328
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
that the word " property" in the British Treaty meant land only, as no houses existed when the grants were made by the Govern ment and the ground-rent fixed for all time. It is only necessary to turu, however, to the early Conventional Agreements relating to these Settlements and especially to the history of the Foreign Settlement of Yoko- hama to perceive the weakness of the contention; but the Government nevertheless insisted on its refusal to recognise the build ings on the Settlement land as being pro- tected by the treaty. The foreign land; renters refused to pay any taxes on their land and buildings other than the fixed annual tax they had previously paid, and the local authorities had to distrain in a large number of cases for the money. A grave situation was develop ing when the Japanese Government agreed to a reference of the dispute to the Hague Tribunal which has been considering The decision unreservedly upholds the con. tention of the land reuters to the fullest extent. According to REUTER'S sum mary of the Judgment, it is held that the protection of the Treaty belongs not only to the houses now existing on the old sites of the former Settlements, but to all buildings which may in future be erected there.
the matter since November last.
While the municipalities of Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki are deprived of the very substantial ad-lition to the revenue that they have been confidently anticipating, a consideration of the evidence offered by the foreign communities in support of their attitude can only excite surprise that in face of it all the Japanese Government could have expected from an impartial tribunal
any other decision then that which has now been given. Meanwhile owing to the refusal of the Japanese authorities
to
register the buildings with the land, titles have been rendered questionable
and the market value of the properties is stated to have been greatly reduced. The Japanese have looked at the question as one affecting their national dignity and independence, but as the clause in dispute merely protects and guarantees the integrity of earlier grants made by the Government we fail to see that any indignity or sacrifice of independence is involved. On the other hand, we consider that had the Japanese Government's contention been upheld a very grave injustice would have been inflicted upon the owners of property in the former Foreign Settlement areas of Japan. Happily, this unfortunate dispute has been waged with every appearance of good temper on both sides, and though the decision is doubtless disappointing to the Japanese Government, we feel confident that nothing will be done to further imperil the good relations which subsist between the Japanese and the foreign communities in their midst.
THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
(Daily Press, 26th May.) Seldom can there have been delivered from the gubernatorial dais a more pregnaut speech than that to which our legislators listened yesterday. Some of the first words uttered in this Colony by Sir MATTHEW NATHAN had concern with that "long-felt want," the Kowloon-Canton Railway. In connection with this scheme, by common cousent described as of vital importance to the coutinued commercial existence of the island, it can be said with marked aptitude that hope deferred has made many bearts sick. That comic despair which some men assume to conceal real disappointment was in evidence whenever the subject of the
| Kowloon-Canton Railway was broached. Even after His Excellency's introductory address, in which he promised to take a particular personal interest in the prosecu tion of the enterprise, we had it in mind that no doubt the new Governor meant well; but we looked forward to the devoutly wished consumination as some look for the Macao millennium, or as the possessor of a lottery ticket looks forward to winning the first prize. There seemed several thousands to one against. Future historians of Hongkong will undoubtedly have to write dowu Sir
do not admire his
[May 29, 1905, BRITISH NAVAL MANŒUVRES.
Daily Press, 27th May.
It ought to be exceedingly gratifying to the public to learn that, at last, the British Admiralty is beginning to realise the world-wide radius of action of our
navy in time of war. Hitherto all naval manœuvres bave taken place around the shores of Great Britain, with the fleets manoeuvring over a very limited area and with every possible local facility for coal- ing, docking and communicating intelli
MATTHEW NATHAN as the gence. man who did things. This saying is prompted by profound conviction; we have no pleasure in yielding to the need for such an expression, simply because we dislike the complexion of flattery thus given to our comments. We could dilute the praise by mentioning that we homilies to school children; but it should not be necessary to establish our sincerity by dragging in matters entirely irrelevant. Let us repeat then, as a sober, deliberate opinion, that in possessing a Governor who acts as well as talks, this Colony is at the present time extremely, and, we might almost add, unusually fortunate. Just how much we are indebted to His Excellency's per- sonal efforts for the progress made we shall probably discover later. In the meantime, the official announcement that a party of surveyors engaged to locate the line within British territory is actually on its way to Hongkong (having left on the 12th May) is sufficiently promising and definite to demand applause. We trust that the current negotiations with Pekin will be given the same strict attention that is
The instruction gained annually by
the officers and men under these circum- stances hus necessarily been as limited as the radius of operations, in so far as practical experience of real warfare is con- cerned, i.e., warfare with a foreign naval power. Instruction has extended little beyond the practice given to the officers in. working their ships in conjunction with the other ships of the fleet. TORD CHARLES BERESFORD, who, notwithstanding much that is believed to the contrary, has done as much as, if not more than, any other admiral towards the improvement of the fighting efficiency of the British Navy; bas laid it down that, in case of war, our fleet. must "seek out and destroy "those of the enemy. This, obviously, cannot be effected by hugging the shores of England, Ireland and Scotland, as has been the practice in past years' schemes for naval nanoeuvres. Further, the object of every drill and of all peace manoeuvres should be to so teach and would exist in wartime, that they may get the best possible results from their weapons and ships when the time comes for real action If the movements taught by and lessons
accustom the men to the conditions which
now being bestowed upon the general busi-learnt from our naval manoeuvres give
ness of the Colony.
Another matter mentioned in the
Governor's speech has been relegated to the twentieth day position of a nine day's wonder, but the introduction of amendments the vagrancy ordinance will revive interest in "the beachcomber question.”
to
We have not yet had an opportunity of studying the amendments; but on a future occasion hope to comment usefully thereon. The outlines as given by the Governor are at once satisfactory and unsatisfactory. There is real need for making the House of Detention a less desirable Loafing Asylum, while those who are found to be in difficulties through "no
fault of their own" are, thanks to the generosity of the Governor and his friends, amply provided for. That opinion is to be read in conjunction with our previously ex- pressed conviction that the number of such unfortunates will not be found too formid- able to deal with. The part about which we feel some uneasiness is that which provides for the "discouraging the landing of meu in the Colony likely to become destitute within a short time of their arrival there." It all depends how and by whom this probability is to be decided. Is every arrival who possesses less than a fixed | minimum amount of money "likely to become destitute? There are other forms of capital, notably energy and brains, which should be taken count of by the parties
restricting responsible for
undesirable immigration. Obviously, the putting into practice of such restrictions promises to be a most delicate task; and the terms of the new ordinace ought to be well and carefully It will not do to Le guided over weighed. much by the examples of such places as Manila, for instance. Probably all the ends of the agitators would be achieved by stricter treatment of the undesirables, for local customs are well advertised among these gentry.
cramped notions of a pace, time ana
facilities for this or that movement, it is
time that a change should take place without further delay. To judge from a good deal Britain who imagine that their own three islands constitute the only portion of the world that matters seems still to be great. Greater Britain is a meaningless phrase to
that we read, the number of those in Great
those of whom KIPLING wrote:
"What do they know of England, who
only England know ? Fortunately, Imperial affairs are not yet entirely managed by people with the same mental limitations that prompted the Chinese to boast of a Middle Kingdom." Fleet
KE
Street may be the hub of the univer- sal wheel; but there are those able to recognise that the progress of the Imperial
vehicle would be slow if its wheels consisted only of a hub and a project- ing spoke or two, SIR JOHN FISHER in naval matters has been strengthening the tyre; and the 1905 plan of naval manoeuvres is another evidence of the passing of the old carpet school. The general scheme, then, of the Admiralty this year is to suppose a naval war in progress. This would naturally affect every ship of every English fleet in the world!" and the scheme proposed supposes this to be the case. All ships-excepting those employed in the Red Sea-will consider themselves in a state of war. There will be ships
told off to a Red Side and a Blue Side and universal manœuvres will take place and end on receipt of telegraphic instructions from the Admiralty. Of course there are many minor details of the scheme, but these are the broad principles of the manœuvres for this year-manœuvres which it is hoped will prove interesting and instructive to the navy itself, ever readly as it is to enthusiastically carry out any orders which may conduce
ita advancement ia practical skill and utility to the Nation.
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