of this
over bis
German, Ira
nd over
If this
man
and
trong Judge
universal of
mán Mr. Josepli-Chamberlai the fact and should do honour is due.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND gkong. | to enact that a junk should be in fault for not ; like to try carrying side lights, well knowing that no complicated junks ever do carry side lights, appears to be Their answer most unreasonable, and likely to lead to grave rone except injustice whenever the Ordinance comes to be
opinion put into force.
sound racter, and,
id it. strong
He presides
I should add that, by Her late Majesty's Order in Council dated the 7th July, 1897, the Collision Regulations were applied to Chinese ships with this proviso,“ Provided always that as regards Chinese ships such Regulations shall apply to ships of foreign not at strong type whether warships or not, but recogniss otherwise." ro honour
|
I sign myself" Lex" and would ask you to keep my identity a secret, for Mr. Wostics Wise is the last man who would wish his praises sounded in public and he might go out of his way to non suit me with bosta on the "clicitor and elient sonle should he discover the author of this letter. Apologising for trespassing on your
ace. Your, etc.,
LEX.
|
* Junks are therefore expressly excluded from the operation of the Regulations, and, that bring the case, 1 fail to see what power, our local Legislature has to enact that the Regula tions as to lights shall apply to them; for that is really the effect of Ordinance 39 of 1902– Yours, etc.,
JOHN HASTIN F.
TO THE KDITOR OF THE DAILY PHESS."
Hongkong, 20th May. Sra-Mr. J. Hastings has raised a very JUNK 1 IGHTS AND HONGKONG LAW. important question in his letter appearing in the Daily Press this morning, and a more de- tailed statement of the law and of the principles involved may be of interest to your readers.
.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS,
Hongkong, 19th May, BIRI desire to draw attention to the state of the law of this Colony with regard to the lights which should be carried unks when under weigh, 2012. His d
***Under the Ordinance at present regulating the matter (No. 26 of 1891, Section 27), every junk or other Chiness built vessel when under weigh at night within the waters of the Colony must exhibit a bright white light not less than 10 feet above the Hull,
*
By Ordinance No 39 of 1902 where, in any action bronght in any Court in the Colony in respect of a collision occurring between sunset and sunrise, outside the territorial waters of the Colony, between a junk and a ship, it is proved to the Court that the junk has failed to comply with the International Collision | Regulations concerning lights, the junk shall be deemed to be in fault.nzia
By virtus of these Regulations the proper lights to be carried by mailing vessels are the red and green side lights and they are not allowed to carry the white light. The result therefore is that within the waters of the Colony *junk need only carry a white light, but outside the waters of the Colony the same junk must carry red and green side lights, that is to say, a trading junk leaving Hongkong hanghai or any northern port must carry a white light as long as she is in the waters of the Colony, but immediately she crosses the imaginary line forming the boundary of those waters, she must take down hor white light and display red green side lights,
One can scarcely conceive
if a white crowded and light is all that is required in
waters of this Colony, side lights should nar be necessar when the junk et into the open we all know that in fact junks BOLL. Of never do carry side lights, nor, I venture to ever likely to carry them, notwith- standing
Hongkong Ordinances, jah Did the
ors of this Ordinance expect that, on the Ordinance being pa-sed; the on the Ching coast would at
Liscard the white light which they have carried from time immemorial, and blossom out into side lights of the approved pattern ?
This, I think, could hardly have been contemplated And the only" "gult of the Ordinance that
belonging Chinese port be run down;
und at night ay near Shanghai, and the ng as they remedy in She junk will be has not com- Curry lights customs
stear
Copinton
Jevil.
the
medy junks,
Under the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 the Collision Regulations, among which are the regulations as to lights, only apply to the ships of foreign countries beyond the limits of British jurisdiction, when such foreign countries con- sent and an Order in Council is made directing the application of the regulations to Buch ships, subject to any qualifications or conditions contained in such Order.
|
rvone
obvious to deprive Chines rights that from them directly
MAY 23, 1909.
If the Chinese Government nullify the legal rights of Britis China, protests loud and long rightly too, for an honourable of servance merely of the letter but of the spirit tional obligations cannot be too strongly ou.
isted
It cannot, therefore, but to a matter for regret to all persons, anxious to uphold British prestige in China, to see an attempt to nullify the rights of Chinese subjects thus made by the Government of a British Colony.—Yours, etc.,
MARCUS W. SLADE.
THE MEETING. OF PROPERTY
OWNERS. –
TO THE EL ITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS."--
Hongkong, 19th May, SIR, I regret that there appears to have been some misunderstanding concerning the object of the meeting held yesterday at the Sanitary Board offices. The object was simply to explain to the Chinese rrperty owners the meaning of Sections 46 and 154 of Ordinance 1 of 1903, as from information received from the Chinese members of the Legislative Council and Chinese members of the Sanitary Board it appears that the Chinese did not thoroughly understand these Sections.~Your etc.....
J. M. ATKINSON, / President, Sanitary Board.
PLAGUE AND DUMPING OF DEAD BODIES.
From the Ordy in Connoil at present in TO, THE EDITOR OF. THE, " DAILY PER88. force, quoted by Mr. Hastings, it appears that
Hongkong, 20th May. the Government of China only consented that
£16,-As the plague is still prevalent in the the regulations shon'd be applied to Chinese Colony and the dumping of dead bodies ogn- ships of foreiga build, and the Order accordingly. tinues, notwithstanding the heavy penalties directs that "as regards Chinese ships" the imposed by the Magistrates, I trust the follow- regulations "shall apply only to ships of fore going facts which I will point out through the
but not otherwise;" type
medium of your columns for the information of the Government and the Sanitary Board will cause some radical reform to be made in the way the work is at present carried out.
This Order in Council has the force of an Act of Parliament and regulates the rights of Chiness shipowners whenever those rights co te in question in any part of the British Empire, Under this Order Chinese junk-owners have the right to use ou their vessels any lights sand- tioned by the general maritim-law of nations, and by that law they are only bound to display a reasonably sufficient light to warn approach- ing vessels of their vicinity and are under no obligation to carry 1ed and green side-lights. The right of Chinese junks on the high seas and in Chinese territorial waters to conform iù the matter of lights only to the general maritime law, thus recognised by the British Gore nment and made portion of the law in all British possessions by the above-mentioned Order in Concil, cannot be taken away by any | local Ordinanc», for the Hongkong legislature has certainly no power to impose any obliga- tion on any foreign ship outside Hongkong. waters. It therefore is and will remain lawful for Chinese junks outside British waters not to carry side lights, until the Chinese Govern- ment consents to an alteration in the law and the Order in Council at present in force is repealed or amended by a fresh Order in Council or by an Act of Parliament.
As soon as a death is reported a policeman. is despatched to the house where it has occurred, and the inmates are not allowed, to leave till the body has been examined by doctor and the cause of death certified, which, as a rule, takes over twenty-four hours...
is
If the death is pronounced to be from plague the Sanitary Board officials take charge of the premises and the occupants of the whole house, are turned out into the street with their furniture. and all their clothing, winter and summer, which is emptied from the boxes and diein- fected. After fumigation, the whole house closed and nailed, and the occupants are left to shift for themselves with their furniture as best they can. I may mention that during what is called the disinfecting opera- tion, leather boxes, chests-of-drawers, mattresses, and other furniture are damaged to such an extent that they are unfit for further use-
It is very
annoying for the occupants of the whole house to be kept indoors and guarded by the police for over twenty-four hours pending the result of a medical examination of the corpse, removed from one of the flats, and to have all their winter clothing in boxes, which cannot possibly be in use, knocked about and disinfected.
at
Now how does the "Junks (Collision) Or- diusuce 1902" (No. 39 of 1902) affect the rights of junks and their owners? It does at direptly enact that all junks outside The waters of the Colony shall carry side. lights, but it does enact that if they do not, they shall be held to blame for any collisions with ships at night, whenever they come or are brought before any court in this Colony unless it can be shown in any particular case that it was necessary for the junk not to carry side-lights. So that the Chinese owner of a junk is subjected to a penalty for doing that which is lawful according to the law of th's Colony, and the penalty that is imposed on him is precisely the same as be would have incurred had an obligs ion to carry side-lights been imposed on him by an authori competent to imposo such an obligation..
This is not the place to enter into a technical | frequently dumped the street P argument as to the legality of this Ordinance, years only the fat or as to the probable construction that will be placed on it in a court of law, but it must be
A case of plague occurred, early this month No. 51, Elgin Street, first floor. As usual the whole house was closed and the winter. clothing, which was in boxes, taken and disin- fected, and the inmates were turned ont. › Some of them, who could not find any place to go to live, remained in the street with their furniture for nearly a week, in all kinds of weather, with tie result that one of them, an old man, got ill: through exposure and was taken to hospital, where he died.1 mm 122 lett
There are several instances of poo, le turned - out from plague-infected houses in Holly- wood Road and Cochrane Street living in the public street for «several days.: Canit
that @deel surpris) – an Tone
former
arred
disinfecteds
is considered.