468
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
THE JAPANESE SUGAR SCANDALS
REMARKABLE EVIDENCE BY ONE OF THE ACCUSED DIRECTORS;
another, are now at the Sailors' Home. They | Hugo, and second cook Charras. Besides these have lost everything they possessed. Mr. Glen- 28 native crew and 14 native passengers wero dinning was good enough to-day to tell a repre- rescued." sentative of this paper what he heard and saw, and his account being that of a seafaring man is likely to be more substantially correct than that of a passenger. Mr. Glendinning says that just after four o'clock on Sunday morning the La Seyne was steaming close to the Pulau Sau light. There had been a heavy thunderstorm the previous afternoon, with plenty of rain, and the weather was hazy, though it was not actually raining. He and his mates had retired, but Mr. Glendinning, hearing the ship's whistle give one blast, proceeded to make his way up on deck, the six men being quartered a little for'ard of and below the bridge. He had not reached the deck, when the La Seyne gave a couple more blasts, and almost simultaneously the two ships went into each other with a crash. WENT DOWN LIKE A STONE.
The appalling suddenness with which the French ship foundered may be gathered from the fact that Mr. Glendinning says that he at once noticed she was sinking by the head. He immediately rushed to his mates and called them пр and on reaching deck again shouted to the Onda people to throw out some lines, But, added Mr. Glendinning with seafaring phlegm, there was no time for lines. She just sank in about three minutes from the time she struck. Directly the cold water got to her boilers, they exploded and burst out her sides, and she went down like a stone. In another moment we were all in the water. It appeared to be still water where we went in, but a couple of hundred yards or so off we got into a rip and began to travel away. There were all kinds of wreckage in the water round me, including rats, one of which jumped on my shoulder. There was a good deal of shouting, but it did not last long. It was no use swimming against the tide, it was too strong. I kept in heading for the other steam- er, and after I had been in the water some time, I was picked up by the boat in charge of the second engineer of the Onda.
Mr. Glendinning confirms the statement that a good many of the people who were thrown into the water must have been pulled down by sharks. There were many of them about. Just as a Malay seaman was being dragged into the boat which rescued Mr. Glendinning, a shark seized the man's foot; the second engineer beat the brute off with a boathook and the Malay was saved, but he was so badly bitten that he was obliged to go into hospital. In fact, Mr. Glendinning believes it was the sharks that got most of those who got free of the ship but were not picked up. There were many dead bodies floating about afterwards, but after the Onda had done all the work it was possible for her to do, the survivors were brought on to Singapore.
Mr. Glendinning also bears out the theory that a good many must have been drowned under the awnings.
He is certain that a good many of the natives lost their lives through paying too much atten- tion to saving their belongings, but one China- man got his box into the water and clung on to it, and fortunately saved both his life and his box.
LOST AND SAVED.
The list of lost and saved as compiled by the M. M. officials here is probably not complete in every detail, but it is nearly accurate as the dislocation of work which the disaster has in- volved will allow for the moment. It is as follows:-
LOST.
been
Our Correspondent at Tokyo writes:-- For some weeks past the trial
has proceeding in the Tokyo District Court of the ace sed directors and other officials of f the Dai Nippon Sugar Company. The evidence so far with the laid before the Court has dealt manipulation of the company's money for purposes of speculation and has revealed nothing of particular interest, beyond the fact that the accused had seriously involved the company's affairs not only in a financial way but also in maze of regard to the book-keeping, in the which those who are trying to adjust the affairs of the company are still struggling.
But on Wednesday last there was a revival of interest in the proceedings in consequence of the remarkable statement of the chief of the accused officials, the director Isomura. Speak- ing with an eloquence which aroused the sympathy of the Court Isomura made the follow- ing statement :-
We attempted to greatly extend the company's
business with the object of
trade in the monopolising the
Orient, and thereby benefitting our own country. But the Government, to our surprise, gave special favours to the Formosan Sugar Company by allowing heavy rebates on the taxes that should have been paid by this company, while we did not receive any assistance, but were ignored. this attitude of the Government even gave rise to international trouble, for the Dutch Minister laid a protest with the authorities because of the injury that was being done to the Java sugar trade.
"We therefore advised the Government, through Baron Shibusawa, to reconsider its policy, but the advice was ignored. At about this time the Formosan company was sending over 1,500,000 tons of sugar which was being secretly exported to Osaka and other districts. How could we be indifferent in this serious situation? How could we remain with our hands in our pockets and our company verging on bankrutcy? The Formosan company was making an annual profit of six million yen through the too-generous aid of the Government. And of this enormous amount Genro statesmen, Cabinet Ministers and many other high officials received a share."
The Court listened in silence to this sensa- tional statement and the accused, his excitement increasing, continued :-
: =
"Please remember that this crime was committed in broad daylight in Japan a constitutional country! I and Mr. Akiyama (another accused director) gnashed our teeth in indignation, and it was at that time we resolved upon an extraordinary course of action, namely, to bribe members of the Lower House of the Diet to prevent the authorities from con- tinuing their illegal acts. But our scheme failed
gave rise to a great scandal."
and
The accused concluded his statement by asking
the Court to impose a severe sentence upon him self, as being the principal offender, but to lighten the punishment of the other accused,
his accomplices.
The dramatic statement of Isomura greatly moved the Court, and naturally it has created a European passengers; Mademoiselle Barthy, very deep impression upon the public, although Baron and Baroness de Beniczky, Madame of late months the people have become accustom- Saint Ange, Mademoiselle Desiris, M. Delacroixed to hear of these serious charges against men and Mr. Habib. Officers and crew: Captain high in office. Conailho, Purser Bruneau, Dr. Gonet, chief cook Boeuf, steward Faure, and 38 native crew and between forty and fifty native passengers.
SAVED.
European passengers: Francis Maxwell,, Henry Muller, Percy Bolton, Joseph Saliba, Charles Glendinning, Talsin, F. Dreyfus. Officers and crew: Second captain E. Grundenij, first officer Mage, second officer Fournier Aulome, chief engineer D. Rasul, first engineer Joseph Jacques, second engineer M. Chalaeyat, chief steward Joseph Sertuillet, first fireman 0. Doummingue, storekeeper Victor Cavenne, first gunner Vincent Ferrero, boatswain Laurent
The erection of new buildings for the Japan- ese Consulate-General at Shanghai was begun on August 1 and the ceremony of laying the foundation stone was performed last week by Mr Y. Matsuoka, Acting Consul-General for Japan. A scheme to erect new buildings was formulated some eight or nine years ago, but it was decided not to go on with the work at that time. The Japanese Government this year voted Y. 200,000 for the expenses of erecting the required buildings and furnishing the same on the old site of the Consulate-General.
[November 27, 1909.
CHINESE MINING AND THE GOVERNMENT.
!
THE RIGHTS OF THE COMPANY.
Colonel Albert Thys presided at the meeting of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Com- pany, in London and in moving the adoption of the report said that the shareholders would doubtless agree that the results obtained during the year were satisfactory, especially in view of the fact that they had been achieved under unfavourable conditions of trade in China. Having dealt in detail with the various items of the balance-sheet, the Chairman went on to say that from time to time objections had been made by the Chinese Government to the company's. title to its property, but during the whole period of the company's existence no effective steps had been taken by them to establish their contention. Some time ago, however, the Chinese authorities granted to a Chinese com- pany a mining concession within the area of the Kaiping Basin, which this company claimed to be its exclusive right, and the Chinese company was now developing and equipping a colliery at Lauchow, which was some six miles from their principal colliery at Tongshan. That action on the part of the Chinese authorities constituted a grave infraction of the rights and interests of this company. The board of directors were fully satisfied that the company's title to its properties. was valid, and they applied to the British Govern ment for its support. The negotiations, which had been suspended for some considerable time owing to the absence of one of the highest of the Chi- nese officials, had been resumed quite recently, and they were being conducted on behalf of the company with the assistance.and support of the British Government. Such being the case, it was not possible for them to discuss the matter possible that the there that day. It was negotiations might be of a somewhat protracted nature, but in the meantime the shareholders might be sure that they were receiving the closest attention on their behalf both here and in China, and the directors placed the fullest reliance on the British Government in the matters at issue. (Hear, hear.) The output of coal for the past the year showed an increase of 108,500 tons, and the sales for the same period had amounted to 1,149,336 tons, being an increase of 190,027 tons, both output and sales being the largest attained in the history of the company. The cost of production, which had risen during the year 1907-8, owing to temporary causes, was reduced to a normal figure during the past year, notwithstanding the fact that the output of the mines throughout the year was on
a
scale considerably below the full capacity. With regard to reserves, he remarked that the coal exposed or actually in sight in the mines at the 28th February last, according to the engineer's report, in round figures, amounted to a total of 9,047,000 tons, which was equal to about eight years' supply on the basis of the sales of the past year.
THE OUTLOOK.
B
The trade conditions which had prevailed dur ing the year had not on the whole been favourable. Throughout the year the depression which previously existed had been more marked last autumn. As to the immediate future, they than ever, except for a temporary revival during were not in a position to speak definitely. They were advised that some revival of business was expected during the present autumn, but that there was nothing to warrant optimistic views as to the return of general prosperity in North China. Want of money was said to be the one main feature of the situation, and, while that continued, the local trades and industries, on which their sales in North China largely depended, were stagnant. It was to be borne in mind also that coal was still very little used in China for domestic purposes, and that any development in that direction was naturally checked by adverse conditions in trade. Persis- tent efforts were being made by the manage- ment to encourage and increase the use of coal for domestic purposes by the introduction of suitable stoves, and considerable progress had been made in that direction.
The report was unanimously adopted without discussion.