CO129-209 - Governor Sir Bowen - 1883 [5] — Page 479

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THE INFLUENCE OF HIS EXCEL- LENCY GOVERNOR BOWEN'S PROCLAMATION.

The following appeared in the Chinese Mail of yesterday. We may add that no European control or influence whatever is exercised over the eliting of this paper :--

Hongkong being a great centre of Chi.! nese and foreign trade, where merchants : assetable in crowds, and goods accumulate ! in heaps, it is by no means an easy place to govern. A man who is not richly endowed aud widely experienced, or one who does not combine goodness and majesty, is uot fit for this office. In the administration of i the late Governor Hennessy, though it must be said that he treated us Chinese with impartiality, abolished the rattan, im- proved the prison regulations, and relieved the suffering poor in time of disaster; nevertheless little deeds of kindness were not sufficient atouement for great faults. The Government was lax. Petitions re- mained unanswered. The roads were not repaired. Culture was neglected. By in- dulgence lawless people were encouraged. The streets were answept; and the impure air engendered by the accumulated filth bred pestilence. Matters had become so bad that the great thoroughfares were blocked up with hawkers, the whole place was one continuous market, and the noise was tremendous. In this way the trade inside the shops was reduced to very small dimen- sions indeed. And this was becoming the normal stato of things, and there seemed to be no thought of change. Was it possible for us ever to get a worthy officer placed over us who would undertako to re- form the maupers of the people and turn all this ugliness into beauty! Well, we think there is a real cause of joy for Hong- kong to-day, in that it has pleased the British Government to send such a man į as His Excellency Sir George Bowen to rule over it. We are ready to dance and sing in the oxuberance of our rejoicing and congratulation of the Imperial Government in having at last put the right man in the right place.

Already, since our fovernor came into office, he has rectified the order of proce- duge and reformed the administration, he has done away with low practices and Bought for honest things; so also he has Allied up vacancies to the entire satisfac- tion of the merchants and the general com- munity; and he has gone on to deal with the public streets, not indeed to the entire convenience of the hawkers; but why are they inconvenienced / Only because they are atapid, and ignorant of the established laws of a well regulated state. Thero is a possible apology for them that, having got a Government lisonce, they imagined themselves free to spread out their wares any where in the middle of the streets; but now, when they find they cannot do it, they raise a clamour and a mob, and even go so far as to put up threatening placarls. It is sheur folly; they might as

will

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RECO

REGE 9 JUL 33,

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well declare war against the thunder and the wind, as attempt to cope with the laws of the Colony. Why don't those pedlars reflect a little and ask themselves a few questions Every inch of ground in Hong. kong is like an inch of gold, and when traders come to speculate bere, for a single shop they have to pay land-tax and house rent, water and police assessments, and assistants' wages, all of which are very high. Just reckon up how much it costs to keep up a shop for a month in Hougkong, and consider how you would feel if the case were your own with profits coming in barely sufficient to keep things going. And here are you pedlars, who do not contribute so much as a straw's weight towards this ac- cumulated taxation on trade, coolly taking possession of the principal streets and mak. ing them your shops, where you spread out your goods under the eyes of the wealthy visitors who crowd to and fro. Gentlemen coming from Canton and other places, and strangers passing through, will naturally invest in the things that they want where they see them placed conveniently before their faces in the street. So that clearly you run away with all the profits in any brauch of trade that you may take up. Thes again there are the jinricksha coolies. A hard worked lot they certainly are, and they are to be pitied. But when they collect by tens and hundreds along in the streets blocking up the way, they are only a hindrance to passengers, but a cause of danger from collisions. Here altogether is a state of things which is simply abomin- able; and the authorities are placed in a dilemma, because on the one hand, if they permit these people to do as they like and take no notice of them, the Shopkeepers might just as well be bound hand and foot while they sit and sigh over the loss of their customers. The gain to the hawkers is an equal loss to the Shopkeepers; you ruin the one class by protecting the other, which is scarcely the way to secure tran- quility. On the other hand a vigorous and indiscriminating enforcement of the law, while it might clear away at a sweep the existing nuisances, would be very hard upon those poor ignorant people who labour so hard with shoulder and back to earn a livelihood. Therefore one is loth to be too severe with them. His Excellency Gover- nor Bowen, being a kind hearted man, has no doubt found this a great cause of an- xiety, since he first arrived in the Colony and began to find by observation how abuses had been accumulating. As the proverb goes about women and little men if you are familiar they are rude and if you are distant Uny are displeased, so doubtless His Excellency has bad much trouble before coming to to-night's conclusions as to the host mode of dealing with them in order on the one hand to maintain the dignity of the Government, and on the other hand to keep them in good humour and prevent evil-speaking.

But he has not failed to dud the very best way the way that is best for all sides. In His Excellency's proclamation, issued yesterday by the Colonial Secretary, good feeling and law are alike conserved, grace and dignity go hand in hand. There is to be no encroachment on the rights of the shopkeepers, and no inconvenience to foot- passengers; the juricksha coolies are to keep to their regulations and be at peace, and the hawkers are to contine themselves to the side-lanes where they may still spread out their wares. Then if the police should still find it necessary to give inform- ation against any of them, they are referred to the Registrar General to take counsel with that officer, who is familiar with the people and knows their ways, before pro- ceeding further. Thus there is security for fair arbitration in every dispute. And

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besides, the Registrar General will take counsel with the Chinese inerchants and gentry in all matters affecting the welfare of the people, whether it be introducing im- provements or removing abuses, so that all may be for the best, without undue irregu larly or sweeping uniformity. Thus it may be truly said that His Excellency's bouevo- lence of heart reaches forth to the minutest objects and while he upholds the Government of his country, his pity cherishes even the meanest of the people. The sternness of law is there, but the considerateness of conduct is also there, and by that the law becomes law indeed. It was once said of Sz-ma Wan that he was a living Buddha to ten thousand families, and the merciful conduct of the Governor of Hongking has entitled him to the same praise. On reading the recent proclamation the humane and bene- ficent sentiments of His Excellency are seen to be beyond the power of any words to express. It cannot fail to have a mighty influence for good on the minds and man- ners of all who peruse it. In our view the colony is most fortunate in getting a Go- vernor of such exceptional worth and wis- dow, whose rule we hope to hear praised in many happy homes and under whose be- nign shadow a grateful people may securely

rest.

berlied