388
number treated in the nine months of 1905 during which the dispensaries were open; the number of death certificates, four times. The number of infants brought to the office is less, but it is satisfactory to find that E67 infants were treated at the five dispensaries. The practice of leaving dead bodies in the streets is more prevalent than it was in 1905 but this is due to the increase in infectious diseases. Thirty-three patients were received into the Kowloon Plague Hospital mostly from Yaumati. The hospital was built as was mentioned in my last report at the expense of Kowloon City and neighbourhood, but the cost of maintenance during the year was shared by Hunghom and Yaumati. The hospital-which was a matshed -disappeared in the tpphoon of the 18th September. There is every prospect of the local committees in the Kowloon Peninsula opening district plague hospitals in 1907. A district plague hospital was opened at Nos. 63 and 65, Third Street in Saivingpun, and 18 persons were treated there. It is managed by the local committee and is under the charge of the public dispensary doctor. The Government has provided a sum of $1,000 for 1907 as a grant- in-aid to these bospitals.
Early in the year a petition signed by 300 of the principal inhabitants of the New Territories was presented praying for a reduction in the rate of Crown Rent. The prayer was met by an undertaking to fix the present rents for 75 years and the decision of the Government was accepted. In May a petition was received from, the inhabitants of New Kowloon complaining of the difficulty they experienced in complying with the building laws. In consequence of a decline in the value of house property in Victoria a petition was presented in May signed by 63 Chinese land-owners praying for a re-valuation but it was impossible to accede to their request as the right of appeal had lapsed on the 6th April. The loss of boats in the typhoon of the 18th September resulted in the issue of a large number of new boat licences and duplicate licences, as damaged boats were repaired and new boats bought or bailt, Between the 19th September and the close of the year the number of licences issued was:-
119
Duplicate Licences. New Licences. Cargo boats, 123 Rowing boats, 59 Other boats,
45
227
105
375
599
|
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THE HONGKON WEEKLY PRESS AND
1
[June 10, 1907
the Chinese particularly dread exposure to wind seeing that this last loan is for absolutely and treatment on the water.
unremunerative work, a strong protest on the The advisability of exhuming all bodies part of the community is called for. It is the baried in public cemeteries after an interval ( duty of the Leal Senado to represent the matter of seven years was discussed in the Sanitary very plainly to the Government,
This new Board, but the Chinese would not declare loan, I am told, will involve a new tax. The themselves in favour of such a practice except Leal Senado as the representative council of in the sections where burials are free. A the community should resist any further Sub-Committee of the Board has been taxation and ask the Government to give back appointed to select a site suitable for cemetery to them the revenues which formerly went into for the more well-to-do classes of the Chinese, the Senado exchequer, but are now diverted in which it would be possible to purchase | to the coffers of the Government. family burial places and build tombs of customary design. It is hoped a convenient site can be found and approved by the Government. The local Chinese Press which has developed considerably during the last few years consisted at the beginning of the year of nine newsp spars with an estimated circulation of 27,000 copies. Two anti-dynastic newspapers died during the year but another one was started, and a second is to commence after the Chinese New Year.
CANTON.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
SHUM'S APPOINTMENT CONFIRMED.
the
{
THE PLAGUE EPIDEMIÇ,
With the sunny weather we have lately been enjoying, the prevalence of plague has notably decreased and son the city will have a clean bill of health again. What, however, do the authorities intend doing to avoid a recurrence of the epidemic? It appears that the principal seat of the late epidemic was in the district which iaclades Patane. Saoong, and Mongha. A general olearance ought to be made of the filthy houses and matsheds abounding in this district. We see what is the affect of such epidemics: great numbers of Chinese shops are closed and the rich Chinese and their families have gone up country.'
"
A WORD TO THE P.W.D.
Fully eight months have elapsed since the great Typhoon of September last in which a portion of the wall of the Praya Grande was damaged. It has taken the P.W.D. all this time to rebuild about 100 feet of wall and it is
still unfinished! The typhoon season has come round again and I should like to draw the attention of the D.P.W. to the danger to which private property on the Praya Grande is exposed by reason of the non-completion of this necessary public work.
REASSURING NEWS.
Advices received by latest mail from Swatow confirm our telegraphic information that no danger has been apprehended in the vicinity of Swatow. A mission family in the town of Ungkong, where the trouble first appeared was advised to leave at once, and did so, bat or ers were issued to the people to leave all foreign property undisturbed, and up to the present no news that it has been molested has been received by the Missions in Swatow. Soldiers have been sent to Jakong and vicinity, and on Friday last two Chinese cruisers arrived at Swatow.
CANTON, May 31st. The local authorities received the following Imperial Edict by cable yesterday :-
"Shum Chun Heun memorialized praying that the Edict issued appointing him permaneut Viceroy of the Two Kwang may be recalled and a capable official by chosen to fill that position &c. I (Emperor) bar in mind that Shum Chun Heun is ill and has not yet recovered. Bat Kwangtong is an important Province and at present there are insurrections in Yamchow and Limehow. Many officials in the Yew Ping THE DISTURBANCE NEAR SWATOW. City under the Chaochow Prefecture have been assassinated by the rebels. I (Emperor) doubt that Chou Fu is equal to cop with the present state of affairs. Unless an official who is known to possess stern qualities and of great reputa tion, combined with a thorough knowledge of the place, he will not be able to keep the rebels in check. You (Viceroy Shum) have hitherto performed your duty with a sincere beart and will not decline to carry out your duty even if it were most toilsome work and created enmity When you were formerly Viceroy of that province the schemes you adopted to guard against insurrections were excellent and most appropriate. Therefore on this occa- sion you are purposely appointed Viceroy of the Two Kwang and you are requested to proceed to Kwangtung and take up the position as soon as possible. You are also requested to devise a thorough scheme to adjust inatters in that pro- vince, to protect the good and to exterminate the evil people, to eradicate all eril calamities. For generations your family have received Imperial favours. At present the Government is going through hardship and difficulties. It is your duty to endeavour to do your best to help the Government, to do your utmost to quell the rebellion and console the Throne who is now very anxious about the present state of affairs in the Kwangtung Province. You are firmly requested not to decins to accept the appoint ment. Kwangsi is only a province under your control and jurisdiction; it is not necessary for you to shirk your duty because you are a native of that province. I (Emperor) will not go into the question regarding the request made to graut you (sick) leave. Respect this."
OTHER NEWS FROX SWATOW.
A Swatow correspondent writes: With re- ference to the trouble in this neighbourhood there is little fresh to add. We have about 2,000 Government troops picketted around the place but everything is quiet and seems as usual. This morning (Friday) two Chinese men of war arrived in port and following them came the 8.8. Kwangtak with 1,000 more men. I should not be surprised if the whole affair blows over in a day or two. I notice several of the. Hongkong papers take a very alarmist view of the revolt. The mandarins and other higa officers are lying low, and there does not seem to be any one directing operations. Trains from up country are bringing loads of panicstricken people from districts near this disaffectel area. I hear that the customs officers have received strict orders with regard to incoming passengers. It has been known that of late large quantities of arms and ammunition have been smuggled in slong the coast and transported inland. ̧
The fees for duplicate licences were remitted by the Governor-in-Council. The cargo boats that escaped undamaged and boats brought to the Colonly from Canton and elsewhere, made big profits out of the necessities of merchants and ship-owners. Charges seven or eight times those paid before the typhoon were made by cargo boats, and the Government realising the necessity for attracting boats to the Colony and for hastening the repairing of wrecked bosis and the building of new ones, sanctioned a charge of four time the legal fare. On the 23rd November when it was thought the state of affairs had become normal, it was decided to enforce the legal scale of charges under pain of cancellation of licence. The site of the second typoon shelter is under consideration. The boat-people prefer Kennedy Town if a shelter could be buit largo enough to accommodate all the boats that might seek safety there. Failing that they are in favour of a shelter at Mongkoktsui. In February and the early spring it was necessary to again have recourse to water boats to supple- ment the supply of water through the mains. The scarcity was felt more particularly in the Western part of the town but the Chinese business quarter was also affected. The great
In the absence of any reliable statistios of depreciation in the value of the local subsidiary
the population in Korea the financial coinage was felt by the Crown tenants in the
thorities entrusted Mr. Maruyama, Police Ad- New Territories when the Government decided
viser, last November with the task of taking to refuse to accept amounts over two dollars in
a census. The latter accordingly issued in- The Leal Senado at their last meeting subsidiary coin. The retail business of the
the Police Assistants in the resolved to raise a loan of $50,000 for the Colony among the Chinese is transacted in
different provinces to immediately start in- The subsidiary coin, and insistence on payments reconstruction of the gaol. It is an into vestigations on a certain fixed system. being made in legal tender was equivalent to an lerable shame that the Home government Police Adviser's Office finished the compilation increase of seven or more per cent. in the continues to draw from the Colony so large of the reports on May 22nd. According to
a share of its revenue, Crown rent. The site selected by the Chinese
thus forcing the
the latest statistics, the number of people is Thess for their small-pox hospital did not meet with Colony to run into debt to provide funds for 9,638,578 inhabiting 2,322,457 houses. the approval of the Medical Department. It is any extraordinary expenditure such as the light-figures differ widely from those given in the difficult to find a site in the neighbourhood of ing of the public streets with electricity and Korean statistics, but it is stated that the the town which meets the latest requirements the rebuilding of the gaol. The Leal Secado latest returns are the nearest to the exact of sanitary experts, and in the case of small-pox' is already paying interest on enough loans, and numbər.
MACAO.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
BAD FINANCIAL POLICY.
June 3rd.
A KOREAN CENSUS.
stractions to
80-