BRIDGING THE HONGKONG
HARBOUR.
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY JULY 18, 1903.
BOYCOTTING CHINESE.
Indian Engineering of the 27th ult has the legislation against the coming of Chinese for the morrow:" my clothes were never off.
following article:--
casica fa a bridge, even if one could be co structed in a osition to meet the public require. ments; and harbour ferries have not reached that limit of developsnt attained in like con ditions elsewhere. Simply joining an island with the mainland at some point where a bridge might be possible, wou'd hardly provide thes lation of the problem of inter-communi. cation, for the bridge would be where nobody want it and few co kd use it. We do not ste how the completion of the railway from Canton to Kowloon will affect the issue, as if the railway came so far it woul! aut stop there, but make the connecting link itself. Theilea is attractive, but not feasible.
[In fairness to Comminder Rumsey it should be stated that both the length and approximate cost of the bridge were given iu the scheme as embodied in his reports,-Ed., H.K. T.]
THE CENSUS OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.
of
Moreover, the defect of the laws that were passed have been intensified by the half- hearted manner in which they have been enforced in some places. A writer in the Labour Clarion, the official organ of the trades-unions in this city, points out the Farmerly the antagonisin was expressed by charged attitude organised labour. acts of personal violence and abuse-a policy which, however much it might worry the Chi nese themselves, gained no new supporters' of the exclusion policy. The labour unions, in their struggles against capital, however, have discovered a weapon they are using effectively against the Chinese. This is the boycott. The Broommakers' Union, for instance, has organised a campaign against those who handle Chinese-made brooms. One firm has been boycotted while, on the other hand, a number of dealers have signed agreements to handle none but union-made goods. Other trades are adopting the same tactics, and that Chinese laundrymen, admit that their business has been seriously injured. It is predicted by the un ionists that, with only the usual semi-active enforcement of restrictive laws, they can now they will stay away. make business so unprofitable for Chinese tnat
nervous system on seeing the careless way the badies of dead men were trodden on as we The San Francisco Argonaut says:-After passed them lying in the muddy roads! He thirty years of agitation and twenty years of
was gay and contented, taking small thought -A retiring abour master emphasizes tie
labourers into this country, the labour organisa. my back or my shoes off my feet any night niced for easy common cation be ween the istion have decide. I that there is a more effective during that winter.". He must have been a sides of the harbour of Hongkong by a sugges. method of restriction. Exclusion laws have exception among the officers of that day, in tion that he bag Mald he
that he never helted, or drank spirits: but he Spaneed by a always been unsatisfactory, because Eastern bridge, like the proced to be constructed
sentiment against exclusion has prevented the
was the cause of much betting through his ass Sydney Itbour But he studiously
enactment
leats in pedestrianism and in riding. of sufficiently stringent laws. avoids a reference to this probable length of the
He claims, on one occasion, to have ridden bridize required at Hongkong or the cost of it.
fiil en miles and hack again, over dreadful We can therefore culy treat th' scheme as a
mountain passes on a litle Portuguese mare, fanciful conceit indured by the exhilaration of
within two hours and a balt. Years afterwards, an appronelti eg pension in sterling, and not the
in Canada, he had a horse which often took him depreciated dollar There is at present no ac
"across the show in a light sledge, twenty miles in the hour." He was once knocked off his hase by a large, white-headed eagle, une of hundreds which were feeding on the dead. Here as later in France, he noticed the herds of wolves which followed the armies.
Martines in that, as well as in every nge, were not wanting and "an act of diabolical tyranny" on the part of a General Crawford is thus related. On a hot march he had ordered men, for the sake of refreshment, to wade waist-deep through a stream, stationing him self, with his staff, in the middle of the bridge; yet observing two or three of the 95th take some water in their hands to cool their parched mouths instantly the halt was sounded the brigade.ordered to retrace their steps, the whole division formed into hollow square, and these unfortunate men paraded, stripped and flogged," Ensin Hay approved himself so well during his first year at the front that in the summer of 1811, doubtless helped by the Tweeddale in fluence which he commanded, he was given a lieutenancy in the "swe!!" 12th Light Dragoons, fle was loth to leave his beloved first regiment, but the temptation was too great for "a poor walking ensign to bec me the owner of a charger at once and to enjoy the comparative The following communication from the Tiea. comforts of a cavalry regiment, such as the sury Department was received by the Collec- 12th then had, just fresh from England with tor of the Port of San Francisco on 5th ult. new outfits while we were in rags." He bad no Sir, The Secretary of State has forwarded more than time to admire the smartness of his to this department copies correspondence new comrades than he fell seriously ill, from with the Russian Embassy in regard to the infatigue and over-eagerness, and had to be invali portation of arms into China, and has request- ded home while still so young that he rarely had ed that is authorities be instructed to exercise occasion to look in a glass, since he had no renewed vigilance in this respect.
beard to shave. He returned, to the Peninsula twenty, in time for Wellington's disastrous re- in 1812 as an experienced old stager, aged treat from Hargos, the horrors of which are so lenn's exactly simultaneous retreat from Mos. little known in comparison with those of Napo- cow. "The roads were strewn with dead and dying men dropped from exhaustion and fatigue. I one moming counted thirteen men dead around one fire--I should say sterved to death." Terrible things were done, as well as suffered, by our desperate men and Hay could not help wondering what our tyrannical General Craw- ford would have done had he been alive and witnessed the scene; at least to be consistent, he must have banged half the famished soldier." On finally rejoining his regiment Hay had been amazed at the change in their appearance which had been wrought by a year's campaign. ing; the edge was off everything but their conquerable spirit of the British sablier swords and their spirits; and it was this un- which Captain Hay uften testifies which en- abled the serely presserfarmy to pull through. The darkest hour is said to be before the dawn; and after the spring of 1813 nothing was to prevent that march across Spain which is one of the purest glories of British arms. Battle of Vittoria, on the 21st of June, which was
SOME NOTEWORTHY FACTS AND FIGURES.
The bulk of the population of the Bombay Presidency-over 78 per cent is Hindu, while more than 17 per cent profess various forms of the Mussulman faith. Two per cent are Jains, and 8 per cent are Christians. It is notice. able that the number of persons returned as Christians during the last two decades has in- creased by 48 per cent and there are now very nearly three times as many nominal Christians as there are Parsces: The Section of the popula- tion termed "Animists" presents some curious and baffling features. Tersons classed under this head are mainly those forest tribes who say they are not Hindus, but cannot name their religion, and show, in common with all primitive people, a tendency to manifestation of great power or an object of unusual shape or form. They number 95,000 The Jains de- creased by nearly 20,000 in the decade, but still number over half a million.
There has been an incicase of 29 per cent amongst the Christians (during the decade) who now number 216,033-righout the Pre- sidency. Part of this increase may be attri. butable to the carolment of about 5,000 ad ditional members of the Salvation Army and party to the relations which the various mis- sionary bodies has been able to establish with the famine waits in their orphanages, than to any general movement in the ade't members of the non-Christian communities toward accenting the revelation of the Gospel. In Bombay City alone they number 45,000. The Parsecs 46,000
Ten years ago the Mahamedans formed 18.9 per cent of the whole population of Bombay. At present they are 207 per cent. In the Whole of the Presidency they number 4.567,000 a growth of over too. This seeming spread of Mahomedanisms partly due to the increase in the number of inhabitants of Seinde where in times of scarcity, when the cost of food
rises, the lower classes of Hindus are prone to
embrace the Moslem religion in order to share in the bounty dispensed by the rich Masjids.
The essential solidarity of the Mahomedan religion is such an impressive fact that casual observers are prone to overlook the tendency of its votaries to divide themselves into sects, and it would not fail to come as a surprise to many that a sect named the Ahmediyya has been actually recently founded in India, which numbers 10,000 followers in the lombay Presidency, and if ambitious aims count for anything they are more than a sect Their founder and leader is Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Chief of Quadain, who claims to be a Messiah. He is a Messenger of Peace, for he utterly epudiates the doctrine of Jehad and forbids var for the propagation of religion and is not blivious of the resources of civilization. This Mussulman Messiah claims to be to slam what the founder of Christianity vas to the faith of the Western world His
ollowing is inconsiderable, but he is worth watching.
The Khajahs in the Presiden y number over 0,039; their recent disruption is fatniliar nowledge, but we have yet to learn the exact rogress made by the greed of the twelve
mams.
CHINA AND IMPORTATION
OF ARMS.
The matter was mentioned in the depart meng's instructions to you dated April 2, 1902, requiring you to report to the department the exportation of arms and warlike material to China, in certain cases. You will please take act ion in the matter as suggested by the Secretary of State.-Respectfully, R. B. ARMSTRONG,
Assistant Secretary.
The local Chronicle says that no comments were made in the Collector's office on the let ter, except that no arms were shipped from this port to China so far as the knowledge of those the office was concerned. Arms night have been shipped surreptitiously. Consignments could go as canned goods, or for that matter, as any class of merchandise, and the depart ment would be none the wiser, as one official expressed it. There is no law that would pre- rent a shipment of war material to China, or any other country, that is, in a state of peace, at the information of .ch shipments could be given.
("It
With reference to the wire printed in our to the N. C. P. News:-The Japanese accuse issue last evening M. L. Vander Stegen writes The Germans of smuggling arms into China, accusers, at the same time charging the Bel which they deny, and threw the ball at the gians with participating in the trade. it Allow me to deny emphatically the Ger- was not, said the Cat, it was the mice who did
signing of the Peace Protocol forbidding the man accusation towards Belgium; since the introduction a! arms into China, the Belgian Customs, forbidding shipment of any arms to Minister of Finance has issued order to the China not excepting Hongkong, and to illus. trate how strictly this order carried out I
will tell you that last December I wanted to ship from Belgium six revolvers and six thou sand cartridges by a German steamer, but was refused permission by the Customs. As the weapons were intended for European use, I applied to the Minister of Finance for special permission, but he would not grant same, on account of the Protocol in question, declaring permission to many German applicants, at the same time that he had already refused
REMINISCENCES AND ANECDOTES.
The
badly wounded in the ankle at the Goa in 1810; but this was the only wound of his life, and was the means of getting him the brigade- niajorship of the 2nd Light Brigade.
quarters.
of the rich stories that are to be found on every other page of the volume, space prevents us from quoting except two. Once the Brigade enters at night a village already occupied by Lord Hill, every hole full up. General Vande leur, the amusing Irich Brigadeer, walks into a nice clean little room, with a cheerful fire, tenanted by a Captain of the Wiggon Train Who are you, Sir !" asks the General, and the poor Captain answers, saying that these are his anydd glad to see you in my quarters for , sir, am General Vandeleur, and five minutes The Captain quietly picks up his traps and retires, no one knows where. April 6th, 1812, our soldiers committed Again after the dreadful storming of Badajos, atrocities upon the citizens worse than the French ever did. Among the sufferers was a handsome and spirited Spanish girl of barely fourteen, fresh from the convent, named Juana Maria de lus Dolores de Leon, descended from Ponce de Leon. She was slaying with her married sister, who brought her in desperation to the English camp to put her in charge of any officer who would protect her. Johnny (afterwards Sir John) Kinkaid and Harry Smith were standing at the door of dire misery and helplessness, begging for pro Smith's tent when Juana came up in such tection, but even then, beautiful as the day, with delicate freshness-more English than Spanish Kinkaid loved her, but was slow,
and in the meantime another and more im- pudent fellow, stepped in and won her!" Thus did Harry Smith win his passionately loving wife, his guardian angel, throughout "a restless life of war in every quarter of the globe." She made the campaign of Spain, of France and of Waterloo, with him in the most romantic man- ner; she was the darling of the army; every one from the Duke downwards called her Juana; she was introduced to the Emperor of Russia by Wellington as ma petite guerriere Espagne- ler; and from her the too famous Ladysmith
was named.
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE
COMMISSION.
conference to study the best means for esta We understand that at the international blishing stable relations in the value of money and countries which have a silver standard, between countries which have a gold standard held at the Foreign Office yesterday, an ar rangement was arrived at respecting the currency of China. Several meetings have been held of the members of the United States Commission now visiting London with repre- sentatives of this country, as well as, of China and Mexico. We are not in n position to state what are the terms arrived at, but we may take it as being eminently satisfactory China, has been arrived at. The subject is a that a possibly practical solution, as regards very complicated one, but, as we have already stated, though the difficulties of coinage and currency are of a very formidable character it is no reason why hands should be folded and the conclusion arrived at that it is hope less. There will undoubtedly be great native opposition by bankers, compradores and sheoffs, and all that is comprised in the powerful Shansi guild, who are interested in membered, affecting not only countries but matters of exchange; and exchange, be it re- that arises between province and province and of value in China would not please them. Yet city and city in China. A single coin as unit this is the first step that must be taken before the question of Chinese foreign exchange can be grappled with.
position. There is as yet no arrangement.made with the Russian Post Office to send the mails vid Siberia, but even when such is brought desirable that a British sen route should also about it would for many reasons be distinctly exist, at a greater speed doubtless, but whether nt smaller cost we must wait to see.
:
IMPRESSIONS OF MONGOLIA.
WATER-FLEAS, IMMORALITY, AND THE TURF. Mr. C. W. Campbell gave the Royal Geo- graphical Society his impressions of Mongolia. square miles, and the largest sheet of water in His description of Angual Nora lake of 28 the Chahar country-was interesting: "1 rowed across it from north to south, and found no greater depth than 43 feet; Mr. Larsen took a line cast and west, and had an exactly be much iver a feet. The water astes strongly similar experience. The average depth cannot of soda, is charged with organic impurities, and seem to thrive on it, and the camels love it. quite unpotable; but the cattle and ponies A simple of this witer which I sent to the health officer of Shanghai, Dr. Arthur Stanley, was pronounced by hum to be highly poison- ous as a beverage, and destructive of animal
the conclusion that there are none in the like. and most vegetable life. I spent some time in a fruitless search for fish, and finally came to There was nothing living in it except a few water fleas, and patches of a species of water- grass,'
Considemble inte est continues to be taken in what may possibly be the outcome of the radiant about the Mongol woman with rare "There is" said Mr. Campbell-"nothing visit of the United country in connection with the proposal to
lates Commission to this exceptions she is withered and slattern, or young and slattern. Not even the daughters obtain some working plan on which silver may of princes can be said to exist beautifully." be utilised as a currency on a more stable basisNo doubt the legal position of the wife in a than has prevailed of recent years. It will be remembered that on the identical notes pre-her mother-in-law is alive, but her actual place family is an inferior one, at any rate so long as sented by China and Mexico to the American and influence depend on herself. An American adminis rating, the President referred to the lady missionary acquainted with the domestic question in his message to Congress, and that inorals of the Chahar Mong is declared' in the Commission which has been in his coun- ferior to no one but the Duke" was the noble The most admired Peninsula warrior, "in-
try were subsequently nominated to investi place she could think of'
my hearing that Mongolia was the wickedest gale the matter The mcsabers of the Com
She meant that the John Colborne (afterwards Lord Seaton). No
domestic life is devoid of purity.... Marriage mission left London on 18th inst, for Paris, and has no religious significance, where else that we know of does Wellington subsequently proceed to Berlin, St. Petersburg costiact, whose binding force is the mere will It is a civi! appear so amiable, so truly great, as here. Out
and The Hague with the same object as they of the parties." of many good anecdotes ofhim we can mention
bare had in view here. It is expected that but one, which was inspiration to Harry Smiththey will return to this country in Septembering disclosures: "A racing stud of dimensions gone wrong at the stif battle of Toulouse, in after life of the Duke, when everything had
L.& C. Express 19th June.
must try something else" Harry Smith learned exclaiming: Ha; by God, this won't do; / at New Orleans that the Americans "were like our old associates the French and nearly not accustomed to the civility of war, last-foot through their firing upon his flag of brothers both unhurt) he received, when barely truce. For Waterino (where he had two 28, a Lieutenant-Colonelcy and C.B.; seven years later he neglected a chance of being knighted.
GREAT BRITAIN IN CHINA,
more
THE EASTERN MAILS..
The L. &C. Express of, the 12th uit prints the following editorial -
The continued discussion of the Post Office Yule for expenses of the Mail Packet services took place on 8th inst, when Mr. Caldwell Crait with the subject of the two British mail and Oriental Company rez, and that by services to the Far East; that by the Peninsular the C. P. R. vi Canada. Briefly stated, Mr. Caldwell apparently thought that the P. and O. service for China should be superseded by the Siberian route. and that, as the Canadi.n Pacde bad notiulfilled the promises marie at the time the subsidy was arted, it should further time thus given them to carry out wa not be renewed for the five yours longer, and. should already have beenn e an accomplished
fact.
Concerning icing, the lecturer had interest:
commensurate with rank and wealth is the proper appanage of a prince or jassa, and his 'string' usually includes some of the fastest beasts of his district. The races are never under 10 miles long ;the Derby' of Mongolia is contested over 30 miles of rough steppe. There are prizes to winners, rarely of tempting value; in the Chahar country the 'stakes was usually an ounce or two of silver (25, 6d, or 58.), constantly heard of matches between rival owners proud of the reputation of, their stock, but seldom of serious wagers on the result. It is worth remembering that Mongol races are usually run under ecclesiastical auspices. A race meeting I attended in the Chabar country in 1890 was presided over by the local gegen (avatar), and the competing ponies were mostly owned by lainas The great races which take lace yearly at Urga are held under the direct ronagefe Bogdo (lama Pope of Mongolia), who becomes the owner of all the winners. A horse-ree with a bishop in the Judge's box, a public chiefly clerical, no book
nakers or betting, and nominal prizes, is a phenomenon entitled to a little attention from an Englishman."-Daily News.
UNITED STATES CURRENCY COMMISSION.
British commercial prospects in the Far East would seem to be in a palous way just now, if the Times correspo.dent at Peking has correctly grasped the situation. The China market. so far, has certainly not filled the sanguine expectations with which we joined He did not include the Straits Settle the other Powers in signing the Peace Protocal wo years ago, but this disappointment doubt might be left in a condition to get its mails by ments in his survey, and apparently that colony responsible for the name of our late beloved ing the great destruction of property and im
less is largely due to transitory causes, includ- any way it could. Or possibly it came within Queen, seemed to Hay" the most total over- poverishment of the people by the war, and
his suggestion that in times of peace the throw of the Grand Army of France that could
cruisers of His Majesty's Navy should be lightful quarters at Bourdeaux and gave fall where the shoe pinches. We are distinctly service would be liable to interruption and there would not be inuch cause for anxiety.if utilised for the conveyance of mails. It will, well be imagined." He spent the first half of 1814 on the staff of the Earl of Dalhousie in de
we were still holding our own relatively to doubtless, be readily seen that such a proposal other Powers. Unfortunately this is precisely is not of a very practical order. Any mail play to his somewhat unseemly fondness for losing ground and influence, it seems, and impossible disarrangement in time of war, but practical jokes. In Portugal despite the strict perilling our future trade by the laissez faire orders of the Duke, he had known how to do policy which is being pursued by our mer-
in connection with the visit to Europe of the even in peace time the exigencies of the service himself well if it were only by taking quarters chants and financiers as well as by the Govern delivery and despatch of vessels which is sond of the explanations and opinions in the United States Commission on the subject of in the house of the priest, which was sure to
would hardly permit of that regularity in the silver currencies, a summary has been publish. be the least attractive and the best provisioned particularly to the railway, development of
ment. This remark has reference in the village. Once in the pass of Villa Valle, China, which lies at the root of the commer
essential a feature of any occan mail contract. American Press on the proposals of the Mexican they decapitated a sheep, but had to lie long termining to a great extent the future channels consider the suggestion of the hon. member
The Postmaster-General certainly had a large and Chinese Governments as submitted to Con- he put up his friend Evans to a joke or two cial, as well as the political, question by de-
majority of the House with him when he said he did not propose to ask the Committee to
gress early in the year. The proposals are that in hiding with the carcase, which was finally of trade.
Mexico and other countries so disposed shall eaten. After two years Evans turned up in
It is true that British company
issue a new silver currency at the ratio of about Hay's bedroom at Bourdeaux, while the latter
that cruisers should be employed in leisure promoters have obtained a fair share of the times as ordinary mail ships. To that he would value in gold by Government control of the 32 to 1. This currency shall be kept at a fixed was hurriedly dressing to dine with Lord
numerous railway concessions granted by anticipate the strongest opposition from the quantity through closing the mints to free coin- Dalhousie. By good acting Evans managed tions, these concessions lie dormant, whilst acquainted with the Admiralty would associate dues, and by the maintenance of a gold ex- the Chinese Government, but with few excep. Admiralty, and he did not think anyone age; by its acceptance at gold parity for public to array himself in a complete outfit of Hay's other countries are successfully pushing for himself with the hon. member in that proposal. change fund in teading financial centres. The best, while seeming to walk about the room ward their lines and obtaining fresh conces From Canada comes the repudiation that the proposal to coin the new pieces at 32 to r then "How do I look ?" he asked, with the hand of the door in his hand.
sions in districts calculated to prejudice our "Oh, very well." "Then, good morning," he said,
interests and weaken our position even in the things in consideration of the continuance of the
Dominion was pledging itself to do certain instead of 16 to is not an effort to maintain
many fresh facts here given about Waterloo, can chew," and committed themselves to larger in his reply to Mr. Caldwell, said that flis
Recollect the pass of Villa Valle." Of the looking the door from
Yangtse Valley. The fact is (says the Birm le, and adding,ingham Post) that our financiers have, to use
Pacific steamship subsidy, which Mr. Austen
silver bullion at a fixed parity with open mints. Chamberlain complained had not been done. an American idiom, "bitten off more than they It will be seen that the Postmaster-General, battle flay saw "several patrols of Prussians With the exception of the Pekin Syndicate's the wishes of Canada and give Canada every we can only mention that four days after the undertakings than they can conveniently float. shooting their own and the French wounded railway of ninety miles, which is now approach opportunity for facilitating the establishment of Majesty's Government, in their anxiety to meet in spite of the seeming barbarity, he felt this. soldiers, who were beyond recovery" and that
ing completion, from the coal inentures in Honan to the Wei River, whence the coal will limits to which they could be expected to go in a fast Atlantic service. had gene to the utmost was the best thing that could be done.
and Chinese Corporation, who five years ago accomplished fat, and that we might then get be shipped by water to Tentsin, little or noth assentin, to the renewal of the contract for five ng it be done in the way of railway construc- tion by British companies. Even the Briti hment of an Atlantic service might become an years, in the hope that by that time the establish-
nothing yet to utilise the grant, which the Chi-results were not achieved in the further interval way from Nankin to Singang, have done secured a concession for an important rail-a further quickening on the Pacific side, and .000 make this a route of real value. If these nese Government now threaten to cancel. In which was left, he did not think it likely that some cases, it is the supineness of our capita whoever might be then re ponsible at the block is the Chinese Government. In illust- lists that is at fault. In otbers the stumbling Treasury or Post Office would be inclized to concur in any further extension of the contract ration of the latter difficulty, we are told that the corporation above mentioned has recently benefits conferred, however, by the possession on its present basis. There were some other been refused a valuable concession, on the of this route, the advantage of which would ground that it had already been purchased by probably be, revealed to a greater extent in a native financier, but the authorities declined time of war, rather than in time of peace. to name the favouret individual or give any There must surely have been potential advant- information regarding the scheme; and the ages likewise in having such boats as the general assumption is that the native capitalist Empress steamers available in
a man of straw acting as proxy from some foreign lower. in another case the laim of the Pekin Syndicate to build a railway from its coal mines at hansi to
of Sir Edward Holdich, his nid aide-de-camp, The autobiography of Sir Harry Smith has rested through all these years, in the hands and is now edited in masterly style, and with Mr. Moore Smith. Although at least two rare self-suppression, by his great-nephew, outstanding battles, Alwal and Booniplats, are for ever associated with his name, Harry Smith was not in the first line of warriors in his ing Wellington. Among his close associates strenuous generation, that immediately follow. and practical contemporaries Lord Seaton, Lord Keane, and Lord Gough, attained higher honours. But unlike these Harry Smith both could and did write. His pen has remedied what was lacking in his fortune, and we can know him far better than we shall ever know some of his more famous comrades.
a necessary outlet
emergency.
time of The mail time to Hong kong may bo greater than that via will deny that this line unning on the Pacific Suez by the P. and O. route, but no one
position at a time when the Pacific is becoming yearly of more commercial and political im on the Yangisc is has not tended to strengthen Great Britain's
contributing to the Federation of the Empire, The Boer War, while partially or wholly has been the means of making considerable of "Khaki" productions. Of these A Few addition to literature, quite apart from the drift Reminiscences and Anecdotes by Captain William Hay, C. B. (Simpkin and Marshal) and The Parsecs of the Presidency number about Harry Smith, Buronet of Aliwal on the Sullej, An Autobiograph; of Lieutenant-General Sir 8,000, an increase of only 3 per cent in the. C. B. (Meeway), may be honourably men. ecade. It is difficult to imagine how a hand- tioned. Both these contributions were lying l of helpless and forlorn refugees from ancient
in the hands of their respective relatives in ersia, begging for shelter and religious toler ace from the fanaticism of the Arabs, at the century, both chiefly relate to the eventful manus ript forms for the space of over half a ands of a petty flindu Prince should bulk so period between 1800 and 1825, and it is dis. isproportionately large before the world despite tressing to learn that they certainly never congenial surroundings. But to the credit of would have seen the light but for the sudden e Parsees be it said, they owe their influence and special attraction of the nation to the public life to their acute intellect and in condition of our army and to the quite omitable perseverance and even their worst accidental interest in Sir Harry Smith and his bemies cannot deny that it is entirely due to
wife aroused by the siege of Ladysmith. While e benign British rule that it enjoys the proud reading these books we live for a little at the osition of one of the most advanced and pros- very heart f England in one of the epochs rous communities in India. Yet it is to be best worth living in, and although they are in ared that they are no longer as steadily in the the hands of the public since more than a year in of progress as they once were. No race the Anecdotes and Reminiscences will lose in stand at gaze: it must either ga forward or nothing by any amount of repetitions. ift backward. The extraordinary outburst
The gratitude of the world of readers is due. prosperity which infused such vigour and
The first volume of these memoirs bring to Mrs. S. CL, Wood, for at last publishing the tale down to 1829, when Harry Smith was terprise into the community in the first half the Reminiscences and Anecdotes and we really nearly 32. It tells of South and North America, last century has long since spent itself; and
owe everything to her interest and pleasant above all of the gloriou Peninsula, Waterloo, hile the sea of humanity about them sends forth filial piety. As a child'she so delighted to hear and France, then of Scotland, Nova Scotia and
increasing number of competitors to contest
her father's tales of the Peninsula and of Jamaica. He was born on the 28th of June, eir predominance in the learned profession Waterloo that between 1840 and his death in 1787, at Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire. His d in commerce, the foundation of the past 185; he wrote them down for her. There is a nuine greatness of the race are being sapped singular difference in our personal knowledge character as he bere appears in glimpses, and father was a country surgeon, a delightful an excess of luxury and egregious vanity. Other communities," concludes the sympathe equally fine fighting under Marlborough a
of the fighting under Wellington, and the one who was somehow able to launch his eleven critic from whom we glean most of the century earlier.
chil 'ren rather expensively in life. Harry rticulars, "are outstripping the Parsees; with-
William Hay was descended from the first
Smith, got his commission in the 95th Regi- their own rankes fewer men of genuine pro- Marquis of Tweeddale, and was born at Spott May 1803. Two years later he was in the dis ment (afterwards the famous Rifle Brigade) in se are appearing; many are losing bold of House, near Dunbar, in October 1792. He astrous expedition to Buenos Ayres the conduct old beliefs and finding nothing to replace was given bis first commission, in 1809, in the m; and unless one or two Paisees of real sand Light Infantry, at the express wish of his
of which he condesins vehemently. At Monte sius arise to awaken their brethern to a
Video he was nursed in a kind Spanish family, father's friend the famous Sir John Moore, sciousness of their diminishing oppor-iately dead. Sir John bad devoted special have him take her daughter, plus $20,000-withment's representatives in China,
the old lady of which was in vain eager to ities, the impartial observer will fear for attention to this regiment-which by the way herds and houses. He entered upon the great ir future. Small communities are generally is now stationed in Bombay-and bad stipulat- Peninsula Campaign, in 1808, with the ad- blerant of criticisms, but any Parsee of calm ad, who reflects upon the almost stationary in addition to pay had better not exceed 80 really subaltern, for in South America he ed that the yearly allowance of young officers vantage of knowing Spanish. He was never merical position of his community, and who uires into the evil results of consanguineous About a year was spent in garrison life, during of a
a year, and in no case should exceed too had been adjutant; he was given command rriages cannot feel confident of the outlook.
points we have laid stress upon may not and marched with his regiment to London to
which time Ensign Hay gloried in poaching, Spain, he either had a Company,
his return, and in admitted perhaps, but economic and physio- help to quell the Bardett riots. In the summer often the director,, of generals, He took as brigade-major, was the associats, and ical factors cannot be g nsaid."
of 1810, when not eighteen, the longed-for part in the unspeakable awful retreat to order to the front came, and he left Portsmouth in a Dug, carrying with him an unsolicited fell asleep in their ships, and never awoke for Corrupna, and says: Da embarkation many gift of 50 from his mother. After a month's three days and nights, until in voyage he landed in Lisbon, reaching head reached Southampton." He got to his home gala we quarters, two evenings after the battle of Buraco, just in time for Wellington's great eaten up with vermin "and he never forgot the
a living, still active skeleton, near naked, and Seet Tiang retreat, as fine as any battle, upon the heights tenderness with which he was received: In Present of Torres Vedras. The weather was wet and the spring of 1809 he was back in the Penia- cold, and the roads in the most dreadful state, sula, which he never left until four and a half and I shall never forget the shock to my years later, through the Pyrennes. He was
ING to an unusual amount of sickness ong the inhabitants of Nanking, the autho- s bave issued an order for the people to sa piling up filth about their houses, and to nup about the city," The chief constable the place has been instructed to have the ets cleaned and to have wooden boxes Eed about the city in, which the people can joalt the refuse from their houses/
น
company
on
or
opposed by France, in the interest of a Franco- Belgian syndicate, although the right of the syndicate to this easement has been more than ace oficially recognised. Meanwhile new concessions are being obtained in varions dire tions by Russia, Germany, and Belgium, in every case with Chinese Government guaran position in the Yangtse will be seriously com. tee, and if only half of them are carried out our promised. The Royal adjuration to our trailers to "wake up" seems to be badly needed just now by some of our capitalists, and railway prompters, as well as by his Majesty's Govern-
portance.
way
It is
rate of coinage selected to bring the buillon value of the coins into one approxim-
will he kept s'eady by the fact that the supply ale relation to their exchange value. Under not depend upon the price of silver bullion, but he system proposed, the value of the coins will
of coins is starved down to the need for them in the channels of trade.-L. & C. Express.
THE SHORTEST ROUTE
BETWEEN LONDON AND THE FAR EAST.
S. F. Call states:-Sir Charles Rivers Wilson, A New York despatch, of the 13th ul., to the president of the Grand Trunk Railroad, who will sail for Europe to day, says the proposed extension of the Grand Trunk lines through the Dominion of Canada to the Pacific Coast, to cost $75,000,000, is now practically assure of success. The enabling bill, which will be the charter of the new road, has passed through the committees of the Canadian Parliament ing in the House and is about to be advanced to the third read
Commoss at Ottawa. This chanter provides for the organization of a separate company, to be known as the Grand
built a line 3,860 miles long, extending from Trunk Pacific Railway with a capital of $75,000,000. Under this charter the e will be
with several branches. Quebec to Port Simpson, on the Pacific Ocean,
While it was originally intended to use the cxisting lines of the Grand Trunk between Mr. Caldwell did not make out a very strong Quebec and North Bay, it has now been case against the P. and O. Company's contract
decided to build another re between vid Suez, though Mr. Austen Chamberlain these two paints. From North Bay west voiced for popular impression, that any renewal the line will be practically as heretofore of the Eastern and Far Eastern mails should mapped out, passing throuzh the cities of be on the lines of "greater speed and smaller Winnipeg and Edmonton, and with bran- cost." This is the burden, he told the House,ches to Port Arthur, Regina and Calgary. of most of the representations made to him The possibility is also being considered of from the countries and colonies interested. building a branch from Port Simpson to But there is a point at which it is impossible Danson City, but under the charter as now SINCE all the tenders for the opium and spirit point has practically been reached. That
that these desiderat can be brought together, asked for nu provision has been made, for this and, according to the P. and O. Company, this extension. farms are now before Government, although it
The road will be divided into the Eastern, company is ready to give the public the prairie and the Rocky Mountain sections. is understood that no decision has yet been all the advantages in the of quick It is believed that it will take over five years to arrived at by Government, we (S. F. Press) journeys that could be given consistently feel justified in giving the following figures, with sound business principles, for the
complete the entire project.
monthly rental is $263,000, and, assuming that which, on good authority, are said to be the P. and 0. Company, we must remem- amrunts of the tenders sent in. The present ber, is a commercial company that has to be the figures given for the new tenders are cor
ran strictly on business lines if it would suc-
revenue is as given in the other columns. rect, the monthly and yearly addition to the siderations quickened its public service, and
ceed. It has consistently with these con certainly for the last year or two it is the only New Tender Monthly Yearly line on which dependence can be placed either Increase. Increase. outward or homeward to keep strictly to its value for the public mancy, but this does not schedule times. In its mail service it has given unfortunately cover all that the public ask as passengers and its service to the Far East has coequence suffered is a way that is at times made to reflect on its apparently Imperial
Lim
Loke Yew
Farmer ... Syndicato
$485,000 $220,000 $1,640,000 [$470,000 or $207,000 $2,484,000 $475,000 $112,000 $2,544,000 $335,000 - $ 72,000 $ 864,000
It is assorted that the new route will provide the shortest line 'between London and the Far East, and that it will also shorten the distance between many United States points and the Far East, as Port Simpson is about 550 miles nearer the ports of China. Vladivostok and Manila than Vancouver or Seattle, and about 650 miles nearer than San Francisco, while it: is no farther away than these parts from Hawaii, From Liverpool the distance to Yokohama will Australia and other important South Sea porta.
be 310 miles lers than by the nearest existing line and 1,203 miles less than via New York and Vancouver. It will even be shorter than by the Trans-Siberian Railroad,
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