ľ
1
426
but that of cooking does not appear so obvious, nor the use of clothing, nor the comparative advantages of different materials and different
kinds of food."
6.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
cases of sickness to provide proper attention for the sick and to bear all medical expenses, and in case of death the Company would defray funeral expenses and give ample compensati 'n to the relatives of such deceased persons. The Com- pany has, therefore, entreated the Viceroy to annul the proclamation prohibiting the migra-
tion of labourers to Yann in.
For once it is surprising to find the Chinese, even though young in years, having hazy ideas on the subject of money, for according to the examiners, while Class VII. spend much of their time on problems involving English money, The Viceroy suggests that if these undertak- many boys in Division Chad only a slightings are faithfully performed and the officer idea of the dollar value of the shillings and deputed to watch the interests of the labourers guineas which they manipulate so readily, and affords them dne protection, the proposal will a very vague idea of what the coins look like.
help to alleviate distress among the labouring Allading to the “ eclipse of common sense classes of the province. But before consenting during examination," the report states:
It is
to annul the prohibition. His Excellency to be wished that the boys could be taught, publicly requests all who have had any com after they have finished a problem, to read plaint to make against the company to send to through the question and their answer and then him within a month from the issue of the ask themselves, 'Is this sense or nonsense?' proclamation a statement of the facts, and he Then we should not have calculations-proving invites suggestions for consideration with a that it takes many thousand years-or alter view to ensuring the protection of the natively an hour-to make a circuit of labourers' interests. His Excellency also Hongkong. Were a little more thought used, requests all who are willing or unwilling to a slip in a decimal point might at once be proceed to Yunnan to work on the railway to discovered and corrected."
report themselves to the Yamen direct or through the Commercial Bureau within & month. After the expiration of one month, if no opposition is offered to the proposals, Hia Excellency
that be will take it that the people are willing to be invited, and he will then make an agreement with the French Consul. If any person, before the cancelling of the prohibition, surreptitiously engages workmen to proceed to Yunnan, he will, upon discovery, be arrested and punished with the proclamation, it is added, is issued for the utmost rigour of the law. The public information, and the people of the whole province are required to obey it.
Though the weak spots in the system are pointed out, the report shows that good work is being accomplished in the College.
THE YUNNAN RAILWAY. VICEROY SHUM AND THE LABOUR DIFFICULTY
The Société de Construction de Chemin de
fer Indo-Chinese, which is making the line from Laokay to Yunnansen, has been experien cing considerable trouble in connection with their supply of Chinese labour. We understand that the line will traverse many miles of country in the Yunnan province which is at present very sparsely populated and the Railway Company has consequently had to recruit coolies in the provinces of Kwangsi and Kwangtung. Through the good offices of the French Consul at Canton the Railway Company last year secured the support of the Viceroy in this direction, but in consequence of allegations of ill-treatment the supply of labour from the two Kwang was prohibited. The French Consul was moreover requested to cable to the Company to send back to Canton all the labourers recruited in the province, and the Viceroy of Yunnan was at the same time instructed to investigate the allegations of ill-treatment and to secure adequate protection for the coolies.
In a proclamation just issued by the Viceroy of Canton, His Excellency, after referring to the circumstances mentioned above, announces that he has received a telegram from the Vice. roy of Yunnan stating that the French Consul there urges that labourers are greatly needed for the work on the line. Cantonese labourers, he said, are best fitted for the work. He explained that the late trouble arose through unsatisfac- tory relations between the foreign and Cantonese labour contractors resulting in the labourers giving up their work. Thus a considerable sum of money was wasted. The Yunnan Viceroy now asked that a new arrangement should be entered into with the French Consul in Canton under which an office should be opened in Canton for recruiting labourers willing to proceed to Yunnan. The Railway Company would under. take to keep their foreign employees under proper control and require them to strictly comply with all conditions of the arrangement made, and they would guarantee that there will be no repetition of the late occurrences The proclamation further states that the Officer) in charge of Foreign Affairs has had consulta tions with the French Consul in Canton, and had reported that the Railway Company admitted that the late arrangement had not been satisfactorily carried out, and were desirous of entering into a new arrangement. They asked that an officer [representing the Can ton Government?] should be sent to Yunnan to watch the interests of the labourers sent there, the Company being willing to provide quarters for the officer and to pay his salary. The Company further agreed to deposit a sum of money with a bank in Canton as security for the fulfilment of the conditions of the arrange ment, and in the event of any deductions made from the wages of labourers, or any violation of the agreement the sum deposited will be available for making good any losses thereby incurred. The Company would undertake iù
announces
THE ANNEXATION OF BRUNEI.
Our recent telegram from Labuan is confirmed by the following:-It is reported that an administration of Brunei, under British prolection, has been arranged on lines similar to those made in the case of the taking over of the Federated Malay States.
This in reality means the annexation of the Sultanate,
The pension of the Sultan is to be $1,000 per month, and each of the two chief Pengerans is to receive $500 per month.
There is a probability that the erstwhile Brunei territory of Limbang, recently pur- chased from the British North Borneo Govern- ment by the Rajah of Sarawak and annexed by him without the consent of the Sultan of Brunei or all the Pengerans of Limbang itself, will eventually be reincorporated with Brunei, when the administration of the latter country is taken over by the British.
Otherwise, it is stated, our occupation of Brunei would be useless.
By the accession of the British power in
Brunei, the administration of the Brunei town
of Brooketon by the officials of the Rajah of Sarawak will probably cease.
A NEW HONGKONG MONOPOLY.
The board of directors of the Osaka Alkali Company has decided to raise a foreign loan of Y 500,000 through Messrs. Samuel Samuel & Co. on the security of the company's property. The rate of interest is not yet settled, the cpitalists stipulating for 7 per cent., and the Alkali Compiny offering 6 per cent., but it is expected an agreement will soon be arrived at. By the contract so far agreed upon Messrs. Sam- uel Samuel & Co. will be appointed the sole agents for the sale in Hongkong and southwards of the sulphuric acid produced by the Alkali Com- pauy. This is one of the conditions of the loan. We learn that one half of the amount to be borrowed will be used for the redemption of the company's existing 9 per cent. debentures and the other half as a working fund of the new departure for the manufacture of fertilisers. A special general meeting of the shareholders of the company is called for the 11th proximo for the consideration of the proposed loan. The capital of the Alkali Company is 1,000,000 yen., all paid up. The company declared a dividend at the rate of 4 per cent, for the second half of 1905, and of 5 per cent. for the first half of last
year,
|
[December 16, 1905. -
REVIEWS.
The Cosmopolitan, an Illustrated Monthly, No.8.
Shanghai: N.-C. Herald Office. $.1
With shame and confusion of countenance, the reviewer discovers that he has misunderstood
anonymous
the "motif" of this most attractive publication. It is not meant to merely amuse; the
mission. editor proprietor-contributor has a What before seemed feeble humour is seen to be
subtle wit, designed to awaken the populace of Shanghai, where, to quote Tolstoy, as translated by the editor, "generation after generation live and die without knowing why." This journalistic Sisyphus essays, alone and unaided, save by the printer's best art, to carry "the whole (unleavened) lump" with him to the top where his alter ego sits like a Democritus, laughing with grief at the futilities and follies of Shanghai society. His policy is to tell the (slightly embroidered) truth on all occasions, and so to shock a vacant-minded mob into what he considers common-sense. may not detect the imputation, but even then our gallant contemporary has set him. self a hard row to hoe. We wish him well, and can honestly assert that, whether regarded
Shanghai
as a human document or a mere dollar's worth of shrewd reading, the Cosmopolitan is not a magazine to be ignored. When its author is murdered, and his body sunk beyond recovery in the Yangkingpang, all available copies will be collected by the Municipal Council, placed in glass cases along the banks of that odorous tributary, and above will be written: Si monumentam requiris, circumspice !
No 3 seems the best number yet. In the large and valuable collection of soapshots we note a speaking likeness of two Hongkong visitors.
Shanghai: Its Sights and Scenes. (A book of
views) Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, Ld. Those interested by the recent photographic exhibition will find here a remarkable collection of examples of how photos may be pictures in the true sense of the word.. As illustrating that interesting city and its environs, it would be difficult to find a set of more accurate or vivid presentments: and the printing is fully equal to the fine plates. There are nearly fifty of these exquisite pictures, which have only to be seen to be coveted. Cannot something like it be done for Hongkong?
Indian Love, by LAURENCE HOPE. London :
William Heinemann. 58,
This is a book of florid Indian poetry, with a portrait of the author, a lady. As guide to the quality of the forty-odd other gems of passion and poetry, the following "Oa Pilgrimage"
be taken as typical :- Oh. youthful bearer of my palanquin, Thy glossy hair lies loosened on thy neck, The tears of labour' gem thy velvet skin
may
Whose even texture knows no other fleck. Thy slender shoulder strains beneath my
weight:
Too fair thou art, for work, sweet slave of
mine.
Would that this idle breast, reversing fate,
A willing serf to love, supported thine!
I smell the savage scent of sunwarmed for.
Close in the Jungle, musky, hot and sweet- The air comes from thy shoulder, even as
myrrh,
Would we were as the pauthers, free to
meet.
The Temple road is steep: 1 grieve to see
Thy slender ankles bruished among the
clods.
Oh, my Beloved, if I might worship thee!
Beauty is greater far than all the Gods.” And evidently, we reflect in some surprise, the chair-coolie is a handsomer animal thân hẻ is on this edge of Asia:
Banking and Prices in China, by the late Dr. EDKINS. Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press.
The preface says all that needs to be said of this interesting publication, so we quote: "This volume is the third of a series of works prepared by the late J. Edkius, D.D., for the Imperial Maritime Customs; the two earlier works being 'Chinese Currency' (1901) and The Revenue and Taxation of the Chinese Empire' (1903),
罪
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