480
CANTON.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Canton, 9th December.
WINTER.
Canton has been suddenly overtaken by winter, and the bulk of the population is greatly increased by the wadded coats it has assumed. Being dry cold it has not been felt as severely as if the air had
been damp. The night of Wednesday-Thursday was the coldest, and a beggar was found in the streets the next morning dead of coll and exposure. No official inquest or enquiry is made in such circumstances, but the neighbours, unless a benevolent association can be persuaded to do it, subscribe to buy a coffin, and the funeral is performed as expeditiously as possible.
THE SHOE. STRIKE.
Judgment was delivered this week by the magistrates in the case of the strike in the shoe-trade. It will be remembered that the craftsman's guild demanded advance
All
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
done at all. Followed some wrestling and soine vaulting, in which for want of a wooden horse a real one was substituted. Two men held the head and two the hind legs of the animal, A review of children, the bannerman of years to come, finished the day's proceedings.
The second day was of the nature of a sham fight. There was much marching and retiring, blowing of trumpets and conch-shells, and firing of very ragged volleys. The bright uniforms made a pretty sight, and probably
even
their commanders did not take the manœuvres very seriously. Finally they ranged up in two lines and bombɩrded each other at a distance of fifty yards. The soldiers lovled and fired into the air with great rapility, and in a quarter of an hour a very satisfactory amount of gunpowder must have been burnt.
CANTON'S ARTILLERY TRAINING.
[December 16, 1901.
passed along and, seeing the basket, picked it up and slung it on his carrying pole. His way took him past the husbandsman's house. He was anxiously expecting the return of his wife, whose prolonged absenca made him very solicitons.
Seeming to recognish the basket which the pedlar carried, he questioned him where he got it and, on being informed, suspected foul play and requested the man to accompany him to the place. On arrival there they instituted a search and found the woman at her last gasps.
Previous to her death, her husband asked her by pointing at the hawker if he had committed this crime, which the woman by a movement of her hand negatived ; subsequently thereupon she moved her hand over her head, indicating thereby the act of shaving, and as the heads of nuns are clean-shavoj, the farmer, who had seen the nuns pass his
perpetrators of this outra.e. The matter wa instantly reported to the resident Shien, who sent runners in pursuit of the nuns, who were intercepted as they were crossing over the river. the Shien they admitted Brought before BESD.
everything, and after a brief trial were found guilty and sentenced to the most coudign punish- ment known in the Chinese Empire, to wit, lengchi.
of 5 lie per pair, and the masters' ciation, not being strong enough to with- stand them, appealed to the officials. Their decision grants the men a rise of 3) lie per pir, and proclaims that any who now refuse to work and attempt to create further agitation will at once be arrested. A strike has lately been threatened by the makers of pens, but the masters have granted all the men's demands, a rise of 20 per cent, and have reimbursed them- selves by correspondingly raising the price of
pens.
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR LI HUNG-CHANG.
On Tuesday the memorial service ordered by the Emperor for Li Hung-chang took place. The ceremony was dignified and not marred by the squalor which spoils so many Chinese solemnities. All arrangements were in the hands of the Nam Hoi and Pun Yu magistrates, and the procedure was based on the worship of the Imperial tablet performed at the New Year. The place chosen was the Government Printing Office, the reception-hall of which was decorated for the occasion. Every official in the province had sent a scroll with a suitable inscription, such as "a great man is dead," Chinese and foreigners alike respected him," The Bismarck of China” etc., and these were hang round the hall and in the passages by which it was reached. In the hall there was an altar bearing the tablet of the dead man with his posthumous name of "the learned and loyal." Two red candles burned in front of it and sacrifices were laid out.
16
In
front of the altar were mats for the officials to kneel on. At half-past eleven they arrived. The Viceroy was too ill to come, but all the others were there, headed by the Governor and Tartar General. These two last lighted incense sticks, and then the twelve greatest men in Cantou prostrated themselves three times be- fore the tablet, while a flute played softly. An essay written by the Viceroy in praise of his predecessor was next read out, and the paper burnt to convey it to the dead man's spirits. Libations were poured out, and the kowtow repeated closed the ceremony. There was 8 large crowd of attendants, the public not being allowed in and their behaviour was orderly and reverent. Prostrations were made later by the lesser officials, and continued until the city magistrates bad performed the prescribed ritual.
THE BANNERMEN'S REVIEW. Saturday and Sunday have been the gala-days of the banner force that garrisons (anton, oa which their great review takes place. It is quinquennial, but an extra one is held on the arrival of a new Tartar General. For the last two days nearly 3,000 men, armed with chasse-pots, long guns managed by two men, bows and arrows, and 36 small field pieces, have been maneuvering and firing blank cartridges on the parade ground. The first day partook of the nature of a circus. Two trenches were dug across the parade ground, along which the horses galloped, while their riders, such as did not tumble off, shot off guns in the air, fired at marks three foot dis- tant-which they always missed-with bows and arrows, and illustrated swordsmanship on horseback. They then gave acrobatic exhibi- tions, lying on the horse's back, riding back- wards, standing up with the help of a rope tied to the saddle and turning somersaults. not well done, but it was a surprise to find it
It was
The annual artillery practice begins in theuse, concluded that they must have been the days. Many coolies carry out the guns from the walls-obsolete weapons older than Trafalgar -to a village some five miles away, where for fifteen days they bombard a spur of the White Cloud Mountains, known as the Thin Dog. Hill Such guns as have not burst are then replaced, and left to rust for another year. This was not done last year, as it was con- sidered that the city in the absence of the can- non would not be safe. Many coolies assemble on the hill and ponuce on the balls, which they carry off and sell, and the proceedings are some- times enlivened by the natimely end of oan of
its passage. these, who tries who stop a ball on
SWATOW
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Swatow, 2nd December. VISIT OF THE TARIFF COMMISSIONERS.
They
H.M. storeship Humber; with Sir James Mackay, K.C.I.E., Mr. H. Cockburn, and three secretaries, arrived here on the 27th ult. called on H. M. Consul and left the sam day for Amoy.
A CONFLAGR TION.
Fires are, mirabile dictu, quite a rarity at this port. The last serious outbreak occurred over 18 months ago. On the Kialat Road, the foreign and native situated between Custoins houses and abreast of the Presbyterian Mission Hospital, there was erected a large wood-n structure which was used as a temporary joss-house. Here in the early morning of the 26th ult. a lamp was upset and, in less time than it takes to write it down, the whole place was ablaze, while it was gutted out entirely in about an hour's time. Thanks to the prompt arrival of three manual fire-engines, the fire, which looked at first threatening, was prevented from spreading.
SEQUEL TO THE HSINGNING AFFAIR.
The Basel Mission claim on account of the
late Triad outbreak at Hsingning has now been definitely settled, and the Chinese have to indemnify them to the full extent of $2,00.
COLD-BLOODED HOMICIDE.
Quite a tragic affair was enacted at Kitti- yong, a large place 30 miles distant from here. A farmer there had a cow offered to him for sale, which he considereil very cheap and hence coveted much. Not having the required amount to buy the animal, he asked his wife to go to a certain relative of hers, who had only lately returned from the Straits and was living in the same place, to try to obtain the money The wife wherewith to purchase the cow. repaired to her relative, who in compliance with her request, gave her $40. She then left and on her way back to her home met three Chinese nuns, to whom in the course of conversation, she in her exalted frame of mind related the purpose of the visit to her relative and its succesful result. Just as the four passed a suger-cane plantation, where the height of the
nuns
woman
canes was extremly high, the overcome by cupidity, pushed the into an opening of the plantation, where they shockingly bit her, half strangled her and left her in a dying condition. They then took the $40 and departed.
DISCOVERY OF THE CRIME.
In the struggle to force the woman down among the sugar-canes, a basket belonging to her was left lying outside the plantations which served as a clue and led. of the crime. It so happen
MISSIONARY INTERFERENCE.
The incident which I reported in my last communication under the above heading bas now been sott ́ed. The boatman under arrest has been released after his relatives and the boatmon's guild conjointly paying $300 as compensation, which has gone into the coffers of the Roman Catholic body."
at
VLADIVOSTOCK NOTES.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Vladivostock, 28th November. PROPOSED JAPANESE CONSULATE,
Japan has petitioned the Russian Govern- ment for permission to establish a Consulate Vladivostock, as the present office of Commercial Agent does not answer the demands of Japanese subjects here.
A RUMOURED STEAMSHIP SALE. It is rumoured that the ss. Habarovsk of the Russian Volunteer Fleet, which has been anchored here for the last 3 or 4 months, will shortly be purchased by the Steamship Depart- ment of the Chinese Eastern Railway.
GOLD IN MANCHURIA.
In the vicinity of Hun-chan (Manchuria), not far from Vladivostock, rich gold-deposits have been discovered. By agreement with the Chinese authorities of that place, the gold-field was leased to Russians on condition that 15 per cent, of the total output be appropriated for the local Chinese administration, the latter agreeing to maintain 300 guards for the protection of the place. A joint stock company is being formed at Vladivostock for the development and ex- ploitation of the gold-field.
SABLES IN KAMCHATKA.
In order to prevent the total termination of the Kamchatka sable, a prohibition has been issued by the authorities at St. Petersburg forbidding sable-hunting in Kamobatka for a period of 3 years, beginning from the 1st January, 19.2.
The proposed Memorial Hall in Singapore to Queen Victoria will adjoin the present Town Hall, and be on the site now occupied by the temporary Supreme Court. The building will contain on the ground floor a public hall and | four ante-rooms, and will be capable of accom- On the first floor will modating 850 persons. be a ball room capable of accommodating nearly 1,000 persons. The present Town Hall seats 370 poisons on the ground floor and 370 on the first floor respectively. The new building will be of similar design to the present Town Hall but of loftier proportions. A central tower 150ft. high in the front and an arcade in the centre will connect the two blocks of build-), ings. On the completion of the Memorial Hall, the present Town Hall will be utilised supper-rooms, refreshment, card and retiri rooms, etc., in connection with the adjoinin building.
**$250,000
ady.
is estimated approximately plans have been approved
1