April 17, 1905.]
CHINA: OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
NAUGHTY MAGISTRATE'S EXILE,
unwillingness to meet its liabilities within the | spoplexy. An inquest has been held by order messure of its capacity. All that has bean❘ of the Viceroy. attempted is to show, on the basis of the figures for 1903, that what offigial China makes a cali upon its resources, commercial China can respond without disorganising the markets of the Empire.
CANTON.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
▲ CHINESE REVENUE SCHEME.
Since the great fire on Chinese New Year's day two years ago, which burnt down nearly all the brothels in Santinti, and the expulsion of the flower boats from their anchorage at Kuk Fan, a great number of new brothels have been re-built in Santinti and Tông-U-Lan, and many restaurants too. They are very nicely built, and all filled up with electric lights. Every night drinking parties make music, and the restaurants are apparently doing • very profitable business. A few days ago, for reasons to be stated, the Viceroy gave order to have all the brothels in Canton closed; and some of the keepers thereof arrested. All the singing girls and other women packed up their traps and filed, some to Hongkong and Macao,
spine to Fatshan and Chan Chün, and some to Tai Sha Tow, the present rendezvous of the flowerboats. The reasons for this peremptory measure were variously stated: some say that because the brothel-karpers were among the number of those who incited the "mob
It remains to be seen whether Times was too optimistic in Chang Yen-mao v. C.E.M. Co, judgme In the case of Pui King Fuk, the ex-magistrate | give the Chinese an axalted ides of Briti of Nam Hoi, who has been extradited from Maonotice. H.E. Viceroy Yuan has demanded; i | and imprisoned in the Prefecture of Kwong-learning of the result, that the Wai Wu Chowfu for a long time, it is decided by ma should send Chang peremptory instructi order from the Imperial government that he is "obtain the full restoration of all righti to be banished to the frontier of Manchu Such official stupidity, it is only too muX territory up north. He is going away during be shared by large numbers of Chinese these few days.
were to have been properly impressed by. example of British justice, whiok now appears not to have gone far enough to suit Viceroy's ideas.
UNAUTHORISED MAILS. ~
It being customary for the Chinese in Canton as well as in Hongkong and Macao to smuggle letters by Native post agencies, thereby defraud- ing the postal revenue, the Customs authority has found it necessary to remedy this evil by making new regulations.
SMUGGLING ARMB.
A large quantity of Mauser rifles, cartridges, caps, and powder, has been smuggled in coal boats from Hongkong to Fatahan. Some smugglers have been arrested, and the goods seized.
HONGKONG RIVALS LONDON.
Hongkong has hitherto been spoken of as The the third shipping port in the world.
not yet available, but figures for 1904 are ahead of New York, the third largest, but so those for 1903 show that it is not only far good a second that there is every probability of its soon being first.
The official returns of vessels entered at the
London Hongkong New York Antwerp
Tons. 10,958,739 10,783,502 9,371,545 9,039,313
Hamburg (excluding Cuxhaven) 8,244,660
to pelt and pull down the Police Station five greatest ports in 1908 are during the strike in the Sap Pat Po, others say that it was because girls were being kidnapped for evil purposes and their relatives brought the facts to the notice of the mandarins; and others say that it was on secount of some drinking party that made a disturbance in one of the restauraute, and - hot some persons; but in reality the officials want to impose some new tax upon the brothels so as to keep up the Police force, consequently they availed themselves of the slightest chance to close the brothels and the restanranta, To reopen them it would be necessary to pay the officials at least from four hundred to five hundred thousand dollars, and the wily officials calculate that they will re-open.
SUGAR INDUSTRY IN FORMOSA.
FOREIGN J088 ALL SAME,
The Chinese generally do not believe in such philosophy as that the rain comes from the cloud; They believe implicitly in the "man that bears the watering pot"; and when too much rain might spoil the rice crops, they go to the joss house to pray for its cessation. Not long ago, it may be remembered, the Viceroy ordered all the batteries on the city walls, the guard boats, and forts, to "shoot the sky" so as to scare the rain-joss. Still the rain came, and it has been raining to this day. The Magis rates of Nam Hoi and Pan Yu, and the prefect of Kwangchowfu, went to the Temple of Horror to pray for the cessation of rain; still it had no effect, and now the Committee of the sight hospitals is going in a procession to the same temple to pray to the joss to stop the rain, hoping their prayers will be more efficacious,
OFFICIAL CHANGES
The present prefect Shum Chún I of Kwang chowin, Canton, is to be transferred to Swatow, Chan Mong Chang taking his place, and the Nam toi Magistrate, Fu U Mai, to Lo Tiug, and a weiyuin for foreign affairs, by nams Wa Ming Pan, is to be acting magistrate.
CHINESE AMAZONS.
Of a battation of women, guarding and protect ing a city and a cat, it is not easy to and record in all the ancient anugds of China. It is quite an nausual thing. But last year when the Kwang Ming district in Kwangtung was threatened by bands of robbers the women there to the number of several hundreds arrayed themselves a la miläluire, took rifles and swords, and kept guard on the city walls day and night until the mandarin soldiers came to relieve them. When the Vio zoy was informed of their bɩavery he rewarded them with medals, hair pins, and a dollar each for their patriotism.
CHINE E ADMIRAL'S DEATH. The acting admiral, Mok Sin He, in o mmand of the Bogne Tigre and other ports, w dead. He is suspect. d of having poisoned himself by taking gold leaves; but it may have been
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The prospects of the sugar industry in For- mosa are bright, reports the Japanese Chamber of Commerce at Yokohama. Owing to the drought that prevailed there in 1903, the output in that year showed a diminution of nearly forty per cent, as compared with 1902, but since then the industry has been progressing favourably. The following table shows the output for the past three years :---
1902. kin.
1903. 1904. kin. kio. Brown sugar. 80,489,490 49,244,428 65,880,068 Othersugar.. 9,963,878 5,785,417 4,834,464 Rock-candy
85,479 48,432 -69.973 Molasses.. 2,791,284 2,536,627 2,499,860 |
Total
93,330,131 57,564,904 72,725,885
MISCELLANEOUS.
The following table gives the monthly rain. fall at the Observatory to the end of March with the means and extremes for 20 years :-
1905 1884-1903
Jaquary February March
Mean. Max. Min. 1.80 1,32 8.43 0.00 1.10 1.86 7.95 0.02 11.48 2.63 10.43 4.F
The year's rainfall to the end of the month amounts to 14.38 inches, the 20 years' avuruga being 5,81 inches. March breaks the previous record for wetness by an inch.
The amount of subscription towar's the con- stitution of a volunt er fleet, as proposed by the Imperial Marine Association, now approaches 11 million ye and the execution of the proposal will shortly be commenced. The shipbuilding committee, at a recent meeting, decided to buill several vessels of about 12,00 · tons and over 21 knots speed each, cancelling the former proposal te construct ships of about 7,000 tons. The cost of construction of one ship is roughly es- time ad at four million you. In view of the present situation the association intends an early collection of subscriptions « portion oven by May or June next in order to purebase two of the afores id vessels, manawhile the ladies department of the organisation has also the intention of constructing of buying a similar ship which will be named with referenes to woman.-Yokohems (Japaáése) Chamber of Commerce Report.
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The N. C. Daily News sanounoss that Bishop Favier died at Peking on the 3rd inst. – Hả long residence in the capital, his great abilities, and his unfailing courtesy and kindnom, bin intimate knowledge of, and sympathy with, the Chinese and their arts, had made him a power there with foreigners and natives alike. It will be remembered that he did everything he could to warn the Legations of the trouble that was coming from the Boxers, and his defence of the Paitang Mission was one of the most brilliant episodes of the siege in 1900. His donth mana a very great loss to the Church, and a personal sorrow to the Peking community.
A Chinaman named Liking, an umployme of the British steamer Australian, which szfiend merchants, T. 1aketenki and & Kinoshita, at Yokohama on March 27th, and two Japanese
were arrested on March 29th by the Harbour Police on a charge of having sitempted to smuggle 54 cases of cigars and nine ti« cases of cigarettes, valued at about yen 500. On the previous night they brought the tobacco by boat from the steamer to Hiranuma sanal and they were landing it near a bridge at Bakura- gawa-machi when a policeman approached them to make au investigation and they escaped, for the time, leaving the goods there.
Another old resident of Hongkong has passed away in the person of Mr. H. 1, Noronha, the senior partner in the ald established firm of printers and publishers, Noronha and Co. The deceased was for going 18 or 20 years the Superintendent of the Government Printing Office in Singapore, and retired on pension about 10 years ago, and returned to Hongkong, where he bought over
the business of his father, the late Mr. D. Noronha. Mr. Noronha was suffering from an attack of bronchitis, bat was improving when he died of failure of the heart. He was 63 years old. The funeral takes place this morning at 9 o'clock at the Roman Catholic Cemetery.
A burglary is reported from the Shin Hing Bank, 100, Wing Lok Street It is supposed to have taken place in the early hours of Sunday morning. The circumstances are very peculiar inasmuch that the robbers are mid to have taken a large quantity of (to them valueless) promissory notes and some scrip from the safe which was opened with duplicate key, while they left behind $500 in cash. They are reported to have taken alto- gether $4,648 cash, sixty promissory notes from various shops in the Colony, and scrip for ten shares in the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. The face value of all missing is #216,345. Though it was a wet night the burglars left no trace behind them, and, according to the police. not a bolt was drawn or a look tampered
with.
In his anxiety to make the new official papar he has recently started in Hankow a succes5, Viceroy Chang Chih-tung started the other day, so reports a correspondent, to try to close every other newspaper in his vicinity. Hin Excellancy's first step was against a ala owned sper called the
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"Hankow Shimbun" (Hankow Daily News"). to the Japanese Conmal, the Vicarior complained against certain articles paper and requested it to be closed Japanese Consul consented to do in his the Viceroy. Having succo-ded so attempt was made to close the “ Tsu ("Hupeh News”), a journal erned by a subject, and to this end a Viseraga was sent to the British Conmel on It is whispered that the secretary » contents of the Britisk Consul's Viceroy was only too glad to get room after he had done this duty- News