July 9, 1906.]
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
SETTLEMENT OF THE NANCHANG | Hanoi by the Mekong. Different routes have
AFFAIR.
UNIQUE REFERENCE BOOK.
13
for the Proprietors by the China Mail, Ltd. $10.
Who's Who in the Far East, 1966-7. Published
The following terms with reference to the above have been agreed upon between M. Pabst, Minister, for France in Peking, and the Chinese Government-(1) The Chinese Government agrees to acknowledge that Magistrate Chiang Chao-tang committed sui. cide and that his family should not be entitled to receive any indemnity therefor. The Chinese Government agrees to pay an ind-m- nity of Tls. 200,000 for damages to the Roman Committee expresses a hops that the investiga- | only thing of the kind so far attempted in tho
Catholic Church property and for indemnify- ing the priests who suffered. (3) Chinese officials in Kiangsi province who failed to give adequate protection in Nanchang on the occasion of the riot in question to be all Cashiered (4) Ringleaders in the attack on the Roman Catholic Church and Christians to be all punished. (5) The Chinese Government agrees to erect a monument in memory of the priests who were killed during the said riot.
The above agreement was signed in Peking on the 20th instant between the representatives of the high contracting parties, and it may also be staled that the British-Chinese agreement in connection with the deaths of the late Mr. Kingham and his daughter, was also signed the game day. The amount to be paid by the Chinese Government, in this connection is be- tween Tls. 20,000 and 30,000. Thus ends & matter which took the French and Chinese offi- cials concerned nearly four months to bring to a satisfactory conclusion, it having been especial ly difficult for the Chinese Commissioners who dared not come to an agreement in the face of the contention of the people of Kiangai and officials in Peking hailing from that province that Magistrate Chiang was murdered and that it was not a case of self-destruction. The whole matter hung on this one contention, which at one crucial moment even threatened to involve the province in a general anti-Christian rising. Of course the secret societies in the Yangtze Valley were eager to take advantage of the popular discontent against the Government to stir up a regular rebellion in the province, but fortunately the prompt measures taken by the Acting Governor, HE. Wu Ch'ang-hsi, and the military authorities of Kiangsi in suppressing so-called rice riots in various parts of that province, notably in the Poyang and Fuchou districts, prevented these riots from attaining to any serious proportions, and we may therefore consider that it is all quiet at present in Kiangsi province. Naturally there will be grumbling amongst some Kiangsi men, but they will be too few in number to cause any serious trouble. --- N.-C. Daily News.
THE RAILWAYS OF INDO-CHINA,
The Echo de Chine of June 23rd said :- So many hopes and aspirations with reference to the relations between our colony and South China are centred in their completion that we should not neglect this question.
*
On the 27th of January last, acting on a report drawn up by M. Clementel, Minister of the Colonies, the President of the Republic published a decree authorising the commence- ment of the following works of construction :-
1.On the section of the Saigon-Khanhhoa line lying between the 132nd kilometre and Khanhhoa.
2. On the section of the Langbian line lying between Phanrang and Dambin.
been suggested. One, which passed by the hill of Mengia and seemed the most advantagegus, seems to have been abandoned, and the engineer ing authorities are in favour of the route passing by Trannish on to the Upper Mekong crossing the pnom Anrook to the point die- covered by Lieutenant Barthélemy, thence rejoining the Lower Mekong at Krauchmar. whence Saigon would be reached via Taynioh. francs. Various suggestions have been made This railway would cost about 130,000,000 with reference to providing the funds. The
tions will be carried out as quickly as posible and the project brought to completion. The railway, besides being indispensable for the defence of Indo-China, would be of great assist. ance in enhancing the value of French Laos and of the territory on the right bank of the Me- kong, recognised as under French influence by the last agreements between France Great Britain, and Siam.
WEST RIVER NAVIGATION.
Mr. Acting-Consul F. E. Wilkinsop, in his 19 5 report on Wuchow trade, says :-
The year 1905 will always be notable in the history of launch navigation in this province as the first year in which steam vessels have plied regularly on the upper reaches of the West River as far as Lungchow in the extreme west, Posé on the Yunuan frontier and Liuchow in the north. The privilege, however, of plying to these distant places was reserved for the Chinese flag. Navigation, too to Nanning which three years ago was only beliefed to be possible for launches during one or two months in the year, was maintained by vesse's drawing 4 feet from April to the beginning of Decembe and, after that, until the middle of February 1906, by a motor launch of 18 inches draught which, but for an accident on her last trip up, would still be running. This vessel was the first of her type to make an appearance on the West River and, firmly as 1 believe in a future for motor engines in these waters, I must admit that she was not a success. Her failure was chiefly due to lack of speed and, at first, to the unreliability of her engine. Subsequently her engineer, a Chinese trained at Hong. kong, got understand the working of it better and for the last two months of her career she ran without a sin le breakdown. In justice to her builders and designers it should be explained that the vessel was constructed to run between Nauning and Posé, a section of the river on which speed is of little account. She was unable to do so as the necessary permission was withheld by the Chinese authorities.
to
Another feature of the inland navigation trade last year was the increased extent to which cargo. was carried by launches plying on the upper river, especially by those running to Yarn, piece-goods and opium are Nanning. the goods usually conveyed.
Piracy was less prevalent on the West River in 1905 than in the previous year, but there was a recrudescence of the evil at the begin- ning of the present year. Four British launches in all were beld up and plundered during 1995.
DISASTROUS STORM AT
SHANGHAI.
A telegram to the Daily Press dated Shang. Á sudden and severe squall, accompanied by a heavy thunderstorm, passed over Shanghai Considerable damage was done to a to-day. few Chinese and foreign properties.
3. On the section of the Tourane-Hué- Quangtri line lying between Hué and Quangtri. From the report of the Committee of Com- merce and Industry of Indo-China we learn | hai, July 5th, said:— that though the railway round the coast of Indo-Chins will, no doubt, render important services from an economic point of view, it cannot attain its immediate object, with reference to the defence of Indo-China," namely, the junotion of the military forces of Tonking and Cochin-China. The reason is that, being con- structed, so to speak, in the form of a cornice of the coast of Annam and Tonking, it is directly threatened by the enemy and could not be relied upon, in war, to afford certain inter- communication.
The Tuckwo was struck by lightning and dismasted. Vessels dragged their anchors, and the Dott collided with the Mandjour.
A house-boat returning from Mökanshan capsized. Mr. Robert Law was drowned, and Mr. McGillivray, though imprisoned for half an hour, esc ped.'
:
!
A large recep'ion shed at Soochow was -Fully cogniant of th, M. Bean, Governor destroyed.
Saturday's opening geremony has been post- General of Indo-China, has under consideration the proposal to run a railway from Saigon toponed for a week. The railway is undamaged.
|
"Who is he " is a question often asked in the European communities of the Far East, and this publication, modelled on its well-known London prototype and namesake, is designed to answer the query. With the solitary exception of the list of Chinese officials prepared by the Chinese secretaries of H.B.M. Legation st Peking (a very different publication) it is the East. The Editor in a preface deprecates the impression that the book is anything more than
a reference book; and that the intention was confined exclusively to such no one can deny. Unfortunately, the best of admitted intentions cannot avert the impressions hinted at, even in the case of such an undoubtedly useful work as the London Who's Who, There will always be Bome user who, looking for particulars of some lion, will grumble at being forced into contact with details concerning others whom he may regard as mice. In referring to the "mistaken modesty of those who were shy of inclusion in this galaxy of immortality, the Editor made no allowance for some who honestly preferred to remain in the obscurity which they regarded/ as their only rightfal position. Their estimate of their own unimportance might not coincide with editorial views, and it would certainly increase the difficulty and the really hard work of compiling the book; but their wishes should certainly be respected. After all, it might be embarrassing to John Smith, after conscien- tiously answering all the questions of the compilers, to find that soine very highly placed person had been more concise. To see perhaps on the same page that His Illustriousness the Rajah was born on such and such a day,
•
ascended the Throne some and is still sitting
on
the
time after, it; while John Smith
on was born
Tuesday, the 27th of February, 1880; passed
seventh standard of Mudflats Board School in 1892; m Sarah Janë Tomkins in 1902; apprentice 1893-6; promoted cashier 1897; made partner in 1901; and collects picture postords; to sea such a juxtaposition, we repeat, lays John Smith under an imputation he is doubtless far from some of the difficulties deserving. Such are incidental to such an enterprise, in London as well as in the Far East; and it says much for the editing of the book under review that not the slightest doubt that as a work of they have been so ably minimised. We have and that it reference it has "come to stay will swell in bulk and nsefulness as succeeding numbers appear.
事重
At present it contains biographies in brief of nearly two thousand persons more or less eminent in the life of the Far East, official and unofficial, European and Asiatic, embracing China, Japan, the Straits, the Philippines, etc. There are (as we have hinted) biographies that may never be needed for reference; we have also noticed one or two omisicas that surprise us. Really public mзn caght all. to accede to the invitation of the publishers; in a sense it is a duty; they no longer have claims to the privacy and obscurity to which John Smith has a right to cling. [By the way, there is no John Smith in the book 80 we have less fear than we might have had in mentioning his case. The John Smith we mention is, of course, a merely Pickwickian person. It remains only to add that we have tested the book here and there at random, and find it works well. The particulars are just the kiud needed. The paper and type are good; and we can offer sincere compliments to all concerned in the production.
SHANGHAI DOCKS..
statements queda
THE FINAL DIVIDEND.
We
Messrs. E. 8. Kadoorie: & Co., write:-1 beg to inform you that we are in receipt of telegraphic advices from Shanghai that the Shanghai Dock and Engineering Co., Ltd., have declared a final dividend of Tls. 4 per share, making in all Tls. 8 per share for 1905/1908. V We are also informed that the transfer books close on 9th inst., and that the meeting of shareholders is to be held on 17th inst.