せ
271
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
سل سلسا
Reference :-
C.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Z 1-continued.
Tray. 2nd Moon, 21st
Candles
Oil
Rice
Wire
9th. Wire
28th
25th
26th
Wire gunpowder-3 galls., 5m 4c
Matches
Oil
Goods
Do,
29. Split rattan
Candles
Rice
Wire
Do.
Do.
Z 2.
Account book found in Tang I Shek's
shop in Ha Teun, on Saturday,
April 22nd, 1899
Grass mattery
Tobacco
Chek Ting chair coolie
Tan collector
Policeman to go to Shang U Tung
Tseng Sz chair coolie
Pak In. English gunpowder-one
jar, 2m 5c 2e
Sandals
29. Rattan
6. Rice
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
Z 2-continued.
Gunpowder-one jar, It 4m 4c English gunpowder-2 boxes, 5m 0c 41 Lead bullets-1 katty, 1m 81 Flagstaff top
3rd. Moon
3rd. Coolie to carry gunpowder
Den Tai gunpowder--1 jar, 2t 5m 6c Chair coolie
I Shek, travelling expenses
So Pan, travelling expenses 4th. Hakka Man
Ngai Jan to carry gunpowder, It 4m 2c Opium
5th. Go to Nim Wan and bring back
gunpowder lt 4m 21
I Shek, travelling expenses
A In, travelling expenses
Fo Leung, for expenses Cash account correct
Provisions
Tobacco
5. Tobacco
Food
6. Rice
9. Rice
Oil
Firewood
Rice
Sand
Grass
Brooms
Matting
[20.]
Taipo, May 7, 1899.
I FORWARD herewith a translation of a petition presented to me by the inhabi- tants of Cheung She Wan.
I have informed the petitioners that whilst the British Government is always prepared not to interfere unnecessarily with the belief and customs of the people, it will not tolerate agitators making an improper use of the beliefs and superstitions of the people, in order to create trouble and to obstruct the carrying out of necessary public works, which are being undertaken with a view to increase the prosperity of the terri- tory, and to promote the welfare of the people.
I informed them that such agitators are working for their own private ends, and will be severely dealt with as disturbers of the peace if they do not desist from their nefarious practices.
J. H. STEWART LOCKHART,
Colonial Secretary.
HON. COLONIAL SECRETARY,
CAN you not arrange with the geomancers; they are at the bottom of this trouble. I think a judicious arrangement may be made with a small expenditure. May 8, 1899.
.H. A. B.
YCUR EXCELLENCY,
I am afraid it would not be possible to arrange as you suggest. If the geo- mancers were paid, they would become more troublesome than they are already, as they would discover that the creating of trouble is a paying game.
J. H. STEWART Lockhart,
May 14, 1899.
Colonial Secretary.
HON. COLONIAL SECRETARY,
May 16, 1899.
YOUR action was quite right.
H.A. B.
The humble petition of U Ying Hap, Lo Yuk Tsing, elders of Cheung Sha Wan, Li U Tsing, Lok Kwong Wing, Li Yan fin, Lok Kwong Iu, elders of Pak Shu Leung, and the inhabitants of all the villages in those districts, praying that as the geomantic influence of their neighbourhood will be interfered with, that another site may be selected for the construction of a carriage road, whereby the Fung Shui of the place may not be injuriously affected, and the houses and graves of your petitioners may be protected and the wishes of the people gratified. Your petitioners have dwelt in this land for more than a hundred years, and all their villagers have been law abiding, and have depended upon Fung Shui for their peace and prosperity. Their district is now included within the area leased to Great Britain, and proclamations have been already issued, informing the people that a just and benign government will be established. This filled your petitioners with feelings of extraordinary joys, as they were able to indulge in their hope of sharing in the blessings of British protection and peace. They were ready to yield implicit obedience to all commands, and have not committed any offence; notwithstanding this, the proposed route of the carriage road, situated behind the houses of the villages, traverses the geomantic line along the hill at the back of the petitioners' ancestral temple, and if this did not affect the Fung Shui of the place the construction of the road would not be objected to. But the matter is one of highest importance, involving life and death, for if the geomantic influences are once interfered with great indeed will be the calamity which will befall your petitioners, and their houses and ancestral temple will be rendered uninhabitable.
Your petitioners submit that a humane government extends its benevolence to all, and does not regard the people as if they were weed. Your petitioners, therefore, present this joint petition, and pray that you will be mercifully pleased to authorise the selection of some other favourable route for the construction of a carriage road, so that, the Fung Shui of their district may not be injuriously affected, and their houses and graves may be protected and the wishes of the people gratified, for which great kindness both the living and the dead will be endless grateful.
And your petitioners will ever pray.
To the Honourable
The Colonial Secretary.
Dated 1st May, 1899.
HON. COLONIAL SECRETARY,
[21.]
May 8, 1809.
THIS petition was presented by Chinese subjects to the Chinese Magistrate of the district while it was still Chinese territory. The petitioners give certain reasons for objecting to be handed over to British jurisprudence, some true, as that fines are in- flicted for breach of any law; some half true, as the destruction of certain plague in- fected houses, without mentioning that the property was paid for; some untrue, as the description of the poisoning of plague patients by arsenic. I do not believe that any plague patients were destroyed by that drug.
But if the petitioners believed what they stated, they had no doubt ample reason in their own minds for praying that there should be no irregular extension of the boundary, as settled in Pekin.
I hope that time will prove to those people that their fears are groundless, and we should do everything in our power to bring the fact home to them. I cannot see any grounds for taking any action in the matter against the petitioners. Some of them may be useful members of the district councils.
May 5, 1899.
H. A. B.
$