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NATIVE NEWS.
MORE MINISTERS WANTED.
Sun Pao-chi, the Chinese Minister to France, has wired to the Waiwapu to the effect that there are still many treaty powers to whom no Chinese Minister is appointed and that it is advisable to have Ministers appointed to the said powers 80 as to facilitate international affairs. The Peking authorities consider the suggestion 1easonable and the Waiwupu is now investigating the matter,
CHANG CHIH-TUNG,
Their Majesties have sent a sympathetic enquiry about the illness of Viceroy Chang Chih-tang saying that the said viceroy is an important official and Their Majesties are very anxious to know the actual condition of his ill- ness which shall be wired to Peking in detail and that the said viceroy shall have proper medical attendance and due rest. Viceroy Chang Chih-tung has replied to the Throne through the Peking authorities thanking Their Majesties for the sympathetic enquiry and giving details about his sickness and how he has been almost cured by Japanese doctors specially engaged from Japan, and Their Majesties are asked to be at rest about him and he thanked them gratefully for the sympathy shown to him.
CHINEST EXCLUSION BILL
On the 10th May, at 2 p.m. the local gentry assembled at the native Chamber of Commerce at Shanghai and decided to send telegrams to the Waiwapa and the Bureau of Commerce of all the treaty ports to protest against the Chinese Exclusion Bill of the United States of America which intends to open negotiations with the Waiwupu through her New Minister of Peking instead of continuing the negotiations at Washington through Sir Chengtung Lian Cheng, the Chinese Minister to Washington, and stating that the native merchants will not deal with the American merchants and will American goods as little as possible. — Mercury.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
| May 20, 1905.
plot of ground, which hitherto had been a sort | requiring the Viceroy's personal attention of public pleasure ground for the citizens of Nanking, has been fenced around by the Germans, who refuse permission to Chinese entering what may be called their own property. A MINING AND RAILWAY SCHOOL IN PEKING The members of the Shangpu (Ministry of Commerce) have been lately conferring with regard to the immediate establishment of a Mining and Railway School as an annexe of the Ministry. The teaching staff will be com- posed of the best that can be engaged from abroad, and it is proposed to make it compul- sory for all members of the secretariat of that Ministry to attend classes, so that in course of time they may fit themselves for posts as super- intendents and inspectors of mine and railways under the jurisdiction of the Ministr.
fast steam-launch, with steam up, lies at Hsiakuan ready to start at any hour for Tsingkis gpu with these important dispatches for the Viceroy. What with his own multi- farious duties as Provincial Treasurer, H.E. Huang Chien-kuan has his hands full but his ability and tact have enabled the machinery of State to go on without a hitch, so that the absence of the Viceroy from Nanking has been hardly noticeable.
PROPOSED MINISTRY OF EDUCATION,
E
Frequent reference has been made to the intention of the Imperial Government to add yet another Board," or Ministry-that of Education to the eight now existing, making three new Ministries or Boards within the past five years or so. Students of Chinese prior to 1900 have been accustomed to call the Boards of Civil Appointments, Revenue, Rites, War, Punishment and Works, the "Six Great Boards," institutions whi have been in existence in this country for nearly twenty centuries. After the events of 1900, the decrepit Taungli Yamên, or Foreign Office, which was established about thirty-five years ago, was abolished and the Waiwupu, or Ministry of Foreign Affairs, added to the six already exis- tent, making seven in all. In 1903 the Shangpu or Ministry of Commerce, came into existence and now after much unnecessary procrastination, in view of the schools and colleges of modern arning springing up everywhere, it is decided to establish a Wenpu. or Ministry of Education, making Nine Great Boards," or Ministries in all. It has been found that without such a Ministry, the officials in charge of colleges and schools in the provinces have persistently igLored instructions sent them by the Hsiowa- ch'u, or Burenu of Education, in Peking, under the two Chancellors of the Peking University, There was much fiery rhetoric and eloquent and these two high officials have, therefore, appeals to patriotism by the speakers who obtained their Majesties' approval to the addressed the meeting yesterday afternoon, with creation of a Ministry of Education, which will the result that it was decided to telegraph at then bring all colleges and schools under its once to the Waiwupu, and Viceroys Yuan Shih-jurisdiction. The first President of the new k'ai and Chou Fu, to oppose the conclusion and Ministry, it is reported, will be Yung Ch'ing. signing of the proposed treaty as it now stands. the present Mauchu Chancellor of the Peking It was also unanimously decided by those University. present to cease purchasing or contracting for American goods until the terms of the proposed treaty be modified and made to meet the requirements of justice. In regard to this it was furthermore decided to telegraph to merchants' guilds throughout the whole Empire the reason for this boycott of American goods, and to request one and all to join the Shanghai merchants in this matter.
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ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
SHENG KUNG-PAO.
The notes following are taken from the Shanghai Daily News:-
DEATH OF A SHANGHAI BANK COMPRADORE. On the 31st April (30th ?) there died at the age of about sixty-four, at his residence on Ningpe Road, Mr. Hai Chen-fu, the well-known compradore of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bauk here. Mr. Hsi Chen-fu left considerable property in real estate, and a large portion of his funds were invested in local industrial con- cerns, while he was also a principal partner in two native banks of repute. The deceased was a native of Tungting Island, Tahu Lake, ne ir Soochow, and leaves several grown-up sons, all of whom are also employed in the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank here." One of his brothers is the compradore of the Chartered Bank, and another occupies the same position in the Russo- Chinese Bank here.
The Daily News at Shanghai says it is reported in local mandarin circles that H.E. Sheng Kung-pao will leave for Peking in a few days, after he has inspected his coal mines at Pinghsiang, Ki. This will mean that his Excellency, with Viceroy Chang Chih-tung's assistance, has "made it all straight" with his opponents in the North and hence need not fear anything untoward happening to him while in Peking. Should H.E. Sheng Kung-pao return straight to Shanghai from the Yangtze, it must be understood that things are not very rosy for dispatch states that Governor Cheng Hsun of him in the Capital.
ANTI-FOREIGN OPPOSITION IN CH'ANGSHA.
It is reported from Ch'angsha, the provincial capital of Hunan, that a number of the gentry of that city have memorialised Peking protesting against permission being granted foreigners to open hongs inside the city, as a settlement has already been set apart for them outside the city walls for purposes of trade and commerce.
A GERMAN PARADE GROUND IN NANKING.
A Nanking letter to the Shenpao states that in spite of former repeated refusals on the part of the high provincial officials in that loity, Viceroy Chon Fa has at la t given way to the repeated requests of the German Naval author ities and given them a vacant plot of ground, inside the Yifeng-gate of Nanking and at the foot of Lion hill, to serve the Germans as a parade and drill ground for their bluejackets while in Nanking. As a natural result the
AN ANTI-CATHOLIC RIOT IN KLANGSI.
A Nanchang, capital of Kiangai province,
that city has received a report from the di-triot magistrate of Wantaaibsien, stating that an anti-Roman Catholio riot had occurred there
during the latter part of last month, resulting in the destruction by fire of a number of houses belonging to the Mission, the death of one convert, and the wounding of twenty-two others. Among the last category are several whose injuries are so serious that some of them may die,
AN ABLE LOCUM TENENS.
During H E. Viceroy Chou Fu's absence from Nanking the duties of his office are being attended to by H.E. Huang Chienkuan, the able and enlightened Provincial reasurer of Kiangning. The last-named official gues to the viceregal yamên every morning to look over petitions, reports, and dispatches addressed to the Viceroy, and transact all business connected therewith, except such as is of great importance
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KIANGNAN DOCK AND ENGINEERING WORKS.
Reference has already been made in our columns to the changes which are being made at the Kinngnan Arsenal and Engineering Works. The two enterprises are in futurs to be conducted as entirely separate affairs, and while the Chinese Government will contiune t› run the arsenal under its present management, the dock and engineering department becomes at the end of the present month, and under the title given above, a purely commercial under- taking in which Viceroys Yuan Shib kai and Chou Fu are jointly intrested. It will still, of course, be entrusted with Government work, indeed one of its first tasks will be the gradual
reconstruction of most of the vessels of the
Piyang squadron, the Commander-in-Chief of which, Admiral Yeb, will be director-general of the new concern, with Captain Woo as director under him. In this connection it may be men- tioned that it is probable that in the near future a post-captain of the British navy will again be appointed to take charge of the aqua iron, holding the same rank as Admiral Lang, who retired at the outbreak of the China-Japan war, and the fleet is to be reorganised on more modern basis.
The joint foreign managers of the new undertaking will be Mr. L. Basse and Mr. R. B. Manohan, the present Sup-rintendent of the International and Cosmopolitan Docks. Mr. Rawsthorne, the senior boiler-maker of Messrs. Farnham, Boyd & Co., also joins the Chinese veuture, which starts under the most encourag- ing circumstances. Already a large amount of business is promised, and it is evident that the breaking down of the monopoly hitherto held by Messrs. Farnham, Boyd & Co. is widely wel- comed. The Kiangnan Works are already furnished with most complete and modern plaut, and a large staff of skilled operatives is immediately available. Anticipating necessity of having more than one dock, the directors have secured a large plot of land on the Poutung side opposite the present dock, and here, with deep water, they have ground for making half-a-dozen additional dooks if required.
MURDER ON A SHANGHAI WHARF.
the
A dastardly orim was committed at the Shanghai Hongk w Wharf in the early hours of May 7th. It appears that about 1.30 a.m
The
the boatswain on the P. & 0.9. Socotra heard a scuffle on the wharf and came down the gang- wy to see what was the matter. As he reached the wharf two coulies, one of whom had a heavy iron bar in his haud, brushed past him. boatswain suspected nothing until, a few steps further on, he tripped over the body of a coolie, lying in a pool of blood. He at once gave the alarm, and the police were communicated with, but the murderers had escaped, leaving no clue. The victim, who was dead when the police arrived, had a terrible gash in the skull, from which the brain protruded. He was a foreman on one of Messrs. Wheelcok & Co.'s lighters, which was moored to the wharf. Whilst it
cannot be ascertained for a rtain what were the motives for the crime, there is reason to believe that the murdered man had about $30 in his possession when he was killed, and as this is missing it is surmised that he was robbed by his assailants. The N.-O. Daily News hopes that the perpetrators of this ghastly arime will not escape the consequences of their deed.
We are informed that a composition has been agreed upon by the creditors of Major Hurly, who pays a lump sum down, and grants a lien upon his salary of $200 a month. Supreme Court some days ago, it will be remembered, his solicitor agreed to judgment with costs on a number of claims.
At the