November 8, 1902
Le Courrier d' Haiphong announces that M. | Rodier has been appointed Lieut-Governor of Cochin China in the place of M. de Lamothe who goes to Cambodia.
It seems that the principal aim of a new journal which is to be started shortly in Penang is to provide a channel through which the Chinese community can ventilate its grievances; and express its views on public matters. The paper will be published in English, however.
Conrt officials write to Shaughai that the health of the Empress Dowager has been declin iug. She is offeu sleepless at night. This accounts for her intention to spend the winter at Paotingfu. She has repeatedly informed her confidential advisers that such was the reasoa. The Mercury publishes the two following items:- H.E. hang Chil-tang wants Dr Martin to go with him to Nauking, to form a big university for the five Yangtsze provinces The Rev. W. A. Cornaby has been offered the chair for chemistry of the new Hupeh Univer sity.
The first enal train, consisting of ten waggons, arrived at Tsintau on the 30th ult from Fangtze. There WAS a celebration at the railway station, to which invitations were issued. The manager of the Shantung Berg. bau-Gese Ischaft (Shantung Mining Company), Mr. Michaelis, made a speech, wher upon Governor Truppel congratulated the Company upon their suce 43.
The Manager of the Eongkong Branch of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha informs us that accord- ing to cable advices from Japan, the s.s. Idzumi Maru (Bombay Line), which left Kube on the 29th ult. for Moji and Hongkong, has stranded in the Inland Sea of Japan. The mails, passengers, and crew are reported safe. It is also advised that the s.s. Yamaguchi Mary will take the place of the Idzumi Maru on the run to Bombay, but so far the schedule dates have not yet been fixed. ^
The steame Cheang Chew, which left Singa pore on the 15th ult for this port and Amoy with 367 Chinese passengers on board, put back on the night of the 27th. It appears that ou the 17th, two days out from Singapore, her crank shaft broke. Fortunately there was a spare shaft in the hold and this was got out and fitted with grent difficulty in place of the broken 0118. The fixing of the new shaft took seven days and during that time the vessel was not under control. On the morning of the 8th ult. the Cheung Chew went into dock.
M. Hardouin, the newly appointed Chef du Bureau of the Indo-China Government, and M. Bonin. Chef du Bureau Politique du Go verneur-General de I'Indo-Chine, have reached Hanoi by the M.M. steamer Sydney. M. Hardouin (who is not unknowu iu "Hongkong and was a prominest figure at Canton) .s to years of age. He was Interpre er at Shanghai and Bangkok, and in 1897 Consul at the latter port. In 1899 he was appointed Consul for France at anten, a post he filled with much Euter- energy.
M. Bonin is 37 years of age. ing the colonial service when quite young he spent years in Tonkiu, Laos. the Malay Archipelago, hins, and Central Asia, being appointed to several important missions to the Laos tribes. He was made a Consul in Chica last year and has recently been officiali g at Tek ng.
Like M. Hardonin, M. Bonin is a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur.
|
|
|
|
|
Mr. Waeber being now in Seoul, says the Japan Mail, where his arrival has something of a Frankenstein character, all kiuds of rumours fill the air. He is about to demaud from Corea a lease of land at Fusan, or at Masampo, or at Chinghai, or at all these places simultaneously, which shall serve as a naval basis for Russia. He is about to insist that Cores shall emerge from her immediate financial embarrassment by becoming a debtor to the Russo Chine e Bank in a large amount. He is about to require that he himself, or some other important Russian personage, shall be employed by the Coreau Gorerument in the capacity of adviser. These and other achievements are busily assigned by amour to the Russian dipk matist. But everything rests ou hearsay of the flimsiest nature. Nothing is certain except that Mr. Waeber has gone to Seoul for some urpose or other. We opine that it is to relieve Mr. Pavlov, but the newsmongers will have a "high old time" until the sober truth is definitely known.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT,
The Court of Enquiry held at the British Consulate. Nagasaki, on the 17th ult, into the burning of the British steamer Yoshino Maru- exonerated the officers from blame, but found that ordinary cotton bales should not be carried on deck unles covered by awnings or tarpaulins. There is a growing belief in Vanila that the U.S. Congress will next session amend the Chinese exclusion laws so as to permit yellow labour to be imported into the Philippines. The opinion is strongly held on this side that only in the importation of Chinese hour for the plauticious will the Philippines find salvation.
Port
The Shugbai Siu Wen Poo gathers that the Russian Minister of Finance, M. Witte, has left Changtsenfu, Kirin province, for Arthur. ete, ostensibly travelling for pleasure. But it is reported tha' upo the Minister's re- turn to Kirin, he will hold several secret inter- views with the Tartar General on important matters relating to Manchuria. Before the Minister left, he arranged seve al dates to meet. the Tartar General at Changtsenfu.
Maj. Gen. Sir Alfred Gaseler, who has been on leave in England since vacating his e mmand of the British troops in China, . s obtaine permission to procool_to_India to take up the command of Lucknow District, Bengal, to which he was appointed iu April, 191, in recognition of his distinguished servic s in connection with the nccupation of Peking. Gen. Gaselee will be present and act as umpire at the Indian manœuvres. On his assuming the active duties of his command in India, Maj. Gen. Sir William Meiklejohn, who has been officiating for him. will proceed home.
The insincerity of the French attitude over the question of Shanghai's evacuation is shown by an article in a recent issue of L' Echo de Chine, which urged that as France, unlike England, Germany, Japan, and Russia, has no naval or military station in or near North China. she must keep a thousand or so troops at Shanghai. where they are a MA DECA noboily. A Berlin telegram to the Octasiatische Lloydays that." the question of the evacuation of Shanghai is treated absolutely identically by Germany and France." We are not surprised to hear it.
to
A letter from H. M. Cousu' at Manila is published in the Gozette, euclosing an anu unce. ment of the modification of quarantine rules against Hongkong in Manila. Vessels from Hongkong may now bring steerage passengers without subjecting the vessels to quarantine, and if thehealth conditions in Hongkong remain satisfactory, ships from this port will be allowed to come direct to Manila, without calling at Mariveles, after the 1st inst. The notice continues:-The prohibitive regulation against the shipment of fresh vegetables from cholera infected ports still remains in force.
The following items are from the Foochow Echo of the 25th October :-The reports coming in from the surrounding country districts agree all too closely about the lamentab'e state of the erps through want of rain. The best that can be hoped for, even if rain comes now, is that one third of a normal yield might be obtained, while if the drought continues there will be nothing left to gather in. A Double Rise Snipe-shooting competition for a handsome prize presented by Mr. Siemssen took place ou Green Island on Wednesday. Mr. Graham with a fine score of eight doubles won easily. Mr. Gittius etired at the seventh round.
•
MA. de Bilinski predicts in the Nineteenth Century that Russia is going to eat us all up.-"The picture of the ultimate destiny of Russia must show her in the ride of mistress of Asia and Europe unified under the actiou of the Slay leaven. Russia is bound to attain extraordinary greatness, not only through the internal development of her existing empire, but through further expansion. Her dominion, in any case, representing that of the whole Slav race, will stretch from the Arctic and
North Seas to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic and the Oder." The other nations can hardly be expected to enjoy such a prospect, and therefore M. de Bilinski thinks:- A coalition may be formed to hold the Titan in check. There would be three partners in this combination; the Chinese, the Latin, and, of course, the German federatious." Absurd speculation could hardly go further.
371
inister
It appears that M. Lessar, Russian at Peking, has been suffering from peritonitis, but is now on the way to recovery.
The Romblon, one of the five gunboats being built for the Philippine Government by the Uraga Deck Co, Ld. was successfully launched from their yard on the 15th inst.
The eptember mortality returns in Singa- pore show 876 deaths. 183 from fever, giving a death-rate of 44.67 per thousand. During the week ended October 18, there were 220 deaths, giving a rate of 48.77 per thousand,
Three Japanese of Fukuoka have been com- mitted for trial for salting a barren gold-mine. which they sold to a Mr James Johnstone for 80,000 yen, receiving 12,641 yen-in cash. They originally bought it for 17,500 yen.
The following appointments have been made at the Admiralty - Engineer C. F. L. Denkin to the Tamar, for Hongkong Yard, to date September 29; and Engineer G. H. Vincent, to the Tamar, for charge of maobinery in reserve, to date October 1.
Tientsin papers state that Mr. Edmund Cousins, of Messrs. Ja dine, Mathieson & Co., has been nominated a Director of the Imperial Rail- ways of North China as the representative of the bondholders, or to speak more accurately. of the British and Chinese Corporation, Limit d
Mr. Jonas Mendelson, head of the firm of Mendelson Brothers, who arrived in Yokohama thirty-four years ago, died suddenly on the 19th ult., aged 58 He leares a widow, a grown-up son, and three daughters, the eldest of whom was to bave been married on te 22nd ult.
The report of the Oriental Hotel, Ld., Koba for the year endel the 31st of August last, shows a divisible balance, after writing off 17,000 yen for depreciation and deducting 3,500 yen paid in May as interim dividend, of 19 442 yen. It is proposed to pay a final dividend of 3.50 yen on the ordinary shares, a dividend of 8 per cent. on the preference shares, and of 37.50 yen each on the founders' shares, and place 6,030 yen lo reserve.
There are two schemes for dealing with the unfortunate foundry at Wakamatsu, Japan. Oue is that the Government shall keep it, making further necessary payments which will bring the total in 1906, when it will begin to pay its way, up to 34 million yen; the other is to turn it over to a private company, whereby the Government's loss would apparently be only some 264 million yen, but it would get nothing when the concern begun to pay.
According to a Seoul telegram to the Asahi, the American Minister there bas reported to the Core Government on the negligence of the Governor of Unsan, in not fully protecting the American right to work the gold mines in that locality, and has demanded of Corea the dismissal of the Governor. It is understood that the mining concession was originally bought by an American syndicate from the Corean Government for 300,000 yen and that the syndicate has been paying Cores an annual royalty of 25,000 ven, regardless of the amouut of profit realised from the mining.
Mr. Waeber was received in audience by the Emperor of Corea on the 18th ult. H.E. presented credentials as Special Envoy to the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Emperor's accession. Mr. Waeber has since been seeking a conference with the Foreign Minister. It is understood that he intends to ask the lease of a site at Masampo or some- where near that port. It is also reported that he will try to induce the Corean Government to effect a loan from the Russe-Chinese Bank. He will also urge the Government to employ Russians as advisers. No formal negotiations have yet been opened.
In dealing with epidemics the Japanese are certainly very thorough. The Yokohama Municipal Assembly bas adopted a proposal to barn several blocks of houses, comprising in all 105 abodes, where plague has broken out. These blocks were isolated for some days, and the inhabitants were taken for purposes of segregn- tion to the Kanagawa forts. They were con- veyed hither in a number of small boats. The Luildings of the Toyo Kizen Kaisha, the Seam n's Club, and the godowns belonging to the Yokohama Specie Bank will be exempted from the destruction. The cost of this huge conflagration is estimated at 36,912.77 yen. The burning is to be carried out immediately.