sai, had been for some time employed as survey coolies, and had been working with Mr. Crom- bie. They were, therefore, well acquainted with East Block. In each case entrance seems to have been effected by means of the skylight.
As already stated, a considerable quantity of the stolen proporty has been recovered. The sewing machine was traced to a shop at Bon- ham Strand. Some money which was stolen, including some English gold coins, has, bow- ever, not been got back. Seven or eight dollars were taken out of the pocket of Mr. Crombie's trousers as they hung up in his bed-room.
The men were brought before Mr. Hazeland at the Magistracy on the 29th ult. and re. manded until to-day.
THE NEW JAPANESE CABINET.
From a despatch from Tokyo we learn that the Ministerial change has at last been ef fected in the Japanese Government, the new Ministry being organised, as had been expected, under the Premiership of Marquis Ito. The personnelle of the new Cabinet comprises :-
Premier, Marquis Ito.
Minister of Finance, Viscount Watanabe, who occupied the same portfolio in time of the Marquis's Cabinet previous to the late Yam- sgata Ministry.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. T. Kato, formerly accredited to the Court of St. James as Envey Extraordinary, and Minister Pleni- potentiary.
Minister of Home Affairs, Baron Suyematsu, ex-Minister of Communications in the last Ito Cabinet.
Minister of Communication, Mr. Hoshi, formerly accredited to Washington as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, and the admitted leader of the defunct Liberal Party.
Minister of Justice, Baron Kaneko, ex- Minister for Agriculture and Commerce in the last Ito Cabinet.
[November 3, 1900.
musketry, which throw them into confusion and panic, some being killed and some wounded. Many ran away, and others threw themselves into doop ditches. Upon learning of this catastrophe General Liu Pang Shing led his army to their rescue but before he arrived on the spot the rebels had fled to their mountain fastnesses. Ping Tam is not far from Waichow city, and as the inhabitants were panic-stricken in conse- quence of the disturbances, the city gate was closed for a few days. It is said that the rebels retreated to Sam To Chuk to muster a large force again to oppose the Imperial troops. The Acting Viceroy. Tak Sow, hearing of the repeated defeats of the Imperial troops, has ordered Gen- eral Chiang Wai Lam to take the On Yung regi. ments, and General Foo Chan Hoi, the late brigand chief, together with his A.D.C.'s, Luk Kin and Luk Hin, and his brigand-soldiers, to cope with the rebels, on the principle I suppose of "Set a thief to catch a thief."
WAICHOW REFUGEES AT CANTON.
In consequence of the Waichow rebellion, over a hundred refugees, young and old, male and female, speaking Waichow and Tong Kim dialects, have arrived at Canton shabbily clad and apparently in great misery. They have gone to the North and East gates seeking succour and accommodation.
PROTECTING THE NATIVE CHRISTIANS.
The French gunboat Vigilant returned from Shek Loong yesterday and related that the anti-Christian riots reported as having occurred there have been suppressed and some pecuniary assistance has been given by the local officials for the temporary relief of the poor persecuted Christians. The French Consul is doing his best to press the claims for indemnity on behalf of the native Christians, and it is to be hoped that ere long the matter will be settled to the satisfac- tion of all parties concerned.
A typhoon, as destructive in its results as any which has raged along the Annam coast within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, is reported to have swept across Tourano during the early part of last month, carrying all before it with relentless fury. The overland tele- graph wires having been blown down at the outset, and the cables disabled at a number of points along the coast, the barest details of the devastation and widespread misery among the Annamites have only just reached us, while ter were supplied to our representative yesterday some additional particulars regarding the disus- by the Captain of the steamer Progress, who has just come in from his usual voyage to Tourane and other coast ports. At a rough estimate, be- tween fifteen and sixteen hundred Annamites and foreign residents are said to have met a somewhat sudden and fearful death. The storm itself gave no warning, and although it con- tinued unabated in its fury for over forty-eight had been wrought by a wholesale sweep in one hours, the major portion of the destruction night of the paddy and rice-fields stretching over an area of nearly a dozen square miles. The initial blast of the wind took place soon after sunset, and by dawn the next day the lifeless bodies of peasants by the hundred were scattered over the fields and along the side walks of the streets, or bundled together in lots along the banks of the Tourane River, swept thither by the lash of the waves, and the swiftly ebbing tide. An eye-witness describes the sight as sickening, and states that when the tide flowed again during the next day the bodies of whole families of Anaamite fishermen were Reen floating in from the Bay beyond. The subsis- dence of the elements in Tourane was followed
raged from the 16th to the 18th October, and a few days later by another typhoon, which
extended to Quinhon, a port of three thousand inhabitants, and mostly fishermen and peasants. Here the former suffered the most for when the storm had wholly subsided it was found that not a fishing boat or craft of any description was intact. All were damaged beyond repair, and al- together, it is computed between three and five hundred lives were lost in Quinhon and the neigh-houses. bourhood. Information has been sent to Singa- pore, and by this time, it is hoped. the necessary help has boon received by the survivors of the disaster, while a telegraph boat has been dis. patched to repair the cable.
CANTON.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Canton, 25th October. THE PROGRESS OF THE WAICHOW REVOLT- DEFEATS OF THE IMPERIALISTS.
With reference to the Waichow rebellion, of which I wrote in my letter of the 20th ult., which was published in your issue of the 22nd, a certain person lately returned from Waichow gives the following details:-The headquarters of the rebels, he says, are at Num Shan, the men being scattered about in different encampments, some at Tam Sah, some at Ping Shan, some at Ping Tam and other places. It is not a fact that all of them refrained from pillage; some of them did rob, and whenever they came across anyone speaking Hunan or Manchu dialect they pro. ceeded to kill him, though those not speak- Minister of Education, Mr. M. Matsuda (ex-ing such dialects were treated leniently. A few Minister of Finance in the last Okuma Cabinet). The portfolios of War and the Navy stood out of the political whirl, it being almost impossible for party men to manage the affairs in these departments. It may be admitted that this
Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Mr. Y. Hayashi (ex-Minister of Communications in the last Okuma).·
days ago when the Imperial troops, under the command of Ma Wai Kee, went to Ping Tam to attack the rebels. The latter lay in ambush in the sugarcane plantations and as the Imperial troops were marching past discharged a volley of
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Canton, 25th October, 5 p.m.
AN IMPERIALIST VICTORY AT LAST. Later news has reached Canton to the effect that on the 20th instant, at 6 a.m., the Imperial troops attacked the rebels at Ping Tam, the fight lasting till noon. The Imperial troops were victorious, several hundreds of the insur- gents being killed, four or five of their loading officers and two generals taken prisoners. H.E. Wu, the Commander of the Imperial army, him- self took a sword and beheaded 60 to 70 rebels. He led his troops back to Hwang-Sha and re- ported his victory. The civil and military officials were much elated and congratulated him heartily.
As I write this I am told that the troops are coming back in boats towed by steam launches, amid a great firing of crackers.
Canton, 29th October. SERIOUS EXPLOSION,
The explosion behind the Viceroy's Yamien has killed seven or eight persons, and wounded over ten besides causing the collapse of several
PUNISHMENT OF THE CEMETERY
DESECRATORS.
To-day between 2:30 and 5 p.m. the Consular authorities, in the persons of their representa- tives, and the officers of the foreign gunboats, went to the Nam Hoi Magistrate's Yamen to witness the punishment inflicted on a fow culprits for desecrating the Protestant Come- tory near the Macão passage.
[FROM ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT.]
Canton, 29th October,
POWDER MAGAZINE EXPLOSION.
On the 28th inst. at about 6 a.m. a powder magazine was exploded at a soldiers' station in Hau-Lau-Fong Street in the vicinity of the Governor's Yamen. The station, together with soveral houses, was destroyed and five persons were instantly killed. A small boy who, hearing the accident, went to witness the scene, was also killed by the falling of a wall of one of the houses which had been badly shattered by the explosion. About ten persons were injured more or less severely. The noise of the accident was heard at some distance and many houses in the neighbourhood were damaged, the bricks and tiles being raised to a great height and falling back on the roofs through the windows. The Nam-hoi magis- trate proceeded at once with his yamen-runners to the scene of the disaster and gave orders for the burial of the corpses out of his own pocket.
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