August 2, 1909.]
HONGKONG AND THE NAVY LEAGUE.
"
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT, sincerity is to be found not in the edicts on a visit to Australia next year. and proclamations insisting on the suppres- would not seem to be out of place," ho said, "It sion of the traffic, but in the way she meets "if in this also we combine with Hongkong in the economic and financial difficulties which expressing the hope that this fleet, if it does the enforcement of the fiat entails. That start, will visit also British possessions in story bas yet to be told in the Reports, for the Straits, and include Hongkong, Shanghai the test grows the more severe with cachaud Weihaiwei in its programme.' year's development of the plans of the visit, he added, would not be altogether one Such a Government, and, like the BRITISH of show, and its effect upon the Chinese ~ MINISTER, One may therefore still be diffident Government and upon the Chinese nation about expressing a very decided opinion generally would be a strong, a useful and a on the subject.
good one. "If carried to a conclusion, that is to say, if it were to include the outpost, Weihaiwei, it would go some way in a direction which I think we of this Branch all desire; I mean in a direction of dis- playing the importance of holding on to Weihaiwei, of making use of Weihaiwei, and|ing the ships? constituting Weihaiwei into a permanent sanatorium for our Navy aud for ourselves in the Far East." We draw the attention of the members of the Hongkong Brauch of the Navy League to these suggestions as being questions of local interest and importance well worthy the attention of the Branch and affording an adequate excuse for the holding of a general meeting of members at an early date. But for this report from Shanghai with its one or two references to the continued existence of the Hongkong Branch, we might have been iu dauger of writing that the Branch in this Colony had ceased to exist. It is about time it gave some evidence to the public that it is still a live institution,
(Daily Press. 30th July.) Reports in the Shanghai newspapers of a meeting of the Shaughai Branch of the British Navy League serve to remind us that Hougkong is reputed to have a strong branch of this League. We believe we are correct in saying, however, that no meeting of members has been called for three or four years past, and presumably members have only been reminded of their connection with this important organisation by the regular receipt of the Navy League Journal and also probably by a request for the payment of the annual subscription.
TYPHOON SIGNALS.
17
93
N.E. that furrowed its surface." perfectly smooth but for a slight swell from surprise of those on the ship can be The
imagined when they entered the harbour and saw to the S.E. beyond 300 miles, and a signal indicating a typhoon travelling N.W., and the harbour already clear of cargo boats, the sigual having driven them to the typhoon anchorage. The experience of the Colony during the past month makes pertinent the inquiry as to whether, in the words of "Traveller," the shipping lying in the waters of this Colony is efficiently warned about the approach of storms that are likely to endanger water-borne property, without unnecessarily impeding the work of discharging and load- We take it upon ourselves to say that the Government recognises that there is much room for improvement in this informed the Legislative Council that the respect, for nearly a year ago His Excellency Commander-in-Chief of the South China Station had consented to communicate by wireless telegraphy any atmospheric dis cruising in surrounding waters might be turbances which His Majesty's warships able to report. As, however, His Majesty's warships are usually in Northern waters during the typhoon season, this arrange- Whether the latter request has been more punctually complied wth in Hongkong than
ment is not likely to materially increase it appears to have beien in Shanghai is a
our knowledge of the direction and course malter on which the Hon. Treasurer and the
of typhoons or add to the reliability of the warnings signalled from the Observatory. Committee of the League are best informed, but we believe there is room for improvement
But when this matter was under considera- tion it was here as in Shanghai iu this connection. It is
recognised as "A great desideratum satisfactory to know, however, that, unlike the
that there should be an observation station somewhere to the south Branch at Slianghai, the Hongkong Brauch has no overdrait at the bank. There are
(Daily Press, July 31st.)
east, the direction from which most The enormous losses cutailed ou upwards of 400 members on the books shipping of the port by the succession of ingly passed on to the Governor-General the typhoons come, and His Excellency accord- of the Hongkong brauch, and when the warnings we have had from the Hongkong of the Philippine Islands a suggestion subscriptions now in arrear are paid up the Observatory this mouth, of typhoons with for the establishment of Branch should have a substantial balance in a three hundred mile radius of the Colony, station at Santo Domingo de Basco. The a wireless in hand. Since 1906, when the new scheme naturally give rise to much questioning as of national defence was inaugurated, follow-
Governor-General of the Philippines was to whether all these warnings have been much impressed by the suggestion, and we ing upon the Alliance with Japan, members really justified, for, fortunately, none of the think we are correct in stating that tie of the Navy League, both here and in reported typhoons have come sufficiently Appropriation for the current year passed Shanghai, appear to have ceased to take the same amount of interest in the British naval and on many occasions the harbour
Dear to the Colony to cause any alarm, by the Assembly includes a vote for the re establishment of this station. We believe position in the Far East as they did before, mained as calm as a mill pond during the the Hongkong Observatory is already in the Alliauce. Though the British Fleet in whole time the alarming signals were up. regular communication with nearly all the Far Eastern waters has been reduced from Yet the hoisting of a typhoon signal- four battleships and ten cruisers to
places named in "Traveller's" letter, with often when it is only a red one-suffices the notable exception of Pratas Island, and battleships and 81X cruisers and some to bring all the work of loading and dis. additions to the smaller craft, the Alliance charging ships to a standstill, for lighters the necessity for wireless communication our correspondent particularly emphasises has given to the British communities a aud sampans move off to the typuoon with this island, which be refers to as being stronger sense of security so far as the saf ty refuge with the utmost expedition, and of their lives and the protection of their remain there until the lowering of the Manila
ideally situated between Hongkong and as a halfway house from which property is concerued. But at the Shaug. warning signals indicates that the danger those in the Hongkong Observatory might hai meeting Mr. LEVESON reminded tue has passed. Meanwhile the steamers in be informed accurately as to the meteoro- audience that China is a country where the harbour are lying idle with steam up logical conditious prevailing in the sea to "face" and prestige have a very large and all the time, and in the case of SO DO the South East of the Colo y." Our cor- practical value, and he thought the Navy demurrage is incurred. Steamers which respondent may not be aware that this is League Branches in this part of the world are ready to leave do not go out when the fully recogaised by the Colonial Govern- might at least express the hope that our Observatory warns them of a typhoon in meat, which, a few months ago, approached fleet should be in size and standing as their track, and two or three times this the Chinese Government through His preponderately superior to that of the other month as great Europeau Powers as are our numbers, steamers have been lying at one time in the the establishment of a wireless telegraph many as eighteen or twenty Majesty's Minister at Peking with a view to our interests and our wealth. In many Kowloon Bay w. iting to proceed. "Travel- station on the island. The experiences of ways he admitted that we had this prepond-ler" was guilty of no exaggeration when he the past few weeks have abundantly proved erate superiority, but he pointed out
the need of the station, and we may be sure that the new flagship of another Power was unquestionably a stronger unit than
His Excellency will do all that lies in bis Admiral LAMBTON's flagship, and he made
power to secure its early establishment. the suggestion that the Shanghai Branch
Santo Domingo Not until this proposal and the station at should combine with the Hongkong Branch
materialise in making representations to Lundou accom-
bear in the Colony less grumbling-justifiable grumbling-regard- panied by a strong plea that a new armoured
ing the unnecessary typhoon alarins cruiser may be sent to China of undoubted
from which the harbour work of this superiority over the French, or the German
Colony so seriously suffers at the present or the Italian, or any other flagship in the
time. Far East, in addition to and not iu substitu- of the King Alfred." Another suggestion made by Mr. LEVESON bad reference to the recently reported intention of the Admiralty to send a battleship fleet
tion
■
110
|
ex-
wrote of the enormous losses suffered by the steamship companies; but the most annoy. ing part of the business is that we cannot be sure, in the face of Traveller's perience, that the warnings which have involved these losses have been justified by actual meteorological conditions. Tra- veller," who, we inay say, is no griffin, told us that the ship on which he was travelling passed up between the Paracel Islands and the Macclesfield Bank on the night of the 25th-26th inst. and had "a most delightful run up to Hongkong, a beautiful, clear, sunny weather, and sterly breezes, gradually backing to A.W, as we neared the islands, and a sea that would have been
<
expect
to
40
"
can
we
The authorities at Seoul suppressed the issue of the Korea Daily News on the 18th inst. because it contained an article on the question of jurisdiction which might excite the popular sentiment."