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AN INCOHERENT EXPOSITION.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[February 3, 1908.
Several of His Excellency's ques- tions were suggestive, implicatory, but no one, on the Committee or off it, will dooy that so much was unavoidable.
The first enclosure in the Report is a suggestion by Mr. MANSFIELD, as follows:-
cause is evil-(7) therefore there is evil - | source. (8) but there cant be evil, & dc. (Daily Press, January 24th.) But why should fools answered according Well, we have had the precious lecture. to their folly? The. were
scores of It was distinctly disappointing. We were passages in the lecture that only need to assured that the attention of the lecturer be arranged in pairs to show theirs If would be called to the issue raised, to the evident absurdity; that is, if 1 gie counts only issue that the Hongkong puble cares for anything, and these people persist in anything about—namely, how far the prating of logic. We a regret, however, that – 20, 10, and 5 cents in suffioisat qusnuity for the meddling of these foolish people with sick we have had to waste time on the'r intel-irements of the Clony. Such notes to be
legal tender for any amount. rersons could be justified by their expert.lectual divagations, which lead nowhere, 2 That a proclamation be made that from a
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1. That either the Government or the Banks issu› fractional no`es of diffrent sisse for 50,
certain fixed date no subsidiary onins of say kind can be accepted in the Government off is, all foreign enterprises issuing similar notice.
3. That the Government when that date ex-
Nothing was said to the point; there was no attempt at substantiation of the locul claims to cure real organic di-enses. Only this—that disease does not exist, organs do not exist, even the individual mi id des pires undertake to repurchase for melting not exist. In short, man do s not exist. | Hongkong subsidiary coinage at su›h premium ·
over its intrinsic value as the Colony estimates therefore all the allegati ns against them of
it osa afford. It is believed that this will have ignominious failures to cure were wrong
the effect of gradually drawing back to the Patients who never existed certibly eurot | Colony much of the Colonial ooia on the userer be said to have died on their hands What mainland and wil have a tendency to farther we now hope for is that some noc-existen depreciate the Caatos coins which, suffering healer of non-existent diens: way one day ander so many disabilitis, will be likely to leave
the Colony. ( noa
the trams f›rries, sam- be arrested by an unreal police officer, sen.
pas, obaire, rickshas and the large shops tenced by an illusionary judge for mai slaughter to a long term on real bread and generally insist on all payments being la
the debiend Canton currency will be at once water. If we have seemed to write tourelegated to the small Chines、 shops and swea strongly, may we not plea the nfusace from them would probably in time disappear, of the sad cars lately brought to our notice : Pain is very real to us, and the thought of the little girl at Manchester, the sad case outlined by Mr. MAY, and others, put us in the mood to believe that there is indeed much real evil in the mgmos. Charlatans and their dupes simply add to the hep
HONGKONG SUBSIDIARY
COINAGE.
(Daily Press, J Inuary 25th.)
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The inconvenienes of the very smell notes is saowledged, but Japan has or had them to se low a value at 10 sen. To obriate this in some
degree the 5 cent notes might be made very this sad be bound in little books of 20 liễs the
ricksha tickets in Shinghui. After being tora oat, however, the looss one should be redeem- ab'e at once at some special office Arrange- ments should also be mads that all dirty and ragged fractional notes passing through the Government offoes and Banks should b; das- troyed and new ones iwaed in their stead.
The issue, that very plain and most import. ant issue, has been ignored. More, we have no hesitation in saying it has been deli- terately evaded. Our corresponder ts, all ¦ practical minded people, thiefly put plain questions of obvious importance, capable, if there had been an iota of reason or metho in the madness of the "Christian Scientists," | of simple answers. Instead we have b en treated to a farrago of nonsense, a hotch potch of contradictory and mutually exclusive statements, that would condema ary man brought before a Coninission in Lunacy. We have not even been told what "Christian Science" is, unless we count a steady flow of dogmatic repetitions of the mere assertion that this unexpounded t'eory is the absolute and final truth. We could argue that way without much effort, and assert (as we do) that it is absolute and final gibberish, untrue in its lucid intervals, and meaningless between. Much was made of the point that while i's statements are logically true, no one is asked to accept them; no converts are sought. Then what was the lecture for? A lecturer who writes "2+2=4" on a blackboard either seeks converts or he wastes is time; when, as in this instance, his formula is "2+2=0,” he certainly wastes it. We went to hear an The committee on subsidiary coinage expert "scientifically prove and practically gan their labours with the assistance of an demonstrate" something; all he did was to obviously able minute by His Excellency
claim that it could be done. He didn't try the Governor. Sir FREDERICK LEGARD to do it. Instead, he fobled us off with pointed out that they were not only to futile words like these:- What matters it, advise the Government as to remedial whether we believe that obe-half times one- measures, but also to weed out the many half is one-fourth? If we reject it, does that impracticable proposals which had been prove it false ?-or if we accept it, does piled up during the public discussim of the that make it true?" Our answer is a subject. It does happen that there are as most willing negative. These people tell us many people willing to show how to adjust that half of half is nothing, and the fact the subsidiary coinage difficulties as there that they all accept it does not make it are people ready to advise how to cure a cold true. We reject their mischievous drivelin the bead, and euch recommendati n, in mischievous, be it remembered, in what it the mind of its unk r, is the e rrect and leads to and they say, "But it is true for best. Very clearly His Excellency summed all that." They reject all that is unlike up the more salient of these. Te attention the one perfect, absolute, and only Good," of the Committee was drawn to the question that is, they reject disease and pain, deny whether the withdr.wl of the excess Hong- ita presence in the world, and we answer i kong subsidiary would or would not injure their own way, "But it is there for all trade while benefit ng revenue: whether a that." The fact is that "Christian Science Government guarantee of the face value of has fallen foul of the same puzzle that its own is ue woull or would not ranke its produced Manichæism, that made many subsidiary oust the dollar as sole currency, tribes besides the Prians decide there and whether such a pledge could be given must be two deities, one good, one evil. one secing that there are insufficient funds to Without wishing to be dogmatic, we have benignant, one malignaut. The Manichæan back it; whether there is morally such an a right to express our opinion that to us the says "the good creator could not create evil; obligation on the Government seeing that it suggested issue of fractional notes appears evil is; therefore there must have been also imported and i-ed these coins only in an unthinkable one. Japin may have tried a creator of evil." Thut, to say the least, is ace rdance with the demand for them; it, but, we believe, was not long in aban lon- a solution more intelligible and intelligent whether the issue of subsidiary paper money ing it. We would be glad to see Shanghai's than this Christian Science formula, "evil was feasible and-or desirable; whether alien system of ricsha tickets adopted for ricshas, cannot be, therefore evil is not." They coins could b: prohibited, as at Singapore, chairs, and trams; it works well at the prate of metaphysics, but no person who without disl cating trade with China; and northern port; but illogical as it may can swallow their doctrines has suffici nt Bo un. His Excellency c_refully avoided" appear, we do not like the idea of extending brain power to grasp much less subtle the expression of his own views, and aime! it over other general purposes. If there had matters. This is an unkind assertion, so we at a concise prescutation cf a few of the been any advantage to be gained thereby, basten to justify it in their own style, with local theories advanced, to elicit the views Shanghai would doubtles have seen it and the formula, they cannot have, therefore of "so representative a body of public and s-ized it. The argument that Mr. Mass- they have not." If they had, they would expert opinion," and so to end the in- FIELD says will not hold water holds a good recognise their regressus ad infinitum, in this terminab'e controversy. It may be admittel | deal. Numerous visitors to Hongkong con- simple progression of ideas; (1) There at once that the aim succe ded; but he | tinue to express amazement at the discovery cannot be evil-(2) there is no evil-(3) whole subject, not being of the nature of an that a coin bearing the King's effigy and what mortals call evil is an illusion of the exact science, incites to dogmatism, and the the words "ten cents " is not wort' ten mind— (4) nevertheless an evil illusion of the various members were tempted t demolish | cents, seeing that pennies and sixpences nind has evil effects upon it-(5) an evil every fallacy they individually thought they are always redeemable, eveu in quantities, effect must have an evil cause —(6) ́ an evil'detected, without enquiring closely into its at their face value. The Government may
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The argument that the Government is to bisme for the excessive lugs of sab ilury beooinage and cannot therefore la justice demons- tisa its issue erupt by calling it in at par will at hold water. It implies that the Government knowingly and for the sake of profit Hooded Hongkong and the mind with subsidiary ooinage, but this was not the case. To th writer's own knowledge, and the fact will by borne out by the Treasury archiv, before the opening of the Chinese mints it was found impossible to keep in Hongkong safe isnt subsidiary coinage for loosi nse, and the Home Governm at grudgingly supplied perhaps a quarter of the amounts indented for, so that the Colony was always on short commons, which the publ o greatly resented. The ports of Shanghai, Foodbow, Amy, Swatow and many others would b re taken enormous quantiti-e of the ooinage if the Banks could have obt ined them from the Treasury. They met a very obvious want in China, which should have been supplied long ago by that country. It is es imated that some 43 million dollars worth of coins were issued, but it must be remembered that those are scattered over many thousands of square miles, of that amount will ever return to Hongkong even though a good premiam were offered for them.
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and the writer does not believe that one-tenth