22$
materials ($19,942.05). The sum of $53,449.84 comprised amounts of $5,512.01 which has been or will be paid into the Bank and $47,938.13 for work done for the gaol and government Depart- ments which if it had not been carried out by the prisoners would have had to be paid for to contractors. All minor repairs to the prison have been carried out by prison labour.
A MYSTÉRY SOLVED.
An elderly Chinaman, Pun Kat Sheang, a resident of Canton, who has been in the habit of visiting Hongkong once or twice yearly to collect money on shares, disappeared mys teriously on the 20th instant. He arrived at Hongkong early in the present month, and put пр
at a restaurant in Salt Fish Lane. He had with him deposit receipts for $5,000 in a defunct Chinese bank, on which he hoped to realise.
On the 20th March he transacted business in various quarters of the city and in the course of his transactions obtained an advance from one, Li Hin Cheung, the accountant of a shop in Hing Loong Street, on some of his deposit receipts. While at the latter place he was taken ill, and a chair was called to take him back to Salt Fish Lane, but on arrival there, being at death's door, the maa- ter of the restaurant refused to take him in.
The coolies then carried the man back to Hing Loong Street where the accountant came out and spoke to Pan Kat Sheung two or three times, and receiving no answer ordered the coolies to take him to hospital. The coolies asked for $15 to convey the man to hospital, and eventually agreed to do it for $10. Near
the
Western Market the accountant became separated from the chair but went on to the
hospital where he waited in vain for the coolies to turn up. He reported what had occurred to the police on the 22nd instant, giving the number of the chair. The coolies pro- fessed ignorance of the whole affair for some days, but subsequently said that on becoming separated from the accountant, became frighten- ed that a trap had been laid for them, and that they would get into trouble if found in the possession of a $10 bill and a dead body, so they decided upon dumping the dead man in a quiet spot. This was found on the hill side off Lyttelton Street, West Point, where the body was found under their directions. The papers and money on the body remained intact,
JEWISH RECREATION CLUB,
A meeting of the Jewish community was held on the 28th March at Messrs E. D. Sassoon & Company's Office to pass the rules and regulations of a Jewish Recreation Club. Mr. C. 8. Gubbay was in the chair, After some discussion the rules drawn up by a committee previously appointed were agreed to. It was decid. ed that the Club should be opened next month. Mr. Simmon was elected Secretary, and Mr. I. S. Perry, Treasurer. The Trustees of the Ohel Leah" Synagogue have granted the Club the use of the ground adjoining the Synagogue, subjected to the following conditions:--
1. Members of the Synagogue only are eligi- ble to join the Club,
39
2. Ladies whose husbands, brothers, fathers and sons are not members of the "Synagogue are eligible for membership of the Club by
paying an annual subscription of $3.00 to the Synagogue.
3. The members of the Club will be held
responsible for the state and condition of the ground, and pay for its upkeep.
4. The Rules and Regulations of the Club must be submitted to the Committee of the Synagogue for approval.
5. The Ground must be entirely closed for games on Saturday, and at any time when Divine Service is being held.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
CHINESE AND JAPANESE
PORCELAIN.
The following references to the art ceramics of China and Japan, extracted from a private letter published in the Peking and Tientsin Times, will interest collectors. They were writ- ten some years ago, by an expert, who was
visiting Japan after twenty seven years of life in & Chinese community. "Most of the porcelain to be seen here is modern Satsuma. Ivory white; crackle under glaze; painted with several colours and with much gilding,-its most prominent features being its yellowish ornament. The paste is not true porcelain, colour, like old ivory, and abundance of gilt but faience, and has not the clear ring of good Chinese. This free use of gold in decoration- especially for flowers-is rarely seen on Chinese porcelain, and I for one do not like it. The Japanese artist appears to delight in crowding his ground with ornament. Chinese would leave blank to show the pure Spaces which the colour and fine texture of the paste and brilliancy of glaze, the Japanese fill in with elaborate, laboured designs chiefly of diaper pattern, wearisome to the eye, like the patterns
oil-cloth. It looks paper or paste and glaze; but whatever the fhough this were done to hide inferior tive, this is a result. The work of other potteries, in quality of paste, design and colour, is contemptible in comparison with Chinese. This is my opinion of what I have seen here, but I reserve final judgment until I have seen better collections in Tokyo and discussed them with an expert. I do not wonder now at Brinkley's rapture when examining my collec- tion years ago, and can understand why American buyers spend so much time and
on wall
88
mo-
money in China. Judging from what I have seen, Japan has not equalled and has certainly
this art. not surpassed China from whom she learned The drawing on modern Japanese porcelain particularly of trees, flowers and lands capes, is perhaps as a rule more artistic and graceful than the same work on Chinese porcelain, but I fear that the merit of Japanese fine decoration is but one of the essentials of work begins and ends here. We know that good porcelain, graceful form, pare paste, rich colour and brilliant glaze being equally im. portant in the eyes of the old Chinese masters, and these combined merits are now understood and prized by collectors in the U.S."
14
44
Later, in a second letter, the writer said :-- 'As to porcelains, I've seen much that is good, but none to equal the best Chinese. The best Japanese wares that suit foreign taste are the most modern. The old wares, being nearly all made for actual use in the singular Cha- no-yu "tea ceremony, to hold tea, water, or utensils, are thick, heavy, rough and sparsely decorated and are mostly of stoneware and pot tory instead of porcelain; glazes often good, but leaving some part of the surface uncovered to show the paste, which was considered a merit however coarse the paste might be. They can. not approach the best Chinese single colours such as blue, celadon, sang de boeuf, turquoise blue, imperial yellow, peach bloom, apple green, &c., nor show anything like the large proportion the Chinese made of purely ornam- ental pieces, flower vases &o., nor have their
[April 9, 1905. alone, and this with the superiority and greate abundance of her porcelains are comforts for
$1
S.
BIRTHS, MARRIAGES
AND
DEATHS AT HONGKONG.
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MARRIAGES.
The number of marriges solemnized at Hong- kong during 1904 was 131, as compared with 146 in 1903. Twenty-one marriages were contracted at the Registrar General's Office, Two certificates were issued under the Foreign Marriage Ordinance. The Church of the Holy Trinity at Kowloon and the Basel Mission celebration of marriages. 335 permits to fire Chapel at Shaukiwan were licensed for the crackers were issued in the case of Chinese marriages.
BIRTHS,
The births registered at Hongkong during 1904 were as follows :-
Females. Total. Chinese Non-Chinese
.
Malen.
621
321
942
•
119
144
263
740
465 1,205
This is equal to a general birth-rate of 3.30 per 1,000, as compared with 3,17 in 1903. The birth-rate in the non-Chinese Community alone was 13.9 per 1,000, as compared with 15.2 in 1903. The nationalities of the non- Chinese parents were as follows:-British 106, Indian 37, Malay 8, Portuguese 73, Philippinos 14, German 13, American 3, French 2, and
seven other nationalities oné each. The number of Chinese births registered is not a full record of the births that have occurred in the Colony. The births of many of the infauts that die during the first month or so of life certainly remain unregistered. The number of infants
one month old and under that died in the various Convents or were found by the Police
in the streets or in the harbour was 572-203- being males and 369 females. Probably none of these was registered.
DEATHS,
The number of deaths in the British and Foreign Community was 286, as compared 70 Indian, 3 Malay, 40 Portuguese, 16 with 309 in 1903. Of these, 74 were British, Japanese, 9 French, German, 5 Philippinos,
and less numbers of other nationalities: The number of deaths among the Chinese was 5,882, almost the same number-5,875—as in 1909. 495 Chinese and other Asiatics-no Europeans ---died from plague.
POPULATION,
The following is an estimate of the popula- tion of the Colony, inclusive of New Kowloon, but exclusive of the rest of the New Territory, on the 30th June 1904-British and Foreign Community, 181,900, Chinese, 342,306. The population of New Kowloon according to the census taken in 1901 was 17,243 and of the rest of the New Territory 85,011.
TUNG WA HOSPITAL.
to be able to report that by Ordinance No. 9 of The Registrar General reports:-I am glad
1904 the title of the Hospital to its investments in land has been established, and power has been acquire land in future. This matter has been specifically conferred upon the hospital to
under consideration for some years, and the directors for 1904 deserve credit for putting it through.
The statement of accounts for their term of office, which expired in December, shows a more satisfactory state of affairs than has existed at any time during the last ten years. There is now every prospect of the hospital being clear
rases such graceful forms as the Chinese. Such as they are, old Japanese porcelains are now rare, very difficult to obtain, and it is thought that the supply of old good pieces is nearly exhausted. This country has never had but a small fraction of the store to draw upon that China has, and it is safe to say that China will stand the foreign drain for a long time to come, Fine porcelain was made
debt within the next three years. The rents in China long before Japan learned the art from her, and has always been made in larger
from the hospital property have increased by $4,000, subscriptions from guilds by $1,600 quantities for an immensely larger demand than could have existed in the smaller population of (several new guilds being found in the list of subscribers) and those from individuals by Japan Japanese potters have devoted their best powers to imitate the Chinese blues, and $1,900, whilst the subscriptions raised by the have failed, and to my eyes they have also failed directors themselves show an increase of $1.200. in every other field of their imitations; judged the Officer Administering the Government to The attention of the Directors was drawn by by a high Chinese standard they bave nothing reports of "squeezing" by the man entrusted Thirty-five members have already signified original of remarkable excellence. There is no with the duty of removing dead bodies to the their intention of joining the Club. Nearly jade in this country; the people have either hospital morinary, and the directors have there $1,000 has already been anbscribed by the Jewish ' never cared for it or never mastered the art of \ fore engaged extra men to attend to-this-work, Community to meet the necessary expenditure, working in it. So this art is confined to China
6. No game but Tennis, Croquet and Bowls are allowed to be played on the Ground. Other games than these must first have the sanction and approbation of the Synagogue Committee.
7. The Trustees of the "Ohel Leah" Syn.
agogus to be ez oficio members of the Club and exempt from Ballot.
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