May 4, 1901.]
vacate his office in the near future probably to accommodate his civilian successor under the Civil Government. By the way Mr. Carman, whose case was so widely discussed and universally condemned for a time, is still at liberty on bond, and it is generally believed that the matter, which was hailed as a howling sensation, will be quietly forgotten. THE PROGRESS OF THE COMMISSARY SCANDAL. The Commissary trials are proceeding slowly as the cases have been stubbornly fought by the accused men and numerous witnesses have been
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
NORTHERN NOTES.
373
mitted to have Aguinaldo on the witness stand | items:-Difficulty in raising loans; deficit in. has been forwarded to General McArthur. Mr. the revenue; and (3) indiscriminate demands by Gibbs also asks that General Pio del Pilar be each State department for larger expenditure.
The retrenchment scheme is not of a perma brought back from Guam to add his testimony, as the alleged murders were committed in a nent nature. It is only carried to the 37th year of Meiji, that is to say, three years hence. By district under his command and organisation.
that time the defloit accruing in the sinking funds, the extraordinary expenditures on ac count of the naval and military programmes, expansion, and other sources of exceptional out- Tlays will be stopped. Besides, the revenne will be kept up to the estimated standard by that scheme. In a memorial submitted by the Finance Minister, it is said that the raising of foreign loans is condemned for various reasons. He welcomes foreign capital should it make permanent home in Japan, but in other forms he is against it.
The following items are from the P. &
Tines of the 20th ult.:-
to
examined. As I mentioned in my last letter, have arranged to divide the salt revenue for time, which fact in itself strongly favours the
the common reports of the actual sum of money involved are very much exaggerated. The Com- missary Department does a business of $600,00 per month and the usual stock on hand is valued at $2,000,000. Owing to the tremendous acti- vity of the troops in widely scattered portions of the islands, the vast transportation department and the pilfering nature of the native labourers, there are splendid opportunities for leakage, and the Commissary officials have known for a long time that a big leakage was going on, but they could not catch the criminals. The case of the first non-commissioned officers, Commis- sary Sergeant Meston, has been concluded. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to dishonourable discharge, the forfeiture of his papers and two years' imprisonment. The trial of Lieutenant Boyer begins this morning and that of Captain Read on Monday.
WITNESSES FLEE FROM MANILA,
The Tartar General Tsongchi is stated Manchuria with the Russian Government.
A military official has memorialised the Court that the Chinese field force is still capable of resisting the Allies. The Empress Dowager
tore the memorial up in a rage.
Tho Je Je reports some Indian soldiers have been marauding in the village of Chang Chia- chuang, and when the gentry with the native police tried to stop them, they fought and
wounded some.
According to the same paper, the Chinese are complaining that Indian goldiers at the rail- way stations prevent them from going on the trains, and many Chinese have to bribe them heavily before they can get a passage. We suspect that the men so stopped are trying to get their rides for nothing.
CORRESPONDENCE.
[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.]
THE CARRIAGE OF PLAGUE-
BASKETS OVER THE FERRY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS.' Viceroy Lin has enlisted all the fishing junks
Hongkong, 2nd May. at the mouth of the river Yangtsze as naval SIR, I can corroborate the statement of reserve boats. His ostensible reason is to pre- your correspondent as to the carrying of vent them becoming pirates, but as the fisher-baskets of plague-clothing on board the ferry. men are expert seamen and divers, the Chih Pao opines he has them in view for defensive
purposes.
The Chinese have again broken out, appar. ently near Paotingfu, and again destroyed, the railway at Kan-pah-tien. They will not help the negotiations much in this way. There has been some fighting, and French and German troops have left for Paoting. Gen. Ma is re- ported to be threatening renewed hostilities.
An explosion occurred at the Cheng-ke ar- the day before yesterday at ten o'clock in the morning. Several soldiers and one officer are reported to have been killed, and many wounded. Three rifles were carried by the explosion as far as Li Hung-chang's residence: the old Viceroy was much startled.
Some of the principal witnesses have dis- appeared from Manila. One has made his escape to Australia and another one is heading for Japan. A good many arrests have been made in connection with these cases and some of them have been unnecessarily hasty, even approaching violence. One gentleman, who is, I believe, desired only as a witness, was taken away from his home in the evening by a soldier who ordered him to report immediately to the police headquarters, where he was released under 2,500 bonds; another was taken out of his office and marched off like an ordinary thug.sonal, Peking, now occupied by the Germans, Another man was arrested at a place of public amusement and very foolishly kicked up a row and resisted arrest, but he was landed in gaol and very promptly taught to respect the officers of the law. This last was Mr. Macondray, and after a trial by the Inferior Court he has been sentenced to thirty days in Bilibid Prison for resisting arrest and using violent language. Mr. Macondray has been in business in Manila for about two years and he is not ignorant of military law. should serve as a good lesson. The natives will soon begin to think that the American popula tion is made up of a lot of scoundrels and com- mon criminals. An occasional prompt investiga tion and punishment does more good as an object lesson to a turbulent public than a score of arrests.
.
His case
AGUINALDO REMAINS IN SECLUSION.
The ex-president of the Republica Filipinos is living quietly in an assigned residence near the Malacañan Palace, overlooking the Pasig River. His wife and children are with him
The condition of affairs at the Tong-shan pits is steadily improving and the water is slowly but surely diminishing in the workings. The pit at Linsi is being worked at full pres- sure and the output is close on four hundred tons a day. This coal is not being stacked but is finding its way to Tongku, although break of carriage and portage are necessary at Han ku bridge.
boats. I was waiting at the Ferry Pier on the Hongkong side when these baskets were brought ashore yesterday afternoon.
The usual jostling crowd of coolies and other Chinese occupied the whole of the pier space, while a few Europeans, including some ladies and children, struggled off the boat as best they could.
In the midst of the usual scrimmage up came the four coolies carrying the black plague- baskets, under the nose of the policeman on duty, and calmly pushed their way on to the Praya, rubbing against coal-coolies and Euro- peans alike, and nearly knocking one child into the water.
Is there no person in authority who can be hanged for things like this? Or does no one care? Are we to wait for a plague outbreak among Europeans before we stop this criminal carelessness and lack of supervision P
While speaking of this, I might mention the utter lack of control on the part of the police on the pier. No attempt whatever is made to protect women and children from the crowds of coolies in getting on and off the boats. Yours, etc.,
CIVILISATION.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE “* DAILY PRESS.'
Hongkong, 3rd May, Sir,- With reference to your paragraph of 2nd instant regarding the clothes of plague- infected people being carried by the Star ferry launches, will you please allow me a small
We understand that a telegram has been received from Bishop Scott to the effect that the Anglican Mission in North China will make no claims whatever, private or corporate, against the Chinese Government for the dreadful loss of life and property brought about by the recent troubles. Whatever we may think of this policy as a bit of worldly wisdom and he spends much time in reading the local those of us who know our good diocesan will space in your valuable paper to confirm
feel no surprise that he has taken such high ground and refuses to barter the blood of his martyrs for sycee. We hear the Bishop will not return till the autumn.
THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS
JAPAN.
the
statement of your correspondent? The clothes which your correspondent saw going over to Kowloon might already have been disinfected, but what I saw was clothes coming from Kowloon. These surely could hardly have been disinfected. With plague cases increas- IN.ing day by day in our midst this is certainly, as your correspondent said," an excellent means of spreading the disease." The Sanitary Board are working hard to prevent an epidemic, as witnessed by the fact that Sanitary Inspector Mills on hearing of a case of overcrowding in one of the coolie-houses made a raid on the house and chased the alarmed occupants to the roof of the house with the result that one of the ceolies fell from the roof and was killed. While these pongpans are carrying on things to such an extreme to prevent the plague from spreading, the Sanitary authorities are allowing
newspapers and studying English. He is fond of the American illustrated magazines and papers. There is a guard over the gate and two or three officers live in the house with him, but they are there more to prevent Don Emilio from disturbance than to limit his action. · He is quite at liberty, with but a few restrictions. The friends of General Luns, who was killed by Aguinaldo's order, are still loyal, and it is whispered about that when an opportunity offers they will work out their vengeance. On this subject as on many others, Aguinaldo declines to speak. He declares that he is wholly at the disposition of the authorities and that he has as yet formed no plans for the future. He knows little of current politics but he indorses the policy of the Federal Party and approves of the Philippine Commission. Colonel Mallory, who was recently in Hongkong, is the senior officer in the within. Mr. Hoshi is again heard in connection plague-infected clothes, &o., to be carried Aguinaldo residence.
Attorney Gibbs, who is acting for the defence in the of six Filipinos of the town of Taytay who are accused of murder, has called on the court to admit the testimony of Agui- naldo which he hopes will throw light on the customs and laws of warfare under the insur- gent government. His application to be par
The Nagasaki Press has the following The Ministerial crisis is fast becoming acute. The Finance Minister's reported resignation is regarded as a sign for the general break-up of the Ito Cabinet. Wholesale resignation is recommended rather for form's sake, and then the reconstruction of the Cabinet with Marquis Ito as Premier. Party politics is largely re- sponsible for the move, and danger to the Cabinet is essentially due to the disagreement
with the present troubles. He is personally opposed to Viscount Watanabe, Finance Minis- ter, and their viewsou economio questions are
a trenchment scheme is strongly objected to by the commercial world and a vast majority of politi cians. The Finance Minister's views on the situation are summed up in the following three
T
only in crowded ferry-launches bat crowded streets during the day time surprised that the "Star" Ferry Company th secretary of which is also member of the
resent decrepit Sanitary Board, are tolerating. his nuisance.
I trust that something will be done, and st once too, to stop this nuisance; the Banitary