[ { "id": 217966, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-004 - Public Offices & Admiralty - 1843", "page_number": 247, "title": "CO129-004 - Public Offices & Admiralty - 1843", "content_text": "\n\nST. CHRISTO (No. 26.) \n\nPHER. \n\nEncl. 4 in No. 5. \n\nSir, \n\nRETURN OF THE NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS INTO \n\nEnclosure 4 in No. 5. \n\nGovernment House, St. Christopher, April 7, 1843. \n\nI HAVE had the honour to receive your Excellency's Circular, covering a Circular from Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, together with a copy of an Address of the House of Commons requiring returns of immigration, and of annual votes for that purpose, within this colony since the year 1834. \n\nI have the honour to state, for the information of Her Majesty's Secretary of State, that no immigration has ever taken place into this colony, and that, consequently, no funds have been appropriated for that purpose. \n\nIn my annual report upon the state of this colony, I have already informed your Excellency that a Bill for encouraging emigration had been introduced into the House of Assembly, which, on the second reading, was rejected by a large majority, its only supporters being the mover and seconder. \n\nI have, &c. \n\n(Signed) \n\nHis Excellency Sir C. A. Fitz Roy, \n\n&c. &c. &c. \n\nEnel. 5 in No. 5. (No. 27.) \n\nNEVIS. \n\nSir, \n\nC. T. CUNNINGHAM, Lieutenant-Governor. \n\nEnclosure 5 in No. 5. \n\nGovernment Office, Nevis, April 20, 1843. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your Excellency's despatch No. 9, of the Ist Instant, forwarding a letter from the Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, with an Address of the House of Commons for \"Returns of the number of Immigrants into the Bri- tish West India Colonies from the 1st of August, 1834, to the latest date the same can be made up; and for all votes of money for purposes of immigration and annual expenditure of the same for the like period.\" \n\nI have, in reply, the honour to acquaint your Excellency that no record of immigrants has been kept either by the officers of Her Majesty's Customs, or by the Island Secretary, and that, consequently, I am unable to furnish duly authenticated returns from any public Office. \n\nFrom the inquiries I have instituted, I am informed that the only immigrants into Nevis since the year 1834, are a few individuals, native creoles of the islands, who had previously emigrated to the colonies of Trinidad or British Guiana, and of them no record has been made by any public department. The Legislature has made no grant of monies since the year 1834, for the purposes of immigration, nor have any sums been raised by private parties for a like object. \n\nHis Excellency Sir Charles A. Fitz Roy, \n\nGovernor-in-Chief. \n\nI have, &c. \n\n(Signed) L. GREME, President administering the Government. \n\nRETURN of the Number of Immigrants into the Island of Nevis, from the 1st day of August, 1834, \n\nto the 31st day of March, 1843. \n\nNumber. \n\nAmount of Monies voted by the Island Legislature. \n\nAnnual Sum \n\nExpended, \n\nGeneral Remarks. \n\nTHE WEST INDIES FROM THE 1ST AUGUST, 1834. \n\nBAHAMAS. \n\n(No. 6.) \n\nNo. 6. \n\nNo. 6. Copy of a DESPATCH from Sir F. COCKBURN to Lord STANLEY. \n\nGovernment House, Bahamas, \n\nApril 18, 1843. \n\nMy Lord, \n\nIn compliance with the directions contained in your Lordship's Circular Despatch of the 28th February, I have the honour to enclose herewith ́a return of immigrants brought to this colony since the month of August, 1834. \n\nI have, &c. (Signed) \n\nThe Right Hon. Lord Stanley. \n\n&c. &c. \n\n&c. \n\nEnclosure in No. 6. \n\nF. COCKBURN. \n\nRETURN of the Number of Immigrants brought to this Colony since August, 1884, up to the present Period; the Amount of Money voted; and the Annual Expenditure. \n\nNumber of Emigrants. \n\nNil. \n\nVotes of Money. \n\nNil. \n\nAnnual Expenditure. \n\nNil. \n\nNOTE. The above return is nil, from the circumstance that no immigrants have been brought to this colony during the above period, except the captured or shipwrecked Africans and negroes landed from the American brig Creole, the greater part of whom went to Jamaica, who are not supposed to come within the object and intention of the return wanted. \n\nW. T. HAMLYN, Collector. Nassau, April 17, 1843. \n\nEncl. in No. G. \n\nNil. \n\nNil. \n\nNil. \n\nEnel. 6 in No. 5. (No. 34) \n\nVIRGIN ISLANDS. \n\nSir, \n\nBetween 70 and 80 Creoles of Nevis, who had emi- grated to the southern colonies, have returned; and a few transient passengers from the sister islands: of these no records have been kept. \n\nL. GREME, President administering the Government. \n\nEnclosure 6 in No. 5. \n\nVirgin Islands, Tortola, April 22, 1843. In reply to your Excellency's Circular Despatch No. 9, of the 1st instant, enclosing copy of a Despatch from the Secretary of State, calling for returns, for the information of the House of Commons, of the number of immigrants into the British West Indian colonies since the 1st of August, 1834, I have the honour to inform you that there has not been any immi- gration into this colony. \n\nI beg to observe that this statement is made by me on the presumption that the inquiries of the House of Commons do not refer to the casual escape hither of refugee slaves from the Danish Islands, \n\nHis Excellency Sir Charles Fitz Roy, \n\nGovernor-in-Chief. \n\nI have, &c. (Signed) G. H. DRUMMOND HAY, \n\nPresident. \n\nLondon: Printed by W. CLOWES and Soxs, Stamford Street, \n\nFor Her Majesty's Stationery Office.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-004 - Public Offices & Admiralty - 1843.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 220466, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-010 - Sir Henry Pottinger - 1843", "page_number": 61, "title": "CO129-010 - Sir Henry Pottinger - 1843", "content_text": "\nSeeing \n\nand meatures. \n\nthat here after \n\nadheres \n\nthat the wrights shall be fired and regulated are carefully athend- \n\nNo 6. For the safely of life and property the three Commissioners will fathwith assemble \n\nassemble a meeting of the occupiers of lots, and make arrangements for collecting a sufferent sum of money for the purchase of \n\none or more \n\nthem appear requests. \n\nThese \n\nas \n\nfire engines as it may \n\nwill \n\nsix regulations Chimse by M. Jessm and be 3 \n\nFearon \n\nto \n\ntranslated into \n\ngroved on \n\nwood for the purpose of being placed up in \n\nsome conspicuous \n\nChief Magistrals \n\n& in the \n\nwill have the \n\nBazaar, \n\nand the \n\nSame done. \n\nFines alluded to rulation Ni 4. \n\nFor the first offence... \n\nFor the second..... For the thirt \n\n2 dollars \n\n& \n\nFor \n\nIes \n\nthe Fourth and subsequent \n\n20 dotars \n\nA. R. Johnstow Deputy Superintendent \n\n(Signed) \n\nBuy \n\n4 with the Four murent of Hong-Kong \n\nTrue Copy \n\nПрис \n\nNichard Woomam", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-010 - Sir Henry Pottinger - 1843.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 233577, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-043 - Sir Bonham - 1853 [7-12]", "page_number": 86, "title": "CO129-043 - Sir Bonham - 1853 [7-12]", "content_text": "## 282-12\n\nof steamer disaster Turnabout, she would inevitably have gone on this for rescue to the northward of the In-yeta, how is it that their pieces of the wreck did not inevitably go there! and how is it that a box containing letters was picked off Chaugebi point after the disaster of the **Overland China Mail**.\n\nThe introductory remarks are abundantly explanatory. The Ambassador, Tung Adrick, was formerly an interpreter in Hongkong, and having turned over a new leaf in California, is now \"Tung Achick,\" a merchant residing about 75 miles from the confluence of the Hengshan and Tongkoon rivers.\n\n...\n\nhave taken all the means we could to put a stop to it for the future. We sent your message over by the first ships which left our port, and wrote letters to all of our friends who were men of influence, advising them to tell the Chinese to stay at home. After these letters reach there, we believe no Chinese will come over except traders. About three months from this date the present immigration of labourers will cease, and not begin again until they hear that they are wanted once more. Besides the measures that we have adopted, some Chinese, who had just arrived in the **Brazileira**, **Lightning**, **North Carolina**, and other ships, and who were driven by the land sharks to enter the mines almost as soon as they got there, were dispersed, and as they got any pay already in China, the responsible men, we have done so; as our labourers have been treated. E. F. D.\n\nThe loss of the **Earrison** was most likely owing to local variation of her compass, or to ill steering, or both; and it seems strange that the land was seen and the soundings distinctly announced by Dr Parker before any move was made by the officer of the watch. The old adage of a \"good look-out and thus 'always ready to sail',\" \n\n-- yours, dear sir, your obedient servant,\n\n## THE ROSA ELLAS TRAGEDY.\n\nWe quote from a **Straits Times** extract of 10th May, another coolie tragedy that of the Peruvian barque **Roads Blues**, in \n\n...\n\nAnd call, and believing that might be the means of saving many others by the tales they will tell of what they have suffered themselves.\n\n...\n\npowerful influence in persuading the American liners to abstain from carrying coolies, for the Legislature had proclaimed stringent regulations against the traffic, as well as a law in the southern states prohibiting the introduction of \"coolie labour.\" Tung Achick told us that he had seen very recently five or six officers of the vessel we alluded to, and that his Excellency had expressed to them his great disgust at the treatment of the Chinese passengers on board, and that he would severely punish those who were guilty of such inhumanity, which he considered was not only a crime against the Chinese, but also against the Americans themselves, by the despair it engendered in the minds of the Chinese, and the demoralization it caused among the American people.\n\n...\n\nCalifornians, and we find themselves at home they spent all they were worth to get to California without any money.\n\n## [No. 71. June 7, 1858. \nNo. \n--JUNE 7, 1853.]\n\n## BRITISH PRODUCE AND MANUFACTURES.\n\n...\n\nWhy so the East quarrel! We publish what may probably be thought a useful and therefore acceptable, reconstruction of the Table of Values of British and Irish Produce and Manufactures exported in 1851, published by the Board of Trade.\n\n...\n\n## RETURN OF EXPORTS FOR 1857.\n\n| Country | Export Value |\n| --- | --- |\n| United States | 3,813,717 |\n| British America, Holland, etc. | 5,940 |\n| ... | ... |\n\n...\n\nWe do not think this is so. The Americans do not expect to come to a country that is a wilderness, but are eager to leave their homes and bring their wives and children because they have heard of the good things to buy with their gold, and we believe it is easy to prove that the Chinese have brought into this country as many desirable things in return for the gold they have carried away as any other people.\n\n...\n\nAt last, when about a week had passed, we received a letter from a fellow countryman, telling us that our letter was pleasing to the authorities, and that they were grateful for our address.\n\n...\n\nEleven of the coolies have been committed for trial, and the investigations will most probably, as in every case of a similar nature hitherto brought before the public, elicit facts showing that shortness of water was not the only grievance the coolies had to complain of.\n\n...\n\n## AMOY NEWS.\n\n...\n\nThe Taepeng troops shall not be allowed to plunder the merchants and people, nor to debauch the females, nor to commit any excess whatever at the places through which they pass. And if any disobey my orders, they shall be dealt with according to Martial Law, and immediately executed, with the strictest impartiality.\n\n...\n\n## THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA.\n\nAs we learn from the **Alta California** of 19th March that fresh attempts were being made by the partizans of the \"Biglerian policy\" to exclude foreigners in general, but especially Chinese, from the mines; and that even in the Assembly the most violent philippics had been belched forth by a Mr McMeans against those whom he chose to call \"Asiatic barbarians,\" we take the opportunity of publishing a Second Epistle from the Chinese in California addressed to Governor Bigler, and which, if it ever appeared in the **San Francisco** papers, escaped our notice.\n\n...\n\nYour Excellency before, he does not drink, or gamble, or idle, or spend his money foolishly. Because he is thinking of his parents and his children, and the future, and works hard and saves what he earns.\n\n...\n\nThe Chinese merchants are sane in this respect; they have built and rented these houses, and appointed agents and managers to each. Great losses, we do not know how to describe this, as we have before told your Excellency, we have reason to fear that many other places we have not yet heard from.\n\n...\n\nWe believe that we have now made this letter long enough, and we will close it by repeating our most earnest prayer that you will do something to protect our people from the wretchedness that endures them.\n\n...\n\n## COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.\n\n## CANTON MARKET.\n\n(June 4, 1853.)\n\n## IMPORTS. COTTONS.\n\n...\n\n## EXPORTS. TEAS.\n\n...\n\n## SHANGHAE MARKET.\n\n...\n\nThe **Hermes** steamed up the river, and anchored off the southern angle of Nanking, below the battery planted by the Insurgents to defend the entrance to the city.\n\n...\n\n## MARINE INSURANCE.\n\n## HONGKONG INSURANCE COMPANY.\n\n...\n\n## LONDON & ORIENTAL STEAM TRANSIT INSURANCE OFFICE.\n\n...\n\n## NOTICE.\n\n...\n\n## MISCELLANEOUS.\n\n...\n\n## W.H. SUTTON & HENLEY, Sailmaker, \nHONGKONG AND WHAMPOA. \n\nSails warranted to stand...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-043 - Sir Bonham - 1853 [7-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 240306, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-060 - Public Offices - 1856", "page_number": 114, "title": "CO129-060 - Public Offices - 1856", "content_text": "Mr Meninle \n\non the second front topic in this The despalistes addressed by the V.B. to Sir John Bouring \n\ndespatch N°66. relieve this best from \n\nThe \n\ndealing \n\nThis Lother by dinking on this and new pity. \n\nmay, \n\nI conclude, \n\nmlan 28 \n\nho 30. \n\n112 \n\n1836 \n\nImsign office \n\nJan. \n\nI have tagumist you that the \n\nquestion adverted to hi \n\ndesfather Los 218 \n\nthe 23 of \n\n23.7 \n\nSue and h#1275 and 270% \n\nBe \n\nIt \n\nand \n\n10 \n\nof August, \n\nhi the Memorial for West Bridges \n\nKaigsmill \n\nand \n\n-freen, he their \n\nCapacity of Barristin practising at the Hughing Mar, has been Auxembly coundine by toth. fort \n\nwho do not ensufficeen & ground \n\nfs. I. Bearing 2 \n\ni\n\nIt appears that the original text is heavily corrupted due to OCR errors. I will attempt to correct the text while following the given rules.\n\nHere is the corrected version in HTML format:\n\nMr. Martin\n\non the second point topic in this The despatches addressed by the V.B. to Sir John Bowring \n\ndespatch No. 66. Relieve this best from \n\nThe \n\ndealing \n\nThis Letter by dwelling on this and new pity.\n\nmay,\n\nI conclude,\n\nMan 28\n\nNo 30.\n\n112\n\n1836\n\nColonial Office\n\nJan.\n\nI have transmitted to you that the \n\nquestion adverted to in \n\ndespatch No. 218\n\nof the 23rd\n\nJuly and No. 275 and 276\n\nof\n\nand \n\n10th of August,\n\nin the Memorial for West Bridges\n\nKingsmill\n\nand\n\nGreen, in their \n\nCapacity of Barristers practising at the Hong Kong Bar, has been Assembly condemned by both fort \n\nwho do not sufficiently ground \n\nfs. I. Bearing 2\n\ni\n\nHowever, the original text is too corrupted, and some corrections are based on assumptions. A more accurate correction would require a better understanding of the original context and content. \n\nHere is the revised version with some further corrections:\n\nMr. Martin\n\non the second point topic in this. The despatches addressed by the V.B. to Sir John Bowring \n\ndespatch No. 66. Relieve the best from \n\nThe dealing \n\nThis Letter by dwelling on this and new pity.\n\nMay,\n\nI conclude,\n\nMan 28\n\nNo 30.\n\n112\n\n1836\n\nColonial Office\n\nJan.\n\nI have transmitted to you that the \n\nquestion adverted to in \n\ndespatch No. 218\n\nof the 23rd \n\nand No. 275 and 276\n\nof \n\nthe 10th of August,\n\nin the Memorial for West Bridges,\n\nKingsmill\n\nand\n\nGreen, in their \n\nCapacity of Barristers practising at the Hong Kong Bar, has been Assembly condemned by both.\n\nFort who do not sufficiently ground...\n\nSome parts of the text are still unclear or nonsensical. Further corrections may be needed with more context or information about the original document.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-060 - Public Offices - 1856.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 242173, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-064 - Sir Bowring - 1857 [8-10]", "page_number": 59, "title": "CO129-064 - Sir Bowring - 1857 [8-10]", "content_text": "# On Section 7 on the Subject of Petitions \nit may be doubted whether the Governor in Executive and not in Legislative Council is not the proper authority to which Petitions should be addressed. I find that five Petitions only have been ever addressed to the Legislative Council.\n\n## On Section 8. Motion\nI imagine except in the shape of amendments to Ordinances can only emanate from the Governor who is constituted the Fons et origo of Legislation. Section 9. unobjectionable. \n\n## On Section 10\nI do not imagine that the Legislative Council has any power to direct Inquiries independent of the Governor.\n\n## Section 11\nunobjectionable. Sections 12, 13, 14 and 15, are suited to the business of a popular assembly. It is right that the Governor, Officer administering the Government, should be personally addressed, - and on the second reading of", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-064 - Sir Bowring - 1857 [8-10].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 242322, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-064 - Sir Bowring - 1857 [8-10]", "page_number": 208, "title": "CO129-064 - Sir Bowring - 1857 [8-10]", "content_text": "## THE FRIEND OF CHINA AND HONGKONG GAZETTE.\n\n### VICTORIA, SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1857.\n\n**Chinese Calendar, Hà Moon, 5th Day: DIARY. MEMORANDA**\n\n| Day | Astronomical Data |\n| --- | --- |\n| Sunday,... | H❘ Sets 4. P.M. 5,37 634 |\n| Monday,... | 11.16! 1,01 |\n| Tuesday,... | 5.27 6.34 1: |\n| Wednesday,... | 1,564 632 2.5% 30$ |\n| Thursday,.. | 28 Ted |\n\n**VINE SERVICES SUNDAY**\n- St. John's Cathedral-6.45 and 11a, M. and Gr.\n- Union Chapel-63d 7? P. M.\n- Beamers Chapel--1 \n\n## SUPPLEMENTARY SHIPPING LIST\n\n### ARRIVALS AT HONGKONG\n\n- July 24, 11 M. Sir. Fury, Com. Leckie, from Canton\n- July 24, Fr. Gun-boat Drogenos, Co Berry, from Lantao.\n\n### DEPARTURES FROM HONGKONG\n\n- July 24, Nova, Porter, Shanghai.\n- July 24, Clipper (Hong). Marxen, East Coast\n- July 25, H. Mail, towed by the Coromandel for the river.\n\n### POSTAL OPPORTUNITIES.\n- For Macao: Monday, per Feina at Noon; Tuesday, per Willamette at Noon, and per Spark at Ten.\n- For Indian England: per Shanghai to-morrow at 8. Supplementary mail closes at 7.30.\n\nIn the Estate of HENRY DAVIS, of Victoria, Hongkong, Merchant, deceased,\nAre from ZIND SOZAMING and Natives \nA DREYER & Co. \nFreight and Back Vans, \nHongkong, 1st April, 1857.\n\n## FOR SALE.\n- CLARE CHAMPAGNE, BRANDY, and French PRESERVES.\n- VAUCHER FRERES. Hongkong, 6th April, 1857.\n\nFROM NEW YORK DIRECT Received per \"Iotspur,\" and for Sale by the undersigned,\n- 100 Boxes Family Soap,\n- 100 Boxes Scented Water Soap,\n- 50 Tins Corn Meal,\n- 50 Boxes Spero Candies,\n- Baker's Buns \n- 5 Cons Superior White Lead,\n- 20 Half barrels White Beans,\n- 20 do. Split Peas,\n- 50 do. Crushed Sugar,\n- 2600 lbs. Sill's Butter in 16 lbs. Kegs,\n- 50 feet Oakum,\n- 100 Tins Black Varnish,\n- Marlinspikes, Caulking Irons and Mallets,\n- Axes, large and small, Paint, Tar and White-wash Brushes,\n- 20 Entire American Cider Vinegar,\n- Pump and Harness Leather, Cotton Canvas,\n- And from Manila: 500 Coils Steam and Manila Rope,\n\nTHOMAS HUNT & Co \nHongkong, 1st July, 1857.\n\n## JUST RECEIVED\n- PATENT Water Cements,\n- Fresh Prunes in Gums, Fresh Raisins in and boxes.\n\nTUOS HUNT & Co. \nHongkong, 20th June, 1857.\n\n## FOR SALE\n- TWO Second-rate FIRE ENGINES complete, from London, ON VIEW NEAR MAG EWEN & Co.'s \nHongkong, 15th July, 1857.\n\n## NOTICE.\nAll Persons having Claims against, or being Indebted to, the late Estate, are requested to forward particulars of the same to the undersigned forthwith \nHENRY RUTTER Administrator.\n\nHongkong, 17th March, 1857.\n\nIn the matter of the Estate of the late MR JAMES SMITH of the Firm of Smith & BLAW, of Victoria, deceased.\n\nNOTICE-All Persons having Claims on the said Estate are requested to forward particulars of the same to M. JAMES W. BRIMELOW, But all Persons indebted to the said Estate, are requested to pay the respective amounts thereto to the said James W. Brimelow,\n\nD. LAPRAIK \nARD. S. DIXSON \nExecutors.\n\n承辦人得忌時麗 \n北力晏度路士吉德 \n士布林羅收入是荷 \n兩亦如嫩交還與未 \n人欠到達士銀 \n朱士布林羅處或各 \n各人債目祈送到 \n·士藏身故如有欠到 \n羅公司之未士朗時 \n廠者未士氏蹲布林 \n\n## NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.\n\n### NOTICE.\n\nQUOTATIONS. \nEXCHANGE AND BULLION. \nHongkong Bank Corporation on \nLondon, 4, 1, Truliai - Gold to Sycee, outis-Date Sycee, Nominal! Pres Laves 24 335.36 per Tael and at at 319 821 d. Canton...\n\nIt is now upwards of a month since we furnished the public with a report of the trial of Tan cute of Tarrant v. Ah Lum the poisoner. The Jury, a special one, awarded the Plaintiff $1,010, it will be remembered, subject to the Judge's decision on the low point raised by Defendant's Counsel; and our readers, no doubt, are desirous of knowing what has been the result of the matter, and how the disputed point has been arranged. But though, as we have remarked, it is upwards of a month since the trial was reported, from that day to the present we have not heard a word of the threatened kroviment;---so, as the time allowed for the mo time was for some time expired, the verdict of the Jury stands. So much for the verdict whether the award will be forthcoming, or whether we shall obtain even a refund of the costs out of pocket \"are problems the solution of which has yet to be told of \n\nThe Editor of the China Mail, in strictures exhibiting the most extraordinary feeling of sympathy for a suspicious character it has ever been our lot to read, has told the world that, owing to the unjust confinement to which Ah Lum has been subjected, being unable personally to look after his office--he, Ah Lum, is now declared to have become Bankrupt and will have to pass through the Insolvent Court\" and, adds the Editor with an evident hug of gratulation, there will possibly (the italics are ours) be some \"difficulty in recovering the amount of damages.\" Possibly there may--but, at all events, we are placed, by the verdict of one of the most respectable juries ever empanelled in this Colony, in a position to challenge the Insolvent's Balance sheet; and should it be, as we shall not be surprised to find, that Ah Lum's bankruptcy is due as much to his very proper stoppage at business here as to some astounding malversation in the shape of lawyer's fees, or payment of hireling scribes the facts will duly be made patent to the public, and, it will be hoped, produce a salutary effect that the Jury's award will not be altogether lost \n\nThe arrival of the mail prevented the intention of noticing in our last issue a very interesting letter in the Hongkong Register of Tuesday, signed a Catholic Missionary, and of which the intelligent Redacteur of that paper thus remarks.--- \n\nWe publish better from a Roman Catholic Missionary. in reply to some observations by a contemporary as to what ought to be the course of the French in China in his opinion. We don't of course agree with the remarks of our contemporary but we entirely agree with the letter which we publish. Neither the fact nor the spirit are in good taste, and an easy answer could be time to both were worth while which is not. \n\nWhether the letter in question is a reply to our observations--whether it is \"bad taste\" (as one reverend Father disclaims it)--or whether the subject is worth while to notice are all points on which we shall leave our readers to form their own opinions. Here is a translation of such parts of the letter necessary to an understanding of it, and appended is an extract from the speech of His Lordship the Bishop of Victoria, on the 5th of May last, the spirit of which, it rejoices us to find, is entirely in consonance with the honestionsa which May last, the spirit of which, it rejoices us to find, is not our contemporary does not think it worth while to notice. \n\nTranslation, \n\nReferring to the Anglo-French alliance on the China question--the author of the article accuses the French of a desire to impose their religion on Canton by means of bayonets, amusing it (religion) to serve their ambition.\"This alliance so surely desired by Great Britain rests, it is true, on different interests. Now, as well as in 1841, one noble neighbours are pressing the granting of their commerce. Now, as well as in 1841, France defends is the cause of humanity and \n\nas fafmontas nigha 50 - Fella 24 y. \n\nSHANGHA 15th July -On London 7, The-On Calcutta Theme dava sight Rs. per 1 Palnation, which is only possible on religious principles. de-Draft on Hongkong 29 porced sc. MANILA, 5th June - London, da iglu 4,3 -day sigur 4.9-On Hongkong and carest submit in this country to many obstacles--that Before 1841 the commerce of England had to premium golden Siang 50 pre eit pra \n\ndo-Spa isa and Mexican chopped dollars per \n\nOPIUM, \n\nRosatoma, 5th July, Palan 5520, New Para $590, New Bennes $575, Mal $515, \nMacao, 6th July New Itna $545. Old Patna $525, New Bars $575, \nGames-No Market. \n\nSHANGAR, 1 July--Malwa 400 Trots, New Patna, A Tacle \n\n### FREIGHTS AND TONNAGE.\n\n- CANTON-SHANGHAE, £3, the Tea, a £6.6 for Silk--To New York, 10 per ton of 40 cunt.\n- Also London, Sugar, £3,10, Hemp £4,10 To United States Arabia 23,,10 \n\n### HONGKONG-THE FIRE\n\nFour days after the Fireman's report of the conflagration on Wednesday last--it commenced a little before eight, in or outside the easternmost of Lane dare storici houses in a detached block between the Taipingshan Temple on Hollywood \n\nintroduction at some merchant like being altogether repelled by the Chinese authorities--the pino inspired by the English power has been, it is true, to cause of the war of 1841 The result of the treaty \n\ngive an entire sanction, at all events to make trade more free. is for the benefit of all nations, and to deliver trade from all obstacles, that England presses herself forward with such insisting force most noble is her project and ardently do we desire success to the undertaking, \n\nLong before 1841 your illustrious ancestors were halflence to the successor of Saint Peter--and Quitted to us in the same faith, and by a common wish with us they defended the Liberty of conscience of their brethren in the east against the ferocious despotism of musselmon persecutors, there were even then Catholics in China; and in alternate peace and persecution their numbers have successively multiplied. \n\nIn France profited by the fact of England's acting, though timidly, under similar circumstances \n\nEDWARD WEB has this day been admitted Partner in our Firm \nDENT, BEALE & Co. \nShanghai, 1st July, 1857.\n\nNo. 20 Rua Campo, Macao. \nSHAW'S HOTEL Board and Accommodation, Billiards. \nBy M Il saaw. \n\nThe lower part obtained was rendered inst by mason of the stone formations known as Bridges's folly. The lower part of the house loyally destroyed was a carpenter's shop, and it was from the large and valuable pute of China pine square in the yard adjoining the shop, that the flames were continued wall between nine and ten o'clock. How the fire originated, no one has yet discovered it is singular that it should have occurred within a few yards of the last fire, and in a carpenter's timber yard again. The value of the property destroyed will be about a thousand pounds sterling, and it is said an old man perished by suffocation in one of the \n\nFrom 1841 to the present time, imprisonment and torture have not ceased be the lot of Christians (in China) and area their blood has been spilt and it is for that blood France comes and demands reparation to prevent a repetition of past horrors, And the more extended freedom of conscience en-\n\nWe have heard doubts expressed of the truth of the story told of that gentleman's in miles. The tale, it is said, has never been properly authenticated. - F. C. \n\nThe writer of one of the letters to which we have referred says,--- \n\nand your gracious Queen and our beloved Emperor have thought to unite their endeavours in order to a \n\nI am told that the Chusan Mandarin which Sorira told greater chance of success to their (general) establishment a pier, has era on board his in in such loose con \n\nGarment figs (England, par U.M.O, epizm-France \n\nthe last faar mancha tha to snout naw 80 his font or legs\"--and he slit, antur at the 4:5, I saw the To impose cur religion, cramming). \n\nMantarım yestoniy, He says that Zaring los contoamgut religion by means of the bayonet is out of the or bord le ha 99 ext 20 men cited and focio question, and the honourable author of the article book about $7900 in Cash. Bu on occasion his fricade publ need not be alarmed. \n\nOn our side we Mal0 to have him released, bat Sostro took the money and \n\nLed.\" are far from being alarmed about the Missionaries \n\nof the religion founded by Fancy the eighth and In addition to their ambroglio with the Perin Elizabeth on the contrary, the zeal will exclleguese, the French have a sinal fate with tho ours. Perhaps, indeed, they will be the first ab noted Apak. appears, the nature of which har jects of our zeal perhaps they will become our over, we have yet to hear This is all the Herald brothers by the faith, as they are alresly by feel tel's of it: - ings of regard, respect, and charity.\" \n\nAt the 58th Anniversary Meeting of the Church Missionary Society, held in Exeter Hall on the Morning of Wednesday, the 5th of May 1857, the President, the Earl of Caichesser, in the Chair; the first Resolution having been moved by the Lord Bishop of London, and seconded by the Dean of Carlisle, the second Resolution was moved by the Lord Bishop of Victoria; and the Bishop spoke as follows- \n\n\"Now, My Lord, what is the reason that I have dwelt so much on these encouraging features of the \"Chesping ove ment? It is not, of course, that I wish the assembly to carry away with them the first notion that I look upon this body of men is, in any kind sense of the word, Christian. I know the vague screw, the wina jasjsącko, with which the term \"region\" Christianity\" apst be applied to see a system as I have been referring ( I have no confidence in the personal boaters eftlus rebellion; but I cannot help thinking that God, who in His providence has permitted a may want containing within it so many elements of exerbal truth, mus necs invenit to accomplish indinvely, by means of the The pin Rey lotion, so.he great and mercatene wis Sa China. Its act. \n\nA pak's finct of Wank roast hoals are lying off the sol zato, aqua the lacteria, blockade by 17. I. Corete La Ca pricieuse. They have taken several of their gate ashore, and threaten to take the city of Ningpo, and hadre French men of war attack them. 41 Montes, the Porteced Consul has demode) indemnity from the Chinese nothontie waved as the Intendat, Aigners, exco Portuganun, were 11-ing in parket \n\nThe Earl of Elgin and suite left this port in the Shannon on the 16th instant--the flarer Master reporting Calcutta as the vessel's destination. Quid meant General believes that the Shannon is gone to Peking, and gives as his reason for believing this, the fact of Mr Wade, Chinese Secretary Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, being ordered to be very diplomatic when embarking, and by no means to let it be known when he was bound to or when he would be back, Mr Wade is the gentleman sent by Sir John Bowring to Cochin-China in 1855 will be remembered, and who was left by the Raider without even a servant on the bank of the River below Hue, where he remained, recognized by the Cochin-Chinese government, until the Radler came back for him Should it really be that the Shannon has gone direct to the Pelbo, better selection for letter carrying in the Svenson's barge could not have been made, and we congratulate His Excellency the Ambassador on the possession of such an able instrument. Mr Wade's experience as a Chinese Custom house officer will not be lost in negotiations at the North. \n\nPROVINCIAL.\n\nThe great apesaluter Tuksen it is said is convonal in the Commissioner's enquiry.— Ibid. \n\n### PEKING.\n\nThe Peking Gazette have reached us up to June 15th, but contain nothing of special interest. The business of the Empire seems to go on as quietly and regularly as ever, but the state of the finances continues to be the absorbing topic at head quarters. Contributions are proposed on all hands, and in places where the accounts have been left in disorder by previous officials of 1855, a minute investigation is insisted on, and deficiencies are to be made up within a stated time. -- \n\nLord Canning has justified the belief which we have been induced to form of him. He lives in days which have more significance than years in the career of many of his predecessors and all his acts are momentous. Since he took the conduct of affairs into his own hands, criticism has been disarmed. All the resources of the country have been gathered up and made the most of, and every corner of the Empire within and without has been ransacked to furnish aid in India's great extremity. No means have been left untried to satisfy the hungry soldiery, and to keep the rebels without a shadow of \n\nThe 79 Native of hry presented an arze, praying that they might be permitted to march to the North West to shore in the lafore and Dulate the loyalty of the Europeans, and within a very few hours his Lordship made his appearance at Barrackpore harangued the troops drawn out to receive him, and did more good perhaps by the utterance of a few single phrases fresh from the heart, and clothed with the authority of his high station, than would have been expected from the reigation of a score of General Orders which but few read and lower still autoreland.. \n\nA Rent Fortune has kindly sent us a copy \nYau's organization of a squadron at Faishan, to of his new work' —Fortune's residence among the Chinese-inland, on the corest, and at sea, \n\nof the 18th instant\" We now learn that, under the being a narrative of scenes and giventures \n\nrenowned chief Le, the rebels gave battle to the \"during a third visit sa Cuius, from 1983 to \n\nImperialists under General Kwin nea: Sewking, * 1856--inclu hag wations of many untional and gained a complete victory--only three boats \n\nproductions and works of art, the callure of \n\nscoping to Canton to tell the result, of carrying Silk & with suggestions on the present \n\nLe's bravado challenge to Yah to come on again \n\n• war.” A book of 450 pages netava. —we have soon as it could get couly. Le's force is stid to not as yet had sufficient space time to give auber 100,000 fighting mon, and 1,000 war ves more than a cursory glance at its roulents; suf- seis, and His Excellency Le's bead quarters aro Betear, however, to enable us to ratify the trail-i now at the district city of Bet. The first class city \n\nof Secking is in very straitened eramstances. faless of the very able review of it in the Mone News at the 10di ult. To residents in Shanghae and Ningpo the work will be peculiarly and men, bae ked a hard batte with Imperialist necepeptable--most of the locities describd woops from Tw-chow, and having gained the vic being those which juries troat those places tory 11. E. e compelling the whole of the surround- are now been aing ordery occurrruos Eng cuantry people to sabm to his rule. Fearing and encompassing the use of car British alat men in colowing is an abstract of the country travelled for the provincial city itse, Yeh is calling in a the Tauschow men, and has stational a thousand of over by Mr Fortune during the perid of the \n\nthem in the South eastern suburbs. The lendore of story. \n\nthe Ninety six villages 150, base bed to send their Chapter I gives the voyage from Hongkong to Shanghae in the Steamer Ganges, -II, the quota of armed men--between two and three to Shanghae to Ningp by boat, and thence \n\nBanner-men, Manchus, and the Lieutenant Gover- to Yuhang on the eastern side of the Yang \n\nnor's guards, altogether about three thousand, ace woopad on the heights beyond the northern wolf. Kiang (the over skirting Ningpe) a distance \n\nThe Hak has of Ko ineng and Six other dis of Bome forty miles by boat and chair--back to Ningpo, and on to the old city ut Traken, tricts have united, and are burning and destroying abontwelve miles from Ningpo, on the branch wherever they go. Canton is the great point to escaps Lo, and there the poor starving wroches of the river conning to the northward. Horn-\n\nA Ningpo in his boat, in Casper VI. we \n\nThousands, wäinen and childen Temporary A letter in the Penang Gazette says - Almat Gad Mr Fortune at Teung, the celebrated \n\nrunt sheds have been erected for them at Chefing 1,000 to 1,500 Chicamen lure had their heads monastery ab at a dog in unites from the Yu. \n\non the south of the river, and them are daily take off by the Dynks who are in arms in all bang spoken of in Chauer Hero ur \n\ndalinge out of congee and rice, supplied by the directions. The Chinese had hald' possession of For was laid up with fever, and bad tɔ sự - aut \n\nauthorities, in gasathies just suficient to ward off the town for about two days, befare the mermer öü cure. to Chine-e medheal treatidens Dr \n\ndisentation. The City is divided into five grand Jantes Brooke arrived, and wern in the fires and Chapter Vils of a return to 8 g divisions, and those agin into sections, within about the town. The Bret shot from the wormerly which ehe bodied tour patrol night and day long 18 pounder cleared the fort, and in a short time. The fear of a rising within the walls to vary they were all swarning out of the town, the steam- great--each en draade his neighbour, ander at the time hard at work with gun such rifies, every ermutenanes is depressed. Few says which did considerable execution. Every day br the icporter can rentize their sad position with- loads of hatuls were arriving Sock, Drak \n\nout being in like predicament. On one hand they were flocking to in Qarsunds and eating the Chin \"feat the approach of the western barbarians name in all directions. They are all cleared not \"on the other the northern and western rebels and of the Sarawak territory, only 150 ne so en DỀ added to both is treachery at home\" Truly some 2,000 to 3,500 having recaped. All th \n\npursued this line of argueal; int I have dve up this foster because I view with considorable apprehension the fature corse of British and French diplomace, the Bast There are very resultar angers now environing the path \n\nnexion with Chan, In China, we who at a distanca e46- tarsly watched the progress of Live gerat European WAY İN which our counter bua been recently engagent, coad with a great degree of satisfaction of the Anglo-French allowe We porused with the keepest colorant the inteliigance luxught by mal anal of the rivalum nad lenda of a couturies being buries in the tombe of the heroes who fel at Alma and In- kermann; and I certainly would not now say one word in depreciation of the character of that able z in who sways the destinies and wichts the trapetisi sceptro of Prano. Baltas will any, test it in davio to my aan mini that the French have a large foot in the Bash; that thng baye no roumawiał interests to vota mer and fister in those masteroms, and that their time too often serval as a kind of rovarg s pred Musinnary phion over the broad waters of the Faci fic, iving en layout to at, at Tahiti, the dip.ad eba Kolla aastat ja redressing the inaainy grievances of the Jeans propagandists thoughout the west. And when I re- member that the Romish propagandi-ts in Chian have always viewed the Tae-ping Revolution via peraline slicka nad Me like-when i renninber that in the early stages af din renale lion linge native Reteruses, ju neging than iloitars, and not yet being skilled in tar den of making a disuneti n with- \n\n### FRENCH PORTUGUESE.\n\nThe Atten by the Portuguese orcha me at Nagpo monopoliza the boat traffic between that port and Shanghae, resulting in an armed collision with one Frenchoren, was told of in one of car numbers some two or three months ago, the 2qbble being referral to the high authorities of the respective nations at Macan. \n\nFrom the proceedings of the French War Ves- sele Marceau and La Capricesse since, it would now appear that the Governor of Marni hat nu thorized the seizure of certain vessels wherever found, and in porsaance of the resolve we ern freas the North-Chisa Herald of the 4th and ch instant that first the Schooner Aurora was taken, and then the Tarcbas 166 and 44. The Chinese portions of the crews of there vessels, with the usal humanity, were instantly handed over by the French to the tender arcles of the Sergh Menilarius,and were soon disposed of, of course. The Portuguese are still in eustody and will be brought to Mucas for trial in uil due time we suppose. \n\nby leters of a week's later date than the infantion reported in the Herald, we find that \n\non called Seiro, spoken of as a great deg peraio, gave himself up to the Freach on the 13th instant, and that thrun of his comrades, hid in the fee houses on the banks of the river, were also caught the sun day. Sonire it appears had been carrying 9 Mandarin about with hire that he had \n\n### Chapter XIII.\n- takes the reader from Tez-tsing to the village of Pururchse and on into the Quartz valley and Temple, 2000 teet alus tar level of the son, where, in the month of October, before the Hongkong summer is well over, the air is \"piercingly sild.\" The same chapior describes a boat voyage of some peril from Ning to Shanghae. \n\n### FOOCHOW.\n\nIt was rumored abroad somewhat extensively that he founded on the arrival of the Lieutenant Governor to Jeeva for the upper provinces, but Fes story had no foundation. The Goverant Gentral is now in his pe par place, and we hope that the may continue to fill and a loze it. \n\n### Friend of India Jane A \n\nit is vary sad. Oh, Sử Jaha Bowring--Sir Chinese women went over safe, about 200; and of all the bool they got in Sarawak, the pasere John Bowring--what an amount of misery ban tkou to answer for ' \n\nvery litla now,\" One of the rusas of trying to get quit of the Dyaks ws to throw money he g The The Chinese were macahing in body of about 2000, eluding 700 women and childies, and the Dyeks hovering stout them, nerasionally making a dash at a corner, det iching 40 a 50 from the main body, and whipping nineir heads with great seal. The Chinese have had t terte lesson En Satown. Their inawer of going ab eat it won to take held of a Chimwatan by his vel, nad whip off bis hand with great dexterity'; one blow suffired, I hardly expect the slaughter will scop here; the Dyaks, having their blood up and expecting the \n\nWe have been favoured with the perusal of a letter from this port dated 7h uirino, received per averiand courier. From it we learn that a man- darin of high rank has arrived there from Palting on his way to Canton where it is ranured he is to \n\nCe left the capital 2. be second in rank to Yeh. \n\nout a man is left.\"--Dady News, June; 10. \n\nQ \n\nor 3 months since, but had made a siren tous route in consequence of the troubled state of the country. Es proceeds in Arany on his way to the South. \n\nThe rebels have retired near to the borders of Chapter XIV. takes Me Fortune back to Tse-\n\nthe province. hey are reported to be quiet, attire to trave a deal of booty, parave them sill kee again, and narrates abe partientors of a jar. Suoma \n\nSmall supplies of Ton from distant dis ney from Ningpo to Sletoghar by the infultricts had arrived and to reso had gone up to par- \n\nThe Duren in Jaray —The nėščiai įvursal of te via Ya-yar, Noskalon, Tiyenin. chrce, but as the season i'r the first chep had pa99- \n\nthe Hague of the 5th casains a long tepat to ne aland that for the se oud was far advanced, few Kanpoo, Yedhow, Chapes and Ping-hoe. Shanghee in the Silk country, by Carim, \n\nChapter XVI. spus with journey for fine toux were expected and not a large younity of King Halland from Myer, Minister of Cole medium xds, the second crop being 1 sjured from is, and M. Gevers. Minister of Pareiga A Forte, zolucive to Japanese affairs, and his Majesty has Page, Nantsing and Houchowfoo. Lo Chup the fact of the first faves por having been gathered. ter XVIII, Mr (ortane runebes be greated From the ear districts ton hd cute in more free-approved of Annexed to the report are fee distance inland, viz the town of Marcoee,ly since the dispersion of the rebels. \n\nsome orty miles west fira Hoochosloo, and the same chapter gives his return to Shanghae, Chapter XXI contains the last of theur. neyings, was winding up business tour to Nings po, the valley of the Nine stones, and Tras Asing again--finally, a return to fonghong and voyage to Calcutio \n\nMexican dollars were a 10 per cent disconat There was nothin, doing la Opkom sture the tax of 20 per chest and brand-China Herald, July, 11. \n\nThe Cairngoras was to leave on the 4th instant,pa Rad to!load, concluded on the 30th of Jan \n\nary, 1896. Three articles, amongst other things, a futt ship, having 1,000 tons of new you on board. She would be the first away--two or thre, ather Slipmats that the Dutch shit be allowed to excreike their worship tronly, and that they shall no longer yeable ware wearly laden- \n\nRico centinued dear bat'the weather was favora- \nbe subjected to the impious cartas of trampling ble for crops. \n\nunder got the image of our Saviour on the croes, They aleo eunal that the Dutch shall be permitted to trade in the open ports, and to get to and parsip ee from Japanese traders. Also to take her wives and children to the wil perts The trucks funter. declare that the importation of foreign and the ex portation of Japanese money shall be allowed; that the Japanese government may levy madarité im. pon, Trungit, and export duties; and, betly, that The Dutch it Nangas ke any misintan free relations with foreigners, both on board veganf• and at Deco \n\nThe report adds, that the Japanese green en has declared asel\" resdy to raciale vrea tea with all foreign governments that may wish top them--Avid. \n\nSo innch for an answer 10 the question which will be added by Chua Residents of \"where dad Me Fortune go to when fast here ?\" In our j next paper we shal: furnish some illustrationsį of the notices\" mentioned on sho ate pagod \n\n(From our Overland Nlition of to day.) From the official announcement in our last that there would be no second Mail Seaner from China this month, Subscribers to tlus journal will not have expected their customary paper. Mr Wal ker the ... Co's. Superintendent, however, with a consideration for pulite interests deservist Gach commandation, promptly chartered the Grsi vanbie Steamer to bundthe Road jun away from the heaving down huik-which he has placa on the Shanghae ins; aking thence tho Shang Adi; mud that vasset, deep as she can swim with alk, now goes to Gaile with the muit. May cephyr smooth as be glossy cargo speed her way through tive most dangeroza period of the year in lue China Sea. We pray this under some nusideration for the interests of underwriters. \n\n## SHANGHAE\n\nAn Imperial Commnissioner named Warg, triv \nhers (Saanghae) on the 7th instans quite unex- pected by the dohorities. \n\nis said he has corng to examine into hn causes of the low state of the public trensary funds, and to tnvestigate certain disbursensule made en ac count of purchases of rice fur the govern went some moatas back, -ay well as to squeeze the marchana and the Toatai ton, to raise fimis to help the pa sing exigences of the looper al Government. We! hear 50,000 weis was demanded from each of tha \n\nmeharts doing the largest business, and that it will probably be compromised for The 5,000 \n\nIt is rumored that Ho Kweling, the fately ap pointed Govarour-general of the Two Keang, is the originator of the present enquiry, on proteaze of not being satisfied with the manner the prisent Intendant, B. E. Las, has been performing tha functions of his post. We have no doubt, Theres fore, that it wit be eney for the Emperial Commis elouer, if his instructions are to that eflist, to tay of sone hold weak poll in the multifarious trans risgrace. We should, however, regret much, sho actions of flis Excellency Lan to bring him into that be the result of the investigation, both for the \n\nThus the despatch of the last mail, military there appears reason für believing that balure we operations about Canton have bem and \n\nCatcmpt possesion of the walls, the rebels will \n\nhave concladed the business for 13. Our Prurin interests of foreign merchants end the Clainese. cial reporter's news it will be seen are alarming. i \n\nFu has been fourteen years a man-larin \n\n### THOUGHT.\n\nThere is a luxury in earnest thought The unthinkang kaka dream of floppy har Who, holding sweet cornuates will himseti, Roving the fèlie ofiscality, \n\nFees het sa labelincas, though ali stEYA, Ngreaves at etalless avai jinde of looke \n\nDoes has lotless med. The daisied eid, The garden of the wood, alike shall be Fer dina struly ; everything aro \n\nThe flower, the tree; the titing, the running brooks,— Aure to bin asterials for clight, AB curists a pure veliges to atm, \n\nYea, nevor fi ing pleasure. Grieť may ce Deal's cold echipe conceal his fail-erfed jar, Rickness may pale uus e vak, lone plach this pace, Be thought tall be fat luns on Ristie Tomas of earth's disygietrose a chara Te all the hatefulensing to sleep \n\nAnd lighten evʼn the heaviest (sail afilis. \n\nUpwards and Quinards. By & W. PARTRIDGE,", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-064 - Sir Bowring - 1857 [8-10].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 273028, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-128 - Public Offices & Others - 1867", "page_number": 586, "title": "CO129-128 - Public Offices & Others - 1867", "content_text": "about licensing gambling, nor would it suggest the idea that such a scheme was contemplated. He says that this intention was published on the 17th June of this year. Thus our charge is established: for before that date the Governor had, by private correspondence, obtained the desired ratification from the Home Government. The history of this measure, extracted from the colonial newspapers, is given length and without reservation at the commencement of this pamphlet. Immediately upon this measure being made public this year, a protest was made against it. Such protest would assuredly have been made last year had the government scheme been best known to the public then. That not a word of opposition was breathed from any quarter is conclusive proof that the project was kept secret.\n\n17\n\nCrime, wherein nine-tenths of the burglaries and daring crimes are planned.\n\nUndoubtedly there is a certain amount of illegal gambling always going on. That gambling is a fruitful source of crime is one of our arguments against the licensing system. Sir Richard admits that gambling will be increased under the proposed system. Therefore, the crimes committed by impoverished gamblers will increase also. There is a natural and necessary connection between the two.\n\n584\n\nThere is not, however, any natural and necessary connection between gambling houses and the lairs of criminals. If the criminal class can no longer assemble in gambling houses, they will find secret haunts elsewhere. Sir Richard will but \"change the place and keep the pain.\"\n\nAnyone unacquainted with the state of Hongkong might be led by Sir Richard's remarks to suppose that the Colony was driven by dire necessity to unusual measures of self-defence against robbers and burglars. But the public here generally admits that Hongkong was never so free from these crimes as within the last few months. This is owing, doubtless, to the energetic administration of the present Governor, to the wise regulations he has introduced for the Registration of the Chinese, and to the severe but salutary treatment of convicted criminals. Burglary, garrotting, and other crimes have been committed even in London. They are certainly not so much more frequent in Hongkong as to justify such an extraordinary preventive measure as the licensing of public gambling houses.\n\nIf corroboration were needed, section 9 of the Governor's reply furnishes a convincing proof. There Sir Richard states \"at least all the non-official members of the Council, so far back as the passing of the Ordinance last year, were well acquainted with and entirely approved of the alternative given to the Executive.\" From this, it appears that the Governor cannot venture to assert that at the Legislative Council knew of this scheme last year. All the non-official members knew it. But surely, had it been made public in the Legislative Council, all the official members, and the reporters of the press, must have had equal opportunity of knowledge with Messrs Whittall, Dent, and Gibb.\n\n(6) His Excellency's arguments in favour of licensing are three-\n\nThere are gangs of illegal gamblers who resort to secret lairs which are the schools and nurseries of crime.\n\nII—His Excellency's second argument is that the gambling house keepers will prove valuable assistants to the police in putting down illegal gambling.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-128 - Public Offices & Others - 1867.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 273162, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-128 - Public Offices & Others - 1867", "page_number": 720, "title": "CO129-128 - Public Offices & Others - 1867", "content_text": "## \nthe licensing system. Sir Richard admits that gambling will be increased under the proposed system. Therefore the crimes committed by impoverished gamblers will increase also. There is a natural and necessary connection between the two.\n\nabout licensing gambling, nor would it suggest the idea that such a scheme was contemplated. He says that this intention was published on the 17th of this year. Thus our charge is established: for before that date the Governor had, by private correspondence, obtained the desired ratification from the Home Government. The history of this measure, extracted from the colonial newspapers, is given at length and without reservation at the commencement of this pamphlet. Immediately upon this measure being made public this year, a protest was made against it. Such protest would assuredly have been made last year had the government scheme been known to the public then. That not a word of opposition was breathed from any quarter is conclusive proof that the project was kept secret.\n\nThere is not, however, any natural and necessary connection between gambling houses and the lairs of criminals. If the criminal class can no longer assemble in gambling houses, they will find secret haunts elsewhere. Sir Richard will but \"change the place and keep the pain.\"\n\nIf corroboration were needed, section 9 of the Governor's reply furnishes a convincing proof. There Sir Richard states \"at least all the non-official members of the council, so far back as the passing of the Ordinance last year were well acquainted with and entirely approved of the alternative given to the Executive.\" From this it appears that the Governor cannot venture to assert that all the members of the Council knew of this scheme last year. All the non-official members knew it. But surely had it been made public in the Legislative Council, all the official members, and the reporters of the press, must have had equal opportunity of knowledge with Messrs Whittall, Dent and Gibb.\n\nAny one unacquainted with the state of Hongkong might be led by Sir Richard's remarks, to suppose that the Colony was driven by dire necessity to unusual measures of self defence against robbers and burglars. But the public here generally admits that Hongkong was never so free from these crimes as within the last few months. This is owing doubtless to the energetic administration of the present Governor, to the wise regulations he has introduced for the Registration of the Chinese, and to the severe but salutary treatment of convicted criminals. Burglary, garrotting and other crimes have been committed even in London. They are certainly not so much more frequent in Hongkong as to justify such an extraordinary preventive measure as the licensing of public gambling houses.\n\n### (6) His Excellency's arguments in favour of licensing are three:\n\n- There are gangs of illegal gamblers who resort to secret lairs which are the schools and nurseries of crime wherein nine-tenths of the burglaries and daring crimes are planned.\n\n## II-His Excellency's second argument is that the gambling house keepers will prove valuable assistants to the police in putting down illegal gambling.\n\nPage 720 \nPage 721", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-128 - Public Offices & Others - 1867.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 277490, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-135 - Public Offices & Others - 1868", "page_number": 790, "title": "CO129-135 - Public Offices & Others - 1868", "content_text": "785\n\n16\n\nabout licensing gambling, nor would it suggest the idea that such a scheme was contemplated. He says that this intention was published on the 17th June of this year. Thus our charge is established for before that date the Governor had, by private correspondence, obtained the desired ratification from the Home Government. The history of this measure, extracted from the colonial newspapers, is given at length and without reservation at the commencement of this pamphlet. Immediately upon this measure being made public this year, a protest was made against it. Such protest would assuredly have been made last year had the government scheme been known to the public then. That not a word of opposition was breathed from any quarter is conclusive proof that the project was kept secret.\n\nIf corroboration were needed, section 9 of the Governor's reply furnishes a convincing proof. There Sir Richard states \"at least all the non-official members of the council, so far back as the passing of the Ordinance last year were well acquainted with and entirely approved of the alternative given to the Executive.\" From this it appears that the Governor cannot venture to assert that all the members of Council knew of this scheme last year. All the non-official members knew it. But surely had it been made public in the Legislative Council, all the official members, and the reporters of the press, must have had equal opportunity of knowledge with Messrs. Whittall, Dent and Gibb.\n\n(6) His Excellency's arguments in favour of licensing are three:---\n\nI---There are gangs of illegal gamblers who resort to secret lairs which are the schools and nurseries\n\n17\n\nof crime wherein nine-tenths of the burglaries and daring crimes are planned.\n\nUndoubtedly there is a certain amount of illegal gambling always going on. That gambling is a fruitful source of crime is one of our arguments against the licensing system. Sir Richard admits that gambling will be increased under the proposed system. Therefore the crimes committed by impoverished gamblers will increase also. There is a natural and necessary connection between the two.\n\nThere is not, however, any natural and necessary connection between gambling houses and the lairs of criminals. If the criminal class can no longer assemble in gambling houses, they will find secret haunts elsewhere. Sir Richard will but \"change the place and keep the pain.\"\n\nAny one unacquainted with the state of Hongkong might be led by Sir Richard's remarks, to suppose that the Colony was driven by dire necessity to unusual measures of self defence against robbers and burglars. But the public here generally admits that Hongkong was never so free from these crimes as within the last few months. This is owing doubtless to the energetic administration of the present Governor, to the wise regulations he has introduced for the Registration of the Chinese, and to the severe but salutary treatment of convicted criminals. Burglary, garrotting and other crimes have been committed even in London. They are certainly not so much more frequent in Hongkong as to justify such an extraordinary preventive measure as the licensing of public gambling houses.\n\nII---His Excellency's second argument is that the gambling house keepers will prove valuable assistants to the police in putting down illegal gambling.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-135 - Public Offices & Others - 1868.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 278134, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-137 - Sir MacDonnell - 1869 [4-5]", "page_number": 147, "title": "CO129-137 - Sir MacDonnell - 1869 [4-5]", "content_text": "The Chief Justice\n\nJustice having condemned the Crown in Costs on the first Information (as I had reason to anticipate he would do from his own remarks shortly after return) the other Informations remain on the file until that point is settled on 17th instant on appeal.\n\nB. A month was lost partly in vain efforts to obtain an apology from the Defendant and partly by reason of the death of his Attorney then articled Clerk to Mr Gaskell who had taken charge of the beginning the Proceedings to enable him to qualify himself as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court and thus enable him to retain the Case in his hand.\n\n\"...that are entirely of a public nature, conduct of Officers, conduct of Ministers, conduct of Judges, the proceedings of all second persons who are responsible to the public at large, are deemed to be public property, and that all bona fide and honest remarks upon such persons and their conduct may be made with perfect freedom and without being questioned either for truth or justice.\" This is the law of England as expounded by living Judges. Wason v. Walter, decided on the 25th of last November, brings it down no less emphatically to the present time. It is certainly not less the law in this Crown Colony, where there is not and cannot properly be a representative Assembly, and where the press is the only organ of independent thought.\n\nOn the 20th of August the Defendant's Counsel applied for leave to set down this information for trial, when the Acting Attorney General made this statement, \"I decline, on my own authority, to set down this case, as I am only locum tenens, and I decline to establish any precedent in the absence of the Attorney General.” He also declined to do so as a matter of grace and favour to the Defendant. He claimed the benefit of the rule that no lashes can be imputed to the Crown, and asked how the Court could enforce its order if it ordered the Acting Attorney General to set the cause down, consistently with the enactments in Lord Campbell's Act, or with the prerogative that he was beyond the jurisdiction of this Court, and it came to this, that the Acting Attorney General, not suggesting that there was any impediment to a trial, absolutely refused to set the cause down for trial, and that this Court could, at least that it would, not order it to be done, notwithstanding the Defendant deposed that he was in peril of losing the evidence in support of his second plea by delay.\n\nNotwithstanding what I understood the Attorney General to say in Court on the 10th of February, no nolle prosequi has been entered as to these two informations.\n\nThe proceedings remained thus at the mercy of the Acting Attorney General until the 14th of December, when the Acting Attorney General demurred, after an interval of five months, to the second plea filed on the 10th of July, and on the 18th of December the Defendant joined in Demurrer.\n\nThe Attorney General, Mr Pauncefote, whose early return was on the 14th of December expected, arrived in the Colony on the 21st of that month, but no stop was taken by him in the matter, and the demurrer to the second plea was adversely set down for argument by the Defendant, and the demurrer came on for argument before me.\n\nOn the cause having been called on, the Attorney General, contrary to my repeated and urgent suggestion that it should not be done, read a letter addressed by himself to the Crown Solicitor.\n\nI believe that the communication to the Court by the Attorney General Mr Pauncefote in that letter of the course which he stated the Executive had decided to adopt was entirely without precedent. The Executive in England never made such a communication to the Court of Queen's Bench. If not done in England, how much more ought such a course to be abstained from here,\n\n...\n\nPage 144\n\nA memorandum signed by the Attorneys on each side is now before me, showing the steps taken by the Crown and by the Defendant on this information. The proceedings, dragging their slow length along, have been so numerous that I cannot well trace them without this Memorandum. I will therefore refer to it. After ineffectual communications between the Attorneys the two pleas of not guilty and of justification, in the form in which they now stand, with two lines struck out by agreement, for judgment before me, were filed on the 10th July. A summons taken out under the C. L. P. Act to strike out or amend the 2nd plea was on the 24th July last argued in Chambers, and was dismissed by me. That Act does not apply to Criminal procedure.\n\nOn the 4th of August the Acting Attorney General applied for leave to examine H. E. Senhor Horta, the Governor of Macao, who was about to leave for Europe, de bene esse; to which the Defendant, in the expressed hope, as I understood, on the understanding that it would expedite the trial, consented. On that occasion the Acting Attorney General said the cases had taken such a turn that he would withdraw them; after a pause he added he should proceed on the information in reference to the alleged libel on Senhor Amaral, leaving the two other informations still hanging over the Defendant.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-137 - Sir MacDonnell - 1869 [4-5].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 280937, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-142 - Public Offices & Others - 1869", "page_number": 420, "title": "CO129-142 - Public Offices & Others - 1869", "content_text": "about licensing gambling, nor would it suggest the idea that such a scheme was contemplated. He says that this intention was published on the 17th June of this year. Thus one charge is established: for before that date the Governor had, by private correspondence, obtained the desired ratification from the Home Government. The history of this measure, extracted from the colonial newspapers, is given at length and without reservation at the commencement of this pamphlet. Immediately upon this measure being made public this year, a protest was made against it. Such protest would assuredly have been made last year had the government scheme been known to the public then. That not a word of opposition was breathed from any quarter is conclusive proof that the project was kept secret.\n\nIf corroboration were needed, section 9 of the Governor's reply furnishes a convincing proof. There Sir Richard states \"at least all the non-official members of the council, so far back as the passing of the Ordinance last year were well acquainted with and entirely approved of the alternative given to the Executive.\" From this it appears that the Governor cannot venture to assert that all the members of Council knew of this scheme last year. All the non-official members knew it. But surely had it been made public in the Legislative Council, all the official members, and the reporters of the press, must have had equal opportunity of knowledge with Messrs. Whittall, Dent and Gibb.\n\n(6) His Excellency's arguments in favour of licensing are three:—\n\nI—There are gangs of illegal gamblers who resort to secret lairs which are the schools and nurseries\n\nof crime wherein nine-tenths of the burglaries and daring crimes are planned.\n\nUndoubtedly there is a certain amount of illegal gambling always going on. That gambling is a fruitful source of crime is one of our arguments against the licensing system. Sir Richard admits that gambling will be increased under the proposed system. Therefore the crimes committed by impoverished gamblers will increase also. There is a natural and necessary connection between the two.\n\nThere is not, however, any natural and necessary connection between gambling houses and the lairs of criminals. If the criminal class can no longer assemble in gambling houses, they will find secret haunts elsewhere, Sir Richard will but \"change the place and keep the pain.\"\n\nAny one unacquainted with the state of Hongkong might be led by Sir Richard's remarks, to suppose that the Colony was driven by dire necessity to unusual measures of self defence against robbers and burglars. But the public here generally admits that Hongkong was never so free from these crimes as within the last few months. This is owing doubtless to the energetic administration of the present Governor, to the wise regulations he has introduced for the Registration of the Chinese, and to the severe but salutary treatment of convicted criminals. Burglary, garrotting and other crimes have been committed even in London. They are certainly not so much more frequent in Hongkong as to justify such an extraordinary preventive measure as the licensing of public gambling houses.\n\nII—His Excellency's second argument is that the gambling house keepers will prove valuable assistants to the police in putting down illegal gambling.\n\nPage 420\n\nPage 421", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-142 - Public Offices & Others - 1869.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 294995, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-169 - Others - 1874", "page_number": 219, "title": "CO129-169 - Others - 1874", "content_text": "217\n\nand Annam which have been communicated to Lord Lyons by the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, - analysis\n\nAnd the second Containing an analysis of the various articles Comprising these documents, with certain observations thereupon.\n\nHis Excellency, it will be seen, points to the special privileges that are secured to France by these Treaties which are far from being confined to opening the Commerce of Annam to all foreign nations on equal terms. The French minister for Foreign Affairs has intimated to Lord Lyons that he shall be in no hurry to submit these Treaties to the Assembly for ratification, but is anxious to request that you will state to the Earl of Carnarvon, that he proposes, with His Lordship's Concurrence, to protest against any exclusion of British Trade as a consequence of any Treaty Stipulations between France and Annam, and would be glad to know... \n\n8.6174-H & S 4", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-169 - Others - 1874.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 297239, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "page_number": 337, "title": "CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875", "content_text": "\"Journal Officiel\" together with an extract from the \"Journal des Débats\" which publishes the first and second Articles of the treaty.\n\nI am\n\n1\n\nki\n\nYour most obedient\n\nhumble servant\n\nTifister\n\nCopy\n\nNo.543\n\nMasters\n\nPeris falz 7. 1675330\n\nI be committee to\n\ninda Ha\n\nBill for the ratification of the\n\nAxna\n\nTrung\n\nthe Mureaux\n\nwas elected in\n\nother assembly\n\nI have the\n\ngesterday. The\n\ntask of the\n\nof the depletion women who are\n\nsaid to be all\n\nnearly all\n\nable to the French.\n\nFavorable\n\nI enclose aler\n\nExtract\n\nfrom the official Newspaper\n\nthes\n\nA\n\n\"Journal des Débats\" as: publishes the 1st & 2nd Article of the Treaty.\n\nThe wording of that part of\n\nthe 2nd Article which relates Earl\n\nThe Count of Derby", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-172 - Public Offices & Others - 1875.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 302675, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-182 - Governor Hennessy - 1878 [9-12]", "page_number": 196, "title": "CO129-182 - Governor Hennessy - 1878 [9-12]", "content_text": "# [No. 4.]\n\n## POLICE COURT, HONGKONG, 190\n\nReturn of Public Floggings ordered by the Magistrates, from 1st of June, 1872, to 31st of May, 1877.\n\n4th February, 1863. * SIR,--An Ordinance being now before the Legislative Council to amend Ordinance 6 of 1862, we have the honour to place before you, for submission to His Excellency the Acting Governor, the following observations relating to the said amendment.\n\n1st. The offences of embezzlement and obtaining money or goods by false pretences are not included in the class of offences punishable summarily by the Magistrates, and it not unfrequently occurs that petty cases in which the broad distinction of each offence is clearly marked come under notice and which, it appears to us, would be sufficiently punished by the powers given to the Magistrates. An exception can be made with regard to the more serious class of embezzlements (as excepted in the repealed Petty Sessions Ordinance.)\n\n2nd. The general term \"Larceny\" is used in the amendment, and a question may arise if this term would include compound larcenies as larceny from the person and larceny from the dwelling house.\n\n3rd. It appears especially desirable that similar power should be given to the Magistrates (as is given in England by the Juvenile Offenders Act, 13 and 14 Vic., cap. 37) to award the punishment of flogging to boys under the age of 14 for the offence of larceny, in lieu of or in addition to imprisonment.\n\n4th. It also appears to us that it is eminently desirable that the Magistrates should have the power of awarding the punishment of flogging in addition to imprisonment to male offenders committing larcenies of an aggravated character, as exhibited in letter from this Department `No. 17`, dated 20th August, 1862.\n\n5th. The subject of deportation seems deserving to be brought under consideration. At present deportation of mendicants and persons dangerous to the Colony is effected--the first mentioned under `Ordinance 7 of 1859`, and the second under `Ordinance 8 of 1858`, sec. 21 and `Ordinance 9 of 1857`, sec. 7. Under the repealed `Petty Sessions Ordinance 1 of 1849`, sec. 14, power was given to that Court to deport mendicants and persons convicted of felony, &c.; the provisions of this section very much simplified and facilitated the administration of justice and always worked well. We consider that were the same powers placed in the hands of the Magistrates, it would have a beneficial tendency.\n\nWe have the honour to be,\nSir,\nYour most obedient Servants,\n**C. MAY**,\n**Jous C. WHITE**,\n\n## OFFENCES FOR WHICH FLOGGING CAN BE LEGALLY ORDERED.\n\n| Offences | From 1st June, 1872, to 31st May, 1873 | From 1st June, 1873, to 31st May, 1874 | From 1st June, 1874, to 31st May, 1875 | From 1st June, 1875, to 31st May, 1876 | From 1st June, 1876, to 31st May, 1877 | Total Number brought before the Magistrates | Total Number Flogged Publicly |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Assaults at or in connection with riotous assemblages | 13 | 44 | 8 | 48 | 30 | | |\n| Assaults, indecent | | | | | | | |\n| Assaults in brothels | | | | | | | |\n| Indecent exposure of person by bathing or otherwise | 1 | 15 | 1 | 15 | 29 | | |\n| Malicious injuries to property | 47 | 392 | 31 | 978 | | | |\n| Nuisances, Obeying calls of nature on any way or in any public exposed or other improper place to the annoyance of others | | | | | | | |\n| Assaults with intent to rob | | | | | | | |\n| Fire, for not aiding at, larceny, or any other offence punishable as simple larceny committed by boys | 25 | 48 | 15 | 47 | 22 | | |\n| TOTAL | 86 | 295 | | | | | |\n| | | | 68 | 295 | 81 | 987 | 18 |\n| | | | | | | 320.00 | 6 |\n| | | | | | | 528 | 5 |\n| Yearly Average of Five years | | | | | | 28.40 | 0.2 |\n| | | | | | | 61.44 | 2.8 |\n| Average Number Flogging | | | | | | | |\n| from 1st June, 1877, to 31st May, 1878 | 21.60 | 82.20 | 0.4 | 5 | 6.40 | | 0.2 |\n| | 3R | 0.08 | 0.2 | 27 | 1 | | 0.2 |\n| | | | | 22 | 81 | 1 | 0.2 |\n| | | | | | | 114 | |\n| | 36.60 | 0.8 | 52 | 61.44 | 2.8 | | |\n| | | | | | | 028.06 | 5.2 |\n\n* Private Flogging only is authorised by `Ordinance 16 of 1875`.\n\nMagistracy, Hongkong, 23rd July, 1878.\n\n**C. V. CREAGH**,\nActing Police Magistrate.\n\nIt is evident that, judging from the number of cases brought to trial, no increase has taken place.\n\n**C. V. CREAGH**, Acting Police Magistrate.\n\n25th July, 1878.\n\nTo the Honourable **W. H. ALEXANDER**,\nActing Colonial Secretary.\n\n## [No. 30.]\n\n## Police Magistrates [No. 164.]\n\n## MAGISTRACY, HONGKONG,\n8th July, 1878.\n\nSIR--In reference to your letter of the 30th May last, I have the honour to enclose, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, a table shewing the total number of offences for which the Magistrates are empowered to flog, which have been adjudicated upon during the last three years in this Court, and also the number of cases in which Public Flogging formed part of the sentence.\n\nThe last two columns of the return shew the total number of such offences brought to trial during the first half of 1877, while Public Flogging was still in force, compared with the total for the corresponding months of the present year, after its discontinuance.\n\nThe total of the first of these being 96, compared with 92 the total for the first half of the present year, it is evident that, judging from the records of this Court, no increase has taken place in the crimes referred to, since the abolition of Public Flogging.\n\nThe Honourable **J. M. PRICE**,\nActing Colonial Secretary,\n&c., &c.\n\nI have the honour to be,\nSir,\nYour most obedient Servant,\n**C. V. CREAGH**, Acting Police Magistrate.\n\n## VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 18th July, 1878.\n\nSIR--In reply to your letter `No. 331` of 30th April, 1878, I have the honour to forward a return of certain offences reported to the Police from June 1st, 1874, to May 31st, 1877, and from June 1st, 1877, to May 31st, 1878; the punishment for which might be Public Flogging.\n\n2. `Ordinance 12 of 1865` authorises the Supreme Court to order the Public or Private Flogging of any male person convicted of a crime, who at the time of the committal thereof shall have been armed with any offensive weapon or instrument, or who at the time of or immediately after the commission thereof shall have wounded, beat, struck, or used any personal violence to any other person, or who shall at any of the times aforesaid by any means whatsoever have attempted to render any person insensible, unconscious, or incapable of resistance.\n\n3. The returns of this Department are not made out with reference to the punishment, actual or possible, of offenders; but are confined to the mention of the alleged crime and the fact of the conviction first reported to the Police, and when afterwards investigated at the Courts, often differ materially. To make up the return now called for has involved the perusal of some 9,000 pages of manuscript daily reports.\n\n4. Besides the offences subject to the provisions of `Ordinance 12 of 1865`, Public Flogging can be inflicted for kidnapping children, but as only males can be flogged, and this is an offence in which women often are culprits, it is obviously impossible to say, when no arrest has been made, whether or not the offender was liable to Public Flogging. I have therefore omitted cases of this class.\n\n5. Similarly with regard to cases committed a second time or under aggravated circumstances, for which `Ordinance 15 of 1875`, § VII, authorises a Magistrate to order Public Flogging, viz.:-\n(a.) Indecent assault.\n(b) Indecent exposure of person.\n(c.) Assault with intent to rob.\n(d.) Common assault committed in a brothel.\n(e.) Common assault committed at or in connection with any riotous assembly.\nMalicious injury of property.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-182 - Governor Hennessy - 1878 [9-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 303729, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-184 - Governor Hennessy - 1879 [1-5]", "page_number": 321, "title": "CO129-184 - Governor Hennessy - 1879 [1-5]", "content_text": "## Court Proceedings\n\nto bring the charge if they found the law was not complied with.\n\nMr. Brereton said that was a matter of opinion, but it was melancholy while crime was rife in the Colony to see the police wasting their energies by dragging this respectable company into a police court and endeavouring to mulet them in a heavy fine for doing an act for which they deserved every praise. No doubt it was the duty of the Government to protect life and to see that every proper means was taken for its protection, but in the present case no such proper means had been applied, and the Ordinance so far from doing what it professed to do was actually mischievous, because while it professed to prevent overcrowding on steamers, it authorised such overcrowding according to the construction of the steamer. There were steamers which could carry 3,000 tons of cargo, but which had only one deck and that covered with boilers and machinery. What was to prevent one of these steamers carrying passengers and packing them together like herrings in a barrel? The police could not interfere. Here were the living Chinese treated as dead weight, as so many pigs of lead. You can only put two passengers to three tons. What could be more ridiculous? He did not bring any charge against the framers of the Ordinance, absurd as he said it was. The greatest deliberative assembly in the world was the British House of Commons. Yet, as he said before, some of the most absurd, ridiculous, and impracticable Acts had been turned out by that same legislature. Some people were supposed to possess a wonderful capacity for drafting Ordinances, while in fact they had none, and gentlemen were in the habit of placing reliance on them and not scrutinising too closely the measure brought forward because they thought the person bringing it forward had special knowledge of the subject. The strongest evidence that could be given that the Ordinance in question was an unjust, unfair, and improper one, was the fact that his Excellency the present Governor remitted the whole of the fine in the case of the Kinshan, although she had such a very large number of passengers in excess. He asked his Worship either to treat this Ordinance as a nullity or to so modify its provisions that it could do little harm either now or in the future, until the proper Ordinance, which was now in preparation, had been passed. He submitted it had not been proved in the way it ought to have been proved that a certain number of passengers had been taken on board those steamers. In support of this view he cited the decision of Mr. May, in the case of the Ichang, who dismissed the summons because no specific excess of the number allowed had been proved to have been carried. He argued that the exact number must be shown.\n\nHis Worship said it might be proved there were a hundred in excess, although there were actually more.\n\nMr. Brereton submitted his Worship could not arbitrarily fix on any number; that the exact number must be proved.\n\nHis Worship said he should judge by the Ordinance and decide on the evidence. He was not bound by the decision of any Magistrate, however much he might respect Mr. May.\n\nMr. Brereton submitted that the only thing his Worship could do would be to inflict a lump fine in respect of each vessel, that he could not inflict anything extra per head.\n\nHe went on to argue that the defendants were not liable, even supposing they had carried the whole number, because the evidence showed the captain was prevented by vis major from keeping those passengers off the steamer. He quoted Wharton's definition of vis major, and referred to the evidence of Mr. Pugh as showing that it was absolutely impossible to prevent the people coming on board at Canton. Then it was proved by Captain Cary that the vessel could carry 4,000 passengers with the greatest ease, and the object of the Ordinance, as stated in the preamble, was to prevent overcrowding. There had been no overcrowding on this occasion. He again referred to the new Bill now being prepared, and said that in the draft the gross tonnage was stated as the criterion of the number of passengers to be carried instead of the net tonnage, which would make a wonderful difference. But even that, he had good reason for knowing, was not going to be enforced. He went on to institute a comparison between the regulations as to the number of passengers allowed to be carried in steam launches—namely, one for every seven superficial feet—in the harbour, and the number allowed to be carried on the river steamers, referring to the professional evidence of Captain Cary as showing that the passengers in the latter were safer than those in the former. If the same rule was applied to the river steamers as was applied to the harbour launches, the Kinshan could carry 1,724 passengers and the Powan 2,193, while according to the Board of Trade rules the Kinshan could carry, in partially smooth water, 1,950 passengers, and in smooth water over 3,000, and as regarded the Powan the number would be 3,643. He put this before his Worship as showing that the Company, although they might be technically in fault, had committed no moral offence, as they had taken fewer passengers than they would have been allowed to take had they been running on the coast of England. He said it rested entirely with his Worship as to what fine he would inflict if he made up his mind to inflict a fine. By **Ordinance 2 of 1873** minimum penalties are abolished, and the discretion was given to the magistrate in all cases to inflict as low a fine as he thought necessary.\n\nMr. Sharp said that was retrospective.\n\nMr. Brereton submitted that it applied to every Ordinance.\n\nHis Worship said it did not apply to an Ordinance passed several years afterwards.\n\nMr. Brereton said it showed the system then in force was a vicious one and a system to be put down. By strong inference he said it was the intention of the legislature to provide that no Ordinance passed afterwards should have a minimum punishment. Would the legislature stultify itself in this way by finding out the error that had crept into past Ordinances and then go on repeating the error? He submitted that his Worship had full power as to the penalty, and could inflict for the fine $5 and for the penalty per head 5 cents. He asked that the lowest penalty might be inflicted, there being no moral guilt attributable to the Company and no accident having ever happened.\n\nMr. Sharp briefly replied arguing that the Court had nothing to do with anything outside the Ordinance, that the case had been clearly proved, and that his Worship had no discretion as to the infliction of the penalty of $5 per head. His Worship said that with regard to Mr. Brereton's remarks about the Ordinances he was perfectly satisfied his only guide ought to be the Ordinance under which the summonses were taken out, **No. 11 of 1876**. He had not to consider what the English rules were. As regarded the impossibility of checking the influx of Chinese passengers at Canton he was sure the officers of the ships had done what they could. That had been found insufficient, and therefore it was the duty of the directors to have provided better means, which they had neglected to do. This was not an extraordinary case; it was the second case that had been brought. It was very clear, too, that if they were very strict about limiting passengers they would not have taken an extra lot at Whampoa after leaving Canton with an excess.\n\nHe would therefore inflict the full penalty in both cases and the fine of $5 a head for each of the passengers carried in excess of the proper number, the number in excess in the case of the Kinshan being 1,100 and in that of the Powan 935.\n\nMr. Brereton—Very well, your Worship, we will see what the Chief Justice and Mr. Snowden will say about it.\n\n## Page 316", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-184 - Governor Hennessy - 1879 [1-5].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 311468, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-197 - Governor Hennessy - 1882 [1-2]", "page_number": 489, "title": "CO129-197 - Governor Hennessy - 1882 [1-2]", "content_text": "allow such \n\nas \n\nа \n\nI could not, of course, matter to be treated \n\ne question of privilege entitling \n\nالحية من الله \n\nMr Johnson to interrupt the President when addressing the Council and moving the first order of the Day. \n\nI have the honour to be, \n\nMy Lord, Your Lordship's Most Obedient Humble Servant, \n\nThe Hongkong Telegraph \n\n**HONGKONG, Thursday, February 23, 1882.** \n\n## LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. \n\nA meeting of the Legislative Council was held yesterday afternoon. There were present-- \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY** the **GOVERNOR**. Hon. F. SNOWDEN, Acting Chief Justice. Hon. M. S. TONNOCHY, Acting Colonial Secretary. \n\nHon. E. L. O'MALLEY, Attorney-General. Hon. W.M.DEANE, Acting Colonial Treasurer. Hon. P. RYRIE. Hon. NG CHOY. \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON. \n\n### MINUTES. \n\nThe minutes of the last meeting were read by the Clerk. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-The question is that the minutes be confirmed. \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON-Before those minutes are passed, sir, may I ask—I think I am in order—whether the protest I caused to be delivered to the Clerk of Councils on the 13th has been placed on the minutes. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-The protest was received after the last meeting, and therefore it cannot be entered as part of the minutes of the last meeting, but having been received by the Clerk of Councils after the last meeting the protest will, immediately, be referred to at this meeting. \n\nThe minutes were then confirmed. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-Now, gentlemen, I have the honour to announce that a protest has been received from the hon. member by the Clerk of Councils, and, if the hon. member wishes, it will be read. \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON-I have no special desire it should be read, so long as it be inserted in the minutes of the proceedings of Council. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-Certainly it will be inserted. It may, perhaps, be as well to read it. \n\nThe **CLERK** then read the protest as follows-- \n\nTo His Excellency Sir John Pope HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., Governor of Hongkong; and to ARATUGOO SETH, Esquire, Clerk of Councils. \n\nHongkong, 13th February, 1882. \n\nI do hereby protest in writing against the decision of Your Excellency, intimated by you in the letter addressed to me by the Clerk of Councils dated the 7th instant, and confirmed by you in the Legislative Council of that day, by which decision your Excellency ruled that a motion of mine, of my intention to move which, at that Council, I had given due notice, and the terms of which I shall presently state in extenso, was irregular and out of order. \n\nThe motion to which I allude, was as follows: \"That His Excellency will be pleased to direct the Acting Colonial Secretary to lay upon the table copies of letters addressed by me to the Acting Colonial Secretary dated 2nd and 8th December, with enclosures, and 7th and 18th December, and of the Acting Colonial Secretary's replies dated respectively 5th and 13th December; also that His Excellency will be pleased to lay upon the table copies of a letter addressed by Mr. T. C. Hayllar to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated on or about 27th July, 1881, of a covering despatch from His Excellency the Governor about the same date, and of a letter from Mr. T. C. Hayllar to the Secretary of State, asking permission to withdraw his despatch of 27th July, 1881, and dated 8th September, comprising a series of documents which have been exhibited to members of Council by His Excellency's directions.\" \n\nI have the honour to be, your most obedient servant, \n\nF. BULSALEY JOHNSON. \n\nThe **CLERK** said there was a minute of His Excellency's on the protest, and asked if His Excellency wished that read also. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY** directed the minute to be read. \n\nThe **CLERK** read the minute as follows- \n\n**HIS EXCELLENCY'S MINUTE** \n\nThere is a slight inaccuracy or misconception in the latter part of the protest about documents being exhibited by my direction, but nevertheless, let it be entered in full in the minutes. \n\nJ. Pope HENNESSY. Hongkong, 23rd February, 1882. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-Now, gentlemen, the first business of the Council- \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON-I hope again that I shall be strictly in order. I have no desire to transgress the rules. I rise to call the attention of the Council, to a question of privilege which-- \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**--A question of privilege. What does it relate to? \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON-Well, I will proceed to describe it. You can rule me out of order if I say anything irregular. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-I will point out to the hon. member the inconvenience of the course he is taking. We are guided here very much by the practice of the House of Commons, and the invariable practice is that if a member objects, as the hon. member evidently does, to a former ruling of the President, or speaker, he gives a notice in some shape or other. Moreover, a question of privilege is something that must have recently arisen. If it is anything that has been decided at a former meeting it is not a question of privilege, and no notice has been given to me or the Clerk of Councils. \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON-Can I speak in reply? \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-No. The hon. member has received the Orders of the Day. No discussion whatever can take place on a subject which three meetings ago was ruled irregular and out of order, and in respect to which a protest has been read by the Clerk of Councils. That protest is now on the minutes. \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON--Your Excellency will recollect I have been debarred from giving notice in the usual way by the fact that the Council has been summoned in an informal way at twenty-four hours' notice, whereas by the Standing Orders the time for giving notice of motions must be at least three days. Under these circumstances, I conceive I could not give notice in the usual form, and if you will allow me to quote from the only text book in the Colony- \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-I assure the hon. member he would be out of order in doing so. He has endeavoured to bring to the notice of Council a ruling of mine made some weeks ago. I am the guardian of the order of this assembly, and under these circumstances any attempt to set aside any ruling as a question of privilege and after two or three meetings have passed would only be increasing the irregularity. \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON-Then your Excellency will note that I have risen to speak on a question of privilege and you decline to allow me- \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-I have pointed out-the hon. member has had twenty-four hours' notice-that nothing would have been easier than to give some intimation of what he had intended. I infer he wishes to refer to what occurred on a former occasion. \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON-Your Excellency is mistaken. I have no intention whatever to allude to the motion which your Excellency declined to allow me to make the other day. What I have to say relates to something that occurred on a former occasion which- \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**--If so, it cannot be referred to now as a matter of privilege. That is the rule in the House of Commons; and, furthermore, no motion can be made similar to that which has already been ruled out of order. \n\nHon. F. B. JOHNSON-Your Excellency will allow the notes of what has taken place to appear on the minutes. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-The hon. gentleman can transmit to the Clerk another protest if he likes. \n\n### THE JURY LIST. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY**-It is usual, gentlemen, in proceeding with the consideration of the Jury List to do so with closed doors, that is, without having the Press present. I am entirely in your hands on that question. I suggested on one occasion that I saw no necessity to exclude the gentlemen of the Press. However, that is a matter entirely in the hands of the Council. The question is, shall we proceed in the usual way and consider the Jury List as before, or shall we allow the gentlemen of the Press to be present? [After some conversation.] I think the feeling of the Council is that the gentlemen of the Press might withdraw. \n\nThe reporters then withdrew, and were subsequently admitted when the Jury List had been settled. \n\n### NATURALIZATION. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY** moved the second reading of a Bill for the naturalization of Lai Shun Ting. He said it was not necessary to make any alteration in the preamble of the Bill, but, as suggested by the Acting Colonial Treasurer at the last meeting, there was now a memorandum attached in which the age and place of birth were given. In this case he saw the age was thirty-six years and the place of birth Swatow, but in other cases they might have even fuller particulars. \n\nThe **ACTING COLONIAL TREASURER** pointed out that the person referred to in the Bill was, according to the memorandum, at present residing in Foochow, and asked if it would not be better to wait until he was resident in the Colony. \n\nHis **EXCELLENCY** said that under those circumstances he thought they had better put off the Bill. \n\nBills for the naturalization of the following were then passed through their various stages and read a third time—Chan Teng Cho, merchant, age 39, place of birth Amoy; Ng Li Hing, age 37, place of birth Amoy; You Chong Peng, age 30, place of birth Amoy; Chan Mun Wing, age 41, place of birth Amoy.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-197 - Governor Hennessy - 1882 [1-2].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 317929, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-202 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1882 [7-9]", "page_number": 180, "title": "CO129-202 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1882 [7-9]", "content_text": "# THE CHINA REVIEW.\n\n## NOTES AND QUERIES.\n\nThe examination process is as follows. A notice is issued, and the students assemble according to magistracies in the Provincial Examination Hall (`bung yuan`), when five successive examinations are held in the following manner. Suppose there are ten thousand in all. After the first bout, perhaps ten per cent. are excluded, and the names of the others are hung up outside the Hall, according to magistracies, the first ten in each magistracy being specially noted. This is continued five times, the Prefect each time excluding about ten per cent. of the least meritorious composers. The result of the fifth heat is that about one tenth of the whole number of each magistracy is selected; the names of the ten best of each of these are specially prominent, and the first in each ten receives the honorary appellation of \"Prefect's choice\" (`fu pi`). The advantage gained by the `fu pi` is that, as a matter of courtesy, the Literary Chancellor will, as of course, pass him for his Degree. All the other distinctions, consequent upon this quintuple analysis, count for nothing but local and ephemeral honour amongst one's friends. Nearly all candidates are \"retained\" (`li`) as eligible for the degree of `siu tsai`, as of course.\n\nThis takes place generally in the eighth month of the Chinese autumn. The Literary Chancellor has a `yamen` of his own and receives a Commission for three years. The first two of these are the `sui tsai`, or years for examination for the degree of `siu tsai`. The subjects are, as in the case of the Magistrate's and Prefect's examinations, prose and poetry, but the Chancellor devotes one day to each. An average of perhaps ten per cent. of candidates obtain a prima facie degree, but before the list of the successful is issued (`fa pang`), a second test Examination takes place (`fu k'ao`) in order to guard against imposition, \"cribbing,\" prompting, &c. Generally about eight per cent. of the successful scrape through this second ordeal, upon which, after an interval of ten days or so, the list of graduates is suspended outside the Hall.\n\nThe next step is to buy an official hat, surmounted with a gilt swan in lieu of a button (`ho muo`), which ornament is only worn upon the hat on this one occasion; flowers are also stuck in each side of the hair (`twin hua`). The successful ones must then visit the Chancellor, dressed up in their official costume. This visit takes place at his `yamen`. The graduates first turn to the north and kotow to His Majesty; after that they turn to the Chancellor and kotow to him likewise.\n\nThe Chancellor addresses to them, collectively, a few valedictory words, after which the students retire and proceed to their respective homes. A visit to the ancestral cemetery is an indispensable sequence of having graduated. This ceremony is apparently to establish, before the manes of one's ancestors, this joyful evidence of continuity of honour in the family. The next year a similar examination to that just described takes place, immediately after which the Literary Chancellor holds a second examination (`lien chia`) of the two groups of graduates, for honours (`la chia`). This is also in two subjects only, prose essay and poetical composition, and lasts but one day. The result is announced, like the result of the Magistrate's and Prefect's Examinations, by the posting of a `pai`, not, as in the examinations for the degrees of `siu tsai`, `chü jên`, and `chin shih`, by the issue of a `pang`. The `pai`, or notice, is less solemn and imposing than the `pang`, or official list. The bachelors (`siu tsai`) of each magistracy are now arranged in three grades (`san teng`), the first candidate in the first grade of each magisterial group receiving the title of `lin sheng`, which enables him to levy a contribution of about 500 cash from each of the Bachelors of his magistracy who have competed at this examination for honours, and qualifies him to act as the spokesman and introducer (as mentioned above), in all matters interesting the bachelors or undergraduates of his magistracy.\n\nThose two years being ended, study for the degree of `chü jên` is the next step. It must be mentioned that those graduates who have not reached the standard necessary to become enrolled in one of the three grades for honours are obliged to wait till the second examination for a `chü jên` takes place, to wit, three extra years.\n\nThe examination for a `chü jên` is held by the `chu k'ao`, a special Commissioner appointed by the Emperor to each Province for each `k'o` or examination. This functionary is always accompanied by an assistant examiner (`fu chu k'ao`), and occupies the Town Hall (`kung kuan`), of the Provincial Metropolis, not having, like the Chancellor, a `yamen` appropriated to his use. This examination is much more severe than that for a `siu tsai`, the duration being nine days, in three bouts of three days each, during each bout of which the candidates are rigidly confined, night and day, to their examination cells. The first three days are devoted to essays upon subjects taken from the Four Books (`sz shu`); the second three to essays on the Classics (`ching`); the third to miscellaneous essays upon subjects chosen at random (`ts' lun`). The candidates are no longer ranged according to magistracies, nor the date at which they graduated as `siu tsai`. Perhaps two hundred will be a fair average for the number of `chü jên` degrees allotted to each Province. Under the name of `fu pang` are ranged those who have reached a high standard, but who by special favour receive a degree over and above the number allotted, owing to their great merit. In about a month the `chü k'ao` issues his list (`fu pang`), in which the first candidate, among all from the Province, obtains the title of `chieh yuan`, the second that of `ya yuan`, and the third that of `ching kusi`; all purely honorary titles. The rest of the successful ones are termed `en fusi`. A visit is now first made to the Provincial Governor (`fu tai`), and afterwards to the `chü k'ao`, by all the graduates who have thus taken their second degree.\n\nThe examinations above described may be translated by the analogous terms, \"matriculation,\" \"little go,\" \"Bachelor of Arts,\" \"Master of Arts.\" The third year is spent by the Chancellor in \"going circuit\" to ascertain the literary merit of each township.\n\nThe examination for the degree of `chin shih` takes place at Peking, in the third month of the year succeeding that in which the `chü jên` examination was held. A `chü k'ao`, generally an officer of high rank, assisted by a `fu chü k'ao`, are appointed by the Emperor to hold this examination in the Great Hall (`Kung yüan`) at Peking. The subjects are the same as for the `chü jên`, and the ordeal lasts nine days. Not more than a dozen or thirty from each Province are successful. The first candidate receives the honorary appellation of `hui yuan`. This is succeeded by the `tien shih`, or honours examination, held by the Emperor himself, who selects the themes, which are at once published in the Peking Gazette. The first candidate in the Empire is called a `chuang yün`, the second a `pang yen`, the third a `t'an hua`, and the fourth a `ch'uan lu`, terms which may be rendered by the analogous \"senior,\" \"second,\" \"third,\" and \"fourth wranglers.\" The remaining `chin shih` are ranged in three grades (`san ling chun`), the first grade of which are drafted in the Hanlin Academy, the second of which become petty Officers at Court (`siao ching kuan`), and the third of which are appointed by lot to expectant offices in the Provinces (`chi pu`). The subjects for the `tien shih` are the Five Classics, and five pages of prose composition. Lastly comes the `ch'ao k'ao`, or viva voce examination by the Emperor, who puts five questions to each `chin shih` (`t'si wên wu tao`). According to His Majesty's prepossession is the candidate marked out for any special duty or office.\n\nThe above outline of the Chinese curriculum is necessarily incomplete, and is herewith submitted for correction. Any shortcomings which may be pointed out by letter, to the Editor of the China Review, will be noted, and on some future occasion an ...\n\nPage 180\nPage 181", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-202 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1882 [7-9].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 326792, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-218 - Administrator Marsh Governor Sir Bowen & Others - 1884 [11-12]", "page_number": 256, "title": "CO129-218 - Administrator Marsh Governor Sir Bowen & Others - 1884 [11-12]", "content_text": "# Speech at St. Paul's College Prize Distribution\n\nAs I have already said, and it is necessary therefore to put a few thoughts into their heads. The usual plan, I believe, is to read over something to them a day or two before and then get them to write it out. Mr. Hambling gave them the subject of interest at that time, the Regatta. It seems they knew they were to be asked to write a composition on this, and they were diligent readers of the newspapers. The consequence was we had pretty good repetitions of the newspapers, and perhaps that was the origin of Mr. Jennings' colonial phraseology.\" At the same time, I don't see that any different method could be pursued. A boy has few thoughts at that age and has a difficulty of expression. If he is to be given a lesson of that kind, he must have something read to him, and then the day after, he reproduces it as best he can. You have had the result, and it is encouraging, even if it is only repetition of newspapers, that they have good memories, though perhaps it would have been better if they had had shorter memories as regards the \"colonial phraseology.\"\n\nReturning to Dr. Eitel's report, he put down 300 marks as the highest number a boy could obtain. He reports 262 as the highest actually attained, which is not far from the limit, and the lowest 150, half the marks that might have been got. On the whole, it seemed to me Dr. Eitel's report was satisfactory as showing good honest work had been done.\n\nWell then, to go on to Mr. Coughtrie's report. It would not be right that we should just stick to dry work and add up figures and write down hard names after learning them. We had enough of that in my boyhood, but now there is a little idea of beauty introduced into school work, and you see hung round the room the result—the best result, for it is no use showing you the worst, but having boys who can do this work, it shows a good deal of talent that may be drawn out.\n\nMr. Coughtrie examined the drawings and picked out the best and put them in the order in which he thought they ought to stand. He says:\n\n## Report on Drawings\n\n| Category | Comment |\n| --- | --- |\n| Copies of dog's heads | The first award was a very creditable production indeed. |\n| Freehand drawings or ornament | The first and second awards were creditable. |\n| Flower subject | Did not produce equally good results, probably owing to the poverty of the example. |\n| Map drawing | Fully equal to that of past years; the subject was India, with its hard and unfamiliar names of places. |\n| Handwriting | The best examples were unusually good, particularly those in \"large hand.\" |\n\nThe drawings submitted to me for examination, though fewer in number than last year, were of greater merit. The first award in the copies of dog's heads was a very creditable production indeed, as were also the first and second awards in the freehand drawings or ornament. The flower subject did not produce equally good results, but this was probably owing to the poverty of the example, which was one that could not possibly create any enthusiasm for the subject placed before the scholars to copy.\n\nIn looking over the drawings made by some of the boys out of school, I found sketches by two of them of casual merit, and I learn with pleasure that an extra prize will be adjudged for them. The incentive to good drawing created by the choice of pleasing or congenial subjects is, I think, sufficiently manifest.\n\nThis closes my statement of what we have done and the way we are doing it. We are glad to have your presence here today to encourage us. From what I have seen, I can say that good conscientious work is being done from day to day, and I think it is evident from the assembly I see before me that the public of Hongkong appreciate our efforts to provide education for the youth of the colony. I think we may still appeal with confidence for your help. (Applause).\n\n## Speech by His Excellency General Sargent\n\nHis Excellency-General Sargent, ladies, and gentlemen, it was with very great pleasure that I accepted the invitation of our revered Bishop to be present here on this interesting occasion. I have always held it to be one of the first duties of a Governor to promote by every means in his power the sacred cause of education and to meet all classes of the community over whom he presides on the common ground of art, science, and literature. (Cheers).\n\nI grieve that I am not accompanied today, as last year, by my wife and family, whose departure, in consequence of the dangerous illness of Lady Bowen, has cast a gloom on my life here, for I was never before separated from my family.\n\nWith reference to the object of our meeting, I would observe that on the similar occasion last year, I made a long speech, but I have no intention of inflicting an oration on you this year. Moreover, the very full and satisfactory statement as to the present position and progress of this school made by the Bishop, to whom we all listened with much pleasure and interest, has left me little to say.\n\nThere can be no doubt, as the Bishop remarked, but that this institution supplies a want felt in this community. There are many families here who desire to give their sons a sound English education and yet are not in a position to send them to England. Moreover, during my visits to China and Japan, I have found former pupils of this institution occupying responsible positions in those countries. For instance, one of the principal secretaries of the great Viceroy Li Hung-chang—one of the most powerful and influential men in China—was a former pupil of St. Paul's College.\n\nAll will agree that it is a most legitimate means of extending British influence throughout this quarter of the globe to provide means of education in this British colony for those who will afterwards take a prominent position in the neighbouring countries, and especially in the great empire of China. Such men cannot fail to remember what they owe to British education.\n\nTo my young friends, the pupils of this institution, I would say: Work hard and prepare yourselves to take advantage of that good fortune, that chance of success, which falls to almost every man at least once in the course of his life. (Applause). People talk of good luck and good fortune, and the good luck of one man and the bad luck of another, but all men of great experience in life will agree that good fortune attends only those who have prepared themselves to take advantage of it.\n\nOur own Shakespeare has said in famous verses:\n\n\"There is a tide in the affairs of men,\nWhich, taken at the flood, leads on to Fortune.\nOmitted, all the voyage of our lives\nIs lost in shallows and in miseries.\"\n\nWhat I would exhort you to do, my young friends, is to prepare yourselves that you may be able to take that tide at the flood which leads on to fortune. (Applause).\n\nI would also remind those of you more advanced in your studies of the lines of the great Roman poet and Satirist, Juvenal, in which he says:\n\n\"Nullam nomen habent si sit Prudentia; nos te\nNos facimus, Fortuna, Deam, coeloque locamus.\"\n\nThat is (I translate, of course, only for the benefit of the ladies) \"Oh Fortune, thou hast no divinity if we have prudence; it is we who make thee a goddess and instal thee in Heaven.\"\n\nAfter these few observations, I will now proceed to distribute the prizes. (Applause).\n\nHis Excellency then presented the prizes to the boys, the Bishop stating the subject for which each prize was given and making a few remarks as to the position and progress in the school of the recipient.\n\nIn the course of his remarks, he said: I think last year all the boys got something, and some went home saying they had got a prize, and it was very doubtful what it was for (a laugh), and it was found it was not a prize at all but simply a present. That was in our younger days. We are getting older now and nearer manhood, so no prize is given today except for work done, that is, either for actual merit or for considerable work and promise of merit to come. There is the motto on the card at the beginning of each book by which we try to carry out the Governor's advice: \"Heaven helps those who help themselves.\" Those who work are sure to get rewarded somehow.\n\nPage 253", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-218 - Administrator Marsh Governor Sir Bowen & Others - 1884 [11-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 329272, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-223 - Governor Sir Bowen Acting Governor Marsh & Others - 1885 [11-12]", "page_number": 51, "title": "CO129-223 - Governor Sir Bowen Acting Governor Marsh & Others - 1885 [11-12]", "content_text": "\"God bless the Prince of Wales\" was played as this toast was drunk.\n\nThe CHAIRMAN—I rise to propose the health of the Governor of this colony. (Loud and continued cheering.)\n\nHis Excellency the GOVERNOR responded in the following terms:—Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen.—I am very sensible of the kind and enthusiastic manner in which you have just received the toast of my health, proposed by my honourable friend the Chairman. I assure you that I gladly accepted your invitation to be present here this evening, for I desired to take part in the honour which you are paying to my gallant and valued friend and your distinguished guest, Admiral Sir William Dowell. (Loud applause). His career in this part of the world may be described as historical. (Renewed cheers). It may be divided into four phases or epochs. In the first epoch, we see the Admiral, then a gay young midshipman, first, in 1841, hoisting the British flag on this island, then silent and desolate, but which, after the lapse of little more than forty years, has now become, through the industry and energy of our race settled here, the third greatest mart of trade and shipping in the world, ranking next after London and Liverpool. (Loud applause). In the second epoch, some twenty years ago, we find Captain Dowell in command of the Barossa, when he rendered a most important service to the cause of order and civilized government in Japan, a service for which I assure you the leading Japanese statesmen are very grateful. In the third epoch, we find the young midshipman, now become Admiral and Commander-in-Chief, hoisting the British flag at Port Hamilton,—(loud and continued cheering)—as, forty-four years before, he had hoisted it at Hongkong. There is yet a fourth epoch, which may be called not so much the naval as the diplomatic epoch of the career of my gallant friend. Few Governors or Admirals were ever placed in a more difficult and delicate position than that in which my gallant friend and I were placed during the protracted crisis of the Franco-Chinese War. (Cheers.) We succeeded in enforcing British rights and British neutrality, and at the same time in preserving friendly relations with the belligerent Powers. I am glad to take this opportunity of stating publicly here, what I have already stated to Her Majesty's Government, how much I owe to the loyal support and co-operation of Admiral Dowell,—(Loud cheers)—with whom I was throughout in constant and intimate communication. So much for my gallant friend in his public character in this part of the world, for I need scarcely remind you, when you look at that breast covered with medals and honourable decorations, that he has served his Queen and country in almost every part of the world as well as in China. (Renewed cheers.) As to his personal character, those who know him best will agree with me that he realizes Wordsworth's ideal in those famous verses beginning:—\n\nWho is the happy Warrior; who is he Whom every man in arms should wish to be?\n\n(Cheers.) And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sure that Admiral Dowell would be the first to regret if I were to sit down without saying a courteous word of welcome to his distinguished successor. I am confident that Admiral Hamilton will carry on the grand old traditions of the British Navy in these seas; that is, that he will maintain the honour of the flag of our country and advance the commercial interests of our countrymen. (Loud applause.) Rather, I should say, that he will advance the interests of commerce itself; for, speaking to an assembly of English merchants, I believe that I correctly interpret their feelings when I say that all they ask is \"a fair field and no favour.\" (Hear, hear, and loud applause.) But I have detained you too long, already—(No, no)—for the hon. gentleman in the Chair is now about to propose the toast of the evening, doubtless with that fervid eloquence for which he is so well known in a less gay and festive place than this brilliant assembly. (Applause.) Once more, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for the very kind manner in which you have received me this evening. (Loud applause.)\n\nThe CHAIRMAN (Hon. P. Ryrie)—whose rising was the signal for renewed cheering, said—Admiral Dowell, it is my pleasing duty this evening to present you with an address from the community of Hongkong. That address has been most spontaneous and hearty from every member of this community. I may say that not only of the British subjects here, and we have among them many Chinese, Indians, &c., who have all come forward in the most cordial manner; but some of our non-British colonists have come forward with just as much enthusiasm and heartiness as we have done. (Loud cheering.) They recognise your high qualities, and they come forward this evening to testify to the same. The Royal Navy has always been a favourite service in China—Hear, hear—and in all the open ports. They are with us always. I do not wish to in any way detract from the other services, but they (the Navy) are always with us. We know them when they are quite young. They come here as midshipmen; they come back as lieutenants—as numerous friends of mine have done; then again they come back as captains; and finally they return to us as admirals, as you have to-night, Sir William. (Loud cheers.) The Royal Navy is bound up with British commerce in China, and has rendered great service to that commerce. At Foochow, when matters were in a very critical state, the promptitude which you exhibited in sending men to protect the foreign settlement at Foochow, and the tact you displayed afterwards in arranging matters, I have not the slightest hesitation in saying, prevented a serious catastrophe to the foreign community there. The communities at Foochow and Hongkong are very closely connected, and this community begs to return you their very best thanks for your valuable services. When the hostilities commenced we had to thank you for the way in which you made arrangements for the protection of this colony. We know that wherever a British ship was she would do her best, and the officers on board her would do their best, under whatever circumstances might occur. (Loud cheers.) I may say that Hongkong has been rather fond of her naval commanders. We have had men here whom your Excellency knows very well, and on most occasions we have testified our appreciation of them. And now to-night we wish to testify our appreciation of you, (Loud applause.) I have no doubt that had occasion arisen that every man in the Navy would have been to the front, and every ship under your command would have done what was expected of her. (Cheers.) Not only so, but personally you are, Sir William, a favourite with the whole of this community—(Loud cries of \"Hear, hear,\" and cheering)—and our good wishes will follow you wherever you may go in your future career. I will now read the address:", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-223 - Governor Sir Bowen Acting Governor Marsh & Others - 1885 [11-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 331831, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-228 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1886 [7-9]", "page_number": 304, "title": "CO129-228 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1886 [7-9]", "content_text": "The mischief-makers are probably associated with the lawless elements, which divest them of all fear. Look, for example, at the Kwun Yan of Sai-ying-pun where lawless people assemble and gambling is carried on quite openly, where also great and wicked Triad Associations exist in broad daylight. It is not that the police do not know and see. But if, while knowing and seeing, they seldom catch any offenders, it must be either because they are in league with them or they are afraid to act. If the police seek to hush up the case, whose business is it? And if the police dare not speak out, who else will? If one dares to break out and speak, and those that are in league with the criminals give them information, he is sure to suffer for it. It is dangerous and sad indeed! The Government of England, which protects the people all round, not even neglecting ordinary nuisances but appointing a special officer to deal with them, will surely not submit to be hoodwinked by subordinates in regard to the greater nuisances of Triad Societies and gambling. The present writer knows that he has only to wipe his eyes in confident expectation of seeing the good Government maintained, the people at peace, and himself a grateful sharer of it. Long live Great Britain in prosperity and peace!\n\nNames.\n\nIn Queen's Road West (Sai-ying-pun) No. 10259, Second floor, is said to be a Triad Society's meeting place. And there is another place called 義利館 (Yi Li Guan) in connection with it.\n\nIn First Street, N. 69, Second floor, is a gambling house, said also to be under the patronage of several detectives who are members of the Triad Society.\n\nTogether with Yang Sea Yao, in First Street, N. 72, Second floor, is a Triad Society's room, and a gambling house.\n\nPage 302/5", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-228 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1886 [7-9].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 333612, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-231 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1887 [1-3]", "page_number": 434, "title": "CO129-231 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1887 [1-3]", "content_text": "The advantage, and I am sure it could be turned to no better advantage than to have it raised and suitably turfed, and to have it turned into a place where the rising youth and the manly youth of this colony can enjoy their games at cricket or football or even polo, where the troops can occasionally assemble to go through their exercise, and where the crews of Her Majesty's vessels can be brought on shore and put through their drill. It seems to me it would look quite as well—the refreshing verdure of green turf in that valley—as to plant it in shrubberies and flower beds. (Applause). But the objection has been taken to this that it would be of no advantage to the Chinese portion of the community. I think it would be of great advantage to them, if not at present, in future, because there can be no doubt that in future at least—I hope it will be so—the Chinese youth from the public schools will freely mix in our games and amusements. And if the Colony goes on progressing as it has lately, there can be no doubt the buildings must extend to the east, as they have approached their extreme limit towards the west, and we shall find it as great an advantage to the Chinese portion of the community as the present Chinese Recreation Ground is to them now. But there is another disadvantage, which is that, call it by what name we please, the Wong-nei-chong valley will never be called anything but Wong-noi-chong by the Chinese, nor by Europeans will it ever lose that most felicitous name which has been given to it, \"The Happy Valley.\" There has been also another proposal put forward, and that is one to which I am sure Her Majesty would most willingly give her assent, if we were sufficiently advanced for it, that is, to have a High School for girls, where girls of all classes and of all races could be educated together, similarly to the Victoria College for boys. We are turning out and shall continue to turn out young men more and more advanced, I hope, as years go by, but we are not providing in the same ratio suitable wives for them. We must also consider that the wife is the mother of the future generation, and it would be a great thing, if we were sufficiently ripe for it, to educate the mothers of the future generation who are to dwell amongst us, and a great thing for the people of the country.\n\nThe next proposition that has been put forward is one to increase the number of scholarships that are granted to the deserving youth of this colony who have passed the necessary examinations. And there can be no doubt that that also would be a very useful thing to be done and would be worthy of connection with Her Majesty's name. Another proposition that has been put forward is that there should be an institution founded to support and take care of the children who have been rescued from a life of infamy and vice, and no doubt that also would be a very useful institution in a colony such as this. There has also been a suggestion that it would be advisable to have some charitable institution which would relieve the Tung Wah Hospital of the distressed poor and form the nucleus of extending benevolence to those who need it, and of selecting only deserving cases. That also is an institution which we have not at present and which would be one that I am sure would commend itself to every charitable person's support if they considered it were at all practicable. I do not know that any other proposal has been made—none that I have heard of either publicly or privately—but they are all for your consideration.\n\nI may say that at the preliminary meeting, both with regard to the time of holding the celebration and with regard to the proposal that a permanent memorial of the Jubilee year should be raised, there was some difference of opinion. The scheme for a park at Wong-noi-chong was carried by a small majority. The question for this meeting is, what shall be done. If you are unprepared and would like to take time to consider, it would be perfectly open to any person present to move as an amendment to the resolution either that this meeting should be postponed until the community had time for consideration or else that the committee we propose to appoint should endeavour to ascertain the views and wishes of the whole community. If, however, you are satisfied the proposal which will be laid before you is the best that can be adopted, well then, gentlemen, I hope we will all work heart and soul together to testify our respect to Her Majesty and to do honour to ourselves. (Applause).\n\nMr. Wei YU—I beg to second this resolution with pleasure, and I am sure that all Her Most Gracious Majesty's loyal Chinese subjects in this Colony will unite in celebrating this great occasion,\n\nThe resolution was carried by acclamation.\n\nHon. A. P. MACEWEN—Your honour and gentlemen, the resolution I have been asked to propose is one that I think will commend itself to the favourable consideration of this representative gathering, namely,\n\nThat the celebration take the form of a permanent institution of some description, to be called by Her Majesty's name, and of a fête and general rejoicings. I think it will be agreed on all sides that something should be done, not only to celebrate the auspicious event of the completion of Her Majesty's fiftieth prosperous year of her reign by festivities, but that we should show to future generations of colonists by some definite and permanent set the veneration and respect in which the Queen is held by all classes of her subjects in this distant possession of the Crown. It is for this meeting to decide as to what form that something should take. I am aware there exist various differences of opinion upon that point, but I will not trespass upon the opinions of speakers who are to follow me, but will merely express the hope that the wishes of the majority will be cordially acquiesced in by the colony as a whole, and that whatever may be decided on will take some practical and useful shape which will be acceptable to Her Majesty (Applause) as well as of lasting benefit to this colony.\n\nThe second part of the resolution refers to a fête and general rejoicings. I think this will very much depend on the time of year that is fixed for it. Individually I am of opinion the sooner it is held the better. (Applause). A committee will have to be appointed to make all the necessary arrangements, which I presume will include illuminations and fireworks. I am aware that in the opinion of many people spluttering of this description is money wasted, but still it is \"old custom\" and will go very far to impress the native community. I only hope one and all will join heartily in commemorating the reign of one who as a Queen has commanded the respect of all foreign powers and the esteem and affection of her loyal subjects in all quarters of the Empire. (Applause).\n\nMr. H. M. MEHTA—You will all agree with me when I say that there can hardly be two opinions about the Hon. Mr. MacEwen's proposition. That proposition speaks for itself, and in this Colony, wanting as it is in useful permanent institutions, it could hardly be gainsaid that the Jubilee celebration should take the form of a permanent institution. The latter part of the proposition about a fête and general rejoicings should also commend itself to your approbation, not that there is any want of fêtes and rejoicings in this colony, but because the occasion of a jubilee celebration is exceptional, and on an exceptional occasion we should have our fêtes and rejoicings on an exceptional scale. With these few remarks, gentlemen, I beg to second Mr. MacEwen's proposition.\n\nMr. J. J. FRANCIS, Q.C.—Sir, I take the liberty of suggesting for the consideration of this meeting an amendment to this resolution with a view to eliciting the feelings of the meeting on one of the many points suggested by the Chief Justice in his admirable address. The resolution, as has been pointed out, consists of two parts, that there shall be a fête and general rejoicings, and, further, that some permanent institution shall be established—and I presume the meaning of that is some permanent institution to be established in the colony—to be called by Her Majesty's name and to be a memorial to all time of this jubilee occasion. Now it seems to me, and I submit it for your consideration, whether we are in a position to raise sufficient funds in this colony to establish any permanent institution on an adequate scale which would be worthy of the occasion, and whether it would not be better any spare funds we may have at our disposal should be devoted to the attainment of that object to which, as the Chief Justice has said, Her Majesty's sanction has been given and which, as stated recently by the Prince of Wales at a public meeting in England, she is most desirous should be carried out, and thoroughly carried out. I therefore move as an amendment to this resolution that the words \"permanent institution of some description to be called by Her Majesty's name\" be...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-231 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1887 [1-3].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 334433, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-233 - Acting Governor Cameron - 1887 [6-8]", "page_number": 255, "title": "CO129-233 - Acting Governor Cameron - 1887 [6-8]", "content_text": "THE PARADE OF THE TROOPS.\n\nAt an early hour in the afternoon a large crowd began to assemble to witness this interesting ceremony. A body of military police, in addition to the regular civilian force, were in attendance in order to keep the throng of sightseers within their proper limits. And their duties were by no means light, for the proverbial curiosity of the Chinese urged some adventurous coolies again and again to dash through the cordon, undeterred by the fate of their predecessor. Shortly after five o'clock, the troops began to muster on the Parade Ground. The Northamptonshire Regiment, the Royal Artillery, and the Gun Lascars took part in the Parade. After going through a little preliminary drill, the men were drawn up in a double line which extended from the top of the Parade Ground right down Queen's Road to the extreme end of the Cricket Ground. The Gun Lascars with their guns were placed at right angles to the column at the top of the Parade Ground, and the Band was grouped at the back, about the centre. The clock had scarcely given the last stroke of six when the salute by the band and troops announced the arrival of His Excellency, who took up his position at the saluting point. Immediately after his arrival, a salute of seven guns was given by the Lascars, followed by the firing of a feu de joie by the whole troops assembled, after which the band played a few bars of \"God Save the Queen.\" This was repeated twice, thus giving in all a salute of twenty-one guns. At the call of Colonel Anderson, the men then gave three ringing cheers for Her Majesty and \"one cheer more,\" after which the band played the Anthem of \"God Save the Queen\" in its entirety. The men were then arranged in their respective divisions, and with their officers at their head, marched past in order, each division saluting as they passed His Excellency. They then returned to their original ground and were dismissed to the barracks.\n\nREJOICINGS AT THE BARRACKS.\n\nThe 58th Regiment celebrated the Jubilee in a most thorough manner. The square at the rear of the Murray Barracks was artistically illuminated for the occasion with Chinese lanterns, which were hung in festoons round the walls. On the wall of the building itself, the lamps were arranged in gigantic letters, in the form of the letters \"V.R.\" in the centre, flanked on either side with the words \"Queen,\" \"Empress,\" and the number of the Regiment \"58\" at either extremity. Underneath the letters \"V.R.\" were placed shields bearing the coat of arms of the regiment, the whole presenting one of the most effective spectacles it is possible to imagine. Long tables stretched right across the square, on which was placed a most substantial supper. The men having taken their seats and the officers being present, the popular Colonel of the regiment, Col. Anderson, whose appearance was the signal for an outburst of cheering, addressed them as follows:—\n\nOfficers, Non-commissioned Officers, and men of the 58th Northamptonshire Regiment. We are assembled together this evening to celebrate the Jubilee of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, Empress of India. No better day could be chosen, as it completes a cycle, to chronicle the vast strides made by the Empire and to record the improvements and developments of our national resources during the last 50 years. This day is celebrated not only by British subjects throughout the Empire, but also by all nationalities under the British flag, each one vying with another to do honour to Her Majesty, who by her responsible ministers governs the most influential kingdom in the world. By her equity, Her Majesty has gained the highest position as a Sovereign, and by her kindness, the love and esteem of a nation. Well may we who wear Her Majesty's uniform be proud of the high privilege; our insignia, our colours, and our badges are our warrants to uphold Queen and country. We hold sacred our island home. With heart and soul then let us join in our national anthem to our Queen who has the heart of all her subjects, wishing Her Majesty long life, health, and happiness to pilot us through many more years of prosperity.\n\nThe toast was then drunk with ringing cheers which might almost have been heard at the other side of the Island, while the National Anthem was sung by all present in an equally enthusiastic manner. An alteration was made in the anthem, the following verse being substituted for the second verse of the original:—\n\nDo thou her steps direct,\n\nWatch o'er her and protect\n\nOur gracious Queen:\n\nShad o'er her heart a ray\n\nOf wisdom's glorious day,\n\nLov'd be Victoria's sway,\n\nGod Save the Queen.\n\nAt the conclusion of the anthem, cheers were given for Colonel Anderson, Major Ellis, and the different officers. Many of the officers were then taken by several of the men on their shoulders and carried between the lines of tables, those seated greeting each officer as he was borne past with the most vigorous cheering and applause. The officers then withdrew, and the men were for a considerable time engaged on the substantial fare which was placed before them. A stage had been erected in the square, and supper being over, the band and the minstrel troupe of the regiment gave a most enjoyable concert. The entertainment was kept going with much vigour until close upon midnight. In spite of the festive character of the evening and the numbers gathered together, the men behaved in a most exemplary manner, not a single case of removal to the guard room occurring, a fact which speaks well for the character of the regiment.\n\nTHE NAVAL DISPLAY.\n\nPunctually as the nine o'clock gun fired, the Victor Emanuel, Cordelia, and Firebrand were lit up with blue lights, and simultaneously a discharge of rockets took place. The instantaneous transformation of the dark forms of the vessels into a brilliant illumination produced a most striking and pleasing effect and elicited many expressions of admiration from the sightseers along the Praya. But what excited the most admiration was the playing of the powerful electric search light of the Cordelia. This was now thrown up towards the sky and anon swept along the hillside and over the waters of the harbour, one moment lighting up the Victor Emanuel and the next resting on a sampan under sail, making the ugly little craft look like some fairy vessel. Government House and Head Quarter House, with the surrounding trees, were thrown into relief like pictures in a lime light exhibition, and pretty effects were produced in all directions. The display was only of short duration, but was very beautiful while it lasted; before half-past nine, the blue lights were extinguished, and the electric light ceased to play soon afterwards, 49 vessels resuming their ordinary night appearance.\n\nTHE PARSEE CELEBRATION.\n\nAlmost all the members of the Parsee community attended the \"Jasan,\" or thanksgiving ceremony, in celebration of Her Most Gracious Majesty's Jubilee, which took place at 9 a.m. on Tuesday at their Club House in Shelley Street, which building was elegantly decorated with flowers and evergreens. All the Trustees of the Parsee Charity Funds, Messrs. H. N. Mody, N. P. Dhalla, H. M. Mehla, and E. C. Sethna were present. The usual religious ceremony was performed at the commencement, with appropriate prayers.\n\n250", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-233 - Acting Governor Cameron - 1887 [6-8].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 335137, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-234 - Acting Governor Cameron Governor Des Voeus - 1887 [9-12]", "page_number": 419, "title": "CO129-234 - Acting Governor Cameron Governor Des Voeus - 1887 [9-12]", "content_text": "The Un-Official Members wishing to record their votes against the passing of the Bill, a division was taken, which resulted as follows:-\n\nAyes.\n\nTHE HARBOUR MASTER.\n\nTHE SURVEYOR GENERAL.\n\nTHE COLONIAL TREASURER,\n\nTHE ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL.\n\nTHE ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.\n\nTHE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE.\n\nNoes.\n\nHonourable A. P. MACEWEN,\n\nC. P. CHATER.\n\nJ. BELL-IRVING.\n\nWONG SHING.\n\nP. RYRIE.\n\nThe Bill was passed by a majority of one, and numbered as Ordinance No. 24 of 1887.\n\nCLOSING OF THE SESSION.-His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government then closed the Session with the following speech :-\n\nHONOURABLE GENTLEMEN OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,\n\nThe time has now arrived for closing this session, and it will be for the consideration of His Excellency the Governor, Sir G. WILLIAM DES Vœux when the Council is to re-assemble. The Session of 1886-1887 has been unusually prolonged for the purpose of disposing of that vexed and long pending question \"The Public Health Ordinance,\" and it is hoped you will be well repaid for your labours, when, in the course of time, the benefits conferred by this Bill will have practically manifested themselves, and been duly recognized by the Public.\n\nThe Opium Ordinance, as far as can be seen, is fully realizing the anticipations of Government in improving our friendly relations with China, whilst in no way injuring the interests of the honest trader. The Ordinance has been worked locally without, I believe, any friction or inconveniences to our own people, and the Chinese Commissioner of Customs informs me that smuggling has been effectually stopped.\n\nComplaints on the part of the merchants regarding increased duties imposed on certain articles of commerce have been met in a friendly and accommodating spirit by the Chinese Foreign Collectorate, and my despatches on the subject, which are, confidentially, open to the perusal of Honourable Members, will, I trust, have properly represented the commercial interests of the Community.\n\nThe invaluable services of His Honour, Acting Chief Justice RUSSELL, who has been chiefly instrumental in bringing about so happy a settlement of this difficult and embarrassing Opium question, have been fully recognized by Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Hongkong, and he well deserves the thanks of the whole community whose interests he has so well represented.\n\nMr. SETH has been most indefatigable and able in his management of the Opium Office, and to him is largely due the successful working of the Ordinance.\n\nAmong other Ordinances which have been passed this Session and which call for remarks are-\n\n1. Post Office,\n\n2. Police Force,\n\n3. Juries and Licences,\n\nhave been amended and consolidated by several Ordinances passed this session.\n\n4. The Law concerning Joint Stock Companies has by Ordinance No. 30 of 1886 been amended and improved by the introduction into this Colony of the provisions of certain Imperial Statutes.\n\n5. Closely allied to these three Ordinances is that of No. 16 of 1887 empowering the Courts to award whipping for certain crimes-an Ordinance which it is hoped will act as a strong and effectual deterrent, and will therefore not be often put into force.\n\n6. The Cattle Diseases, Slaughter House, and Markets Ordinance (No. 17 of 1887) is a useful and practical piece of legislation, the object of which is to secure the Colony from the introduction of cattle plague or other infectious diseases, the better regulation of our slaughter houses, and the cleanliness and good order of our markets.\n\n7. The Ordinances relating to the protection of adopted daughters and young girls has been furthered by the passing of Ordinance No. 9 of 1887.\n\n8. The work of the Law Revision Committee and the preparation of the revised edition of the Ordinances has been furthered by the passing of these Ordinances and by the Statute Law Revision Ordinance No. 4 of 1887, which finally repeals and removes from our Statute Book no less than 102 Ordinances and parts of 5 others.\n\n9. The cause of order and peace in the Colony has been further promoted by the passing-\n\ni. Of an Ordinance regulating the carriage and possession of arms.\n\nii. Of an Ordinance enabling Government to take steps for the suppression of the Triad and other unlawful Societies, and\n\niii. Of an Ordinance for the more effectual prevention of crime by placing under police supervision all criminals who are liberated from gaol before expiry of their sentence.\n\nThe necessity of the second mentioned Ordinance was strongly urged on the Government by a Commission which was appointed to enquire into Secret Societies, and which proved to what an extent these unlawful Societies existed here, and the power which they were enabled to exercise, a power which they used not only for their personal benefit, but often to the prejudice of justice by the help which they extended to criminals.\n\nThe improvement in the discipline and management of the Gaol has been well maintained, and acts as a wholesome deterrent to crime.\n\nThe large increase in the total tonnage of shipping entering this port, as shown in the Harbour Master's report, speaks well for the growing prosperity of the Colony, which is still further evidenced by the steadily increasing population and extensive building and reclamation operations either in progress or being planned.\n\nThere is apparently every sign that this prosperity, in which we are happy to see our Chinese fellow-citizens so largely participating, is of a substantial and lasting character, and that the Colony has a great future before it.\n\nIn respect of Public Works and Improvements, as satisfactory progress has been made as could be expected under the difficulties of the rainy season.\n\nAmong the more important undertakings of the year may be mentioned the extension of the main sewers of the town on improved sanitary principles. Another instalment of nearly two miles of these new main drains has been added to those previously existing since my predecessor last addressed you.\n\nThe new Victoria College works are now well advanced, and it is anticipated that the new building will be ready for occupation during the earlier portion of next year. Unforeseen legal difficulties in clearing the Central Market of its tenants have led to some delay in the commencement of the new Public Market, but these difficulties having now been surmounted, arrangements have been made to begin the new market buildings early next month when the rainy season will have practically come to a close.\n\nThe tunnel under the Tytam mountain range being now open throughout, the extension of the public water supply is rapidly approaching completion.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-234 - Acting Governor Cameron Governor Des Voeus - 1887 [9-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 354556, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-263 - Acting Governor Barker Governor Sir Robinson - 1894 [5-8]", "page_number": 290, "title": "CO129-263 - Acting Governor Barker Governor Sir Robinson - 1894 [5-8]", "content_text": "The Oligarchies are under guise of popular representation. But in most cases of this kind there has been either the tradition of an old constitution dating back into the days of slavery - this was the case with Jamaica - or there has at least been an old and considerable body of descendants of settlers who have some claim to call the soil their own - this was the case with Mauritius.\n\nBut is it conceivable that Hongkong, with its handful of English visitors - for they are no more than visitors - should be given an elective system from which the Chinese population will be excluded?\n\nIt seems to me the case has been put, to show that this kind of representation system is not suitable. Yes: the Nations or a portion of them are not so in Hongkong, and then petitions follow logically.\n\nFirst, if there is to be an elective Assembly, it should predominate. Precedents could be shown where elected members are in a majority in the constitutions which prevail in the colonies. I think I am right in saying that it usually comes to them having their way, and from not being in a majority and not being responsible, they are probably the more violent and the more obstructive.\n\nThe claim is that it gives freedom to the official members to vote and speak as they like. You have a Crown Colony only to be the contrary, if you have any supposition of a grotesque absurdity.\n\nThe second claim is that there should be a stable majority in the Council of elected representatives. If you and I have an election, it follows that three members would be fractious and pointless to give them the power to vote on questions.\n\nThis cannot be clearly laid down. Indeed, whatever the Constitution is, if the government is composed against one another on questions of government, it is not good.\n\nThe fourth and fifth claims are control of \"local expenditure\" and management of local affairs. This looks like a vague assertion of Home Rule, but there is a certain amount of point in it from the fact...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-263 - Acting Governor Barker Governor Sir Robinson - 1894 [5-8].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 355151, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-264 - Governor Sir Robinson & Public Offices - 1894 [9-12]", "page_number": 136, "title": "CO129-264 - Governor Sir Robinson & Public Offices - 1894 [9-12]", "content_text": "The provision for these small things has been provided by the Bill. Sections 15 and 16 provide for what the award when made shall contain, and its publication. Sections 17 to 22 provide for the possibility of certain persons who are entitled to compensation under this Ordinance being unable to give a discharge to the Government for the monies awarded to them and the consequential provisions as to payment into Court and payment out of Court. They are obviously technical, and the only objection raised has been on the question of costs. I do not think there is anything very serious in that objection. It is the old cause. The solicitors of the colony think that the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act should be applied here and given effect to. I must say however I think it is going a little too far. I think in nearly every case under the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act those public Companies, which resumed lands by virtue of its provisions, have had to pay the costs of the applications to Court. Here it is proposed to leave the matter entirely in the discretion of the Judge except in the case where the Government have improperly or without due consideration paid money into Court. There the Court is given express power to make the Government pay the costs and give the money up again. That is the same as rules in the case of a trustee, and the Government is very much in the position of a trustee who pays money into Court improperly. There seems to be some misapprehension with regard to the money paid into Court. It has been stated that after money is paid into Court all increment of that fund until special application is made to the Court is to be accorded to the Government. There is no such intention in the Ordinance which expressly provides that it shall be carried to the specific account, and if these monies earn any income or interest I apprehend that the money thus earned will be added to the same account as that on which the principal stands.\n\nSections 25 and 26 provide, as I have already stated, for amicable arrangements either by terms or by the exercise of powers of exchange. Section 23 I apprehend there is no objection to now. It provides that \"No suit or action shall be commenced or lie, or if commenced shall be continued against the Crown or against the Sanitary Board or any Committee thereof, or against any person whomsoever for any loss or damage incurred by or resulting to any person by reason—(a) of the removal either before or after the coming into operation of this Ordinance of the occupants of any house or part of a house, closed by orders of the Sanitary Board, or of the loss of any rent occasioned thereby within the said area of the Taipingshan District, or (b) Of the shutting up or closing of any houses or streets either before or after the coming into operation of this Ordinance by order of the Sanitary Board within the said area of the Taipingshan District, or (c) Of the destruction or removal of, or of the damage either before or after the coming into operation of this Ordinance to any furniture, fittings, mezzanine floors, cocklofts, partitions or articles in any house closed or disinfected by orders of the Sanitary Board hereby resumed, provided such destruction, removal, or damage occurred during the prevalence of the Bubonic Plague or during any operations which were necessary or deemed necessary for the cleansing and disinfecting of any such houses either before or after the coming into operation of this Ordinance, or (d) no loss of rent whatever. It originally was more general in application and applied to lands which had been closed by order of the Sanitary Board outside as well as within the particular area of Taipingshan. It is now confined to Taipingshan, and I presume there is no further objection to it. I do not know whether there are any other sections on which I should make any remarks. The last section but one enables other property within a period of six months of the coming into operation of this Ordinance to be brought within its powers. That seems to be absolutely necessary, if it is true that there are other blocks or other areas which are in a similar condition to that which it is proposed to resume.\n\nIn resuming my seat I may say that the Government have given very earnest consideration to this Bill and every objection raised to it, and their principle has been throughout in framing it, in bringing it before the public and in putting it before this assembly—festina lente.\n\nThe ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY—I second the Bill.\n\nBill read a second time.\n\nThe Council then went into Committee on the Bill.\n\nUpon Section 27 providing for funds out of which the compensation shall be paid,\n\nThe ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL said—It has been suggested that it would not be practicable at the moment to pay any award, the colony might have no public funds, but possibly this money might be temporarily raised by means of Government bonds or debentures bearing interest at a rate lower than seven per cent, and redeemable at 3, 6, 7, or 9 months. Therefore in order to give power to issue those bonds or debentures, I propose that the section should read as follows—All sums required for the purposes of this Ordinance for compensation or costs of arbitration as against the Crown shall be borne and paid out of the public funds of the Colony or may be raised, provided for, or paid by Public Loan or in such other manner as may be authorized by Ordinance.\n\nAgreed.\n\nA few other immaterial alterations were made, but some difficulty arose in regard to certain lots named in the schedule.\n\nHis EXCELLENCY—As there is some alteration needed in the schedule I think we had better postpone the third reading until these alterations are made. I suggest that we meet this day fortnight.\n\nHon. E. R. BELILIOS—Will not that be postponing the passing of the Bill too long, sir?\n\nHis EXCELLENCY—It has to wait for the Royal Assent. I have already sent the draft home to the Secretary of State, and informed him that the unofficial members had promised that there should not be any important amendment; I will telegraph to him when it is passed, and I asked him to telegraph Her Majesty's assent. That will take at least five weeks, so that there is no need to have the third reading at once. I will adjourn the Council to this day fortnight.\n\n134", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-264 - Governor Sir Robinson & Public Offices - 1894 [9-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 355172, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-264 - Governor Sir Robinson & Public Offices - 1894 [9-12]", "page_number": 157, "title": "CO129-264 - Governor Sir Robinson & Public Offices - 1894 [9-12]", "content_text": "155\n\n( 60 )\n\naccount, and if these men earn any income or are able at the moment to pay any award; the colour interest I apprehend that the money thus earned might have no public funds for that purpose, but will be added to the same account as that on which possibly this money might be temporarily raised by the principal stands. Sections 25 and 26 provide, as I have already stated, for amicable arrangements either by terms or by the exercise of powers of exchange. Section 29 I apprehend there is no objection to now. It prohibits any suit against the Crown Sanitary Board in respect to certain matters in connection with houses resumed and closed by the Sanitary Board. It originally was more general in application and applied to lands which had been closed by order of the Sanitary Board outside as well as within the particular area of Taipingshan. It is now confined to Taipingshan, and I presume there is no further objection to it. I do not know whether there are any other sections on which I need make any remarks. The last section but one enables other property within a period of six months of the coming into operation of this Ordinance to be brought within its powers. That seems to be absolutely necessary, if it is true that there are other blocks or other areas which are in a similar condition to that which it is proposed to resume. In resuming by seat I may say that the Government has given very earnest consideration to this Bill and every objection raised to it, and their principle has been throughout in framing it, in bringing it before the public and in putting it before this assembly—festina lente.\n\nThe ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY—I second the Bill.\n\nBill read a second time.\n\nThe Council then went into Committee on the Bill.\n\nUpon Section 27 providing for funds out of which the compensation shall be paid,\n\nA few other immaterial alterations were made, but some difficulty arose in regard to certain lots named in the schedule.\n\nHis EXCELLENCY—As there is some alteration...\n\nHon. R. BELILIOS—Will not that be postponing the passing of the Bill too long, sir?\n\nHis EXCELLENCY—It has to wait for the Royal Assent. I have already sent the draft home to the Secretary of State, and informed him that the unofficial members had promised that there should not be any important amendment; I will telegraph to him when it is passed, and I asked him to telegraph Her Majesty's assent. That will take at least five weeks, so that there is no need to have the third reading at once. I will adjourn the Council to this day fortnight.\n\nADJOURNMENT.\n\nThe Council then adjourned until the 17th.\n\nThe ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL said—It has been suggested that it might not be practicable...\n\nPRESENT\n\n17 SEPTEMBER, 1894.\n\nHis Excellency the Governor, Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON, K.C.M.G.\n\nHon. J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, Acting Colonial Secretary,\n\nHon. A. J. LEACH, Q.C., Acting Attorney-General.\n\nHon. N. G. MITCHELL-INNES, Colonial Treasurer.\n\nHon. R. M. RUMSEY, R.N., Harbour Master.\n\nHon. E. BOWDLER.\n\nHon. C. P. CHATER.\n\nHon. J. J. KESWICK.\n\nHon. HO KAI.\n\nHon. E. R. BELILIOS, C.M.G.\n\nHon. A. McCONACHIE.\n\nMr. A. SETH, Clerk of Councils.\n\nMINUTES.\n\nThe minutes of the previous meeting, after slight amendment, were read and confirmed.\n\nTHE REPORT OF THE RETRENCHMENT COMMITTEE.\n\nThe ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY—I have the honour to lay on the table the report of the Committee appointed to enquire into the expenditure of the colony.\n\nTHE MILITARY CONTRIBUTION.\n\nHon. E. R. BELILIOS—Sir, is it a fact that a certain and not inconsiderable proportion of the amount voted by this Council as a contribution for the maintenance of the Garrison and which is paid in sterling at the rate of exchange of the day, is spent by the Military Authorities locally and in silver dollars, and if so will not the War Office consent to receive such contribution at its average amount in dollars calculated at the rate of exchange prevailing at the date the contribution was increased to £40,000 sterling? With your Excellency's permission I beg to point out that owing to the fall in exchange the contribution presses with great severity on the Colony, and if a large proportion of the sum is expended locally and in dollars the War Office are profiting greatly by our loss. This was never contemplated when the sum was fixed at £40,000, and if the concession suggested were made it would, to some extent, relieve the Colony without causing loss to the War Office, the prices of food, &c., having not appreciably advanced in Hongkong.\n\n( 61 )\n\nThe ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY—Though it is not possible to distinguish the various military disbursements as being made from any particular receipt, I am able to state that out of a total of £154,000 disbursed locally last year by the military about £68,000 were spent in payment fixed in dollars and not in sterling, either in the form of a draft or otherwise.\n\nAs regards the second part of the question I may mention that the Governor has already made several representations to the Secretary of State respecting the necessity of reconsidering the military contribution on account of the fall in exchange, and in his despatches to the Secretary of State has supported the view held by the unofficial members and by the members of the Committee appointed to enquire into the Expenditure of the colony, viz., that the military contribution should be fixed in dollars and not, as at present, in sterling. It is not too much to expect an early reply to his Excellency's representations.\n\nHon. E. R. BELILIOS—\"It has been suggested that because this Ordinance does not provide for compensation of owners for rents lost, the Government intends to give no such compensation at all. I wish at once to remove that misapprehension. The question whether the Government shall provide compensation or not is under consideration, and if a scheme is hereafter formulated it would have to receive the sanction of the Secretary of State. In either event it would mean very serious delay in carrying out the provision now contemplated, which are deemed essential and urgent by the Permanent Committee. I may also state that the schedules of this Ordinance are not yet quite complete; these schedules will show what houses have been and still are closed, what have been closed and reopened under the Permanent Committee's conditions; but I propose with your Excellency's sanction to obtain a list of those houses in an enlarged form showing not only what the schedules in this Ordinance will show but showing the names of the owners of the houses which have been closed, the time during which they have been closed, and, if it is possible to ascertain it, the amount of rent which those houses, if let, would have obtained for their owners during the period of their being closed. Upon that schedule or list a scheme could be formulated or an Ordinance drafted, and I do not think it would be a matter of great difficulty. With these few remarks I beg to move the first reading of the Bill, and I may say that all the time which the unofficial members think necessary for the consideration of the Bill will be given before the second reading.\n\nWITHDRAWAL OF MOTION.\n\nThe ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY—I beg permission to withdraw the motion standing in my name. I trust to be in a position to bring it forward at the next meeting of Council.\n\nHEALTH ORDINANCE 1894\n\nThe ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY—I have to second the first reading of the Bill.\n\nThe ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL—I beg to move the first reading of a Bill to make provision for dealing with certain houses closed during the plague, and to make further and better provision for the health of the colony. In moving the first reading I do not intend to detain the Council at any great length. The Bill has been in the hands of hon. members for such a short time that I am quite sure they will better appreciate my remarks after further consideration of this measure, but I wish to make a short statement as to the real object of the Bill, and to remove misapprehensions as to its intended effect. The object of the Bill is to carry out certain recommendations of the Permanent Committee of the Sanitary Board and the Housing Committee—only such recommendations as are deemed to be necessary and expedient at present and not to touch upon other of their recommendations which would necessitate careful consideration of the Building and Health Ordinances, which must certainly occupy time.\n\nHon. J. J. KESWICK—Sir, this Bill, as the hon. Attorney-General has just mentioned, has been in the hands of the unofficial members such a short time that we shall need some delay before the second reading, as it has been quite impossible to master its contents. It is an exceedingly important measure, and a cursory glance at it I think will show that it is one which would be wholly unacceptable to the public, and its provisions in many respects would be wholly inapplicable to this community. It is my intention, therefore, unless it is very materially altered before it comes up for the second reading...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-264 - Governor Sir Robinson & Public Offices - 1894 [9-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 356590, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-266 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1895 [1-3]", "page_number": 121, "title": "CO129-266 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1895 [1-3]", "content_text": "# Enclosure \n→ The North-China Daily News. \n\n**IMPARTIAL NOT NEUTRAL,** \nHONGKONG, 9TH JANUARY, 1895. \n\n## HEALTH IN HONGKONG \n\nA year ago 1894 must have been ended in Hongkong with a sense of relief. It began badly with a sudden and prolonged drop in exchange which brought in its train misery to many. Let us hope, wisdom too.\n\nHardly had the Colony begun to accommodate itself to an altered standard of living, when a riot broke out among the Chinese, the danger of which was not, perhaps, sufficiently appreciated at the time. As a matter of fact, it was a serious riot which cost no small amount of trouble and anxiety to subdue. To the riot succeeded the Plague, than which no more weighty misfortune ever befallen the Gibraltar of the East. The calamity was not without its uses in the fine public spirit it provoked. There was an absence of anything like panic among the English. The disease was faced and fought calmly and resolutely, with a zeal and devotion, both civil and military, not unworthy of the traditions of the race from which they sprang. Even when the fight was done, the shadow of Death still hovered near, and as the year drew to a close, the beat of his wings was heard in the death of more than one, who in public and social life had earned the respect and regard of the community in which they had lived and borne their part.\n\nIf we are to learn from the lessons of the past, a retrospect such as this cannot be without its value. It should teach us at least to investigate the causes of our ills; to remove them when possible; and, where that is deemed to be impracticable, to endure the results with patience. Exchange is one of these evils, not perhaps remediable but to which, pace the metallists, we have learned in our generation to bow the head. It may be hoped that it will be ameliorated and finally extinguished with the growing intimacy of our relations with our Chinese fellow-subjects. Death still comes with equal foot and irresistible to the door of rich and poor. His servant, the Plague, has been fought and conquered; ought never, indeed, to have won his temporary victory, but for supineness and neglect. Overcrowded dwellings, contaminated wells, defective sanitation were the sources of weakness: the springs of the strength of the enemy. The lesson is writ large - abolish these and you banish the Plague.\n\nAnd now let us see how Hongkong has taken the lesson to heart. The Public Health Bill passed its first reading as far back as last September. Since then, it has been discussed and overhauled by official and unofficial members, referred to that sapient body, the Sanitary Board for consideration and re-drafted about half-a-dozen times by the Attorney-General. In fine, no stone appears to have been left unturned to render as free from fault as possible the measure which at last advanced to the second reading stage at the Hongkong Legislative Council on the 22nd ultimo. It would be an abuse of language to describe this deliberate method of procedure as legislation in a panic. Ample time had been given for full discussion, and yet one of the unofficial members had the hardihood to ask for an adjournment on the plea that further time was required for consideration. This preposterous request having fallen to the ground, the obstructive tactics of the opposition were turned upon the Bill itself.\n\nIt is unnecessary to deal with the Bill in detail. It was admirably summarised in a lucid and cogent speech by the Attorney-General. Suffice it to say that the sections making provision for requirements of floor and air space, powers of house inspection, the closing of wells and the shutting up of houses where two or more convictions have been obtained within three months, were each and all opposed by the unofficial members in a body. The Amendment to the first of these sections proposed to substitute 21 square feet of floor space instead of 30 feet, and 800 instead of 400 cubic feet of air space, that is to say just one fifth of the air space required by law for every prisoner in Victoria Gaol. In the second section referred to, Doctor Ho Kai proposed to confine the inspection to common lodging houses. The third section was opposed on the ground that the use of wells might still be safely allowed for fire and drain purposes. And in the fourth, it was proposed that the house should only be closed when the conviction had been obtained against the same person.\n\nNow it is plain that these sections form the very head and front of the Bill. Under the old figures of section I, a floor might be covered with coolies lying on their backs, one man's head within 6 inches of the feet of the other, and a space of 6 inches round each. No one will contend that that would not be overcrowding, and everyone, who knows anything of the Chinese and their habits, knows that that is just what would take place. It is idle to legislate against overcrowding unless you determine the number of occupants to each house. Even then, your efforts will be foiled without a thorough-going system of inspection. How else is it possible to check the herding of Chinese? The proposal to limit the inspection to common lodging houses would nullify, and was intended to nullify, all provisions against overcrowding. So with regard to the closing of wells, you may put up what notices you please, the Chinese will continue to use water nearest at hand, contaminated or not, and, lastly, it is useless to hope to reach the offender unless you close the house after two or more convictions. It passes the wit of man to devise other means for catching a Chinaman. Suppose the Amendment of Mr. Belilios carried and the conviction required against the same person, who does not see that as soon as one offending tenant was evicted, his brother would take his place, and then his cousin, and so on through the long gamut of Chinese relationships. The fact is, the amendments were simply a barefaced attempt in the interests of a few landlords, whose pockets were likely to be affected, to wreck the Bill. In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird.\n\nThe Bill is a thoroughly practical and well-considered measure. It is urgently needed. It is supported by the Press and by the great body of educated opinion in the Colony. It may even be doubted whether the landlords are not unnecessarily alarmed. Plagues are expensive things and, if they cast their bread upon the waters now, the landlords may find it coming back to them after many days in the shape of increased rents from healthier and wealthier tenantry. In any case, it would be as well for them to reflect that, in spite of all their efforts, the Government is determined to set its house in order. They cannot afford to run the risk of another outbreak of the Plague. The opposition will be brushed aside by a compact Government majority and the Bill will shortly pass into law.\n\nSo far, good. But he would be a shallow observer who would say that, therefore, obstruction does not matter. A wider issue is being raised by the opposition than they themselves seem to be aware of, in the spectacle of a Legislative Assembly, where the Government is found engaged in a struggle for the public weal against the public representatives themselves. We are forced, not for the first time, to ask whether representative Government in Hongkong has not been made a failure and a sham by the unworthy tactics of men who seek their own ends, thrusting better men out of their places, and robbing the word \"Honourable,\" applied to political life, of half its significance. People are being led to seriously ask themselves if it would not be better to do away with it altogether, if the affairs of the Colony would not be better administered under a strong Governor with Downing Street behind him as a court of appeal. And in the present state of affairs in Hongkong, we think they would.\n\n## Page 118 \n\nI have the honour to be, \nMy Lord Marquess, \nYour Lordship's Most Obedient \nHumble Servant, \nWain Rehnis \nRobwigy \n\nC. O. \n3001 \ndated 18 Feb 1895", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-266 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1895 [1-3].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 358002, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-268 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1895 [7-11]", "page_number": 167, "title": "CO129-268 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1895 [7-11]", "content_text": "# The Daily Press\n## HONGKONG, APRIL 5TH, 1895.\n### C. O. 14530 Nec Wer 19 095,\n\n## HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.\n\nA meeting of the Legislative Council was held yesterday afternoon. Present :--\n\nHis Excellency the Governor, Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON, K.C.M.G.\nHon. J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, Colonial Secretary.\nHon. A. J. LEACH, Acting Attorney-General.\nHon. F. A. COOPER, Director of Public Works.\nHon. A. M. THOMPSON, Acting Colonial Treasurer.\nHon. R. M. RUMSEY, Harbour Master.\nHon. C. P. CHATER.\nHon. HO KAI.\nHon. J. J. KESWICK.\nHon. E. E. BELILIOS C.M.G.\nHon. A. McCONNACHIE.\nMr. A. Seth, Clerk of Councils.\n\n## FINANCIAL BUSINESS.\n\nThe COLONIAL SECRETARY laid upon the table the report of the proceedings of the Finance Committee held on 28th March; and Financial minute No. 10 was referred to the Finance Committee.\n\n## THE SANITARY BY-LAWS.\n\nThe COLONIAL SECRETARY-I have to move that an additional by-law made under Section 13 of Ordinance 15 of 1894 be approved by this Council. The Council will remember at the last meeting but one a number of by-laws made under this section were approved by this Council. Among those by-laws there was one which did not then meet with the approval of the Council and it was decided that it should be referred back to the Sanitary Board for reconsideration. The Sanitary Board has reconsidered the by-law and it is now transmitted for the approval of this Council in a form which, I trust, will meet with the approval of all members of the Council.\n\nThe ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL-I beg to second that.\n\nHon. C. P. CHATER-I am well satisfied with the by-law as it now stands.\n\nCarried.\n\n## AN ORDINANCE REPEALED.\n\nThe ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL-I beg to move the first reading of a Bill entitled an Ordinance to repeal Ordinance No. 1 of 1864 entitled \"An Ordinance to provide for conversion of British Currency in all payments by or to the Government.\" The object of the Bill is to remove from the statute book this Ordinance which relates to the conversion of British currency, and which has practically become a dead letter by reason of the proclamation which was published in the Gazette on Saturday last. The proclamation, in terms, repeals this Ordinance, but it is considered better that the legislature which passed that Ordinance should also repeal it. I beg to move the first reading.\n\nThe COLONIAL SECRETARY-I beg to second. Bill read a first time.\n\n## A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE.\n\nThe ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL-I have to move the second reading of the Immigration Ordinance. I stated on the last occasion that certain amendments had been proposed by the Sanitary Board, and that they had not then received the consideration they deserved, and I thought it would be desirable that they should be more fully considered before the Bill was read a second time. The amendments proposed have been generally accepted by the Government, and they are incorporated in the draft Bill before the Council to-day. The object of the Bill is, as I have stated, to enable the Governor in Council to prohibit the immigration of Chinese from any infected place where the bubonic plague prevails or exists. The Sanitary Board has recommended the extension of this to cholera, smallpox, and such other serious diseases which may be notified in the Gazette, and probably that extension, if the Bill is passed, will meet with the general approval of the Council. There are other small details and amendments they propose, but there is one more substantial amendment. They propose that the Governor should not only have the power to prohibit the importation of Chinese by sea, but by land also. That also has been adopted in the Bill. The prevention of plague is all important, not only to the welfare of the colony, but to the trade of the port. If the general impression be true that the plague came here, or was imported here last year, and did not, as it were, grow in the place, and therefore some power ought to be conferred upon the Governor to restrict the immigration, by land or by sea, of those who are likely to import it, or whose luggage and clothing might be brought with germs of disease in it. It might possibly temporarily prove hard or injurious to ship-owners and traders in the colony; but you will see from the Bill that this is only a temporary measure; it is not to be a permanent measure. The restriction is to last for such time as may be fixed by the Governor in Council. Quarantine, we are told by medical officers, to be really effectual, must be complete, that quarantine under local circumstances, and with the many possibilities of evading it, cannot be effectual as it is carried out in this colony. Therefore it is necessary for the Governor to come to Council for larger power of restriction, which is the object of this Bill. I think hon. members will agree with this. I believe the senior unofficial member wishes to make some alteration in a clause of the Bill, but it is not probable that the Governor in Council would issue proclamation of this description unless there is very serious reason to believe that the introduction of the plague, or other disease such as is mentioned, is likely. I think the Governor in Council must be given the credit for taking the greatest consideration and the deepest care in passing the proclamation. I believe the hon. the senior unofficial member wishes in some way, before the proclamation is put in force, that it should come before a meeting of the Legislative Council. He can easily adapt that clause, or introduce words into the clause which will prevent the proclamation coming into effect hastily. There must, however, always be some delay. I have no doubt that it will receive every consideration when the Bill comes before Committee. With these remarks I beg to move the second reading of the Bill.\n\nThe COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded. Bill read a second time, and Council went into Committee.\n\nOn the reading the first clause,\n\nHon. E. E. BELILIOS said-This is a matter which affects especially the shipping interests, and it will be wise, I think, to insert after the word \"Governor,\" \"in the Legislative Council;\" so that the line will read \"Governor in the Legislative Council.\" I am sure all unofficial members have been at the beck and call of your Excellency, and if we were asked to assemble, even if the notice was only an hour's notice, we were never reluctant to come here; and I think it will be wise if we are allowed an opportunity to express an opinion in the event of the necessity to prohibit or regulate immigration.\n\nHon. C. P. CHATER-The Acting Attorney-General informed us a little while ago that the unofficial members were anxious to introduce a few words into the clause which has just been read. The unofficial members met at a meeting called this forenoon at the request of my hon. friend opposite, and consequently it is he who moves the amendment. The object, sir, in trying to have this proclamation issued by the advice of the Legislative Council, and not the Governor in Council, is to strengthen your Excellency's hands. The clause reads as follows-\"Whenever the Governor in Council shall be satisfied that the bubonic plague, cholera, small-pox,\" &c. The Governor in Council is the Governor in Executive Council, whereas the amendment proposed by my hon. friend opposite is that the words shall be altered to \"Governor in Legislative Council,\" which includes all your own officials and the representatives of the public in the Council. Therefore, I think, as far as your Excellency is concerned, it would strengthen your Excellency's hand to have the proclamation issued by the Legislative Council. I have very great pleasure in seconding the amendment. Probably the wording of it might not be quite as proposed by the hon. member, but the Attorney-General may put it in proper form. I suggest, \"by the advice or recommendation of the Legislative Council.\"\n\nThe ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL-The meaning of Governor in Council is the Governor in Executive Council.\n\nThe COLONIAL SECRETARY-With regard to the proposed amendment, it appears to me to be undesirable. It has been stated clearly that the Governor in Council would issue no proclamation unless satisfied that these diseases are in existence, and that the proclamation is necessary. The hon. the unofficial member said that the object of the amendment was to strengthen the Governor's hand. I really fail to see how calling together an assembly of the Legislative Council...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-268 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1895 [7-11].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 412721, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-345 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "page_number": 481, "title": "CO129-345 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "content_text": "**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n## No. 1.\n\n### Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received November 18.)\n\nPeking, October 3, 1907.\n\nWITH reference to previous despatches on the subject of constitutional reform in China, I have the honour to report the establishment on September 20th, by Imperial decree, of an institution entitled the \"Tzu Chêng Yuan,\" which, for want of a better name, may be rendered for the present by the word \"Senate.\" The latter term, literally translated, means \"College (or Chancellery) for assisting in government.\"\n\nThe Decree establishing this body begins by saying that the time is not yet ripe for setting up the Upper and Lower Chambers, which are an essential feature of constitutional government, but that it is necessary to make a beginning in that direction. The young Prince Pulun (second cousin of the Emperor) and the Grand Secretary, Sun Chia-nai, are therefore commanded to undertake the presidency of the Senate, the composition of which still remains to be discussed. In the meanwhile a deliberative Assembly, consisting of eighteen of the highest metropolitan officials, is holding sessions every ten days. These meetings began on the 19th September, when the members took their seats at a long table in the hall of the Grand Secretariat, and Resolutions were brought forward in due form and put to the vote.\n\nOn the 27th September a Decree was issued, which is believed to be the result of the meeting, commanding that the Manchu garrisons be disbanded and absorbed amongst the Chinese population.\n\nThe Decree of the 10th August, inclosed in my despatch No. 406, had indicated the amalgamation of the two races as the goal to be aimed at. The present Decree, of which a translation in précis is now inclosed, lays down the first step to be taken towards this end. The Manchu garrisons (exclusive of Peking) are twenty-two in number, and are scattered from Canton to Chinese Turkestan. As military forces they are worthless in the highest degree, while the possession by them of pay and privileges not accorded to persons of Chinese birth constitutes a standing grievance. In the various cities where they are quartered - Canton, Foochow, Nanking, Hangchow, Chengtu, &c. - they live as a caste apart, governed by their own officials, and are not amenable to the Chinese jurisdiction, do nothing to justify their existence, and are even forbidden to engage in trade or agriculture, the fiction still being maintained that they are keeping the Chinese population in subjection.\n\nTheir abolition will be one of the few practical steps yet taken by the Chinese Government in its efforts towards reform. The second session of the deliberative Assembly took place on the 29th September, and was followed by the issue of two long Decrees on the next day commanding that public education should be pressed forward in order to fit the nation for self-government, and laying down the principle, apparently warning to any who may entertain Republican sympathies, that China's future constitution will be monarchical. I have the honour to inclose a résumé of these Decrees.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed) J. N. JORDAN.\n\n### Inclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\n#### Résumé of Imperial Decree, published September 27, 1907.\n\nThe Manchu dynasty was founded by military prowess, and throughout the Empire garrisons were established for the tranquillization of our dominions. When peace had long been established, they had nothing to do but idly receive their pay, their numbers decreased, and they fell into poverty. It is high time that they should find some means of ...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-345 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 416223, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908", "page_number": 388, "title": "CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908", "content_text": "Art. 9. The public Administration shall have the right, in accordance with these stated Regulations, to establish rules which shall be obligatory upon the whole population of Harbin, to carry out their execution, and to institute criminal prosecution against persons guilty of infraction of these Regulations, according to the laws of their respective nations.\n\nArt. 10. The municipal management shall consist of (1) an assembly of citizens and (2) a town council, to which shall be attached the executive organ.\n\nElection of Delegates.\n\nArt. 11. For the election of sixty delegates and twelve supernumeraries thereto, from persons having the right of vote at elections (Article 12) will be formed a body of electors.\n\nArt. 12. The right of vote for the election of delegates shall be without distinction as to subjection, nationality, class of society, or religion, to all who have reached the 25th year of age and are citizens of the town territory, having resided therein not less than one year, provided (1) they are possessors or representative managers of trade or industrial enterprises, having the rights of long-term leases on lots or buildings, the value on which taxes are paid being not less than 1,500 roubles, or having the rights of short-term leases on lots on which taxes are paid being not less than 600 roubles a year, or occupying flats which are assessed at a valuation of not less than 600 roubles per year; or (2) paying above all taxes for the public Administration in a sum not less than 10 roubles a year.\n\nNote.—Persons not occupying flats themselves, but living in buildings occupied by business or other establishments in which they are employed, if answering to all other requirements shown in Articles 12 and 13, shall have the right of vote for the election of delegates.\n\nArt. 13. Females shall have the right to be represented at elections by proxies, as shall also minors and those having guardians.\n\nArt. 14. When several persons have immovable property in undivided possession, one partner thereof shall have the right of vote by agreement with the others.\n\nArt. 15. No persons shall have the right of two votes at a town election—this is one for himself and the other as a proxy or as a representative.\n\nArt. 16. The right of vote at elections shall not be given to (1) persons deprived of their rights as citizens, and in general who have been convicted for criminal offences; and (2) persons who are delinquent in the payment of the town taxes.\n\nArt. 17. Representatives of firms and establishments and females, and also guardians and all incompetent persons, may be present at elections only on condition that they comply with the requirements regarding their age and residence in Harbin (Article 12), and also with the requirements of Article 16 of these Regulations.\n\nArt. 18. A list of persons having the right to vote at elections shall be compiled by the Town Council, and shall be published for general information not later than one month before the elections.\n\nArt. 19. Within seven days from the date of publishing the lists, the residents of the town territory may present to the Town Council complaints relating to the incorrectness and incompleteness thereof. The Town Council shall correct the lists according to the complaints, which shall be recognized as well-grounded, and shall present it to the Superintendent of the railway for judgment, with the complaints which were left without consideration. The decision of the Superintendent of the railway in affairs of this nature shall be regarded as conclusive.\n\nArt. 20. The completed election lists, after their correction in accordance with Article 19, shall be published not later than seven days before the election, and being so published, no corrections or additions to the list shall be permitted. Persons who are not on the list, or who have lost the right of vote before the election, shall not take part in the election.\n\nArt. 21. The President of the Town Council shall preside over the body of electors from which the necessary number of members shall be invited before for his assistance in collecting and counting the votes. In case it is impossible for him or his substitute to preside at the meeting of the body of electors, a person appointed by the Superintendent of the railway from the delegates shall preside.\n\nArt. 22. The meeting will proceed to the business of the election in case the number of electors shall not be less than 100.\n\nPage 9\n\nIf the number of ...\n\nArt. 23. Persons who have the right of vote at elections may be elected as delegates. Such persons, not declining, are eligible for ballot if his nomination is proposed by not less than five voters, or if he expresses a wish to be elected.\n\nArt. 24. Elections shall be conducted by closed ballot, with ballot balls.\n\nArt. 25. The election of a delegate shall be by a majority vote. If the number of persons receiving majority votes be greater than the number to be elected, then those receiving the largest number of votes shall be considered as elected. In case of equal ballot the election shall be decided by lots. The supernumeraries elected shall be considered as candidates.\n\nArt. 26. The number of votes received by each person shall be recorded in the electoral list, which, after the election, shall be read to the meeting of the electoral body, and signed by the chairman and the present electors.\n\nArt. 27. After the election, the meeting of the electoral body shall be closed, and not later than one day thereafter the original electoral list shall be transmitted by the chairman to the Town Council. From this list will be composed by the Town Council a list of the elected delegates and their supernumeraries, which within two days shall be communicated to the manager of the railway together with the electoral lists.\n\nArt. 28. Complaints of improper balloting may be presented to the manager of the railway within three days after the election.\n\nArt. 29. If the manager of the railway will find from the complaints presented any infractions of the stipulations regarding elections in these Regulations, he may revoke the election and decide to have a new election; or in case of error in the election of the delegates, he may decide upon their being replaced by candidates who received majority votes.\n\nArt. 30. If the number of elected delegates will be less than forty, then for the election of the additional number required a new meeting of the electoral body shall be appointed according to the provisions shown in these Regulations. If after the second election the number of elected delegates will still be less than forty, then the required number will be completed by appointment by the manager of the railway from the persons who were included in the electoral lists, but, if possible, from the persons who received a majority vote at the first or second meeting of the electoral body.\n\nArt. 31. Upon finishing the election and completing in case of necessity the required assembly of delegates according to the provisions of Article 30, a conclusive list of delegates will be made by the order of the manager of the railway, which shall be published for general information.\n\nMeetings of the Delegates.\n\nArt. 32. The meetings of the delegates shall be conducted under the presidency of the chairman of the Town Council, and shall be composed of members of the sixty delegates who shall be elected for a term of three years.\n\nArt. 33. If during the elected term any one of the delegates will lose the right to take part at the elections, or shall refuse to serve as a delegate, such person shall be recognized as retired, and shall be substituted until the end of the term by a person who received a majority vote at the election.\n\nArt. 34. The delegates shall elect from among their number a secretary and a vice-secretary to serve for a term of three years.\n\nArt. 35. The meeting of the delegates shall be called by the chairman, according to the requirements of the notice in which must be stated the questions to be considered. The accounts of the Town Council for the past year shall be examined not later than September, and the budget for the following year not later than November.\n\nMeetings of the delegates shall be called by the chairman according to his judgment, or at the request of the manager of the Eastern Chinese Railway, or by a written petition signed by not less than twenty delegates. Upon receipt of such request from the manager of the Railway Company, or petition signed by the delegates, the chairman shall appoint a meeting not later than five days.\n\nAt a meeting of the delegates a quorum shall consist of not less than one-half of the delegates.\n\nArt. 36. The decisions of the meeting shall be recorded and signed by the chairman and secretary of the meeting and the Town Council, and by those of the delegates present at the meeting who wish to do so.\n\n[2921 d-1]\n\nD\n\n383", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 416500, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908", "page_number": 665, "title": "CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908", "content_text": "2\n\nDuring the war, in spite of a protest by Wang, a branch line connecting the mines with the main line at Su Chia-tun was built by the Russian military authorities, and the mines were apparently taken over on the plea of military necessity.\n\nOn the termination of hostilities the mines were accordingly taken over by the Japanese military authorities, and by them ultimately handed over to the South Manchurian Railway Company.\n\nHis Excellency Chao Erh-sun, during his tenure of the Viceroyalty, made several representations to the Central Government on behalf of Wang, claiming that the Concession had been granted by Imperial Edict, and the mining rights were therefore Wang's private property.\n\nLater on in September, and again on the 25th October, 1907, Wang himself addressed petitions to the Wai-wu Pu on the subject.\n\nThe following is a translation of the reply he received from the Board, dated 5th November, 1907, to his second petition:\n\n\"On the receipt of your petition of the 2nd September the Board immediately instructed his Excellency Yang, Chinese Minister at Tôkiô, to request the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs to urge Baron Goto to discuss the matter as soon as possible, with a view to the restoration of the mines. On the 27th October the Board again telegraphed to his Excellency Yang in the same sense, and has now received a telegraphic communication from him to the following effect. His Excellency had written to the Tôkiô Foreign Office on receipt of the Board's first instructions, but had received no reply. On receipt of the telegram of the 27th October, his Excellency had a personal interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who promised to urge Baron Goto to discuss the matter at an early date.\n\n\"Besides instructing the Viceroy of the Three Eastern Provinces and the Governor of Fengtien to press Baron Goto to discuss the question, the Board must order the petitioner to return at once to Mukden, so as to be in a position to interview Baron Goto.\"\n\nWang accordingly returned to Mukden to await Baron Goto's arrival, but alarmed by a report that appeared in the Peking \"Daily News\" of the 2nd January last to the effect that the South Manchurian Railway was on the point of purchasing private property in the Fushun district, he again on the 24th January addressed a further petition to the Viceroy and Governor recapitulating his grievances. He was told, in reply, to wait patiently until Baron Goto's arrival in Mukden.\n\nMr. Wang appears to confine his claim to the Chien Chin-shan mines on the west of the river, which were included in the original Concession granted to him in 1901, and which appear to be the only mines at present worked by the Railway Company.\n\nHe further states that shortly after the entry of the Japanese into Mukden in March 1905 he lodged a protest with the military authorities against the seizure of his mines, and also that he had been assured by the late M. Pokotilow that at the Treaty of Portsmouth there had been no intention of including the Fushun mines amongst the properties to be handed over to the Japanese Government.\n\nThe Railway Company have, it would appear, attempted to come to terms with Mr. Wang. He has been offered, according to his own statement, 100,000 taels, or a post as Director of the mines, on condition of withdrawing his claims. These offers he has rejected, and the last I heard of him was that he was seeking the ablest lawyer in the Far East, with the intention of commencing a suit against the South Manchurian Railway Company in the Japanese Courts. This, he seemed to think, would at any rate give him the satisfaction of publicity.\n\nI inquired recently of the local manager of the Russo-Chinese Bank as to the bank's position in the matter. The manager informed me that the bank were in the position of shareholders in Wang's Company. The question had been referred to the head office at St. Petersburgh, and he had no knowledge as to whether any steps had been, or would be, taken for the satisfaction of the bank's claim.\n\nI inclose translation of a paragraph which appeared on the 15th instant in the \"Shenking Jih Pao,\" a local newspaper written in Chinese, but under Japanese management.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed) ROBERT WILLIS.\n\n3\n\nInclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\nExtract from the \"Shengking Daily Newspaper\" of March 15, 1908.\n\nThe following is quoted from the \"Tung Pao\" (presumably a Tokio newspaper):-\n\n\"On the 3rd instant, the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, in reply to a question on the subject of the Fushun mines, stated in the House of Assembly that the Chinese Government had requested the Japanese Government to hand back the Fushun mines. The Japanese Government had, however, received these mines from the Russian Government, and were quite unable to accede to this request, and had advanced arguments in refutation of the Chinese claim. Further, a Chinese subject, named Wang Cheng Jao, had asked for the restoration of the mines as being his private property, but his statements gave rise to suspicion, and he had been told to discuss the matter with the South Manchurian Railway Company.\n\n\"The statements of Wang are to the effect that the mining rights on his property were worth at most 60,000 taels, and were not in obstruction of our mining privileges.\"\n\n658", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 418649, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-355 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [1-3]", "page_number": 227, "title": "CO129-355 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [1-3]", "content_text": "225\n\nThe said Bill came before the Legislative Council for its Second Reading a week later, that is to say, on the 10th December last and, after a long discussion and opposition thereto from all the Unofficial Members then present at the Council save one, passed its Second Reading.\n\n4.\n\nOn the same day the Council went into Committee to consider the said Bill clause by clause and after much debate Section 7 was amended and allowed to stand over for a week for further consideration. Your Excellency then intimated that you were prepared to give an undertaking to the Council that no such regulations would be made for a period of six months should it become law.\n\n5.\n\nOn the 17th day of December last the said Section 7 as amended was again brought before the Committee of the whole Council for further consideration and all the Unofficial Members except one were in favour of deleting the said clause from the said Bill, but the amendment proposed by the Honourable Dr. Ho Kai and seconded by the Honourable Mr. Wei Yuk, both representing the Chinese on the Council, that this Section be deleted was lost and the said Section 7 after some further amendments and alterations was passed and it now reads as follows:\n\nFor the purpose of promoting sanitation and cleanliness in public places the Governor-in-Council may at all times hereafter make and vary regulations for the following purposes:\n\n(a) For the prohibition of spitting on the floor of any school-house, theatre, public building or other place of public entertainment or assembly, or of any common entrance, lobby, hall, passageway, corridor or staircase of any building used or occupied for shops...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-355 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [1-3].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 420205, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-358 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [10-11]", "page_number": 95, "title": "CO129-358 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [10-11]", "content_text": "## VI. \nThat the said Bill came before the Legislative Council for its second reading a week later, that is to say, on the 10th December last, and the said Section 7 was amended by giving power to the Governor-in-Council at any time thereafter to make and vary regulations for the prohibition of spitting in places therein particularly described, and for the imposition of penalties on the violation of any of such regulations and for prescribing the mode of their recovery. After a long discussion on the said Section and opposition thereto by all the Unofficial Members present at the Council save one, the said Bill passed its second reading.\n\n## VII. \nThat on the same day the Council went into Committee to consider the said Bill clause by clause, and after much debate Section 7 was further amended and allowed to stand over for a week for further consideration. His Excellency the Governor then intimated to the Council that he was prepared to give an undertaking that, should that Section become law, no regulations would be made for a period of six months.\n\n## VIII. \nThat on the 17th day of December last the said Section 7, as amended, was again brought before the Committee of the whole Council for further consideration, and all the Unofficial Members save one spoke in favour of deleting the said clause from the said Bill. But the amendment proposed by the Honourable Dr. Ho Kai and seconded by the Honourable Mr. Wei Yuk, both being Members of the Council representing the Chinese of the Colony, that this Section be deleted, was lost by eight votes to five, and the said Section 7, which then became Section 8 in the said Bill, after some further amendments and alterations, passed through the Committee and now stands as follows:-\n\n### Section 8 \n8. For the purpose of promoting sanitation and cleanliness in public places the Governor-in-Council may at all times hereafter make and vary regulations for the following purposes:---\n\n| Purpose | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| (a) | For the prohibition of spitting or of the effusion of nasal matter on the floor of any school-house, theatre, public building or other place of public entertainment or assembly, or of any common entrance, lobby, hall, passage way, corridor or staircase of any building used or occupied for shops, offices or flats, or in any licensed public vehicle, or in any tram or railway car, or on any wharf or jetty, or on any footway or sidewalk of a public street as may be described in any such regulation |\n\nSuch regulation shall be published in the Gazette in English and Chinese and shall have the force and effect of law in the same manner as if they were incorporated in this Ordinance.\n\nThe Attorney General then moved for the third reading of the Bill, but the motion was objected to by the Senior Unofficial Member of the Council and adjourned sine die.\n\n## IX. \nThat on the 8th day of February this year the leading members of the Chinese Community forwarded a petition to His Excellency the Governor, strongly supporting the views and arguments of the Honourable Unofficial Members of the Council who opposed the said Section, and praying that His Excellency might reconsider the Bill and have the said Section deleted therefrom, but His Excellency the Governor declined to accede to their prayers on the ground that the arguments put forward therefor were identical with those already advanced by Honourable Members of the Council who opposed the said clause, and were considered at the time that the Bill passed its second reading.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-358 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [10-11].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 421272, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 61, "title": "CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "## Licence Issued by the Taotai of Police for Kwangtung\n\nAn undertaking having been made by - \n**Name** \n**Age** \n**Province and district** \n**Residing at** \n**Business** \n**Daily consumption of opium** \nto break himself of the opium habit in **No. years**, and the said having received from the branch office at **Licence now produced and found in order**, we hereby issue to him this amended **licence**.\n\nThe holder of this licence must observe the Regulations set forth below, breach of which will be punished by confiscation of the licence and arrest and fine. Do not disobey. Most important.\n\nFirst reduction, **Date taels, mace, candareens**. Disobeying this will, if unprovided with a licence, be fined according to the above scale. If he possesses a licence, the fines will be halved.\n\nThe object of this Regulation is to prevent illicit opium dens.\n\n### Regulations to be Observed by the Holder of this Licence\n\n1. The holder of this licence may proceed with the licence to any prepared-opium shop and purchase the amount endorsed hereon. Only one purchase per day may be made, and the allowance specified may not be exceeded. The opium shop must at the time of purchase put its chop on the back of the licence against the proper date. Buying opium without a licence so as to make more than one purchase, not stamping the register on the back, selling opium to a customer after one shop has affixed its chop will be punished by fines as follows: - \n| Quantity | Fine (Dollars) |\n| --- | --- |\n| For every mace above 5 candareens | 4 |\n| Below 5 candareens above 1 mace, in proportion | 2 |\n| | 1 |\n\nBoth parties will be punished and fines doubled for a second offence.\n\n2. Should the holder of this licence remove to a distant locality, he must take with him his licence and present it to be inspected and sealed by the branch office or local authority before he will be allowed to buy opium. Should he fail to report himself as above, he will be subjected to a fine at one-half the above scale.\n\n**Note**: Should there be no branch office or local authority, the inspection may be made by a police or li-kin station, branch of the Anti-Opium Society, or the village Elders.\n\n3. No charge is made for this licence. Any one who smokes without holding a licence will, if the quantity is ascertained, be fined according to the scale of Regulation 1. If the quantity is not known, he will be deemed to be guilty of a \"petty\" offence, and liable to forty blows of the lighter bamboo, which, by the new Law of 1905, may be redeemed by a fine of 2 taels. Should he not pay the fine, he will be imprisoned with hard labour for one week. In any case, he will be obliged to submit to the Regulations.\n\n4. At entertainments on the occasion of marriages, deaths, &c., the guests must not be supplied with opium. Should a guest provided with a licence desire to smoke, he must first report to the local official, but permission will only be given to individuals, and several persons will not be allowed to assemble together for smoking. Any one ...\n\n5. Licences must be changed once a year, when the allowance of opium will be reduced by 20 per cent. It will be left to the smokers themselves to have their allowances reduced still further, or to reduce them themselves during the year. They must, however, report their action, in order that a check may be kept on the consumption of opium.\n\n6. No duplicate of this licence will be issued, except when the original has been lost by accident. When applying for a duplicate, the holder must produce a guarantee from some respectable shop. This licence must be kept in a safe place and great care taken. If wrongly lent to another person, it will be confiscated and a fine of 10 dollars inflicted.\n\n7. Should the holder of this licence change his residence, he must present his licence to the proper office to be stamped. No charge is made for this inspection and stamping.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 421284, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 73, "title": "CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "## Licence issued by the Taotai of Police for Kwangtung.\n\nAn undertaking having been made by \n\nName \nAge \nProvince and district \nResiding at \nBusiness \nDaily consumption of opium \nto break himself of the opium habit in ... on the ... years, and the said ... received from the branch office at ... now produced and found in ... having Licence order, we hereby issue to him this amended Licence.\n\nDisobeying this will, if unprovided with a licence, be fined according to the above scale. If he possesses a licence, the fines will be halved.\n\nThe object of this Regulation is to prevent illicit opium dens.\n\n### Regulations to be observed by the Holder of this Licence.\n\n1. The holder of this licence may proceed with the licence to any prepared-opium shop and purchase the amount endorsed hereon. Only one purchase per day may be made, and the allowance specified may not be exceeded. The opium shop must at the time of purchase put its chop on the back of the licence against the proper date. Buying opium without a licence so as to make more than one purchase, not stamping the register on the back, selling opium to a customer after one shop has affixed its chop will be punished by fines as follows:-\n | Quantity | Fine (Dollars) |\n | --- | --- |\n | For every mace above 5 candareens | 4 |\n | Below 5 candareens above 1 mace, in proportion | 2 |\n | | 1 |\n\n Both parties will be punished and fines doubled for a second offence.\n\n2. Should the holder of this licence remove to a distant locality, he must take with him his licence and present it to be inspected and sealed by the branch office or local authority before he will be allowed to buy opium. Should he fail to report himself as above, he will be subjected to a fine at one-half the above scale.\n\n **Note.** Should there be no branch office or local authority, the inspection may be made by a police or li-kin station, branch of the Anti-Opium Society, or the village Elders.\n\n3. No charge is made for this licence. Any one who smokes without holding a licence will, if the quantity is ascertained, be fined according to the scale of Regulation 1. If the quantity is not known, he will be deemed to be guilty of a \"petty\" offence, and liable to forty blows of the lighter bamboo, which, by the new Law of 1905, may be redeemed by a fine of 2 Taels. Should he not pay the fine, he will be imprisoned with hard labour for one week. In any case, he will be obliged to submit to the Regulations.\n\n4. At entertainments on the occasion of marriages, deaths, &c., the guests must not be supplied with opium. Should a guest provided with a licence desire to smoke, he must first report to the local official, but permission will only be given to individuals, and several persons will not be allowed to assemble together for smoking. Any one disobeying this will be punished.\n\n5. Licences must be changed once a year, when the allowance of opium will be reduced by 20 per cent. It will be left to the smokers themselves to have their allowances reduced still further, or to reduce them themselves during the year. They must, however, report their action, in order that a check may be kept on the consumption of opium.\n\n6. No duplicate of this licence will be issued, except when the original has been lost by accident. When applying for a duplicate, the holder must produce a guarantee from some respectable shop. This licence must be kept in a safe place and great care taken. If wrongly lent to another person, it will be confiscated and a fine of 10 dollars inflicted.\n\n7. Should the holder of this licence change his residence, he must present his licence to the proper office to be stamped. No charge is made for this inspection and stamping.\n\n**Most important. Do not disobey.**\n\nThis licence is issued to ... \n... taels, ... mace, ... candareens.\nDate :.. \nNo. licence. \n\nThe holder of this licence must observe the Regulations set forth below, breach of which will be punished by confiscation of the licence and arrest and fine.\nFirst reduction, ...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 422286, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 315, "title": "CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "## Inclosure 4 in No. 1\n\n### Notice regarding Assessments\n\nFOR the information of the public, the Town Council hereby announce that the collection of the taxes mentioned below, which have been determined by the Assembly of Delegates and confirmed in accordance with Article 40 of the Regulations for the Municipal Administration of Harbin, will be commenced on the 1st (14th) January, 1909.\n\n1. The assessments for quarters are according to the following scale:\n\n| Class | Annual Rental paid | Assessment (Roubles) |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| 1 | From 300 to 360 | 5.00 |\n| 2 | Above 360 to 480 | 7.50 |\n| 3 | \" 480 to 600 | 31.00 |\n| 4 | 600 to 720 | 14.00 |\n| 5 | 720 to 840 | 18.00 |\n| 6 | 840 to 960 | 23.00 |\n| 7 | 960 to 1,080 | 28.00 |\n| 8 | 1,080 to 1,200 | 33.00 |\n| 9 | 1,200 to 1,320 | 39.00 |\n| 10 | \" 1,320 to 1,440 | 45.00 |\n| 11 | 1,440 to 1,560 | 51.00 |\n| 12 | 1,560 to 1,680 | 58.00 |\n| 13 | 1,680 to 1,800 | 65.00 |\n| 14 | 1,800 to 2,000 | 73.00 |\n| 15 | 2,000 to 2,200 | 83.00 |\n| 16 | 2,200 to 2,400 | 94.00 |\n| 17 | 2,400 to 2,600 | 107.00 |\n| 18 | 2,600 to 2,800 | 121.00 |\n| 19 | 2,800 to 3,000 | 137.00 |\n| 20 | 3,000 to 3,200 | 154.00 |\n| 21 | 3,200 to 3,400 | 173.00 |\n| 22 | 3,400 to 3,600 | 194.00 |\n| 23 | 3,600 to 3,800 | 216.00 |\n| 24 | 3,800 to 4,000 | 239.00 |\n| 25 | 4,000 to 4,200 | 264.00 |\n| 26 | 4,200 to 4,400 | 281.00 |\n| 27 | 4,400 to 4,600 | 319.00 |\n| 28 | 4,600 to 4,800 | 349.00 |\n| 29 | 4,800 to 5,000 | 380.00 |\n| 30 | 5,000 to 5,200 | 413.00 |\n| 31 | 5,200 to 5,400 | 447.00 |\n| 32 | 5,400 to 5,600 | 483.00 |\n| 33 | 5,600 to 5,800 | 521.00 |\n| 34 | 5,800 to 6,000 | 560.00 |\n| 35 | 6,000 and above | 10 per cent. of rental |\n\n2. The assessment for liquor establishments is fixed at a total of 60,000 roubles, of which 35,000 roubles are levied against establishments in which wines and liquors are sold and consumed on the premises of public-houses (restaurants, café-chantants, taverns, dining-rooms, &c.), and 25,000 roubles are levied against establishments selling wines and liquors for consumption away from their premises (wine and liquor stores and wine and grocery stores).\n\n3. Taxes for three beer breweries and two beer storage houses located within the limits of the town territory, fixed at an aggregate sum of 6,500 roubles.\n\n4. Taxes for trade establishments, including all enterprises located within the limits of the town territory, are divided into ten classes, as follows:\n - Trade establishments of the 1st class will pay 1,500 roubles per one year; \n - 2nd class, 1,000 roubles; \n - 3rd class, 500 roubles; \n - 4th class, 300 roubles; \n - 5th class, 200 roubles; \n - 6th class, 100 roubles; \n - 7th class, 50 roubles; \n - 8th class, 0 roubles; \n - 9th class, 15 roubles; \n - 10th class, 4 roubles.\n\n5. Taxes for industrial establishments, including all industrial enterprises located within the limits of the town territory, are divided into ten classes as follows:\n - Enterprises of the 1st class will pay 2,500 roubles per one year; \n - 2nd class, 2,000 roubles; \n - 3rd class, 1,500 roubles; \n - 4th class, 1,000 roubles; \n - 5th class, 750 roubles; \n - 6th class, 300 roubles; \n - 7th class, 150 roubles; \n - 8th class, 50 roubles; \n - 9th class, 25 roubles; \n - 10th class, 5 roubles.\n\nThe flouring mills are included in the above-mentioned classification for industrial establishments, according to the following scale: \n- Flour mills working more than 6,000 poods (216,660 lbs.) of grain during twenty-four hours belong to the first class; \n- flour mills working more than 4,000 poods (144,440 lbs.) of grain during twenty-four hours belong to the second class; \n- flour mills working more than 2,400 poods (86,664 lbs.) of grain during twenty-four hours belong to the third class; \n- flour mills working more than 1,500 poods (51,165 lbs.) of grain during twenty-four hours belong to the fourth class; \n- and flour mills working up to 1,500 poods (54,165 lbs.) of grain during twenty-four hours belong to the fifth class.\n\nIndustrial enterprises in which no help is employed are free from taxation. The classification of quarters and the assessment of trade and industrial establishments will be made by the Apprisement Committee with the Town Council.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 423646, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-363 - Public Offices & Others - 1909", "page_number": 250, "title": "CO129-363 - Public Offices & Others - 1909", "content_text": "10 \n\nIndian yarn; while it is evident that the poorer the people the smaller their taxable capacity.\n\n6. Difficulties and Prospects.-The difficulties in the way of opium reform in Szechuan have been mostly indicated when considering the preventive smoking measures, the position of the farmer, the question of taxation, and the effect which total prohibition will have on commercial and fiscal arrangements generally. Hence the existence of secret opium dens and other conditions entirely at variance with official proclamations and protestations. As things now stand, proclamations and regulations are of little solid account. The important point is whether the total prohibition of cultivation is, at the present time, a practicable possibility. There is room for very considerable doubt, and it is the irony of fate that complete suppression will fall most heavily on the three distant provinces of Szechuan, Kweichow, and Yunnan. The communications in all are bad and difficult, and the two latter are in their present undeveloped state poor provinces, each receiving a large annual contribution from Szechuan.\n\nFollowing in the footsteps of Hsi Liang, the last Viceroy of Yunnan, the Viceroy of Szechuan has sent forth a fiat ordering that no poppy shall be planted this autumn in the province under his jurisdiction. A viceregal proclamation, dated the 4th August, and posted in Chungking, threatens that the poppy will be trampled down, and that land-owner, tenant, and headman will all be fined and punished. It does not, however, carry a threat of confiscation of the land as does a proclamation recently issued by the Pa Hsien, which also asserts that guarantees have been furnished by the headmen of the various localities undertaking to prevent cultivation. Time alone will show to what extent these commands have been obeyed; but it may be mentioned that the Pa Hsien is shortly to vacate his post, and it is not of good augury that in Ch'uan Tung the progress made towards the restriction of cultivation the season before last was sacrificed in 1909, and that no effective steps have been taken to check indulgence in the drug.\n\nA somewhat more hopeful story is told by Mr. Smith's correspondence in his thirteenth opium report, and a considerable improvement is noted at Shih Ch'uan, Ngan Hsien, Paoning, Kuan Hsien, Tzu Chou, and Mien Chu. All these places, however, are in the silk district, while Tzu Chou has sugar and Kuan Hsien medicines. Important, perhaps, still is the fact that, with the exception of Paoning, they are all in the circuit of the Cheng-Mien-Lung-Mao taotai, which office is now associated with the taotaiship of industries, the incumbent being resident at Ch'engtu under the eye of the Viceroy. I am told also that none of these districts are considered to be large opium-producing centres, and the same is said of Suifu, Luchow, and Fushun. The two former report a largely reduced area under cultivation, and Fushun no poppy at all. It may be here permitted to allude to one of these anomalies which ever beset the path of enquiry into things Chinese, namely, that at Suifu, which is at the junction of the land and water route to and from Kweichow and Yunnan, most of the opium consumed comes from the former provinces. In fact, in Szechuan generally the well-to-do classes prefer the Yunnan drug, which, though more expensive, is superior in quality to the local article.\n\nA factor which cannot be neglected in considering the difficulties in the way of the opium reform movement in Szechuan is the will of the people. Mr. Phillips in his report on the subject for November and December last, instances the case of Yung Ch'uan Hsien, where a newly arrived magistrate showed himself over-zealous, and had to be removed to appease the populace. The Chinese up to a certain point, and within somewhat extended limits, are a patient race; but the degree to which they will tolerate the increased taxation rendered necessary by opium and other reforms is a cause of some anxiety. Leaving aside the addition of 3 cash a catty on salt, three new taxes have been introduced at Chungking since my arrival in April last. The first, a tax on pigs of 100 cash per head, was imposed for the benefit of the self-government assembly; the second, a charge on tea-shops of 10 cash per table per diem, was necessitated by the loss of revenue attendant upon the closing of the opium dens, and is levied for the purpose of the new police force; the third is the further levy of 200 cash on pigs for remittance to the Board of Finance. A fourth impost is that reported by my predecessor in his intelligence report for the December quarter 1908, and is in form somewhat similar to a graduated income tax, the proceeds to go to the self-government assembly. What do the people get in return for these imposts? Opium, their most valuable crop, is threatened with extinction, and for the rest, allowing that something has been done for the beggars, vagabonds, and needy poor, and in the matter of street-lighting, the city of Chungking is, as stated in my intelligence report to which reference has already been made, as dirty and malodorous as it was five years ago, while the new police have sadly degenerated.\n\n11 \n\nThe question as to what is to take the place of opium has already received some attention, and the ideas of various correspondents have been stated. Silk is the staple industry of Szechuan, and that it is capable of expansion would seem to be beyond doubt. Sir Alexander Hosie, in his report on the province (“China,” No. 5, 1904), which was written before the question of opium suppression had arisen, expressed the opinion that \"the present number of trees could be quadrupled without injury to the usual crops, and the silk production correspondingly increased.\" In another place, speaking of the methods of reeling, he says: \"It seems to me that foreign reeling plant might be introduced into the province with advantage to home engineering establishments and the natives engaged in the silk industry.\" Chinese authorities would appear not to be in ignorance of the possibility of further development, and some steps have been taken, in the shape of schools, for instructing the uncultured in the methods of sericulture. Private enterprise, too, has not been wanting. It would, however, be unwise to be optimistic. The radical change in the commercial and fiscal conditions of Szechuan which I have shown will result from the abolition of opium is a serious matter, and capitalists and markets are not found in a day. In so far as Ch'uan Tung is concerned, there is, as has been previously stated, every reason to think that, should the poppy not be allowed, its place in the near future must mainly be taken by the customary winter crops of pulse, cereals, and rape.\n\nIn the light of all that has been said, it will be easy to realise that the task which the Chinese authorities have set themselves to perform in Szechuan is one of exceeding difficulty. We know that the order has been given that no poppy shall be planted this autumn, and can only wait upon events. Personally I do not consider that total prohibition is possible, and the opinion of a Chinaman who has given some thought to the matter is that the cause of opium reform in this province rests very largely on the adequacy or otherwise of the measures now taken. He holds that total prohibition of cultivation is the only effective measure, and that, if the area under poppy is reduced 70 or 80 per cent. during the coming winter, and if there is no relaxation thereafter, success will be attained, but that if there is to be further vacillation and laxity on the part of the officials failure will threaten.\n\nIn conclusion I may state that, the report of impending total prohibition having reached the south, orders were recently received from Kuangtung, Kuangsi, and elsewhere for supplies of opium to the value of 700,000 taels or more.\n\nH. E. SLY.\n\nChungking, September 18, 1909.\n\n249", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-363 - Public Offices & Others - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428092, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 17, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "21\n\n8\n\nHow then can it be said that, in view of the fact that the wholesale trade in British opium at this port is at a standstill in consequence of certain action taken by the provincial authorities, my interference in the matter is uncalled for?\n\nIn conclusion I would wish to state that prohibitive measures affecting the legitimate trade of British merchants, which are not sanctioned by the agreement between the two Governments, constitute a direct contravention of longstanding treaty arrangements, and I should be sorry to think that your Excellency would be a party thereto. May I, therefore, again request that instructions in the sense of my previous despatch be issued?\n\nI have, &c.\n\nJ. W. JAMIESON.\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n[B]\n\nC.\n\nCHINA TRADE.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL,\n\n7433 16\n\nRec\n\nRrce 14 JAN 10\n\n[December 9.]\n\nSECTION 3.\n\n[AMENDED COPY.]\n\nNo. I.\n\nSir,\n\nInclosure 14 in No. 1.\n\nConsul-General Jamieson to Governor Sir F. Lugard.\n\nCanton, November 10, 1909.\n\nIN continuation of my despatch No. 119 of the 5th November, on the subject of the enforcement by the provincial authorities of the new opium regulations, I have the honour to forward, herewith, for your Excellency's perusal, a translation of a despatch which I have received from the acting governor-general, and to inform you that I have to-day telegraphed to His Majesty's minister in Peking in the sense of his Excellency's despatch.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n[44750]\n\n(No. 205.) Sir,\n\nSir G. Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 9.)\n\nThe Hague, December 8, 1909,\n\nWITH reference to your despatch No. 103 of the 23rd ultimo, I have the honour to report that I am informed by the Netherlands Minister for Foreign Affairs that the Netherlands Government concur in the proposal of the United States Government to summon a second international conference for the suppression of the abuse of opium, and that they have informed the United States Government accordingly.\n\nThe Netherlands Government have at the same time proposed that the Conference should assemble at The Hague.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nGEORGE W. BUCHANAN.\n\nInclosure 15 in No. 1.\n\nJ. W. JAMIESON,\n\nSir,\n\nViceroy Yuan to Consul-General Jamieson.\n\nCanton, November 10, 1909.\n\nI HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, in which you state that prohibitive measures affecting the trade of British merchants, which are not sanctioned by the agreement between the two Governments, constitute a direct contravention of long-standing treaty arrangements.\n\nI find that the regulations for the suppression of opium in force in this province are drawn up on the lines of those submitted by the Government Council and sanctioned by the Throne--that is to say, that they are promulgated by the Imperial Government of China and did not emanate from this province alone.\" This I have already made clear to you in my despatch of the 31st October,\n\nAs regards your statement that the Wai-wu Pu promised His Majesty's Minister at Peking to move the provincial authorities of Kuangtung to have all restrictions on legitimate British trade removed, I have the honour to call your attention to the fact that, although I have received no communication of the kind, these regulations, having been adopted, can only be altered by a memorial addressed to the Throne by the board, and that this Government are not in a position either to alter or abrogate them.\n\nI avail, &c.\n\n(Seal of Acting Governor-General.)\n\n[2553 -3]\n\n4.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428150, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 75, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "C.O.\n\n74\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.\n\n2765\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[46951]\n\n(No. 23.) Sir,\n\nRece[ived] December 28 JAN 10.\n\nSECTION 8.\n\nNo. 1.\n\nConsul-General O'Brien-Butler to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 28.)\n\nYünnan-fu, November 15, 1909.\n\nI HAVE the honour to forward herewith copies of two despatches which I have sent to His Majesty's Minister at Peking on the subject of the Yunnan Provincial Assembly.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nP. E. O'BRIEN-BUTLER.\n\nInclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\n(No. 46.) Sir,\n\nConsul-General O'Brien-Butler to Sir J. Jordan.\n\nYünnan-fu, October 30, 1909. IN compliance with your telegraphic instructions, I have the honour to furnish you with the following short report on the subject of the Yunnan Provincial Assembly. Sixty-two members in all were elected, being 4 from each of the 14 prefectures of the province, with one, or even two, extra members from the larger and more thickly-populated prefectures. Yunnan prefecture has returned 6 members.\n\nThe first meeting took place here on the 14th instant, when the chief officials and over 100 of the gentry of the province were present.\n\nMr. Chang Wei-ts'ung, a provincial graduate and expectant district magistrate of T'ung-hai district, Lin-an prefecture, was elected president; and Messrs. Chang Shih-hsun, a salaried senior licenciate and expectant assistant sub-prefect of Shih-p'ing department, Lin-an prefecture, and Tuan Tzu-ch'ing, a provincial graduate and expectant second-class assistant magistrate of an independent department of Pao-shan district, Yung-ch'ang prefecture, were elected vice-presidents.\n\nThe president is to be paid 80 dollars, the vice-presidents 60 dollars each, and the ordinary members 20 dollars each, for their services.\n\nThe present session is to last forty days. All subjects are to be opened by the Viceroy, and reports of the decisions arrived at are to be forwarded by him to Peking. The debates are to be published in the local newspapers.\n\nThe first subject for discussion is that of the levying of taxes for the support of schools.\n\nA corresponding secretary resides in each prefectural city, with under-secretaries in the various towns subordinate to him. Their duty is to collect information on current topics and forward it to the assembly here. Their salaries vary according to the locality to which they belong.\n\nI understand that the people of this city are very disappointed that none of their representatives were elected to office in the new assembly, and the officers of the Government here, both provincial and local, are correspondingly pleased.\n\nI hope at a future date to furnish you with more information on the subject of the Yunnan Provincial Assembly, more especially with regard to its practical working, and also with a report on the Kueichou Provincial Assembly.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nP. E. O'BRIEN-BUTLER.\n\nInclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\n(No. 49.) Sir,\n\nConsul-General O'Brien-Butler to Sir J. Jordan.\n\nYünnan-fu, November 12, 1909. WITH reference to your instructions that I should keep you informed regarding the progress made in my consular district of parliamentary institutions, I have the\n\n[2548 ee-8]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428180, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 105, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "20\n\n2\n\nhowever much the Central Government may affect to disregard them, and the account received of the above assembly confirms the general impression that the strong local patriotism of these representative bodies will tend to weaken the authority of the Peking Government over the provinces. This authority is none too strong at present, and might well find itself in difficulties should it conflict with, for example, the assembly at Changsha, which, through its leading member, has declared its determination to secure the fullest advantage for Hunan, regardless apparently of the interests of the other provinces or of the Empire. By means of a body called the Political Association, the Hunan parliament has made it clear to the provincial authorities that it intends to be consulted on every question, whether political or municipal, and the Customs Taotai has informed His Majesty's consul that he dare not take any action which might promote foreign interests without the permission of this body, even if the foreign demand be strictly in accordance with treaty provisions. The association has already prevented the settlement of two cases, while the president of the parliament is taking the foremost place in the agitation against the foreign railway loan. There seems therefore reason to fear that, however distasteful in some respects the attitude of the provincial assemblies may prove to the Central Government, the latter may in future find themselves in the happy position of being enabled to produce parliamentary resolutions proving invincible local opposition to claims, however justified by treaty or equity, presented by foreign Governments.\n\nIt should be noted in this connection that the assembly at Nanking is providing for unceasing watchfulness over the action of the executive authorities by the permanent residence in the capital of a committee of twenty-five deputies who will act as a supervisory council when the assembly is not in session. The legation has as yet received no information as to whether any other assemblies have adopted this measure.\n\nEducational.\n\nThe following particulars concerning Tsingtao University may be of interest, as this institution is generally regarded as a successful effort on the part of the Germans towards meeting the wishes of the Chinese Government, and is often quoted with approval as against the scheme of Lord William Cecil to found a university for Chinese on what is described as Oxford and Cambridge lines.\n\nThe great feature of the university, and one on which the Chinese Government particularly insisted, is that religious instruction, of any kind whatever, is strictly prohibited. Chinese influence is further safeguarded by the stipulation which provides for the appointment by the Chinese authorities themselves not only of all Chinese teachers, but also of a Chinese Director of Studies, who is to be independent of the Head of the University. Both the Central Board of Education and the Shantung authorities will inspect the college from time to time, while the former will send a deputy to assist in holding the examinations. Students who, after completing their course, enter a Chinese university, are to receive official rank on the same terms as other students in China, but the degrees conferred by the Tsingtao University do not of themselves entitle the holders to official recognition.\n\nOn the whole it appears that the arrangement is by no means so favourable to the Germans as was at first supposed. The dual control involved by the appointment of an independent Chinese director is an awkward point; but more troublesome still will probably prove to be the stipulation that students who wish to enter official life must undergo the delay and expense of a second university course in China. The German press has raised vigorous protests against this clause, which certainly promises to hamper the institution. In spite, however, of the above concessions to Chinese pride, native opinion is very largely one of suspicion as to the German motives, and the wrong-headed ingenuity of the native press critics finds no difficulty in criticising the best-meant efforts to consider Chinese susceptibilities. Though, for example, native educational establishments have never been remarkable for studying the physical welfare of their pupils, one of the accusations hurled against the Germans is that they have of set purpose given bodily training no very prominent place in the curriculum, with the object of lowering the Chinese national physique.\n\nApart from the efforts of the Germans at Tsingtao, Shantung has for some time past been a scene of enthusiastic educational activity, but the province has lately suffered a keenly felt humiliation in that out of seventy students sent to Peking for examination not a single one qualified. This province therefore may probably not be allowed to send the four students to America, for which purpose a sum of 600,000 taels had been earmarked on behalf of Shantung out of the portion of the Boxer indemnity returned by the United States.\n\nAs regards the students who return to China after finishing their course of study in America, a native newspaper has recently published an attack on this class of young men, who, it states with some justice, are, on the whole, far from fulfilling expectations. They are accused of returning to China either notoriously idle and dissipated or imbued with an unscrupulous greed for dollars. The journal does not add, as well it might, that these students are in many cases characterised by that fatal conceit which proceeds from semi-education.\n\nJudicial.\n\nThe question has been raised both at Newchwang and Tientsin as to the rights of foreign consulates to be represented by an assessor in all mixed cases dealt with by the new tribunals known as Shen Pan Ting. This is no new question as far as the Tientsin court is concerned, where it had to all appearance been satisfactorily settled early in the current year, the British assessor being given a seat on the bench and exercising the right to intervene in the proceedings. The Taotai has recently, however, circularised the Tientsin consular body to the effect that the assessors must in future occupy seats behind the magistrate, and refrain from putting questions to, or receiving statements from, plaintiffs or defendants. In short, the procedure is to revert to what the Taotai, in words which recall the terms employed in Chinese documents when the foreigners were still officially \"barbarians,\" declares to have been the practice at the time the Shen Pan Ting was established, namely, that \"the Chinese magistrate alone carried out the examination and delivered judgment, after which the foreign assessor humbly took his departure.\" This statement can be proved incorrect by the records of His Majesty's consulate-general.\n\nPending settlement of this question cases will have to stand over at the Tientsin court even as in Newchwang, where the consular body have taken the matter up, and where His Majesty's consul still adheres to his attitude, reported in my last summary, of ignoring the Shen Pan Ting, and referring all cases to the Taotai himself for settlement. Judging from all accounts received, the Shen Pan Ting would appear to be, except for a few isolated instances of recovery of debts owing to foreigners by Chinese, a complete failure, according to the European standard of justice. Those tribunals are, however, in some respects a considerable improvement on the old Chinese system. The facts that the public are admitted into the courts and that reports of the decisions are inserted in the press act as a wholesome deterrent against injustice, while press criticisms not infrequently elicit from the magistrates letters of excuse or explanation similar to those which a certain well-known London periodical extorts from the victims of its \"Legal Pillory.\"\n\nAmongst the many improvements which the Government of Shantung are endeavouring to introduce, judicial reform is by no means the least important. It has often been said that the great obstacle to improvements in Chinese administration lies in the fact that in most cases reforms have to be carried into practice by unreformed officials; but in Shantung, at any rate, the governor seems to have realised that the establishment of new law courts ought to be conditional on the existence of a body of officials competent to administer the law and, if possible, uninfluenced by the corrupt traditions of the past. With this principle in view, the work of reorganising the provincial school of jurisprudence has been taken in hand in a manner which, if persisted in, may lead to good results, the axiom—not often considered in Chinese educational establishments—being laid down that only good salaries will attract good professors. It is to be hoped that the influence of the students passed out of this regenerated school will be strong enough to overcome the traditions of Chinese officialdom, and that the new Shantung courts will not share the fate of the Shen Pan Ting at Newchwang, which has already fallen from its original clean standard, and is now becoming notorious for the rapacity of its subordinate officials.\n\nFrontier Affairs.\n\nReports from Batang show that considerable military preparations are being pushed forward in that district, presumably with a view towards the subjection of some of the unruly tribes in the Tibetan marches of Szechuan. Great secrecy is observed by the local officials in regard to the Viceroy's plans, but the Batang\n\n3\n\nFRECO\n\n2765\n\n104", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428220, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 145, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nC O\n\n[January 12, 1909? or January 25, 1902? likely to be 1909 due to context]\n\n143\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[1142]\n\nNo. 1.\n\nSECTION\n\nRros FEB 10\n\nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.(Received January 11, 1910.)\n\n(No. 474.) Sir,\n\nPeking, December 20, 1909.\n\nI HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith a very exhaustive and instructive account of the constitution and opening proceedings of the provincial assemblies which met for the first time on the 14th October last,\n\nThis review of the constitutional movement in China has been prepared by Mr. Campbell, Chinese Secretary of the legation, who has drawn the materials for it from the reports which the consuls at the important centres were instructed to furnish, and may,\n\nI think, be accepted as embodying the most complete and authentic information that is obtainable on the subject.\n\nAs it seems to me highly important that the further progress of the movement should be carefully watched by the members of His Majesty's service in this country, I would suggest that the present paper should be printed and copies of it distributed amongst the various consulates, so that it may serve as a guide for further researches, and form a basis for the framing of similar reports in the future.\n\nWithout some such common basis to work upon, it is extremely difficult for consular officers scattered over such a large and diversified country as China to contribute the data necessary for an intelligent study of a question of this kind.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nJ. N. JORDAN.\n\nEnclosure in No. 1.\n\nReport by Mr. Campbell respecting Provincial Assemblies of October 1909.\n\nINDEX\n\nOrigin\n\nGoverning Rules\n\nElection Law\n\nComposition and Numbers\n\nElective Franchise\n\nSittings\n\nBusiness and Powers\n\nDecree of October 13 on opening Assemblies\n\nShantung\n\nPreparations\n\nElectorate\n\nDistribution of Seats\n\nFirst Election of Delegates\n\nPROVINCES.\n\nSecond Election of Members Presidents and Standing Committee Opening Ceremony, October 14\n\nGovernor's speech\n\nPresident's Address\n\nRules of Procedure\n\nProgramme of Government Business\n\nManchuria-\n\nFeng-tien.\n\nElectorate\n\nFirst Election\n\nSecond Election\n\nComposition of Assembly\n\nOpening Ceremony\n\nBusiness\n\nKirin: Opposition to Governor Heilungchang: Opening\n\nPage 3\n\n3\n\n3\n\n10\n\n10\n\n10\n\n10\n\n10\n\n10\n\n10\n\n8\n\n8\n\nB\n\nPage 143\n\n[likely page end]\n\nPage 144\n\n[likely page start]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428221, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 146, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "Chihli\n\nOpening Ceremony\n\nViceroy's Speech\n\nProgramme of Business\n\nDebates\n\n2\n\nPROVINCES (continued).\n\nRelations of Assembly to Senate and Central Government\n\nPage 8\n\n४\n\nAppointment of Presidents\n\nHonan\n\nPreliminaries\n\nVoting Lista\n\nOpening\n\nย\n\nShansi\n\nOpening\n\nEnglish Missionaries take part in Ceremony\n\nSpeeches of Governor and Treasurer\n\nDebates\n\nOpinn Question\n\nConflict between Province and Central Government\n\n10\n\nShensi\n\nPreliminaries\n\nFirst Election\n\nSecond Election\n\nOpening Ceremony\n\nGovernor's Speech\n\n10\n\nKansu\n\nPreliminaries\n\nViceroy advocating Delay in Opening Assembly\n\nRemoval of Viceroy\n\nNo information yet received of Opening of Assembly\n\n12\n\nKiangsu\n\nOpening Ceremony\n\nForeign Consuls Invited..\n\nDebates Reported in Press\n\nProgramme of Business..\n\nElections at Shanghae\n\nSalaries of Assembly Officers\n\n12\n\nKiangsi\n\nPreparatory Steps\n\nOpening\n\nDiscontent caused by Census\n\n12\n\nFirst and Second Elections\n\nElectorate\n\nOpening\n\n13\n\nExhibition of Imperial Decree\n\nViceroy's Speech\n\nComposition of Assembly\n\n14\n\nProgramme of Business..\n\n14\n\nHunan\n\nElections\n\nOpening\n\nGovernor's Speech\n\nPresident's Reply\n\nPolitical Associations\n\nAttitude of Interference in Foreign Cases\n\n14\n\nSzechuan\n\nElections\n\nDistribution of Seats\n\nWant of Enthusiasm in Electorate\n\nComposition of Assembly\n\nOpening\n\n16\n\nViceroy's Speech\n\nProgramme of Business..\n\nProceedings of Assembly\n\nCriticism of Provincial Government\n\nAltercation between Assembly and Provincial Government\n\nLittle Interest taken by People\n\n16\n\nArrangements for Admission of Public\n\nList of Subjects discussed\n\nSpecimen of Debate\n\n17\n\n18\n\nFukien\n\nOpening Ceremony\n\nSpecimen of Debate\n\nViceroy's Message\n\n20\n\nKwangtung\n\nElections\n\nSecond Elections and Distribution of Seats\n\nNew Assembly Hall\n\nOpening Ceremony\n\n21\n\nKwangtung (continued)—\n\nPROVINCES (continued).\n\nElection of Officers and Standing Committee\n\nArrangement of Seats\n\nDialects spoken in Debates\n\nProgramme of Business ..\n\nFriction between Assembly and Viceroy over Mode of Address in written communications\n\nEstimated Expenses of Assembly\n\n21\n\nYunnan\n\nOpening\n\nLocal Disappointment at Outcome of Elections\n\n22\n\nKueichou.\n\nAssembly Opened\n\nReported Protest by President\n\n22\n\nNew Dominion\n\nDifficulty of including New Dominion in the Scheme..\n\nAssembly formed in 1908 altered into Organisation Office\n\nViceroy and Provincial Government show Deficiencies in proposed Electorate\n\nA Modified Scheme based on Crown Colony System suggested\n\nChekiang, Anhui, Kuangsi: No reports yet received; will be forwarded later\n\nGeneral Remarks\n\nApathy of Higher Officers of Central Government\n\nSimilar Attitude in Provinces\n\nRestricted Character of the Franchise\n\nAssemblies are merely the \"Gentry \"\n\nApprehensions of Chinese Officialdom\n\nAssemblies so far appear to have worked in harmony with Provincial Governments\n\n**\n\nPROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY ROLES.\n\nDistribution of Seats (article 2)\n\nManchu Representation (article 2)\n\nFranchise and Members Qualifications (articles 3-5)\n\nDisqualifications (articles 6-8)\n\nPresident, Vice-Presidents, and Standing Committee (articles 10-17)\n\nRe-election and Resignation (articles 18-20)\n\nRights and Duties (articles 21-6)\n\nInvasion of Rights by Governors to be reported to Senate (article 27)\n\nCorruption in Province (article 28)\n\nInter-Provincial Disputes (article 29)\n\nDecisions of Senate (article 30)\n\nSittings (articles 31-3)\n\nBusiness to be notified to Members before Opening of Session (article 34)\n\nQuorum (article 35)\n\nMajority (article 36)\n\nViceroy or Governor to attend Sittings, or send Representative (article 37)\n\nNo Member to take part in Debate affecting himself (article 38)\n\nMember's Liability for Speeches (article 39)\n\nArrest of Members (article 40)\n\nPublicity of Debates (articles 41-2)\n\nRules of Order, &c. (articles 43-5)\n\nControl of Viceroy or Governor over Assembly (articles 46-9)\n\nDissolution of Assembly (articles 48-9)\n\nSecretariat (articles 50-2)\n\nExpenditure and Accounts (articles 53-5)\n\nDisciplinary Punishments (articles 56-60)\n\nAdditions to the Rules (article 61)\n\n29\n\nThe Provincial Assemblies of October 1909.\n\nOrigin. The provincial assemblies were first introduced into the general scheme for constitutional reform by a decree of the late Empress Grand Dowager, dated the 19th October, 1907. It was then laid down that each province should have a place for ascertaining public opinion on local affairs, which could also furnish material for the Senate in Peking, and the Viceroys and governors were instructed to set to work at once to prepare the ground. Minor local bodies, called deliberative committees (\"I shih hui\"), in each prefecture, department, and district were mentioned in this decree as preceding the assemblies.\n\nGoverning Rules, Election Law, and Composition of Assemblies.-The next step of importance was the issue in the \"Official Gazette\" of the 24th July, 1908, of a set of", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428223, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 148, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "146\n\nLai-chou-fu Ching-chou-fu.. Kiao-chou\n\nManchu Garrisons-\n\nChing-chou\n\nTe-chou\n\nTotal\n\n \n :::\n 6\n \n \n :::\n ::\n \n \n :::\n :::\n \n\nElectors. Members.\n\n3,337 4\n\n10,220 9\n\n4,972 4\n\n204 24 2\n\n1 119,549 103\n\nEach Chinese member of the assembly thus represents 1,193 votes, while the three Manchus only represent 76 each.\n\nFirst Election of Delegates--The lists of voters were ready by March 1909, and published in April. The revised lists were drawn up early in May, in which month they were sent to the polling stations, and the elections of the delegates commenced. For each member ten delegates were elected, making 1,030 for the province. The polling was not heavy, probably not over 50 per cent. of the voting list, and supplementary elections were necessary in many cases.\n\nSecond Election of Members.-The second elections for the provincial assembly were held on the 27th and 29th June, all the delegates voting among themselves for the selection of one out of every ten of their number. The successful were duly declared elected members. Prominent notables headed the list everywhere. The senior member for Chinan-fu is the chairman of the Grand Chamber of Commerce and formerly president of the local Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway Bureau.\n\nPresident, Vice-Presidents, and Standing Committee.-The members assembled in Chinan-fu in the course of August, and proceeded to elect a president and two vice-presidents, and a standing committee of twenty members. The remaining members returned to their constituencies, there to start deliberative councils for the purpose of getting into touch with local public opinion. A voluminous programme had already been drawn up of subjects for discussion in the assembly, embracing every conceivable topic of public interest, including foreign relations. This last was divided into nine sections--\n\n1. The leased territories.\n\n2. The foreign settlements.\n\n3. Foreign missions.\n\n4. Foreign industrial undertakings in the interior.\n\n5. Extra-territoriality.\n\n6. Railways.\n\n7. Mines.\n\n8. Sea fisheries.\n\n9. Articles of foreign manufacture in the interior.\n\nOpening Ceremony on the 14th October.--The formal opening of the assembly took place, according to the rules of the 24th July, 1908, on the 1st day of the 9th moon (14th October), and was an impressive function. In addition to the governor and members, the chief provincial officials were all present, and special seats were reserved for metropolitan officials, foreigners, and officials from other provinces. Accommodation was also provided for the press and the public, and it is estimated that about 1,000 persons were present.\n\nThe president opened the proceedings by asking the governor to address the meeting. His Excellency read a formal speech, in which he dwelt on the fact that the desire of the court to associate the people with the government of the country had at last been carried out, and the president followed by reading a formal reply of thanks on behalf of the members. The governor then made a second address, which has been widely published, and merits quotation in full.\n\nNot the least interesting feature of it is the outspoken commendation of Yuan Shih-k'ai's action during the Boxer outbreak, and it is difficult to believe that a governor whose touch with the central Government is so close would venture to express his views so openly on such an occasion without some knowledge that they were seasonable.\n\nGovernor's Speech. On the occasion of the opening of this assembly to-day there are two points to which I should like to direct your attention. The first is that Members in no case should the difficulties of any question be lightly underrated. elected for the first time must needs lack experience, and may act rashly without due consideration of the real facts of a case, and like lucky drawers in a lottery, rush into foolish courses which may overstep legal bounds. Such persons, though they appear to be merely over-enthusiastic, are really rash by nature, and do far more harm than good--let me warn you against them.\n\nMy second point is that there should be no fear of adverse criticism. In the conduct of affairs, once a definite policy has been determined on as essential--and without decision no achievement is possible--it should be strenuously adhered to in spite of all difficulties and faithfully pursued until the desired aim is reached, regardless of any adverse criticism that may be encountered meanwhile.\n\n\"Let me quote examples from among the eminent officials who have served the Empire since it recovered from the troublous times of the Great Rebellion--the glorious achievements of the Marquis Tseng Kuo-fan are known to young and old throughout the land, yet when he was Viceroy of Chihli he incurred such adverse criticism from the people of that province on account of his action in the Tien-tsin Missionary Riot case that he could not continue in office there, and was transferred to the Liangkiang province; the Marquis's own statements at the time showing the intensity of the feeling against him when he said, 'I have offended both my own conscience and public opinion.'\n\nAgain, take the late Li Hung-chang, whose diplomatic skill may be said to have been almost unrivalled. He was stigmatised as servile to foreigners for advocating peace in the China-Japan war, and later public censure of him increased as foreign affairs multiplied; but it is only after death that the true verdict on a man is pronounced, and the name of Li Hung-chang, though censured during his lifetime, is now enshrined in the national history with a lustre that a myriad ages will not dim.\n\nOr, again, look at Yuan Shih-k'ai, when he was governor of Shantung, at the time of the outbreak of the Boxer rebellion. At that period high officials both at the capital and in the province, believing in the Boxers, were following their lead, and Yuan alone regarded them as a heretic sect, and took measures against them. The ignorant people who also believed in the Boxers abused Yuan, but before long the Boxers were overthrown and the province of Shantung, thanks to his energy alone, was preserved in peace; this was a benefit experienced by yourselves as inhabitants of this province who can thus confirm my words.\n\n\"The public are capable of appreciating the benefits of an accomplished fact, but not of planning for its accomplishment. Men of ability do not need to be guided merely by public approval in their conduct of affairs; it is only necessary for them to consider the final results of action, and if these are good the adverse comment endured for a time is of no consequence.\n\nJust as it is necessary to remove the skin of a fruit in order to taste its sweetness, so in dealing with affairs it is necessary to weigh carefully the pros and cons of any measure, and in order to do this it is essential that there should be calm and dispassionate investigation.\n\nThe assembly, in discussing any given subject, should first carefully examine all the surrounding circumstances and not act in any rash or hasty manner, in order that the true bearings of the matter may be discovered and action taken without subsequent hindrance.\n\nDivergence of views there must be, but difference of opinion should be carefully distinguished from obstinacy. Obstinacy is the greatest obstacle to all progress, and I would earnestly warn you against it.\"\n\nPresident's Address.-The president then delivered an address in which he traced the development of parliamentary institutions in western countries from the earliest times down to the present day, dwelt on their recent extension to Japan, and concluded by pointing out that China had at last taken the first step on the path of constitutional reform.\n\nThe rules of procedure and other regulations of the assembly have since been published. They are minute and detailed, but present no original features, being closely modelled on those of western countries. Every subject for debate has to pass three readings, and is to be discussed clause by clause, each individual motion or amendment being voted on separately. Provision is also made for special committees to which questions may be referred from the full assembly.\n\nProgramme of Government Business.--The governor has placed a variety of questions before the assembly for discussion, and it is evident that he intends to occupy their attention fully by matters of official suggestion. The following is a short list:", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428224, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 149, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "# Local Self-Government.---How should it be inaugurated? How are the funds to be provided?\n\nEducation. How general education is to be provided and paid for? On what lines are industrial schools to be introduced?\n\nPolice. The present police force is insufficient. What steps should be taken to provide a proper force, and how are the funds to be provided?\n\nTrade and Industry.--How should methods of agriculture be improved, with special reference to the use of chemical fertilisers and modern systems of irrigation? How is trade to be encouraged? What new industries to be developed, new markets opened up? How are banking methods to be reorganised, and reforms introduced into the salt monopoly? Should the statutory interest charged by pawnbrokers be revised? How are the instructions of the central Government in regard to the issue of paper money to be carried out?\n\nLand Tax-An improved scheme is put before the members for the collection of the land tax and a discussion of its merits requested.\n\nWeights and Measures.-How to introduce a uniform system?\n\nThe assembly in November was engaged in digesting this wide programme, but no report of the debates had appeared in the papers, although accommodation was provided for newspaper reporters.\n\n## MANCHURIA\n\n### Feng-tien (Mukden) Province\n\nElectorate. There is little detailed information. The province was divided into forty-five electoral districts for the first election of delegates, and eight centres for the second election of the members of the assembly.\n\nFirst Election.--The election of delegates took place on the 7th May, 1909, and it is stated that 52,679 qualified voters registered their votes. Assuming the population of the province to be about 8,000,000, there was approximately one qualified voter to every 150 inhabitants, or double the proportion in Shantung.\n\nSecond Election. Composition of Assembly.--The election of members occurred on the 1st June. Of the 50 elected, 26 have official rank, 42 have literary degrees, and 4 have studied in Japan. They vary in age from 30 to 74.\n\nOpening Ceremony.-The opening of the assembly took place on the fixed date, the 14th October, in the presence of the Viceroy and governor, a special building costing 60,000 taels (£7,000) having been erected for the purpose.\n\nBusiness.---According to the press reports, the following questions have been placed before the Mukden assembly for discussion:\n\n1. Funds for local government purposes.\n\n2. Prohibition of opium.\n\n3. Organisation of police.\n\n4. Funds for education.\n\n5. Organisation of agricultural associations.\n\n6. Extension of wheat and bean crops.\n\n7. Improvement of sericulture and wool.\n\n8. Currency, trade, waterways, mines, and fisheries questions.\n\n9. Reorganisation of the land and other taxes.\n\n### KIRIN PROVINCE\n\nOpposition to Governor.-No information except a general statement that the assembly has manifested a strong opposition to the policy of the governor, who is reported to have written to the Viceroy stating that the province is not yet ripe for the adoption of parliamentary institutions. (These reports have since been denied in the press).\n\n### HEILUNGCHIANG PROVINCE\n\nOpening-Beyond a bare announcement that the assembly was opened at Tsitsihar at the due date by the governor, there is little information in the press.\n\n## CHIHLI\n\nOpening Ceremony. The provincial assembly of Chihli held its opening meeting on the 14th October in Li Hung-chang's Memorial Temple at Hopei, Tien-tsin.\n\nSpecial assembly buildings are at present being erected on an extensive scale, but will not be completed before May next.\n\nViceroy's Speech-His Excellency Tuan Fang, Viceroy of Chihli, opened the proceedings, in the presence of a full attendance of members, by reading the Imperial edict of the 13th October. In the subsequent speech, the Viceroy dwelt particularly on two points:\n\n1. In considering local interests, the assembly should always keep steadily in mind the larger national interests.\n\n2. The assembly must beware of overstepping the limited rights conferred upon it.\n\nA president and two vice-presidents were then elected. Salaries are fixed as follows: president, 150 taels per month; vice-president, 120 taels; and members, 70 taels per month, with travelling expenses.\n\nGovernment Programme of Business.--The subjects submitted by Viceroy Tuan and discussed by the assembly were:-\n\n1. A proposal to substitute cash for grain tribute from certain districts.\n\n2. Institution of a census.\n\n3. The development of instruction in easy writing.\n\n4. The reform of the police regulations.\n\n5. Enquiry into the system of official runners.\n\nTo these has to be added-\n\n6. Plan for carrying out local autonomy in Chihli, a subject suggested by the Constitutional Government Committee.\n\nDebates. Owing to the number and variety of subjects for discussion, the original session of forty days was extended ten days. The debates were open to the public, but it appears that few took advantage of this privilege. They were not reported in the native press, which is apparently waiting for the presentation of the assembly's reports and the Viceroy's comments thereon before dealing with the subject. The session was concluded on the 3rd December, when nine members were elected to represent the assembly in the Senate.\n\nRelations of Assembly to Senate and Central Government.-The regulations which govern the constitution of the assembly provide that the opinions it forms should be submitted direct to the Senate in Peking. In the meantime, as the Senate is not yet in being, the assembly reports to the Viceroy, who, at the conclusion of the session, explains the official attitude on the subjects of the reports. It has been suggested by a censor that this viceregal superintendence detracts to a great extent from the usefulness of the assembly, the object of whose existence is the discussion of public affairs by persons independent of the Government. That the central Government is exceedingly anxious as to the behaviour of the newly-constituted body is evidenced by the fact that they have several times by telegram urged the Viceroy to keep a strict watch that the assembly does not exceed its rights, and that this nervousness is to some extent justified may be realised from the reports that twelve representatives of the assembly requested the Wai-wu Pu in a memorial to cancel the agreement lately concluded between China and Japan concerning the Manchurian question. Interference of this sort in matters which lie between the central Government and foreign States was of course frowned upon, and the memorial promptly pigeon-holed. The incident serves to draw one's attention to what will be a certain source of trouble in the future.\n\nThe above is taken from a memorandum by Mr. G. A. Combe, of His Britannic Majesty's consulate-general at Tien-tsin.\n\n## HONAN\n\nPreliminary Steps,-We learn from a published memorial of the Governor of Honan that in November 1908, an organisation office was established, and preliminary steps after the Shantung model were taken.\n\nVoting Lists-Voting lists were completed by March 1909, and the elections commenced in June.\n\nOpening. The opening of the assembly at K'ai-feng-fu at 10 A.M. on the 14th October was mentioned in the native press. The day was kept as a holiday by\n\nPage 9\n\n[2605 7-21]\n\nD\n\n147\n\n1", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428225, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 150, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "10\n\nthe schools. The ceremony lasted till the afternoon. Admittance was by tickets, of which only 200 or 300 were issued.\n\nSHANSI.\n\nOpening; English Missionaries take part in Ceremony. The provincial assembly was opened at Tai-yuan-fu on the 14th October, with considerable ceremony, in a special building, the erection of which was still uncompleted. The foreigners, mostly English missionaries and professors resident in Tai-yuan-fu, were invited to be present, and were formally introduced to the eighty-six members, who are favourably commented upon as men of education and standing. The president, Liang Shanchi, a Han-lin graduate, has a high reputation in Shansi, and his tendencies may be judged from the fact that he has sent his son to study engineering in the Birmingham University.\n\nSpeeches of Governor and Treasurer.-After the assembly was declared open by the governor in a formal address which was read for him, the provincial treasurer (who is now the governor as a result of the moves caused by Tuan-fang's downfall) made a carefully prepared speech, the object of which appeared to be to impress upon the members the limited nature of their powers. Congratulatory speeches were then made by Dr. Edwards, an English missionary, and a Japanese professor, and these were followed by a tactful address from the president inviting attention to the importance of the occasion in the political history of Shansi and China, thanking the Throne for the gift of popular representation, and specially recognising the debt A dinner of due to England \"the friend of China and the mother of Parliaments.\" forty covers closed the proceedings.\n\nDebates; Opium Question; Conflict of Opinion between Provincial and Central Governments.-The debates of the Shansi assembly are said to be conducted well and intelligently. One attended by some foreigners towards the end of October was on the opium question, in regard to which a difference of opinion had arisen between the province and the central Government. The thorough enforcement of the opium prohibition in Shansi by the provincial Government had caused a serious falling off in the revenue derived from opium, and the local bureau affected brought influence to bear upon the Board of Finance in Peking to overrule the provincial legislation against the importation of opium from other provinces. This, it seems, the Board of Finance attempted to do, and the province naturally hold that if they are forbidden to cultivate, it is unreasonable to ask them to keep an open market for opium from other provinces. The assembly and the provincial Government are at one in opposing the action of the Board of Finance.\n\nSHENSI\n\nPreliminary Steps; First and Second Elections, and Opening Ceremony.-A memorial from the governor appeared in the \"Official Gazette\" of the 5th November, reporting on the opening of the Shensi provincial assembly in Hsi-an-fu. According to this an organisation office was opened in November 1908 under the direction of the provincial treasurer, lists of electors were drawn up by May 1909, the first election of delegates took place in July, and the second election of the members, sixty-three for the province and three for the Manchu garrison of Hsi-an, was completed in August. In September the members collected in Hsi-an, and the assembly was duly opened on the 14th October. The president is a graduate who was formerly a district magistrate in Chihli, and the two vice-presidents are also graduates.\n\nGovernor's Speech.-The governor reports that he opened the proceedings in person, supported by the Tartar general of Hsi-an, and the provincial officials, and read the Imperial decree of the 13th October, which had just arrived by telegraph. He concludes by stating that he impressed upon the members the necessity of strictly confining themselves within the limits of the powers confided to them under the rules.\n\nKANSU.\n\nPreliminaries; Viceroy advocated Delay in opening Assembly; Removal of Viceroy.- According to a memorial of Sheng-yün, Viceroy of Shensi and Kansu, which was published in the \"Official Gazette\" of the 16th April, 1909, the preliminaries were modelled on what was being done in Nanking and Wuch'ang. He explained that the establishment of the organisation office was delayed by the necessity of sending officers to the Yang-tsze to make enquiries, and it was not till the 13th December, 1908, that this office was formed and the preparations for the elections commenced.\n\n11\n\nIn the course of the preparations Sheng-yün appears to have come to the conclusion that the convocation of an assembly in Kansu in 1909 would be premature, and he applied for permission to come to Peking to give his reasons to the central Government. This permission being refused, he asked to be relieved of his post, and in a decree of the 23rd June he was censured and removed from office for dereliction of duty in regard to the preparations for popular representation.\n\nNo Information of Opening of Assembly yet received.-No information of the opening of an assembly at Lanchou has yet reached us.\n\nKIANGSU.\n\nThe following is taken from a report by Mr. Goffe, His Majesty's consul at Nanking\n\nOpening Ceremony at Nanking-The assembly was duly opened on the 14th October at 9 o'clock in the morning, when 112 deputies were present. The great majority of them belonged to the seventh, eighth, and ninth ranks (gold buttons), a few to the fifth and sixth, and a very small number to the third or fourth; two or three wore no buttons, indicating that they had no official rank. The deputies were each provided with a number, and were seated at desks facing the presidential chair.\n\n\"The proceedings opened punctually at the appointed hour, and after being called to order, the deputies filed out of the hall, as their numbers were called out, to be presented to the Viceroy. After a short interval they returned, and the Viceroy and the governor of Soochow, accompanied by most of the high provincial officials, took their seats on the dais, to the left and right of the president respectively. The president rang his bell, and three speeches, suitable to the occasion, drafted respectively by the Viceroy, the governor and the president, were read by the secretaries. The assembly then adjourned till the 18th October, when the regular session began.\n\nForeign Consuls Invited.-\"The foreign consuls were invited to be present at the ceremony, and were afterwards presented to the president; they are also allowed to attend the sittings and listen to the debates.\n\nProceedings; Debates.\" The proceedings, which were conducted in an orderly and impressive manner, were held in the Manchu guildhall, which will be utilised for the meetings of the deputies until the assembly house, which is now in course of erection, is ready for use. It is hoped to eventually make mandarin the language of the assembly; but, for the present, the deputies are allowed to speak in any dialect they please. Any deputy, however, who wishes to bring any proposal before the assembly must first deposit with the officials, in writing, a résumé of its leading features; this document will then be printed and circulated amongst the deputies before the subject comes up for discussion.\n\nDebates Reported in the Press. The assembly meets every day at 1 P.M., and the sitting is continued until 5 or 6 o'clock; the press is allowed to report the proceedings, and a summary of the debates is appearing in a Nanking daily newspaper which has been published since the 20th of October.\n\nThe following subjects have been submitted by the Viceroy and governor respectively for the deliberation of the assembly:-\n\nBy the Viceroy---\n\nProgramme of Government Business Control and limitation of the coinage of copper 10-cash pieces and the extended use of silver coins to replace them.\n\n\"Census: The most effective method of taking it.\n\nDredging of the Huai River and the repair of its banks.\n\n\"Extension of the Nanking City Railway to Wuhu: In this connection the Viceroy states that the City railway has proved a most profitable undertaking, and that there are good prospects of an extension to Wuhu, a distance of some 200 li, which would pass through T'ai Ping-fu and many busy marts, proving equally remunerative. He regrets that the authorities have no funds at their disposal to undertake this work, and he recommends it to the earnest consideration of the merchants and gentry. The Viceroy states that the foreign manager of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway has claimed the right to build this line, as the railway agreement gives the company the option of constructing all railways within 100 li of the Shanghae line. But he dismisses this claim as inadmissible on the ground that the line in question is 200 li in length, and does not come within the sphere of the company's agreement.\n\n148\n\nPage 150\nPage 151", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428226, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 151, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "12\n\n13\n\n\"By the Governor of Soochow :-\n\n\"The provision of the expenses of self-government.\n\nRelief of the financial difficulties of district magistrates (through loss on exchange of 10-cash copper pieces).\n\nSurvey of waste lands.\n\nThe amalgamation of the agricultural societies into one agricultural and afforestation company,\n\n\"An effective prohibition of the use of opium.\n\nImposition of stamp duty.\n\n\"Improvement in method of collecting li-kin,\n\n\"Stricter system of registration of title-deeds. “Standardisation of weights and measures.\n\n\"Formation of a society for spreading the knowledge of the principles of constitutional government among the people.\"\n\nElections at Shanghae.-A report of Sir Pelham Warren's contains some information regarding the elections in the Shanghae district.\n\nThe primary elections were held in the Shanghae magistracy on the 22nd March, when twenty-two delegates were chosen. This number being insufficient to return the five members required (by the rules there must be ten delegates for each member), further elections were held on the 29th March and 18th April.\n\nOn the 5th May the five members were elected by ballot at the Sungkiang prefecture, All five are graduates.\n\nSalaries of Assembly Officers.-The salaries paid to members and officers of the Kiangsu assembly are:-\n\nPresident\n\nVice-President\n\nChief Secretary\n\nSecretaries\n\nMembers of Standing Committee\n\nTaels.\n\n(a-month)\n\n150\n\n120\n\n100\n\n30\n\n70\n\nThese salaries and the travelling expenses of all the members are paid by the Viceroy.\n\nKIANGSI,\n\nMr. Worner, His Majesty's consul at Kiukiang, has reported as follows:--- Preparatory Steps.\" Very little has been done in this province. The Governor issued instructions to all the Fa, Ting, Chou, and Hsien to establish local deliberative bodies in accordance with the regulations issued by the Peking Government.\n\nOpening of Assembly at Nan Ch'ong.-\"The Nan Chiang provincial assembly was opened by the governor on the 1st day of the 9th moon (14th October), all the civil and military officials, gentry, merchants, scholars, &c., to the number of 1,000 being present. The governor made a short speech, pointing out the nature of this new institution, and exhorting all to act together for the good of the country.\n\nDiscontent caused by Census.\" The enforcement of the provision respecting the taking of the census caused much discontent in some places. From those districts where it was properly carried out reports have been sent in, but in others abuses by the census officials led to disturbances. In Yuan Chou the people collected together and burnt the census office, and much fighting took place, many being killed and wounded. In Lo Ping, Po Yang, Te An, Jui Chang, Wu Ning, and Wen An, small disturbances also took place, the census officers being attacked and wounded,\n\nAppointment of President and Vice-Presidents.\" On the 2nd of the 9th moon the governor ordered the election of one head and two vice-presidents. Hsich Yuan-han, who was chosen as president, was objected to by more than forty members, but was subsequently confirmed in the appointment, together with the two elected vice-presidents, Huang Ta-hsun and Kuo Yu-ping.\"\n\nHUPEL\n\nFirst and Second Elections; Electorate.-Mr. Fraser reports that the first elections in the Hupei districts were held in May, and the second elections in July, Voting lists were publicly displayed at the magistrates' offices, and revised with the aid of special committees. (The total number of electors in the province is 113,233). \"The provision confining the vote to natives of each district resulted, in Hankow, where the chief business men come from Canton, Ningpo, and Swatow, in excluding from candidature the best known and most prominent persons. The London Mission assures me that there was no trace of anti-Christian prejudice and a good many of its native members exercised the right of voting.\"\n\nOpening Ceremony.The following interesting account of the opening ceremony of the Hupei provincial assembly is a translation by Mr. A. J. Martin from the native press:----\n\n\"Yesterday, the 1st day of the 9th month, was the date fixed for the opening ceremony of the provincial assembly.\n\n\"Some days previously the office for making preparations for the provincial assembly had hoisted the dragon flag on the main hall of the Educational Society's building, which was lent for the occasion, and had there erected a canopy for the Imperial edict and stretched a coloured awning outside the eaves.\n\n\"At 9 A.M. on the appointed day the president, vice-president, and the other members, wearing winter hats, festal black jackets, and blue robes, but without their official rosaries, met at Hsun Tao Ling, in the waiting-room prepared for them in the grounds of the Educational Society. The administrative officials, i.e., the provincial treasurer, the commissioner of education, and the provincial judge, the salt taotai, the intendant of industry, the police taotai and the customs taotai, the prefects of Wachang and Hanyang, the Hsia K'ou sub-prefect, and the magistrates of Chiang Hsia and Hanyang assembled at 9 A.M. in the guest hall made ready for them in the grounds of the Educational Society, and the invited guests gradually assembled in the ante-room appointed for them.\n\nExhibition of Imperial Decree.—“At 10A.M. the Viceroy arrived and alighted outside the coloured awning, and was shown by the master of the ceremonies into the waiting room. He rested here a short time while the officials of the office for making preparations for the provincial assembly offered him tea. When it was announced that the final preparations had been made, the master of ceremonies conducted the Viceroy to the space in front of the Imperial edict in the main hall; the other high officials following in order of precedence. The president, vice-president, and the other members of the assembly were then separately ushered in by the master of ceremonies. When all had been arranged in their appointed places the Viceroy's cushion was placed in the centre of the front row before the Imperial edict. The president's cushion was then placed on a level with, and to the right of, the Viceroy's. In the second row were the provincial treasurer, the commissioner of education, and provincial judge, with the salt taotai, the intendant of industry, the police taotai, and the customs taotai.\n\n\"In the third row were placed the cushions of the prefects of Wachang and Hanyang, the Hsia K'ou sub-prefect, and the magistrates of Chiang Hsia and Hanyang, and on their left were ranged the members of the provincial assembly. When all the cushions had been placed in order the master of ceremonies cried ‘Kneel!' and the whole assembly knelt. He then ordered the Imperial edict to be read, and when this had been done he called on the assembly to kneel thrice and kotow nine times in token of gratitude for the Imperial favour. This done, he called on the assembly to stand up, and they left their appointed places.\n\nThe executive officials were then ordered to take up their positions in order of precedence on the right, and the president, vice-president, and members of the provincial assembly to take up their positions on the left and bow thrice, the ceremony of greeting.\n\n\"The master of ceremonies next gave the order to perform the opening ceremony, conducted the concourse to the doors of the assembly-house, and retired. The executive officials and the president, vice-president, and members entered the house in order by the main door and took their seats. The guests entered by the east and west doors and took their seats apart in a side room. The Viceroy was seated behind the president; the provincial treasurer, commissioner for education, and the provincial judge sat in a row on his left; the salt taotai, the intendant of industry, police taotai, and customs taotai on his right.\n\n\"The prefects of Wuchang and Hanyang, and the Hsia K'ou sub-prefect, and the magistrates of Chiang Hsia and Hanyang had special seats.\n\nViceroy's SpeechThe Viceroy rose and made a congratulatory speech, the assembly meanwhile standing. After they had resumed their seats the president rose and replied, the assembly again standing. The president and vice-president then accompanied the Viceroy and executive officials to their waiting-rooms, where they remained for a few minutes, the stewards performing the same function for the guests.\n\n[2605 7-2]\n\nE\n\n149", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428227, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 152, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "On his Excellency's departure the president and vice-president accompanied him to the courtyard of the main hall, bowed, and waited until he had entered his chair; and afterwards the rest of the executive officials departed in order of rank, while the president and vice-president waited and bowed to each.\n\nComposition of Assembly.-The members of the Hupei assembly are said to be mostly reformers, and almost all have either official status or literary degrees. Thus the president is an expectant taotai and the two vice-presidents are Hanlin graduates. The Viceroy's opening speech impressed on the members the need for public spirit, and cautioned them against encroaching on the sphere of the executive officials.\n\nProgramme of Business.-The programme of the assembly at the close of October contained five subjects-\n\n1. Extension of education and financial provision therefor.\n\n2. Prevention of fires.\n\n3. Encouragement of agriculture and forestry.\n\n4. Provision of funds to meet cost of self-government.\n\n5. Opium repression.\n\nHUNAN.\n\nThe report by Mr. Hewlett, His Majesty's consul at Changsha on the provincial assembly of Hunan is quoted :-\n\nElections.- In accordance with instructions issued by the governor through the director of education in April last, elections were held throughout the province with a view to appointing members for the first Hunan Parliament. At the end of June a meeting was held in Changsha, at which a programme was discussed, and the reasons for forming a Parliament given; a report of this meeting was drawn up by the industrial taotai, and was sent to all the local authorities in the province. By the beginning of September the elections were completed, and by the end of the month the members elected, eighty-two in all, assembled in Changsha in preparation for the opening of Parliament, which was fixed for the 14th October. Mr. Tang Yen-k'ai was elected president of the Parliament.\n\nOpening; Governor's Speech.- On the 14th October the governor opened the first Parliament in person. His Excellency read an address in which the duties of the members as representing the public opinion of the whole province of Hunan were briefly enumerated, and in which the importance of a constitution for China was carefully explained. He exhorted them to work in unison; to be sincere in the fulfilment of their duties; to cast aside private differences; to practise what they preached, and zealously to support the officials in promoting the best interests of Hunan, and in eradicating abuses.\n\nPresident's Reply.- Mr. Tang Yen-k'ai's reply was slightly patronising. He declared that the Parliament would always serve the best interests of Hunan, and that as Hunan had saved the Chinese Empire in the days of the Tai Ping rebellion so now and in the future they would assist the officials to stamp out abuse, and by unanimity of purpose secure the fullest advantages for Hunan.\n\nTwo members stand out prominently in the Parliament, Mr. Tang Yen-k'ai and Mr. Chen Wen-wei. The former is the political authority, and commercial matters are practically entirely in the hands of the latter, but as far as the others are concerned the majority have never crossed the borders of Hunan, and for some the present occasion is the first visit to Changsha.\n\nPolitical Associations; Attitude of Interference in Foreign Cases.- The two men mentioned above rule the counsels of the political association (the Yen Chiu Hui) whose members are all members of Parliament. This association has, even at this early date, made it clear to the provincial authorities that they intend to be consulted on every question, political or municipal, affecting Hunan, and they base their right on the power they possess of appealing directly to the political institutions in Peking. The customs taotai has told me quite frankly that he dare not take any action which promotes foreign interests in Changsha without the permission of this association, even if the foreign demand is strictly in accordance with treaty provisions. The association has already interfered in two cases, which are still unsettled, in a very definite manner, and it still remains to be seen whether the governor has the strength of will to withstand the unwarrantable interference of this body of men in questions affecting foreign relations, seeing that they are totally ignorant of the solemn obligations incurred by China under the various treaties, obligations which the association considers can be set aside merely because they prove distasteful to Hunan.\n\nThe provincial treasurer tells me in confidence that several tens of petitions have already been received demanding the dismissal of about 60 per cent. of the representatives, but up to the present only two have been dismissed.\n\nThe remaining political institution in Changsha-the Tiao Ch'a Chu-has met with keen opposition in the exercise of its functions, chiefly as regards the census and the assessment of property. The members of the gentry who were not elected to the Parliament encourage the opposition, and it will be some time before this conservative province agrees to a close scrutiny of what its population consider questions which affect themselves alone as private individuals.”\n\nSZECHUAN.\n\nThe following is from a report by Mr. W. Stark Toller:-\n\nElections; Distribution of Seats.- The elections for the provincial assembly took place at the appointed date---on the 15th day of the 6th month (the 31st July)- though in several cases it was not until two or three days later that the election was completed. The number of members elected for the whole of Szechuan was 105, the numbers from each prefecture being as follows:---\n\n \n Chengtu\n 14\n \n \n Mien-chou\n 4\n \n \n Li-ang\n ...\n \n \n An-fa\n ...\n \n \n Mao-chou\n 1\n \n \n Ta chon\n ...\n \n \n Ning Yuan\n ...\n \n \n Cuiating\n ...\n \n \n Mei-chou\n ...\n \n \n Chinng-chou\n ...\n \n \n Chung king\n ...\n \n \n K'uei-fu\n ...\n \n \n Hsu Ting\n ...\n \n \n Chung-chon\n ...\n \n \n Yu Yang-chon\n ...\n \n \n Paoning\n ...\n \n \n Shun Ching\n ...\n \n \n Tung Chuan\n ...\n \n \n Esu-chou-fu (Suifu)\n ...\n \n \n Hsu Yung Ting\n ...\n \n \n Lu-chou\n ...\n \n \n Tzu-chou\n ...\n \n \n Total\n 105\n \n\nTo this number must be added the two extra members elected to represent the banner garrison in Chengtu, thus bringing the total up to 107. There were also elected 54 expectant members, to fill any vacancy that might occur. These expectant members were elected by a separate ballot after the election of the sitting members, which explains the otherwise remarkable fact that the expectant members have almost invariably a greater number of votes recorded in their favour than have the sitting members.\n\nWant of Enthusiasm in Electorate.- In the June quarter's intelligence report Mr. Smith mentioned that at the first, or direct, election in the two districts of the city of Chengtu the number of men who obtained the fixed minimum of votes fell very far short of the quota to be elected by each district magistracy, the deficiency in the Chengtu Hsien being 9, and in the Hua Yang Hsien 14. A supplementary election was therefore held a few days later, at which the requisite number of men were elected. In the Chengtu Hsien 63 votes was sufficient to secure qualification for the second and final election, while the lowest number obtained by a successful candidate in the Hua Yang Hsien was 70 votes. When so little interest is shown in the capital, it does not seem reasonable to expect great enthusiasm in the external cities, and such information as I have been able to obtain tends to confirm this view.\n\nComposition of Assembly.- The greater part of the elected members of the provincial council are either holders of some official rank or are graduates under the old system of examinations. Of the total of 161 sitting and expectant members, there are only six who possess neither of these qualifications, and these are all elected under the property qualification (5,000 dollars). A large proportion of the members elected are returned Japanese students. I am told that fully 30 per cent. of the whole, including the president (I Chang) come under this category.\n\nAn examination of the official list of members shows the average age to be ...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428230, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 155, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "20\n\n\"The council approved of the survey scheme, and also of the proposal of the intendant of commerce that unowned and public woods should be first surveyed. The method of survey was left to be discussed on the second and third readings.\n\n\"The president sounded his bell, and there was an interval of twenty minutes. \"After reassembling the council discussed its temporary rules :——\n\n\"The president read out the rules as amended by the Viceroy, and enquired whether the Council had any objections to raise. He also read out the rules as he proposed to amend them and discussed them with the council.\n\n\"Prefect Yany explained why the Viceroy had made changes in the rules, and said that there was no need for the council to become suspicious. He then entered into a long and earnest discussion with the president.\n\nIt being now 5:40 the president sounded his bell and the council dispersed.\" \n\nFUKIEN.\n\nThe account below of the opening of the Fukien assembly is taken from an English newspaper published at Foochow The specimen debate and plan of the Chamber* have been furnished by Mr. Playfair, His Majesty's consul.\n\n\"The Opening of the Fukien Provincial Parliament.\n\nOpening Ceremony.\" Thursday, the 14th October, was the day set for the opening of the Parliaments in the various provinces of China.\n\n\"In Foochow the Parliament is sitting in a building which was part of the old examination hall in the north part of the city. This building has been fitted up to accommodate the Parliament until the more permanent structure is erected. The room in which the business is transacted is about 60 feet wide by 120 feet long. At the farther end as one enters are the seats for the Viceroy in the middle, for the treasurer, judge, and commissioner of education at the Viceroy's left, as he sits, and for the Tartar general and the salt commissioner on the Viceroy's right. Lower are seats for other officials.\n\n\"In front of these seats and in the centre of the room is the table, about which sit or stand the six secretaries or clerks.\n\n\"Before this table, arranged in circular form, are seated the members of the Parliament. By this arrangement the Fukien provincial officials and the members of Parliament sit facing each other, with the six secretaries between them.\n\n\"By the courtesy of the Parliament the writer received an announcement of It was 4 P.M. when he arrived. Two the opening with two tickets of admission. ushers met, as at the door and invited us to come into the visitors' gallery, which is at the opposite end from the seats for the provincial officials and facing them. The Viceroy and other officials mentioned above looked rather lonely, but as our eyes followed down the room past the secretaries table the aspect changed, for here were seated in a compact body seventy-three members out of seventy-five of Parliament. They wore the regulation official hat with the red tassel and the long official robe. Their backs were of course toward us, and it was with difficulty that we recognised those whom we knew as they rose or turned in their seats.\n\n\"The room is well lighted with glass in the roof, and is tastefully arranged. As we look up on the right wall we see the Chinese characters for 'China,' and opposite Until very recently the them on the other wall are the characters for 'Long Live.' \n\n'Emperor' was put in place of 'China.' But the people are now saying, 'Long Live China' instead of Long Live the Emperor.'\n\n\"The business of the day was organisation. The president or speaker is a Mr. Kau, from the Yeng Bing prefecture from the city Sung Chiong. He is 44 years old. There are two vice-presidents, one a Mr. Lau, from Foochow, and a Mr. Chen, from Chiang Chiu, near Amoy. Fifteen men were elected as the executive of the Parliament, who are to be in the building daily.\n\n\"The voting was done by ballot. The secretaries distributed envelopes to the members into which each member could put his vote, these were afterwards collected, counted, and the results read by one of the secretaries and also written on a small blackboard and hung up.\n\n\"Several members on being elected to the executive forthwith resigned. Otherwise all was conducted with dignity and grace. Great possibilities for usefulness\n\n*Not reproduced.\n\n21\n\nlie within the powers of this body of men. Ten years ago we had not even thought of the possibility of a constitutional Government for China. To-day the machinery is at work.\n\n\"This marks an epochal day in the history of China.' Specimen of Debate.\" Sample of debate on the establishment of schools.\n\n\"Mr. Lin Lu-ts'un: May I ask why Hsing-Hua-Fu and Chuan-chou Fu have not been included in the list of groups of towns?\n\n\"The Treasurer: These two names have been accidentally omitted and shall be added in future lists.\n\n“Mr. Lien Hsien-chi: I approve of the method of arranging town in groups; but should like to be informed whether the allocation of funds will be arranged on the same system as that applied in the case of the Government High School at Foochow.\n\n\"The Treasurer: After the regulations have been deliberated and fixed, the necessary expenditure will be estimated.\n\n\"Mr. Lien Hsien-cha: I think the estimate of expenditure should be made first. \"The Treasurer: The funds available do not exceed 50,000 dollars, which is insufficient; therefore, a new estimate must be drawn up. But the regulations must precede it.\n\n\"Mr. Lin Lu-ts'un: I propose that towns be grouped on the basis of dialects. A centre should be established at Amoy to comprise the islands in the south of the province. Thence the grouping may be extended to the various prefectures.\n\n\"The President; This proposal must be first examined and reported on by the inspectors appointed for the purpose. To this all the members gave their approval.\n\nViceroy's Message.\" This is in accordance with the regulations for the high schools promulgated in the first year of the present reign. It was provided that high schools should be established at Peking and in the various provinces. Primary schools should be started in prefectures, departments, towns, and villages. The establishment of high schools in such prefectures as do not yet possess them will be effected by the end of the year. The high school is a step above the primary school which acts as a feeder. A high school has recently been established at Foochow. At Yen-ping Fu the question of establishing a high school is under consideration by the people. High schools have been established at Chich-uing Fu, at Shao-wa Fu, at Ting-chou Fu, at Hsing-hua Fu, at Ch'uan-chou Fu, and at Yung-ch'un Chou but without much success. The high school established at Lung-yen Chou has already come to an untimely end, while that at Fu-ning Fu is not yet in working order. Such is the present state of affairs as regards the high schools. Primary schools have to be provided in two departments and in fifty-eight districts; so many in large districts; so many in small.\n\n\"In the matter of the proposed local Government Boards, the arrangements are not yet completed; the areas of the different sections have not been defined; the number of inhabitants to each section has not been reckoned; nor have the villages and towns been properly grouped. The establishment of primary schools and the allocation of funds for their up-keep is the problem before us and it is difficult. High schools are the issue of primary schools. Both together are the basis of our education scheme and with care and wisdom must the foundation be laid.\" \n\nKWANGTUNG.\n\nThe following extract is quoted from a memorandum by Mr. Lancelot Giles, of His Majesty's consulate-general at Canton :--\n\nElections.\" On the 17th July, 1909, the first ballot was held in the Yamens of the various district and department magistrates and sub-prefects. The method adopted was that any person who fell into one or other of the categories of those eligible for election circulated among the voters pamphlets expressing his desire for election. Only persons securing a vote were qualified to be voted for on the second ballot, held on the 24th August, 1909.\n\n\"The names of those who received votes at the first ballot were placarded at the Yamens of the prefects, sub-prefects, and magistrates, where the second ballot was held. Before a given date those who wished to accept their nomination had to signify their assent, otherwise they were disqualified.\n\nSecond Elections and Distribution of Seats.-\"At the second ballot ninety-four\n\nQ [2605 7--2]\n\n153", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428385, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 310, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government\n\n308\n\n(2.)\n\nConstitutional Government Committee to Governor of Hunan.\n\n(Telegraphic.) (Translation.)\n\nYOUR telegram of 18th December.\n\nAny agreements contracted between viceroys or governors of provinces and foreigners must be approved by the board concerned, and such agreements cannot be described as issuing rules and regulations of merely provincial interest. Again, as regards the detailed rules affecting agreements of this nature, the board will depute the viceroy or governor to draw them up. These detailed rules are quite different from rules and regulations affecting purely provincial matters. It is for the board concerned to decide which of such agreements should be conducted by the board itself and which by the province. Pending the issue of regulations governing this question, it may be laid down that the provincial assembly may pass resolutions only on subjects where the rights of the province are at issue, and in accordance with the rules governing these assemblies. Questions which need reference to a board for their decision cannot, it is evident, be submitted for discussion to the provincial assembly.\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[4638]\n\nNo. 1.\n\n5654\n\nRECO [February 24 FEB IC\n\nSECTION 1.\n\nActing Consul Smith to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received February 9, 1910.) (No. 9.) Sir,\n\nWuchow, December 31, 1909.\n\nI HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a report which I have sent to His Majesty's Minister at Peking on the Provincial Assembly at Kueilin.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nC. D. SMITH.\n\nEnclosure in No. 1.\n\nReport on the Provincial Assembly at Kueilin.\n\nTHE Provincial Assembly at Kueilin consists of fifty-eight elected members, as well as the governor, provincial treasurer, provincial judge, education commissioner, police intendant, and the local prefect and district magistrate, who are members ex officio. The elected members are all persons of some academic distinction, and two of them have attained the Hanlin degree.\n\nThe elections did not arouse much public interest, and were barely mentioned in the local press. The Assembly met for the first time on the 14th October in a building specially erected for the purpose in the Imperial city at Kueilin.\n\nTheir relations with the governor have not been without friction, in consequence, as I am informed, of an attempt on the governor's part to restrict their deliberations in certain respects, but I have not been able to obtain details.\n\nThe local press has reported nothing of the debates, but the decisions and comments of the governor on the reports addressed to him by the Assembly are now appearing.\n\nThe recommendations which have been wholly or partially sanctioned by the governor are as follows: The establishment of additional schools, the contributions to be allotted to the support of schools, alterations in school regulations, the establishment of schools of agriculture and silk culture, an increase in the land tax to meet educational expenditure (sanctioned in respect of places where the land tax is now insufficient for the purpose), the suppression of the sale of opium in the second year of Hsuan Tung (which, in view of the financial difficulty of sudden suppression, is sanctioned only to the extent that localities desirous of abandoning the sale of opium before the appointed date may do so).\n\nThe Assembly further propose reforms in the abuses of the li-kin system in the province, and the transfer of the provincial capital to Nanning, but the governor declared the former question to be outside the functions of the Assembly, and rejected the latter proposal as offering more disadvantages than advantages.\n\nTwo excursions have been made by the Assembly into the region of foreign politics—a protest against the appointment by foreign Powers of advisers to the Chinese Government, and an invitation to other provincial assemblies to join in a protest against the Manchurian Convention between China and Japan.\n\n[2633 i-1]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428419, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 344, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "Constitutional Government Committee to Governor of Hunan,\n\n(Telegraphic.) (Translation.)\n\nYOUR telegram of 18th December.\n\nAny agreements contracted between viceroys or governors of provinces and foreigners must be approved by the board concerned, and such agreements cannot be described as issuing rules and regulations of merely provincial interest. Again, as regards the detailed rules affecting agreements of this nature, the board will depute the viceroy or governor to draw them up. Those detailed rules are quite different from rules and regulations affecting purely provincial matters. It is for the board concerned to decide which of such agreements should be conducted by the board itself and which by the province. Pending the issue of regulations governing this question, it may be laid down that the provincial assembly may pass resolutions only on subjects where the rights of the province are at issue, and in accordance with the rules governing these assemblies. Questions which need reference to a board for their decision cannot, it is evident, be submitted for discussion to the provincial assembly.\n\n342\n\nThis Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government).\n\n5654\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[February 21, 1910]\n\nSECTION 1.\n\n[4638]\n\n(No. 9.) Sir,\n\nNo. 1.\n\nActing Consul Smith to Sir Edward Grey,~(Received February 9, 1910.)\n\nWuchow, December 31, 1909.\n\nI HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a report which I have sent to His Majesty's Minister at Peking on the Provincial Assembly at Kueilin.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nC. D. SMITH.\n\nEnclosure in No. 1.\n\nReport on the Provincial Assembly at Kueilin.\n\nTHE Provincial Assembly at Kueilin consists of fifty-eight elected members, as well as the governor, provincial treasurer, provincial judge, education commissioner, police intendant, and the local prefect and district magistrate, who are members ex officio. The elected members are all persons of some academic distinction, and two of them have attained the Hanlin degree.\n\nThe elections did not arouse much public interest, and were barely mentioned in the local press. The Assembly met for the first time on the 14th October in a building specially erected for the purpose in the Imperial city at Kueilin.\n\nTheir relations with the governor have not been without friction, in consequence, as I am informed, of an attempt on the governor's part to restrict their deliberations in certain respects, but I have not been able to obtain details.\n\nThe local press has reported nothing of the debates, but the decisions and comments of the governor on the reports addressed to him by the Assembly are now appearing.\n\nThe recommendations which have been wholly or partially sanctioned by the governor are as follows: The establishment of additional schools, the contributions to be allotted to the support of schools, alterations in school regulations, the establishment of schools of agriculture and silk culture, an increase in the land tax to meet educational expenditure (sanctioned in respect of places where the land tax is now insufficient for the purpose), the suppression of the sale of opium in the second year of Hsuan Tung (which, in view of the financial difficulty of sudden suppression, is sanctioned only to the extent that localities desirous of abandoning the sale of opium before the appointed date may do so).\n\nThe Assembly further propose reforms in the abuses of the li-kin system in the province, and the transfer of the provincial capital to Nanning, but the governor declared the former question to be outside the functions of the Assembly, and rejected the latter proposal as offering more disadvantages than advantages.\n\nTwo excursions have been made by the Assembly into the region of foreign politics—a protest against the appointment by foreign Powers of advisers to the Chinese Government, and an invitation to other provincial assemblies to join in a protest against the Manchurian Convention between China and Japan.\n\n[2633 i-1]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428733, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 74, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "6\n\nwere possible, appear to have been taken for the protection of foreigners, and I am told that a regiment was sent from Hankow to Changsha the previous day.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nEnclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER.\n\nThe \"Carved Melon\" Warning Placard. (Posted in Szechuan and forwarded by Mr. E. S. Little in his letter of February 6, 1910.)\n\n(Translation.)\n\nI SUBMIT, for your consideration, students of every school, of whatever kind and creed, in China, or members of young men's associations (literally of the Chung Kuo Kung Hsueh, Nang Yang Kung Hsieb, Ching Nien Hui, Fu Tan Kung Hsieh, and Yun Tan Hsueh Yuan), the following letters received from the various provinces, which show that the danger of the present day and the danger of \"the Carved Melon \" is already an accomplished fact.\n\nA letter received from the provincial assembly of Chihli states that the Japanese already have three divisions of troops and 50,000 police, who have arrived at Yang-tsun, near Tien-tsin, where they are devising plans for a war campaign. The people of Tien-tsin are one and all in a state of panic.\n\nFrom Manchuria I learn by letter that a secret treaty has been drawn up between Russia and Japan, under which all territory south of the Liao River, i.e., the province of Fêng Tien, shall belong to Japan, and all territory north of that river (i.e., the two provinces of Kirin and Heilungchiang) shall pass to Russia. The letter proceeds to say that neither Russia nor Japan recognised China's machinery of government in Manchuria, and that the inhabitants of the three provinces are filled with terror.\n\nA letter from Mongolia says that Russia has already concentrated a large body of troops (over 100,000 men) at Péi-chia-êrh-hu, with the object of wresting Mongolia, Kirin, and Heilungchiang from China (and to protect herself also against Japan).\n\nFrom Kuangsi comes a letter, saying that France has 200,000 troops at Lanchou, intended to invade and seize the provinces of Kuangsi and Kuangtung,\n\nFrom Kuangtung there comes news that Great Britain already has between 4,000 and 5,000 troops at Hong Kong. As she now sees France invading Kuangsi, she will move Indian troops into Kuangtung, so as to preserve the balance of power.\n\nFrom Yunnan I have received a letter, stating that all along the 400 or 500 li of the Annam-Yunnan Railway, French troops are stationed, stores are collected, and ammunition-munitions of war-are being carried. Also, that 40,000 workmen are being employed daily to push forward the construction of this railway (to be completed within the year), with the intention of seizing Yunnan province next year). Also, that numerous persons are sent daily to survey the important places in Yunnan, to spy out their military resources, to sketch maps, and generally to report fully on these places.\n\nIn troublous times reliance must be placed on military strength. The regular army of China consists of nine complete divisions, which, with the mixed brigades throughout the provinces, make a total of over 200,000 men. The majority of the Government troops are ignorant of strategy and tactics (for instance, among the officers of the Pei Yang army, only 20 per cent. have any knowledge of these subjects); military arms, accoutrements, &c., are necessarily not uniform throughout China; the morale of the troops is bad, with the result that they would be unable to withstand even 40,000 or 50,000 powerful troops.\n\nThe question of the day is how to ensure the safety of our lives and our homes, and it is certain that, unless we provide volunteer troops also, this result will not be secured. The object of a navy is to make raids on other nations, and to protect our settlers abroad; it is an arm of offence, not defence, and the condition of China at the present day is such as to permit of its postponement. The most pressing considerations of the hour are the provision of funds for the regular army and an increased recruitment of its numbers.\n\nAgain, in time of war implicit reliance has to be placed in war material (arms, accoutrements, &c.). The daily output of the Shanghae arsenal of rifles, artillery and ammunition is very small, and is normally not sufficient for the needs of the one province of Kiangsu. Even, therefore, if means were found to increase the daily output of war material from this arsenal ten-fold, it would not suffice for the needs of its own province as well as the other provinces of China. The purchase of warlike material in time of war is forbidden by international law. I would wish, therefore, that you, students of China, should go to every place, and there by public speech urge the collection of more funds for the purchase of large supplies of war material to be ready for use in time of war. At the present time all schools throughout Kuangtung and Kuangsi have become military training establishments. They have rejected an universal course of learning, and have engaged trained instructors of the regular army to teach them all branches of military subjects, with the object of protecting their country and their homes.\n\nThe devotion of you, student of China, to your country and your homes is well-known throughout all China, I beg you to give due attention to this matter, and I trust and pray you will recognise the importance of widely circulating your propaganda among others.\n\nWhen war broke out between Russia and Japan, the students of every civil school in Japan took employment as clerk, as servants or as rickshaw coolies, in order to earn money to devote to the expenses of the army. I trust that you, students of China, will in the same way spend less on your food so as to buy war material, and cut down your luxuries so as to help towards military expenditure, that the provinces may thus lead the way towards the prosperity of China.\n\nEnclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\nMemorandum by Dr. Richards and Mr. Cornabe respecting the Attitude of the Native Press (December 1909).\n\nON the subject of China's unpreparedness for parliamentary government, the \"Eastern Times,\" the most vigorous of the Shanghae native dailies, has recently printed a series of six connected pieces, in all about 4,500 words, as second leading articles, translated from the Japanese, enumerating the difficulties, which, in the writer's mind, are insuperable. But these are finally dismissed with the following remarks of the translator (who is probably the editor himself)\n\n\"With regard to the Japanese being afraid that we are unable to establish parliamentary government in China, are they really scheming for China or for their own land? The wise reader will guess which it is: Yet in their enumeration of our national maladies, where they go beyond due limits, their remarks may still serve to 'scratch the itching places' (or, to point out where the shoe pinches, as we might say), so that, where there are evident faults we may amend them, and where there are no such faults (as alleged) we may put forth the more effort.\"\n\nMeanwhile, this paper, as all the native papers, urges on the immediate opening of a Parliament for the whole Empire, as a panacea for all the ills of China.\n\n2. The suggestion of employing foreign loans for the construction of railways is characterised as \"the poisonous scheme which foreigners are pressing upon us,\" in a leading article in the Universal Gazette\" of the 28th December, which bears the signatures of an ex-provincial judge and of two leading scholars connected with the commercial press.\n\nIn November and December there have appeared in the \"Eastern Times \" a series of \"faithful announcements\" from the provincial assembly of Chinese in Japan, to the provincial assemblies throughout the Empire, among them one on foreign loans for railways, which contains the following statements :----\n\n44\n\nEgypt became a ruined realm by accepting foreign loans, and that weak and petty government should be our warning. That in our land every province should urgently construct railroads is well known, and that we are crippled for want of capital is also amply demonstrated. But as foreigners want to deposit their capital, we must strenuously oppose them, regarding foreign capital as virulent poison, entering the mouth and causing death, as snakes and scorpions striking at the hand and wounding it, for the foreigners are all of them plotting to possess us, and for us to be led to approach them (in the matter) is opening the door and bowing-in the burglar, to further increase their already abounding wealth, swallowing down their baited hook.\"\n\n7\n\n72", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429011, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 352, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[22952]\n\nNo. 1.\n\n349\n\n[June 27] 21654\n\nSECTION 2\n\nR 15 J10])\n\n(No. 185.) Sir,\n\nMr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 27.)\n\nPeking, June 6, 1910.\n\nI HAVE the honour to transmit herewith a second memorandum by Mr. Campbell, Chinese secretary to His Majesty's legation, summarising the additional information which he has derived from various sources, principally the reports of His Majesty's consular officers, in regard to the composition, system, and proceedings of certain of the provincial assemblies. This instructive and interesting account should be read as a continuation of Mr. Campbell's first memorandum on the same subject which was forwarded by Sir John Jordan in his despatch No. 474 of the 20th December, 1909, and for the reasons then stated by Sir John, I would ask to be supplied with printed copies for distribution among His Majesty's consulates.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER.\n\nEnclosure in No. 1.\n\nFurther Memorandum by Mr. Campbell on the Provincial Assemblies of 1909.\n\nIN the early part of 1910 general reports from the governors of some provinces on the results accomplished were printed in the \"Official Gazette,\" and it looked as if a complete series of these documents would be published for general information. But so far only those of provinces have been made public in this way, and it seems certain that we cannot look to Chinese official records for anything like a complete survey of the 1909 assemblies. The further information which has come to hand, chiefly from His Majesty's consuls, since the memorandum of the 20th December, 1909, was written, is summarised below.\n\nSHENSI\n\nOn questions affecting foreigners the assembly is said to display a distinctly hostile spirit. Thus at the last sitting a resolution advocating a boycott of Japanese goods was passed, and a circular to this effect sent round Si-ngan city. A good deal was also said about the intention of foreign Powers to partition China, and a printed leaflet was widely distributed. Communications on international questions such as Japan and the Manchurian railways were sent to other provincial assemblies with the object of concerting representations to the Central Government. Local government in districts and departments does not appear to have advanced beyond preparatory measures.\n\nKANSU.\n\nThe press is almost silent on the proceedings of the Lanchou assembly. The \"Gazette,\" opening address of the Viceroy, which was published in the provincial invited attention to the-\n\n1. Prohibition of opium and the substitution of cattle-breeding and stock-raising;\n\n2. The extension of the railway from Kalgan vià Kuei-hua-ch'èng and Ning-hsia to Lan-chou;\n\n3. The cultivation of cotton;\n\n4. Local woollen manufactures; and\n\n5. The promotion of industries generally.\n\nThere is no information of the composition of the assembly beyond that only those who have taken a literary degree may vote for candidates. The public are said to be \"absolutely indifferent.\"\n\n[2788 dd-2]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429013, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 354, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "5\n\n351\n\n10. Improvement of Hunan waterways.\n\n11. Definite local prohibition to be fixed (on what subjects is not stated).\n\n12. Extravagance of living to be checked.\n\n13. Extension of post offices.\n\n14. Railway to be completed in time limit.\n\n15. Extension and encouragement of manufactures.\n\n16. Extension of anti-opium bureaus.\n\n17. Extension of agricultural societies.\n\n18. Definite area to be fixed as the \"trade mart\" of Changsha.\n\n19. Restrictions to be placed on quantities and destinations of rice exported.\n\n20. A society to be formed to prevent property from passing out of possession of local inhabitants.\n\n21. Abolition of practice of paying soldiers in rice.\n\n22. Preservation of trees.\n\n23. Establishment of commercial bureaus.\n\n24. Abolition of li-kin.\n\nSenate. Five members were elected to serve in the Senate at Peking.\n\nIn the \"Official Gazette\" of the 10th January, two telegrams exchanged between the Governor of Hunan and the Constitutional Government Committee on the subject of the powers of the assembly were published. The following are condensed translations of these interesting documents:-\n\nTelegram 1-Governor of Hunan to Committee.\n\n\"The provincial assembly have raised the following question for my consideration: One of the rules of debates in the Hunan assembly states that 'in all cases when the governor contracts an agreement with a foreign nation involving Hunan interests, or when he issues rules and regulations on his own authority, the matters shall first be debated in the assembly.' This clause virtually amounts to interference with foreign relations, and is not to be found in the similar regulations governing the debates of the Chekiang, Kiangsu, or Hupei assemblies.\n\n\"In the reply issued by your committee to the memorial of Yu Shih-mei, fixing the duties and powers, with their limitations, of provincial assemblies, it was laid down that their scope did not include the discussion of military and judicial matters, or of those involving foreign relations, which is a direct contradiction of the above-quoted regulations of the Hunan assembly.\n\n\"I have consequently, but in vain, endeavoured to deny the contention of the assembly that they are entitled to debate on the subjects referred to, and I have the honour to submit the question for your ruling.\"\n\nTelegram 2-Committee to Governor of Hunan.\n\n\"Your telegram of the 18th December: Agreements contracted between Viceroys or governors and foreign countries are matters to be dealt with by the board concerned. There is no such thing as the issue on your own authority of rules or regulations which are in any way connected with agreements of this kind, and it is again for the board concerned to depute the Viceroy or governor to draw up detailed rules in such cases. There is a radical difference between such rules and regulations and rules issued on your sole authority. It is for the board concerned to decide in each case which of such agreements should be negotiated by the board and which by the province. For the present, and until rules are definitely drawn up, apart from questions relating to provincial interests, which, according to regulation, will be the subject of resolutions in the assembly, those matters which should be referred to the board for consideration need not be discussed in the assembly.\"\n\nSZECHUAN.\n\nThe assembly held its last sitting on the 27th November, and the closing ceremonies took place on the following day. The Viceroy was present, and after a speech from him the representatives for the Senate were elected. The election was by ballot, and a clear majority-over 50 per cent. of the voting members-was necessary to secure election. At the first ballot only two members obtained this percentage, and a second and third ballot was necessary to obtain a full complement of representatives. Twelve names were submitted to the Viceroy, who selected the first six on the list, being the number fixed to represent Szechuan in the Senate. Of these six only three had taken any prominent part in the affairs of the assembly.\n\nFUKIEN.\n\nThe Fukien assembly was in full session from the 14th October to the 27th November, 1909. In the twenty-one working days fifty-two Bills were discussed and passed, and nine questions were asked, most of which were referred to the Viceroy for his written decision. At first the Bills were submitted directly to the whole House, but later on it was found more expeditious to confide them to committees, who made it their business to ascertain the average sentiment of the assembly. Most of the serious work was done outside the building, and the passing of Bills was in this way much expedited. The work of the committees was secret and confidential, and Bills after passing the committee stage were presented to the full House and adopted after a final discussion.\n\nThe Bills were published as a rule in the local press without comment. The organ of the Reform party alone indulged in occasional criticism, not always favourable to the members of the assembly.\n\nOnly thirty of the seventy-two members took an active part in the debates, and the really hard work was performed by the standing committee. The remaining forty odd members never opened their mouths, whether from timidity, ignorance, or apathy. Almost all were pleased with the result of the assembly's first session, and the relations between the assembly and the provincial authorities were generally harmonious.\n\nKWANGTUNG.\n\nThe Canton assembly held sixteen sittings before proroguing until the autumn of 1910, leaving the standing committee to attend to any business that might arise in the interval. One of the most important debates was on the subject of the Reorganisation Bureau (\"Shan Hou Chou\"), the assembly being in favour of its abolition on the ground that it had overstepped the limits of its authority and had usurped the functions of the provincial Treasury. The Viceroy, however, minuted the assembly's resolution with the remark that the bureau could not be abolished.\n\nThe results of the debates were in each case reported to the Viceroy, but the latter appears to have paid but scant attention to the opinions of the members.\n\nANHUI\n\nHis Majesty's consul reports that so far as he can learn the people of Anhui take no interest in their assembly. It is never mentioned in the local paper. He sends the following extracts from missionaries' letters, which are of interest:-\n\n1. \"One man from here has been appointed to the provincial assembly, but who elected him and what his work is nobody seems to know or care.'\n\n2. \"Although my teacher, who has been with me ten years, is a B.A., and voted at the election, he knows nothing of what has been done.\"\n\n2.\n\n29\n\n\"The people do not seem to take any interest in the changes going on in the Government.'\n\n4. \"I do not think any interest whatever is being taken in the provincial assembly, and I have never heard anyone say that it had accomplished anything.\"\n\nKIRIN.\n\nThe governor's official report on the work of the first session informs us that the President of the Kirin assembly is a sub-prefect on probation, and that the two Vice-President are a taotai and a minor official of the Grand Secretariat without posts. By the conclusion of the regular term of session on the 23rd November, there were questions before the assembly upon which no decisions had been taken, and there were questions to be reconsidered. Therefore, on that day, after the election of the senators, the session was extended for ten days till the 5th December. A standing committee of six members was appointed. Some of the questions were placed before the assembly by the governor, some by the special committee", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429036, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 377, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "2\n\ncommission, and we entirely agree with the view that in combating the evils attendant on the abuse of opium, it is essential that these resolutions should be taken as the starting point, and attention concentrated on the best means, whether by individual or by joint action, of carrying them to a practical conclusion.\n\n4. We may pause to emphasise this point as it is avowedly the foundation of the proposal now before us. The Shanghai Commission originated in the desire of other Powers to help China in her task of eradicating the opium habit in her own territory: and in a general feeling that so striking an initiative on the part of an Eastern Government imposed on more advanced administrations the duty of undertaking a re-examination of the opium question as it affected themselves. That question, as was admirably stated by the president of the commission in his opening address, had passed (or should have passed) from the \"emotional\" to the \"scientific stage when men deal with ascertained fact, and on the basis of ascertained fact reach certain conclusions of a practical character.\" The commission was prepared for its task by previous investigation on the part of the delegates; its freedom from any predominant pre-opium bias was secured by the diversity of interest represented, and by the admission of Powers possessing no substantial interests in the question at all; and the British delegates, and as far as can be gathered most others, were left by their respective Governments with almost unfettered discretion as to the selection and treatment of questions for discussion. The commission's findings were summed up in nine unanimous resolutions, intended to be the basis of future action by the different countries concerned. The question whether, and to what extent, that action involves international co-operation and renewed international discussion must obviously be determined by reference to the actual resolutions.\n\n5. The first of these, acknowledging the sincerity of China's efforts is one which must naturally carry great weight with His Majesty's Government, but calls for no further discussion at The Hague. The second advised the gradual suppression of \"opium smoking\" with due regard to the varying circumstances of each country concerned.\" The third invited each country to re-examine its own system of opium regulation in the light of the systems in force elsewhere; but it recognised the wide variations between the conditions prevailing in the different countries\" and abstained from recommending any one uniform system for universal adoption. These two important resolutions evidently contemplate individual as distinct from co-operative action; indeed the domestic subjects with which they deal are obviously unsuitable for international treatment. The same remarks apply for the most part to the minor resolutions (Nos. 7, 8, and 9), relating to the regulation of opium in foreign settlements and concessions in China.\n\nupon\n\n6. The United States Government, while purporting to take its stand on the basis of fact as determined by the Shanghai Commission,\" proposes that these matters shall not be dealt with separately by each country concerned, or on the spot by their local representatives, but shall come before the suggested conference; and that the conference shall then consider, as regards production, manufacture, and distribution, the advisability of prescribing uniformity where the commission admitted variety. No attempt has been made to justify the re-examination of findings which were so recently pronounced that, at the time when the present proposals must have been framed, the report of last year's commission had not left the printing-press at Shanghai. To take only a single branch of the subject—the question of opium production—India herself possesses two wholly distinct and unassimilable systems of regulation. China cannot regulate but hopes in the future to extirpate. Persia possesses no system at all, and Turkey did not participate in the original commission. On what grounds of proved necessity and by what methods are these administrations to be brought into line? It is certain that they will not be brought into line. India has no intention of altering her own systems. China's course is already marked out, and production in Turkey and Persia, in spite of any pronouncements of any conference, will in all probability be left unregulated as at present.\n\n7. The sixth resolution of the Shanghai Commission recommended the scientific investigation of anti-opium remedies and of the properties and effects of opium and its products. This question was declared by the Chinese representative, whose remarks were endorsed by the American delegation, to be \"only second in importance to the suppression of opium in China.” We are therefore surprised to find that this recommendation is neither referred to in the circular letter nor included even indirectly in the wide scope of the suggested programme.\n\nOur own view is that, while there can of course be no objection in principle to a joint scientific enquiry, the best results are likely to be obtained by independent research. Owing, however, to the practical\n\n[\n\n3\n\nabsence in this country of the \"opium habit\" in the ordinary sense, and to the fact that smoking is not ordinarily practised, we are not closely concerned in the discovery of an anti-opium remedy.\n\n8. The fifth resolution dealt with morphine, and it is evident that in the spread of the morphine habit and its disastrous effects the Shanghai Commission found the greatest menace to the success of China's efforts and grave danger to the eastern possessions of other countries. The commission held, and our own experience confirms their conclusion, that this evil cannot be efficiently controlled except at the source, i.e., in the stages of manufacture and of distribution in the manufacturing countries. In this belief they strongly urged on such countries the obligation to enforce drastic measures of control. We infer that the American programme is intended to include this matter by implication, though it is given no separate place or prominence. But before joint action can be taken or can be shown to be required it will rest with the Governments concerned to decide individually whether, in the interests of Oriental peoples, they are prepared to impose severe restrictions on manufacture and trade in their home territories; and they will also have to undertake the necessary preliminary enquiries into trade conditions. We are not hopeful of any effective action being taken until this question is extricated from the mass of agenda enumerated in the American circular and restored to the prominent position which the Shanghai Commission rightly assigned to it.\n\nA\n\nWe may add that, though India is already concerned in this question, and may in the future be most gravely concerned as a field for illicit importation, no private trading interests in India are involved in its settlement, the only morphine manufactured in India being produced at the Government factory for legitimate medical purposes. A small quantity is sold in the London wholesale market by the agents of Government, and any general restrictions on such sales of the kind contemplated in the resolution would of course be readily accepted and observed.\n\n9. In their remaining resolution (No. 4) the Shanghai Commission urged on countries exporting opium \"the duty to adopt reasonable measures to prevent at ports of departure\" the shipment of opium, &c., to prohibitionist countries. We are prepared to prohibit the export of opium to such countries under section 19 of the Sea Customs Act and to take all reasonable supplementary measures required to make this prohibition effective. The ports at which opium can be shipped for export are already limited to Bombay and Calcutta, and export is only permitted under Government supervision and regulations. The transmission of opium abroad through the post was prohibited until 1906, when the prohibition was withdrawn on technical grounds; we have no objection, so far as India is concerned, to its restoration. As regards packing and identification marks, each variety of our Bengal opium (Patna and Benares) has its own uniform marks, which are known throughout the Far East. The same is the case with Malwa opium. This practically disposes of the various propositions into which the United States circular expands this resolution of the Shanghai Commission, with the exception of the proposal to discuss the advisability of reciprocal right of search of vessels and of measures to prevent the unlawful use of a flag. These last suggestions appear to contemplate a flagrant illicit oversea traffic such as does not in fact exist, and cannot come into being, so far as shipments from India are concerned. So long as China continues, as she still does, to produce large quantities of opium, the movements of which she can only imperfectly control, and other areas in the Far East are also large consumers of opium, there must of course be some leakage into the Philippines, where the United States Government, under considerable geographical disadvantages, are endeavouring to enforce prohibition. If, however, China persists in her present policy of abolition, and the Powers concerned in the Far East accept and put into effect the resolution against opium-smoking which their representatives unanimously adopted at Shanghai, the remedy will come automatically. For the present it appears to us that an international conference dealing with this question will effect nothing more than could readily be settled by ordinary diplomatic methods.\n\n10. To sum up, on a review of the entire proposals in their relation to the recommendations of the Shanghai Commission, we do not find that they conform to the principle laid down in the circular letter, i.e., the acceptance of the commission's findings as the basis of fact on which alone practical action in the future can be hopefully founded. Further, a principal object of the proposals appears to us to be not Co-operation in matters of legitimate joint concern, but the establishment of an international censorship in matters of purely individual concern. Finally, the proposed conference, if it keeps within its proper limits, will, we think, find little practical scope for its activities, and the proposal to convene such an assembly at once appears to us to\n\n[2812 -1]\n\nB 2\n\n374", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429057, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 398, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n6\n\nVotre Altesse ajoutait qu'elle allait demander des explications à l'Administration de l'Octroi.\n\nLes plaintes devenant plus nombreuses, le corps diplomatique a, de nouveau, examiné la question, et mes collègues me chargent de présenter à votre Altesse les observations et les déclarations suivantes:-\n\nLa perception de taxes particulières sur les marchandises d'importation étrangères munies de passes de transit est absolument contraire aux traités. Il est, en effet, nettement stipulé dans ceux-ci que ces marchandises ne peuvent être frappées d'aucune taxe intérieure de quelque nature que ce soit, et en quelque lieu que ce soit.\n\nLa taxe dite d'octroi\" perçue à Fengtaï est donc une innovation contraire aux traités, et par conséquent tout à fait illégale; le Gouvernement Impérial n'avait pas plus le droit de l'établir qu'il n'a celui de modifier l'une quelconque des stipulations des traités sans un accord préalable avec les Puissances. Le corps diplomatique est donc résolu à ne l'admettre à aucun degré.\n\nLe traitement appliqué, d'autre part, aux marchandises d'importation étrangère, destinées à l'intérieur même de la ville de Pékin, n'est pas moins illégal.\n\nEn ce qui les concerne, le corps diplomatique doit, tout d'abord, protester contre la défense qui a été faite au Commissaire des Douanes maritimes Impériales de Tien-tsin, de délivrer des passes de transit aux marchandises étrangères destinées à la ville même de Pékin. Cette défense ne peut se justifier en aucune manière; elle est contraire aux accords de la Chine avec les Puissances; il est donc nécessaire que le Gouvernement Impérial donne des ordres pour que les passes de transit réglementaires soient accordées aux marchandises étrangères adressées à Pékin.\n\nEn second lieu, il n'est pas moins certain que la taxe d'octroi\" illégale à Fengtai, l'est, au même degré, à Pékin même.\n\nToutefois, considérant que les droits perçus à l'entrée des murs de la ville ont pu être, en effet, tolérés, pour diverses raisons, depuis un certain temps, les représentants des Puissances ne se refuseraient pas à envisager la possibilité d'admettre sur ce point un arrangement avec le Gouvernement Impérial.\n\nCet arrangement serait établi sur les bases suivantes :\n\n1. La perception d'une taxe d'“octroi” sur les marchandises de provenance étrangère serait strictement limitée à la ville de Pékin, c'est-à-dire à l'étendue habitée entourée par les murailles.\n\n2. La taxe ne devrait pas dépasser le taux actuel de 3 pour cent ad valorem et devrait être calculée sur l'évaluation faite par les agents des douanes maritimes, telle qu'elle serait portée sur les passes de transit et suivant le cours du Haïkouan tael. Le calcul serait établi de telle façon que la taxe ne puisse jamais dépasser les trois cinquièmes des droits d'entrée actuellement payés par les marchandises étrangères aux douanes maritimes. La perception de la taxe ne pourrait avoir lieu qu'aux portes même de la ville.\n\n3. La taxe ne serait applicable qu'aux seuls commerçants.\n\n4. Les agents de l'Administration de l'Octroi devraient tenir pour exactes les déclarations portées sur les passes de transit. Leur rôle se bornerait à vérifier si les colis présentés sont bien ceux indiqués sur la passe de transit; ils devraient s'abstenir de toute perquisition intérieure.\n\n5. La concession ainsi faite par les Puissances ne pourrait, en aucun cas, être invoquée par le Gouvernement Impérial pour prétendre établir des taxes d'octroi ou autres quelconques aux marchandises étrangères sur aucun point de l'Empire.\n\n0\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[23858]\n\nSir,\n\nNo. 1.\n\n[July 4]\n\nSECTION 4.\n\nMr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received July 4.) (No. 197.)\n\nPeking, June 15, 1910.\n\nWITH reference to my despatch No. 193 of the 11th instant, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a despatch from His Majesty's consul at Changsha commenting further upon the situation in that city, and stating that the condition of affairs there is even more threatening now than it was before the recent outbreak.\n\nMr. Hewlett is certainly very pessimistic as to the immediate future, but I cannot help feeling that the impression of his still recent experiences and his evident disappointment that the gentry were not more severely dealt with, and that it has proved impossible to take advantage of the disturbances to force a settlement of the questions to which he has devoted so much trouble and labour, incline him to take too gloomy a view of the situation. He is, perhaps, also rather prone to interfere in matters which concern the Chinese authorities rather than His Majesty's consulate.\n\nIt appears to me that, in regard to the masons' and carpenters' guilds, we should for the present rest content if there is no further interference with the construction of the new consulate.\n\nAs regards the pretensions of the gentry and provincial assembly, I would prefer to wait and see how the new governor will deal with these pretensions before endorsing all that Mr. Hewlett says on the subject. The provincial assembly is, I understand, to meet shortly in special session, and this may bring matters to a head, and show whether Hunan is to be governed from Peking through the governor or by the assembly and the gentry.\n\nIt is quite natural that alarmist rumours should continue to fly about in Changsha, and that the work of the gangs of bandits, who are still active in Hunan, should be exaggerated, but, to judge from the accounts received from other sources, I feel that Mr. Hewlett is hardly justified in writing of the \"present absence of any effective precautions on the part of the provincial authorities.\"\n\nOn receipt of Mr. Hewlett's telegram of the 10th June, which I repeated to you in my telegram No. 111 of the 11th June, I made private enquiries of the Wai-wu Pu whether they had any confirmatory information. Two days later they communicated to me the enclosed telegram from the governor, which would appear to prove that Mr. Hewlett's information had not been quite accurate, and that such troubles as had occurred had been adequately dealt with by the authorities.\n\nI have already stated my opinion that the penalties inflicted on the four members of the gentry should have been more in keeping with the forcible and outspoken indictment of their conduct in the memorial, and I took an opportunity of expressing this opinion yesterday at the Wai-wu Pu, when I suggested that a good way to make the gentry suffer would be to make them disgorge a portion of their ill-gotten gains to pay the indemnity claims. I explained that my object in making this suggestion was not vindictive; all we desired was that the Chinese Government should assure us that the penalties inflicted and the measures adopted would prove a sufficient deterrent to prevent similar outbreaks in the future.\n\nI added that it was a matter for regret that the second decree, replying to the protest of the assembly (see my despatch No. 193 of the 11th June), had not been published. Liu Yu-lin, with whom I was talking, replied that it was couched in the severest and most imperative terms, and would be sure to have a good effect. I replied that that only made it all the more regrettable that it had not been made public. I then proceeded to express the hope that in future our treaty rights would not be set at naught by the Changsha gentry as had hitherto been the case, and that when we applied to the Central Government for redress they would prove equal to giving us justice and not allow themselves to be openly defied by the gentry.\n\nMr. Liu begged me not to raise any question unnecessarily just at present, but to give the governor time to consolidate his position; as to future disturbances, he assured me that the Government felt that they were masters of the situation, and were equal to preventing any...\n\n[2827 d-4]\n\nB\n\n395", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429062, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 403, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "2\n\nwho, he states, cannot in the event of a rising be relied on to protect either the officials or the residents.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(No. 38.) Sir,\n\nEnclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER.\n\nConsul-General Fraser to Mr. Mar Müller.\n\nHankow, April 13, 1910.\n\nI HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 14 of the 6th instant, forwarding a memorandum on the political situation in China, drawn up by Mr. E. S. Little, and calling for a report on the political conditions existing in this part of China.\n\nThe partition rumours cited by Mr. Little were reported in my despatches No. 22 of the 12th December, 1909, and No. 14 of the 1st February, and on p. 7 of my Intelligence Report for the quarter ended the 31st December, 1909, and p. 2 of my Intelligence Report for last quarter, where is likewise reported the remarkable suddenness of their cessation. The subject is also treated in press extracts Nos. 3 and 4 in my despatch No. 7 of the 15th January.\n\nThe Wachang military officer, not student, chopped off his finger at one of the early railway agitation meetings, and the other similar act occurred at Changsha, the deed being due to zeal for the immediate summoning of a national assembly.\n\nThe students' demands for arms at Wuchang and Changsha is reported in No. 7 of the press extracts forwarded in my despatch No. 10 of the 21st January, and on p. 14 of the Changsha Intelligence Report for the December quarter of 1909, which also sets forth on pp. 11 to 18 the partition excitement.\n\nThe proposal to adopt universal military training appears in No. 1 of the press extracts forwarded in my No. 7 of the 15th January and No. 6 of those of my No. 10 of the 21st January, both articles coming from the \"Eastern Times,\" the most influential Shanghai native paper.\n\nThe railway agitation has formed the subject of several reports, and the anti-foreign nature of its propaganda was shown in the second enclosure in my No. 77 of the 8th December, 1909, as well as in No. 30 of the press extracts forwarded in my despatch No. 7 of the 15th January.\n\nThe native newspapers have certainly fomented the anti-foreign agitations, special instances being the last paragraph of No. 18 and Nos. 26 and 28 of the press extracts my No. 7, Nos. 8, 11, and 12 of those in my No. 15 of the 2nd February, and No. 23 of those of my No. 23 of the 28th February.\n\nin\n\nAs regards the attitude of the Chinese authorities, the only attempt here to check agitation was the Viceroy Ch'en's farewell letter, enclosed in my despatch No. 76 of the 7th December, 1909. The growing attitude of opposition to our request for trading facilities, formerly sure to be granted, has been remarked on in many recent reports, though it has not been so flagrant as in Hunan, and the rice and pulse export questions have proved the disinclination to accept treaty provisions.\n\nThat the debt redemption movement was based on anti-foreign feeling is shown in Nos. 7, 15, and 16 of the press extracts forwarded in my No. 7 of the 15th January, No. 13 of those in my No. 10, No. 11 of those in my No. 15; but wiser counsels were also given in No. 23 of No. 7, and in Nos. 1 and 2 of my No. 25 of the 8th March.\n\nThe want of money has been frequently reported, and also Chang Chih Tung's deficit. The issue of Hupei Government bank notes is noted in my annual mint returns. The agent of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank here told me recently that an ordinary native could not get money for these notes, and that his bank had to give two days' notice of desire to cash them.\n\nMr. Little's description of the attitude of the provincial assemblies agrees with the reports made from this office and from the Changsha Consulate.\n\nThe rumoured reduction in the pay of the Wachang troops, mentioned in the military section of my last Intelligence Report, was denied in No. 11 of the press extracts forwarded in my No. 10 of the 21st January.\n\nThe Christian Literature Society's explanation of the comet has been published in all the native papers read at this office, and also scattered broadcast in the form of a leaflet. I have not noticed any attempt to augur coming trouble from its appearance. The main points of Mr. Little's memorandum are thus corroborated by our press\n\n3\n\nextracts, which do not by any means include all the articles and paragraphs of the same tendency noticed in the native press during merely the last three months.\n\nAt the date of his letter I was inclined to share his sense of imminent danger of anti-foreign disturbance, my apprehension being tempered, however, by recollection of similar threatening appearances in other years passing off without any serious happenings.\n\nAt the present moment the tone of the native press has turned much more moderate, but the artificial scarcity of rice and the unrestrained lawlessness of the student class give grave cause for anxiety.\n\nThe winter wheat crop is likely to be very poor, owing to want of fine weather, and the price of rice in the depreciated copper currency will rise even higher now that Szechuan and Kiangsi, as well as Hunan, are refusing supplies to Hupei. Building operations and export trade are brisk, but the pay of the coolie class hardly suffices to feed the individual, let alone his family. The native business world is upset by the unusual shipments of sycee westward to buy opium or finance the Thibetan expedition. Land, in which much money has been sunk, is practically unsaleable, and native banks and companies are suspected of having used their deposits in speculating in opium or rubber. The paper money in circulation is undoubtedly vastly in excess of the means of the issuing banks, including the Government Cash Bank. The result of the above circumstances is to raise prices all round; but the main cause of uneasiness is the report that Hunan is about to cut off all supplies. This selfish policy has extended to prefectures and districts, a missionary informing me that on a recent journey, being benighted in a district near the Hunan border, he met strings of rice-laden coolies, who explained that in consequence of the gentry's interference, rice for a town over the district border, but in the same prefecture, had to be smuggled across in the dark! My own belief is that public order would be best secured by a decree absolutely forbidding all grain export prohibitions or other interference with the natural movement of cereals, as well as all levies on grain in transit between provinces, for only thus can the farmers, the bulk of the population, be secured the due reward of their toil and the lower classes' daily wages suffice for their needs, while the speculation that causes the price of the native staff of life to vary greatly from day to day would then be unprofitable to dealers and gentry.\n\nThe lawlessness of the student class, which is frequently illustrated by notices in the native press of strikes against teachers and heads in Government schools, has just been shown here. Yang Tu, a Hunanese, with the rank of a director of a metropolitan court, recently presented to the Board of Posts and Communications a memorandum casting doubt on the ability of the Hunanese to build railways by their own unaided efforts, and so incurred the wrath of the Railway Association delegate, Chang, who, according to the native press, directed students of the Huan Middle School at Wuchang to seize him and bring him for trial and punishment before the Hunan Guild in that city. Yesterday afternoon some forty of these emissaries tracked Mr. Yang to the office of the Hankow Waterworks, which abuts on our southern road, and insisted that the directors should hand him over. Our police were notified by the directors, and, rescuing Mr. Yang as he was being hustled along the Sin-seng road, took him to the police station, followed by his would-be kidnappers, who were told that he could not be given up except under a warrant backed by me. The mob would not go away until some of the ringleaders had been taken into custody. The concession deputy then called on me to ask that the ringleaders might be handed over to their own authorities and to offer an escort for Mr. Yang, I impressed on Mr. Wu that Mr. Yang was quite at liberty to go where he pleased, and that the students would be delivered on their authorities taking all responsibility. Mr. Wu admitted that Mr. Yang's life would probably have paid forfeit had he been got over to Wuchang.\n\nThis morning the taotai sent a note to say he had given the students over to the Director of Education to be dealt with under the board's rules; and I hear that the escort removed Mr. Yang much against his will,\n\nI am protesting to the Viceroy against the taotai's extraordinary proceedings; but the noteworthy fact is that the native papers seem to see nothing irregular in one returned student setting his fellows to seize a man for no legal offence and without any reference to the regular authorities, who likewise show no desire to vindicate their powers.\n\nSimilarly, the Railway Association is allowed to disseminate through the interior notices maligning friendly Powers without any attempt on the part of the authorities to check a movement which must breed anti-foreign feeling, apparently because it has\n\n400", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429065, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 406, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "8 \n\nand ingenuity are devoted by the authorities and the self-appointed leaders of reform -- so called. To what extent these latter are represented by the mass of the people it is hard to say, but they at least deserve the credit of not openly advocating violent measures.\n\nAccording to the vernacular press and to common report, the \"carved melon story,\" if it ever circulated in this part of China at all, has not laid hold on the minds of the populace in the way it has done in Central China. Ever since the annexation by France of Upper Tonquin, it is true there has existed an apprehension with regard to further expansion in a northerly direction, but such apprehension is in nowise connected with recent happenings. It may be called chronic, and is mainly confined to those stationed or dwelling along the frontier in Kuanghsi and Yunnan. Of late, the negotiations regarding the delimitation of Portuguese territory at Macao led to the circulation of rumours that Portugal contemplated aggression on Chinese soil. These, however, were circulated by those desirous of rendering the negotiations abortive, and it is difficult to imagine that general importance has been attached thereto. Of anti-foreign agitation amongst the student class there is practically no trace. Local scholars would seem to have a respect for authority, and to be content to leave agitation to the various associations of which mention will be made later on.\n\nAs to railway loans and the construction of railways, there is similar lack of evidence of popular dissatisfaction with foreigners on their account. The Kuangtung section of the Yüeh-han Railway is being constructed with Chinese capital—rapidly approaching exhaustion,—and the squabbles between its shareholders and their directors, and the tracasseries to which the Chinese engineer-in-chief is subjected, only affect those directly concerned. The Canton-Kowloon Railway is being allowed to progress without any opposition beyond that offered by turbulent local rowdies, anxious to turn a dishonest penny out of land sales, or the advancement of personal interest. The Chinese newspapers, since 1900, cannot be said to preach hatred of the foreigner. They confine their efforts to asserting the sovereign claim of the people—i.e., themselves—to do what seems right in their own eyes, irrespective of treaty conditions or international obligations, vigorously and ably seconding in this respect the efforts of the self-government and other similar societies.\n\nThe clannish and self-centred spirit, which is characteristic of the Cantonese, may account for the fact that subscriptions towards paying off foreign loans and indemnities or towards providing funds for a national navy are not forthcoming, but towards their own particular railway lines and other provincial undertakings they have contributed freely. An intense interest is also displayed in any official proposals for raising internal taxation, and when it comes to discussing salt or gambling monopolies, the voice of the people makes itself loudly heard. (Indirect proof of an absence of hostility against a scheme purely because of its foreign origin might be found in the generous subscriptions made towards the University of Hong Kong.) These are not, however, matters which can be said to affect foreign relations. Of disloyalty amongst the foreign drilled troops one can ascertain but little. It was whispered that the recent outbreak on the occasion of the Chinese New Year had been fomented by revolutionaries, but of this there is no proof whatever. Nor can any credence be attached to stories prophesying an anti-dynastic rising in the near future.\n\nFrom the above, it will be evident that Mr. Little's appreciation of the general political situation, however accurate it may be in respect of Central or Northern China, tends to give a somewhat distorted view of the state of affairs actually obtaining in Southern China, or perhaps, to put it more correctly, in the provincial capital of the Liang Kuang, although there is no reason to suppose that the one differs from the other. Given, however, as is at present the case, a weak Governor-General, there is one phase of local politics which is becoming a grave menace to constituted authority, and one which, under conceivable circumstances, might very seriously imperil foreign relations. The reference is to the growing power of the Self-Government Society and its affiliated bodies, the Merchants' and Mercantile Steam-ship Associations, aided and abetted by the Newspaper Syndicate. These combinations arrogate to themselves the right to interfere in anything and everything, and, the appetite coming with eating, pusillanimous concession has placed them in the position of being able to hector and bully the officials. So long as purely domestic affairs are at stake one might regard matters from a disinterested standpoint, but it is in foreign affairs that they particularly claim the right of intervention, as witness the Tatsu Maru and Fatshan cases—two of the more important recent ones. Nothing is too trivial to escape their attention; their emissaries pounce on every communication to and from a foreign consulate, and immediately publish it with sarcastic or prejudicial comment, in some instances even before it reaches the addressee. The transaction of public business has accordingly become almost intolerable, and were a grave international question to arise, it is not difficult to foresee what complications might ensue or to what extent endeavours to arrive at a diplomatic settlement would be frustrated. Remonstrances addressed to the authorities are unavailing, as the people, in other words the societies, insist on knowing what is going on and on dictating the course of action to be pursued. To those conversant with history, parallels with the conduct of public affairs by the national assembly would readily occur, but of these governors and governed are ignorant. Fortunately, as has already been pointed out, this energy has, up to the present, been directed solely towards the maintenance of the principle that in matters between Cantonese and foreigners, the former have everything and the latter nothing to say. Should the foreigner be so ill-advised as to object, he is threatened with boycott and pecuniary loss; his life and personal property would not so far appear to be placed in jeopardy.\n\nJ. W. JAMIESON, Consul-General.\n\nCanton, April 20, 1910.\n\n(No. 36.) Sir,\n\nEnclosure 6 in No. 1.\n\nConsul-General Wilkinson to Mr. Max Müller.\n\nChengtu, May 23, 1910. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your despatch No. 3 of the 6th ultimo, enclosing copy of a memorandum on the political situation in China, drawn up by Mr. E. S. Little, and instructing me to report upon it.\n\nSince my arrival at Chengtu last December I have, in my despatches to the legation, dealt with most of the topics discussed by Mr. Little. To take them in the order in which they are given in the memorandum:\n\n1. The \"Carved Melon,\"—A translation of a circular that had found its way into Szechuan formed Enclosure No. 2 of my despatch No. 4 of the 13th January last; while my despatch No. 40 of the 23rd December had for its subject the cognate matter of the Japanese boycott. I need only say here that either agitation would appear to have died out in this province.\n\n2. Railway Loans.—I would refer to my despatches No. 12 of the 3rd February, No. 13 of the 11th February, and No. 24 of the 23rd March. When Mr. Little's memorandum was compiled he had not had access to the published accounts of the Chuan-Han Railway Company; consequently, the figures he gives for the loss sustained by the shareholders are below the mark. I fear that, pace Mr. Nicolson's informant (Enclosure No. 1 in my No. 24), the shareholders and the Government and people of Szechuan are still strongly opposed to obtaining from foreigners the money necessary to bring that railway to completion. As sufficient funds, even after the disappearance or dissipation of some 5,000,000 taels, yet remain to construct the first section of the line—a section that the native engineers reckon that it will take three years to build—the question of a foreign loan has not become acute as far as this province is concerned.\n\nNewspapers.—The newspapers published here are the \"Chengtu Jih-pao,\" a semi-official organ, and two other daily papers, the \"Tung-su Jih-pao\" and the \"Ping-lun Jih-pao,\" both under police supervision. Nothing to which serious objection could be taken has appeared in the first of these, while the second, as has been reported elsewhere, is subsidised by my French colleague. The \"Ping-lun Jih-pao\" has reprinted some articles on alleged French designs in Yunnan, but otherwise has not attacked foreigners. On the other hand, the \"Chengtu Jih-pao\" has published without comment Dr. Timothy Richards' outspoken \"Parting of the Ways,\" in which he contrasts the losses and dangers certain to result from refusal of foreign aid in railway and mining ventures with the prosperity and security that would follow a more liberal policy.\n\nOfficials.—The Governor-General, Chao Erh-hsun, has, with the exception of his somewhat testy refusal to admit our right to take an interest in the Thibetan campaign (see my No. 17 of the 23rd February), always shown himself courteous and reasonable. Whenever I have had occasion to write to him regarding anti-foreign rumours or the occasional anonymous placards imputing offences to foreigners he has promptly...\n\n[2827 g-2]\n\nD\n\n403\n\n9", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429182, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 523, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "519\n\n2\n\nI told Mr. Wei Han that Mr. Lindsey and I were authorised to negotiate and conclude with him a working agreement for the two sections of the Kowloon-Canton Railway. He replied that he was similarly authorised by his Government,\n\nWe then told him that there were three general principles which we wished settled in the first instance, as upon them the whole working agreement depended, viz., the question of joint management, the question of connection with the Hankow-Canton line, and the division of profits. We then communicated to him the gist of (a) paragraphs 2-7 and 26; (b) paragraph 28; and (c) paragraph 17 seqq. of the draft working agreement. Mr. Wei then said that he must refer these general principles to Peking, and asked for leave to do so by telegram, saying that, although he was authorised to conclude the agreement, it was necessary for him to submit matters of principle to Peking for approval in the first instance. He added that he considered our proposals under these three heads very fair and reasonable, and that from a business point of view he had no objection to make to them. I gathered that he would recommend them for favourable consideration to Peking. He was entirely in favour of connection with the Hankow line being made at an early date. The only question he asked was whether we should be prepared to consider the possibility of managing the two sections separately. To this we replied that we hoped it would be unnecessary for us to discuss such a possibility, as, after much consideration, we had concluded that, the line being so short, separate management of the two sections would be uneconomical and unbusinesslike. Mr. Wei concurred in this view.\n\nThroughout the discussion Mr. Wei made no mention of the Canton Government, but referred only to the central Government at Peking.\n\nAt parting we gave Mr. Wei a very short note of the three principles discussed.\n\nMr. Wei emphatically stated that the connection between the Canton-Kowloon Railway and the Hankow-Canton Railway was looked on as a settled conclusion; the only point remaining to be settled was as to whether the Canton-Kowloon Railway or the Hankow-Canton Railway were to make the connection.\n\nC. CLEMENTI.\n\nJune 7, 1910.\n\nEnclosure 4 in No. 1.\n\nOfficer administering the Government of Hong Kong to the Earl of Crewe.\n\n(Telegraphic.)\n\n[Received July 29, 1910.]\n\nGROVE informs me that Wei Han has offered resignation, and that his resignation will be probably accepted, because he is considered at Peking to be too much favourable to view of British section. I have communicated this to chargé d'affaires.\n\n[B]\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government,]\n\nсо\n\n25499\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[28675]\n\nNo. 1.\n\n[August 8.\n\nAUG 10\n\nSECTION 1.\n\nMr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey-(Received August 8.)\n\n(No. 237.) Sir,\n\nPeking, July 22, 1910. WITH reference to my despatch No. 185 of the 6th June, I have the honour to transmit herewith a translation of an Imperial decree of the 27th June, in which the Prince Regent for a second time refuses to accede to the request of the delegates from the provincial assemblies for the earlier opening of Parliament.\n\nIt will be remembered that on the 14th October, 1909, the first day of the ninth moon, the provincial assemblies met and continued their deliberations until the 23rd November. Before they adjourned, there would appear to have arisen more or less spontaneously amongst them a keen desire to see a national Parliament in existence before 1917, the year stipulated by Imperial decree, and a scheme to give expression to the general wish was proposed by the Chihli Assembly. In accordance with that proposal delegates from fifteen provinces met in Shanghai, and selected from their number a strong committee to proceed to Peking, and to submit the request of the assemblies to the Throne.\n\nDuring January last these delegates approached the leading officials of the capital, in the hope of persuading them to support their cause. On the whole, the majority of the high officials in Peking were against the proposal, and those who did In these express themselves in favour of it were careful to do so with reservations. circumstances, it was not a matter for surprise that the Prince Regent decided to reject the request of the delegates. He accordingly issued on the 30th January a decree in which, though refusing the request, he displayed a certain amount of solicitude for the feelings of the delegates, and commended them for their sincerity, but, at the same time, he told them firmly that the Government saw no reason to depart from their original intention of carrying out the programme already drawn up, which included the opening of the Parliament in 1917. This decree further pointed out that the country in general was not yet ready for a national assembly, and that until the period of preparation was complete it would not be wise policy to open Parliament. The delegates were also reminded that the Senate would meet early in October, and that this body would constitute the forerunner of a Parliament.\n\nThe delegates, however, were in no way deterred by the rejection of their petition, but, on the contrary, continued their campaign with unabated vigour, and, remaining in Peking, proceeded to present another petition to the Throne early in June, which elicited in reply thereto the decree of the 27th June, which forms the enclosure in this despatch.\n\nAfter the issue of this decree, and in spite of the sentence prohibiting the presentation of any further petitions, the delegates announced their intention of still remaining in Peking to pursue the question further, but owing to the strict measures taken by the Government to control their movements by posting detectives to watch them, all, except six, it is said, have now left the capital. It is stated, however, that they intend, as soon as the provincial assemblies are opened, to present a third petition to the Prince Regent. If it should be again refused, it has been suggested that the delegates should all refuse to pay Government duties or taxes.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER,\n\n[2862 4-1]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429505, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 242, "title": "CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "241\n\n2\n\nNewchwang, Corea, and Vladivostock in search of work. Riots took place in the east of the province at Laiyang and Haiyang, as reported in despatch No. 250 of the 29th July. The autumn crops in this province, and indeed in most parts of China, promise well, and thus one of the main causes of unrest is likely to be removed for a time.\n\nSouth of the Yang-tsze unrest has been prevalent during the past quarter all over the province of Chekiang, where His Majesty's consular officers at Hangchow and Ningpo report there were riots in early spring at a dozen places besides those at Hangchow itself above referred to. The causes of trouble at the various places have been dear rice, school taxes, the taking of the census, the suppression of poppy cultivation, li-kin exactions, the tyranny of minor officials, and anti-foreign agitation.\n\nReports from the southern ports of Amoy, Swatow, Canton, Pakhoi, and Kiungehow show that the rice crops were ruined by drought. His Majesty's consul-general at Canton states that considerable anxiety was felt during the quarter lest famine should visit Kuangtung, and some 400,000 taels' worth of rice was bought from Siam and Saigon by official and charitable institutions and sold at low prices in and around Canton, the inferior quality of the rice saving the institutions from loss. For twenty years the rainfall has never been so low for the first six months of the year at Pakhoi, and it is the third bad harvest in succession reported from Kiungehow. Both Kiungehow and Pakhoi were visited by plague in April, which created a panic. The ports were declared plague infected at Singapore, and that, combined with the flight of merchants, contributed to the stagnation of trade. No steps were taken to check the outbreak in Pakhoi, and the people fled and spread the disease in the surrounding district. It is estimated that there were over 1,000 deaths at Pakhoi alone out of a population of 15,000. His Majesty's consul for these two ports states that there has been the usual outbreaks of Loi tribes and abortive punitive expeditions of Chinese troops to Hainan, and that the country round Pakhoi is in a serious state of unrest. In the Kaochan prefecture the drought was very severe, and a large part of the population fled on the approach of plague. Robber bands have not missed their opportunity, and have joined forces with the Kuanghsi banditti, with whom they have commenced pillaging and killing. Troops have been sent from Lien Chou, but they are likely to have considerable difficulty in subduing the brigands. His Majesty's consul at Wuchow reports a rising 40 miles below Nanning on the West River on account of a small additional tax on wine, sugar, and oil. Several people were killed, and eventually the Nanning taotai and commander-in-chief of Kuanghsi took the field, with the result that sixty men were killed and forty made prisoners. A secret society known as the Chien Tzu Hui is becoming notorious. It is a kind of robber guild, and appears to organise bands. His Majesty's consul at Swatow reports numerous cases of piracy on the inland waters, even official boats having been the object of attacks. Apart from the agrarian aspect of the situation, the outlook in the south is not devoid of political dangers. His Majesty's consul-general at Canton reports the existence of a strong and widely prevalent revolutionary movement of an anti-dynastic kind. The strongholds of the revolutionaries are in the district of Yingtê, on the North River, and Canton city. There is no doubt that sedition is rampant, and the Manchus in Canton are uneasy, as in the event of trouble they would be the first to suffer. In April the Viceroy issued orders prohibiting the admission and circulation in the province of Kuangtung of all Chinese newspapers published in Hong Kong, on the ground that their tone was seditious and revolutionary.\n\nWriting from Yunnan at the end of April, His Majesty's consul-general reported that the price of food had been rising since the beginning of the year, and owing to a census and heavy taxation, disturbances began in March in the Chaotung prefecture. European missionaries fled from the fury of the people to Chaotung, where they were efficiently protected. The officials behaved with commendable energy, and by the middle of April the rising was suppressed and most of the ringleaders captured, but the provincial Government desired that missionaries should not travel until the hostility of the rural population against foreigners had subsided. Towards the end of March, Mr. W. F. Collins, a British mining engineer, and one of the directors of the \"Syndicat du Yüunan,\" arrived at Yunnan-fu, and negotiated an agreement for the Anglo-French Company with the provincial Government, and proceeded to carry out prospecting operations. Towards the end of July rumours were abroad of an impending anti-foreign rising, and the French Minister made representations to the Wai-wu Pu. Mr. O'Brien Butler reported that at a theatrical performance held at the Yunnan military school, in the presence of the Commissioner of Education and some foreigners, a rickshaw appeared on the stage drawn by an exhausted Annamite coolie under the blows of an irate French passenger, and Indian native troops were also represented being maltreated by British officers.\n\nHis Majesty's consul-general at Chengtu gives a more satisfactory account of Szechuan. Rumours which were rife in April and May have now disappeared, and missionary reports from different parts of the province agree that, though a couple of months earlier the mind of the populace was very unsettled, everything is now tranquil.\n\nEarly in July reports were received from His Majesty's consul at Kashgar that, owing to the prohibition of opium cultivation, serious disturbances had arisen at Kucheng, in the Zungarian region of Sinkiang. The Urumchia magistrate, who had beheaded five rebels, was said to be besieged in Kucheng, and was subsequently reported shot by rebels. On the 24th August Mr. Macartney reported that Kucheng was apparently quiet, but that the regular troops had made a disturbance in Urumchia on the 10th August, and burned over a hundred houses.\n\n2. Provincial Assemblies.\n\nAs was the case in the last summary of events, few of the quarterly reports from the provinces mention the provincial assemblies. An extraordinary session of the Kuangtung Provincial Assembly was convened in May, and a vote of censure was passed on the late director of the Canton-Kowloon Railway, Liang Ch'eng, now Minister at Berlin, for having failed to explain how so large a sum had been expended on the railway with so little result. The assembly also reiterated its last year's opinion that, whether funds could or could not be found to supplement the deficit in revenue, gambling should be abolished forthwith. An indication that the assembly takes itself seriously was given by the adverse criticism passed on the absence of the Governor-General and other high officials at the opening session, and they apparently admitted the justice of the censure by coming to the next meeting.\n\nThe Hankow press continues to advocate the early opening of a national assembly as the one and only remedy for all the evils of the Empire, and on the 1st July the \"Eastern Times\" published an open letter to the nation lamenting the failure of the prayers of the second deputation to Peking for an early Parliament, and attacking the Regent and his Ministers for thus delaying the salvation of the nation.\n\n3. Anti-Foreign and National Debt Movements.\n\nThere is no progress to report under these headings. Such disorders as have occurred were not dangerous to the lives of foreigners, though there was considerable anti-foreign feeling in Chekiang and Yunnan, and His Majesty's consul at Wuchow mentions that the natives in some way connect the steady rise in the price of grain since the opening of the port with the advent of the foreigners. The agitation against foreigners in Szechuan seems to have died down for the present, but it is to be remembered that the mercantile and agricultural classes are both affected by the suppression of opium cultivation and discontented at the partial treatment of some districts, e.g., Fuchow. It is clear that any internal outbreak owing to excessive taxation or other causes, or any anti-foreign agitations in other parts of China, might bring about disturbances involving danger to foreigners in Szechuan. The agitation in the Hankow native press against foreign loans for railway development has somewhat abated during the quarter.\n\n4. Education and Reforms.\n\nLittle information has been received from the provinces under these headings, but the extra taxation necessary for the establishment and upkeep of new police and new schools has inclined to render innovations unpopular in many parts. His Majesty's consul at Newchwang says the reform movement in his district appears to have had a set-back, and His Majesty's consul at Chinan reports that the education given is a farce. Backward students are pressed on to advanced work which they cannot assimilate, discipline is lax, and moral tone bad. In fact, the new system promises to be a failure. Better accounts are heard of the education given to Chinese at Tsingtau. Extensive school buildings are being erected at Nanchang, in Kiangsi, for the accommodation of 1,000 students of law and civil government. There are at present 300 students there.\n\nB 2\n\n[2893 cc-1]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429712, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 449, "title": "CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL,\n\n[41906]\n\nNovember 17.\n\n36747\n\nSECTION 1.\n\nREC Roof 1 DEC 10.\n\nNo. 1.\n\n448\n\n(No. 387.) Sir,\n\nMr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received November 17.)\n\nPeking, October 28, 1910.\n\nWITH reference to my telegram No. 176 of yesterday's date, I have the honour to report that, as the result of the marked and growing agitation which has recently made itself felt throughout the Empire, a resolution was unanimously adopted by the newly-established Senate at its session of the 22nd October for the presentation to the throne of a joint memorial pressing once again for the curtailment of the period of nine years originally fixed for the opening of China's Parliament proper.\n\nIt will thus be seen that the clear instructions contained in the Imperial decree of the 27th June, 1910 (copy of which was enclosed in my despatch No. 237 of the 22nd July last), refusing for a second time the request of the delegates from the provincial assemblies for the earlier opening of Parliament, and prohibiting any further petitions to the throne on this subject, have been completely disregarded.\n\nThe leading part in the movement which has culminated in this step has been taken by the various provincial assemblies throughout the country, which have spared no pains and in many instances expended considerable sums of money to secure the impression of their wishes both on the provincial authorities and more especially on the highest officials in the capital itself. It is reported that the viceroys and governors of eleven provinces have sent memorials to the throne recommending the establishment of a responsible Cabinet and the speedy convening of the Imperial Parliament. It is well known that Princes Tsai Tao and Tsai Hsun, the brothers of the Prince Regent, are in favour of such a step, and several of the Chinese Ministers abroad have sent telegrams urging the convening of the National Assembly.\n\nThe trend of public opinion and the agitation in favour of the movement are so strong that many of the princes and the higher officials, who were opposed to any concession in June, are now, if not from conviction, at all events from fear of the possible consequences of a refusal, in favour of the Prince Regent's granting the request for a speedy opening of Parliament. It is significant of the strength of provincial feeling on this question that the delegates of the provincial assemblies in the Senate have so prevailed on the Imperial nominees and the deputies appointed by the Grand Council and the various boards that not a single member from either of the latter categories, not a few of whom were known until quite recently to be opposed to the idea of curtailing the probationary period, ventured to raise his voice in opposition to the motion for the joint memorial, the unanimous adoption of which was the signal for a burst of enthusiasm both from the members and from the public in the galleries.\n\nThe actual form of the memorial was discussed at the session of the Senate held on the 26th October, when, after a statement by Duke Tsai Tse, the President of the Board of Finance, that the present critical state of China's finances would doubtless be better regulated when once the establishment of Parliament had become an accomplished fact, and that that establishment would consequently be welcomed by the Board over which he himself presided, the draft memorial was read out and discussion thereon invited. In support of the memorial one of the members, alluding, doubtless, to the rumour that the Prince Regent has expressed his willingness to reduce the probationary period to three years, stated that the present need of China was not a reduction of the period to three years, two years, or one year only, but the immediate opening of the national Parliament.\n\nSuch also is the tenor of the lengthy memorial itself, which was unanimously approved, and has since been presented to the Prince Regent and referred by him to the Government Council.\n\nIt is indicative of the change that has recently taken place in the political life of Peking that this memorial and its probable reception by the Prince Regent, a question of purely internal politics, is the all-absorbing topic of conversation in all educated circles in the capital, foreign as well as Chinese.\n\n[2982 r--1]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 434450, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 451, "title": "CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n## AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n\n### (No. 45.)\n\nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received February 20.)\n\nPeking, January 31, 1911.\n\nIN my despatch No. 458, Confidential, of the 20th December, 1910, reporting on the progress of the struggle between the Senate and the Grand Council, I expressed the opinion that doubtless some compromise would be found to tide over the few weeks which then remained of the Assembly's session. This forecast has proved to be in the main correct; but that the compromise should have approached so nearly in effect to a moral defeat of the representative body was, I think, unexpected by all observers of the contest.\n\nAlthough the Senate in its session of the 19th December decided, by a large majority, to submit a further memorial impeaching the individual members of the Grand Council by name, and thus again to challenge the Council's position of supremacy as asserted in the edict of the previous day, it was only at its session of the 30th December that the body finally approved the memorial of impeachment, a translation of which I have the honour to enclose.* This memorial was merely shelved, and its text has never been officially published; the version, of which the enclosed is a translation, appearing in the columns of a native paper. There is reason, however, to believe that the version is correct, and it will be noted that it differs entirely in form from that resolved upon by the Senate in its session of the 19th ultimo.\n\nIt is interesting to trace the manner in which the memorial in such a modified form came to be drafted, since it generally illustrates the concluding phases in the first great struggle in modern Chinese history between the Central Government and a body which, at any rate, claims to represent the nation and the forces of public opinion.\n\nFollowing up its edict of the 18th December, defining the position of the Senate, vis-à-vis the Grand Council, the Throne further asserted itself in decrees of the 24th and 25th December, the former definitely refusing any further consideration of the question of shortening the period when Parliament should be opened, and the latter ordering that regulations governing the responsible Cabinet be speedily and carefully drafted. The issue of the first of these decrees further terrorised the Senate, who had been preparing to support the Fengtien delegates; and the second, this body at any rate affected to consider, made a second impeachment of the Grand Council no longer necessary. Although at its session of the 19th December the Senate had resolved to impeach the Grand Council a second time, at its next meeting on the 21st, vacillation and divided councils were very noticeable among the members in view of the firm attitude of the Throne. A certain number of the members were not prepared to take the extreme step of risking dissolution; and although on the 24th the memorial of impeachment, as prepared by the committee of six appointed for that purpose, was read and approved, at the Assembly's next meeting of the 26th it was decided by a majority that the impeachment should be dropped. On the following day the Senate was severely criticised for this action in the native press; and, at its next meeting on the 28th, members declared that there was no intention of dropping the impeachment, but they had merely proposed that it should take another form. A resolution was passed to this effect, and on the 30th the memorial, as finally presented and shelved, was read and approved by the Senate. On the 3rd January the question of what further action was advisable, in view of the shelving of the memorial, was raised. It was decided that to present a further impeachment was useless, but that a memorial should be drawn up describing the position of the Senate and the circumstances leading to the impeachment. There is, however, no official evidence that such action was taken, and at any rate nothing has eventuated therefrom.\n\nSo ended the first struggle between the Senate and the Grand Council. The Senate concluded its session, which was extended ten days at its own request, on the 11th January, and the Imperial decree of prorogation, of which a translation is enclosed,† appeared on the same date. It bears as usual the signatures of the Grand Councillors.\n\n* `Impeachment of Grand Conseil. Memorial of Senate.`\n† `Prorogation of Senate. Decree of January 11, 1911.`", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 434451, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 452, "title": "CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "## AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n### CONFIDENTIAL\n\n$2 \n\nand may be taken as the parting words of advice given by the victors to the vanquished.\n\nThe first session of the Senate is thus concluded, and although it has been rumoured that a special session will be held during April next, it seems more probable that the Assembly's work as a body is finished until November. It remains to pass judgment on the results of that work. There is no question that the Senate has to some extent disappointed the expectations formed of it. These expectations were extravagant, but the contrast between the views expressed by the better-class newspapers during the early sittings of the Senate and the valedictories published on the conclusion of its session is remarkable. It is accused as a body of having forced a conflict with the Grand Council only to suffer a humiliating defeat, of having disregarded the real interests of the country by attending to trifles and neglecting essentials. Its members are with some reason accused of appearing late at debates, of absenting themselves without leave, of largely confining their interest to questions immediately concerning their own provinces, and of attempting to shelve such questions of paramount importance as the budget in favour of popular but trifling measures, such as the cutting of the queue. On the other hand, it is allowed by their more moderate critics that this was an initial session, that the members had undoubted difficulties to contend with, that they showed remarkable orderliness in their conduct of debates, and that, if they have accomplished nothing else, they have made the Executive feel that they are not altogether free from restraint.\n\nOfficial opinion was likely to be hostile, and the parting words from the Throne, as contained in the decree of prorogation, are probably representative of official opinion on their labours. The Message contains no words of praise, but amounts in effect to an admonition to the representatives of the popular Assembly to the knowledge necessary for practical statesmanship.\n\nIt must be remembered that the functions of the Assembly, according to its constitution, were twofold, educational as well as advisory. In its latter capacity, the Senate failed to exercise the influence which a body claiming to interpret the wishes of the people might reasonably have expected to attain. Its one concrete achievement has been the hastening of the period for the opening of China's Parliament. It also passed such important measures as the new criminal law, the press laws, the law of copyright, and above all the budget, but none of these measures except the law of copyright has as yet received the final approval of the Throne. As regards its educational function—to prepare the members and the people at large for a parliamentary régime—the labours of the Senate have certainly been attended with a measure of success. If only from their failures, the members must have learnt what attitude to avoid during the next session, while the Government must have learnt much regarding the attitude and temper of the country. Foreigners who have come into contact with individual members of the Senate have been much impressed with the earnestness and moderation of their views, and there seems every reason to believe that a second session of the Assembly will be productive of more solid achievement than the first has been. The members have now dispersed to their own provinces, and it is impossible as yet to tell how far they will have the sympathy of their fellow provincials in the result of their struggle with the Grand Council, which has been, constitutionally considered, the greatest event of the session. In Peking, their departure has caused a sensible feeling of relief in official circles, and for the moment, the forces of reaction are on the side of the Grand Council, which is reasserting its authority in the government of the country.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n**AFFAIRS OF CHINA**\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n`[6642]`\nNo. 1.\n`CO 450/8199`\nSECTION 1914 MAR\n\nQuestion asked in the House of Commons, February 21, 1911.\n\nThe Earl of Ronaldshay,-To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been called to telegrams appearing in the press, in which it is stated that, as a result of the infringement by China of certain of the provisions of the treaty of St. Petersburgh of 1881, Russian troops are being mobilised on the Chinese frontier in the neighbourhood of Kuldja; and has he any information upon the matter which he can give to the House.\n\nAnswer by Mr. McKinnon Wood (for Sir E. Grey),\n\nThe matter is one which concerns Russia and China, and I cannot add to the information about the difficulty which has been made public. Negotiations are proceeding between Russia and China, and I have no reason to suppose that a satisfactory settlement will not be reached.\n\n`[1909 - -1]`\nJ. N. JORDAN", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 435308, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 88, "title": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "# AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n## CONFIDENTIAL\n\n23539 \n[22315] \nRecoNo. 1. \nR18 JUL \nArey Receive \n\n**(No. 222.)** \nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey, Received June 9. \nPeking, May 22, 1911.\n\nIN continuation of my despatch No. 21 of the 14th January, I have the honour to transmit copies of a despatch and enclosures from the acting British consul at Harbin relative to the proposed agreement with the Russian Government for the payment of municipal taxes by British subjects in the Russian railway settlements in Manchuria.\n\nMr. Sly discusses the question very fully in his despatch, and reports that he has had some preliminary and informal conversation with the Russian consul-general on the subject.\n\nMy reply, copy of which is also enclosed, will, I hope, enable him to approach his Russian colleague with definite proposals.\n\nI have, &c. \nJ. N. JORDAN.\n\n## Enclosure 1 in No. 1\n**(No. 16.)** \nActing-Consul Sly to Sir J. Jordan, \nHarbin, April 30, 1911.\n\nI HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 1 of the 14th January, forwarding copy of a despatch No. 371 of the 28th October last from Sir Edward Grey, in which it is stated that His Majesty's Government favour the conclusion of a reasonable understanding with Russia in regard to the payment of municipal taxes by British subjects residing in Harbin. This decision would, subject to the necessary safeguards which it is desired to obtain for the protection of British subjects against vexatious and unjust treatment at the hands of the Russian authorities, appear to imply the recognition of the status quo anterior to the Russo-Chinese agreement of May 1909, which has, in practice, been of little effect.\n\nIt is accordingly desirable that I should furnish you with a copy of the Harbin Municipal Regulations of 1907, upon which the present system of municipal administration is mainly founded, and full particulars of which have not, I understand from your despatch under acknowledgment, been previously sent to you. A copy of these regulations, in translation, forms enclosure No. 1 to this despatch, and is accompanied by two memoranda, enclosures 2 and 3, the first of which contains notes on various matters mentioned in the regulations, which appear to require some explanation, and the second, of which invites special attention to the authority and powers enjoyed under the regulations by the administration of the Chinese Eastern Railway.\n\nIt is hoped that these enclosures may be useful to you in considering the general aspect of the whole question, and it may be added that, on the presumption that it is intended to give due recognition to the predominance of Russian interests in Harbin, and to the controlling influence of the railway company, the municipal regulations of 1907 would, it seems, be divested, provided that adequate safeguards are obtained for the protection of British subjects, of many of the objections formerly entertained to them. Considerations which would appear to support this argument are: (1) That the authority exercised by the railway administration, which is in fact, if not in name, a Russian Government institution, may, provided due allowance be made for differences in national character and culture, be compared to the control which the British authorities have over the municipal organisations in British concessions in China; and (2) that the stipulation contained in article 42 of the regulations that the chairman of the municipal council and, incidentally, of the assembly of delegates must be a Russian subject does not of itself give to the subjects of Russia residing in Harbin a greater preference than that enjoyed by British subjects resident, for example, in the British concession at Canton by reason of the requirement of regulation 4 of the Shameen land regulations of 1908 that the majority of the members of the municipal council must be British subjects. Similarly, if the premises be correct and the necessary... \n\n[2062 i-3] \nPage 87", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 435309, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 89, "title": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "## safeguards for British subjects are secured, articles 51 and 53 of the Harbin regulations will lose the objectionable character which they would otherwise possess.\n\nIn instructing me in your despatch under acknowledgment to open negotiations with my Russian colleague regarding the payment of municipal taxes by British subjects in Harbin, you desire me to pay particular attention to certain matters which have seemed to be of special importance. I now beg leave to submit for your consideration some remarks on various points, taking for the sake of lucidity each in turn:\n\n(1.) The desirability of obtaining reasonable guarantees as to the method of expenditure of municipal taxes levied from British subjects.\n\nIt is unnecessary to dilate upon the reasons obvious enough which have prompted this proposal: the important thing is to discover how far it may be possible to give effect to it, and, in endeavouring to form an opinion thereon, special consideration must, it would seem, be given to the peculiar nature of local conditions. The municipal organisation in Harbin is, as stated in my report on the railway settlement of Harbin of the 30th June last, still in an embryonical and experimental stage, and it is not even now possible, owing in part to the fact that a complete statement of accounts has not yet been published, to come to any definite conclusion in regard to many of the results of the work of the local administration during 1909, the first year in which it resumed full responsibility. One thing, however, is certain, namely, that though it cannot be asserted that municipal funds have been disbursed to the best advantage, considerable improvements in the conditions of the town have been effected by the municipal administration. Instances in point are extensive though inadequate, repairs to the roads, improved street lighting, and the construction of a good bazaar or market in the Pristan to replace the ramshackle booths which formerly did duty for the purpose.\n\nAs regards then the particular form of guarantee now under discussion, it may at least be said that on the evidence available it does not seem possible to call in question the good intentions of the local municipal administration in regard to town betterments and improvements. On the other hand, bearing in mind the peculiarity of Russian ideas and methods, I think it unlikely that, at any rate for some considerable time to come, the best use will be made of municipal funds, and it therefore follows per se that British subjects, if they pay taxes, must not expect to derive the same good results therefrom that they might reasonably await in a British municipality. The utmost that can be done for them is to endeavour to obtain the best terms procurable under the peculiar conditions which prevail. Taking everything into account, and especially the possibility that since the municipal organisation in Harbin is still in an embryonical and experimental stage, you may think it advisable that any arrangement regarding the payment of taxes by British subjects should, in the first instance, be of a provisional character and open to amendment should circumstances require, I would submit for your consideration the proposal that the form of guarantee should be confined to a general undertaking to the effect that every effort will be made to employ the municipal revenue to the best advantage. The American Government in agreeing in a somewhat informal way to the provisional payment of taxes by American subjects in Harbin specified, as reported in my despatch No. 18 of the 22nd July last, the particular taxes, viz., police, road, lighting, and sanitation, which they considered might properly be levied. As explained in my report on the railway settlement and municipal administration of Harbin of the 30th June last, there is no special police tax and certain sanitary measures, such as those necessary to prevent the spread of epidemics and epizootics, are undertaken by the railway company, which receives for this purpose a contribution from the municipal administration of 2 per cent. upon certain items of revenue (see pp. 13, 14, and 15 of the said report). Again, according to the preliminary municipal reports for the year 1909, from which the figures and many of the particulars furnished in my report above mentioned were taken, the percentage of the estimated municipal revenue, including the contribution held to be due to the railway company for the upkeep of the police, expended on the requirements of the municipal administration and its staff, the police force, the fire brigade, town improvements, new works, public education, and medical, sanitary, and veterinary measures was respectively 24, 5.6, 9, 3, 54, 6, and 7 per cent., a total of 60 per cent., or in round figures 86 per cent. of the total revenue actually collected at the time of the issue of these reports. Of the expenditure under the above heads only that occurred on public education and on medical, sanitary, and veterinary measures seems likely to be open to question as being disproportionate to the benefit which would accrue to British subjects paying municipal taxes irrespective of the purpose to which they are put. The expenditure on public education and medical, sanitary, and veterinary measures was respectively 30,000 rupees and 35,000 rupees. Of the first nearly 30,000 rupees was expended on the upkeep of town schools, and of the second 20,000 rupees, with an expected addition of 10,000 rupees, was devoted to the provision of medical treatment for the poor. British subjects are not in general likely to want to take advantage of the free education given in the town schools, and the number of British subjects requiring free medical treatment will in all probability be small. On the other hand, the schools would be available for the children of British subjects should they wish to make use of them, and the number of British subjects, e.g., natives of India, desiring free medical treatment might by comparison be conceivably not very inferior in ratio to the whole strength of the British portion of the town population. Further particulars in regard to the foregoing points may be obtainable during the next few weeks; but, subject to any fresh considerations to which such information may give rise, I would suggest for your consideration that it may not be necessary to specify the purposes to which taxes paid by British subjects shall be put, and that a general declaration of the nature already described may be held to be sufficient to afford a reasonable guarantee that the British contribution to the municipal revenue will, in so far as the peculiar circumstances permit, be devoted to the proper requirements of the municipality.\n\n(2.) The character of the municipal taxes at present levied in Harbin, and the question of the willingness of British subjects to contribute towards the municipal revenue.\n\nIt is, I think, unlikely that much, if any, objection will be taken by British subjects to the existing land, building, and lodging taxes and licence fees, provided they are assured that their agreement to contribute will not expose them to unjust and vexatious treatment at the hands of the Russian authorities and that they will not lose their extraterritorial rights. The taxes, however, imposed on factories and commercial undertakings, notwithstanding that a case is known where a prominent British firm, without heed to the principle at stake, was willing to pay what it considered a reasonable sum as tax on its business undertakings, will, I have no doubt, meet with opposition. I mentioned the matter of these taxes to my Russian colleague in preliminary and informal conversation, and told him that I thought that they would not be acceptable to British subjects, giving as one reason for this opinion the method of assessment. M. Poppé did not seem insensible to the objectionable features of these taxes, and told me that they had not been favourably regarded by the Austrian consul in Tien-tsin, who also acts as consul for Austria-Hungary at Harbin. I intimated to my colleague that a business tax was not objectionable in principle, and made mention of the annual tax of this kind amounting to 50 dollars levied on all firms established in the British concession at Canton, and of the bund rent paid at Tien-tsin by vessels putting their cargo on the bund (see my report of 30th June last, pp. 22 and 23). M. Poppé promised to enquire into the matter and to endeavour to ascertain whether some other method of taxation in substitution of these taxes could not be devised. It is not without interest to this question that a proposal has been made to introduce at Harbin a \"popoodni sbor,\" or transport tax, in order to provide sufficient funds for maintaining the long length of roadway in good order and repair. This, I understand, is a form of levy well known in Russia, and is collected on all goods entering and leaving the town, the argument being that they are largely responsible for the wear and tear of the roads, since the whole population is in all probability directly or indirectly interested in the various kinds of merchandise entering and leaving the town, this tax would not appear to be inequitable, and there would therefore seem to be a possibility that a substitute for the present imposts upon commercial undertakings and factories might, if there is on our part no objection thereto, be found in a levy of this or similar kind.\n\n(3.) British representation in the municipal administration.\n\nIt is not probable that the numerical strength of the British vote in Harbin will, in the near future at least, be sufficient to ensure, independent of the wishes of their fellow Russian citizens, the presence of a British representative in the assembly of delegates or on the municipal council. It is possible, however, that what cannot be obtained by weight of numbers may be secured through the good-will of the Russian...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 435310, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 90, "title": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "## majority. \nThus, the municipal elections held last month saw the election to the assembly of delegates of Mr. Hatsuaki, the local representative of the Japanese Manchuria Company, which is an agency of the South Manchuria Railway Company. Your suggestion that British and other foreign interests might at least be represented on the taxation committee seems entirely feasible and to come within the scope of the note to article 37 of the regulations of 1907. I have already mentioned this matter informally to my Russian colleague.\n\n(4.) Official notification to His Majesty's consul of any new tax or municipal regulation.\n\nI have in preliminary conversation intimated to my Russian colleague that it would be desirable that we should receive official notification of any proposed new tax or municipal regulation, stating that, according to our practice, such regulations, if intended to be made binding upon British subjects, must first be submitted to you. The matter, in so far as British subjects residing in Harbin are concerned, would seem to be governed by article 156 of the order of council of 1904. As regards the introduction of new taxes, it is to be noted that by article 40 of the 1907 regulations no taxes other than those contemplated by article 5 of the said regulations can be imposed except with the approval of the general administration of the railway company. The request, then, that we should have previous information of any proposed new tax should not appear unreasonable.\n\n(5.) The suggestion that some guarantee should be obtained from the Russian authorities intended to protect British subjects from being required, on the expiration of the railway company's lease, to evacuate their property without due compensation.\n\nI have, in informal conversation with my Russian colleague, gathered that the idea exists that, though the rights of private Russian owners are not protected by any specific safeguards in the railway agreement of 1896, it would be considered only equitable that these owners should not be expropriated on the expiration of the railway company's lease without receiving proper compensation. M. Poppé has not, however, committed himself to a definite statement as to the views of the Russian authorities on this matter and it has occurred to me that the securing of a guarantee of the kind in question might be facilitated if we, on our part, were willing to agree to give the Russian authorities such assistance as we properly could in upholding the claims, when legitimate, of British subjects. I should be glad to know whether you consider that this suggestion can be entertained or not.\n\n(6.) The status of the police.\n\nMy Russian colleague has informed me, in conversation, that the local police administration has received instructions from the higher authorities in St. Petersburgh to give due attention to any request made to them by the Russian consul-general in connection with matters affecting the property and person of the subjects of foreign Powers residing in Harbin and also, in cases of urgency, to attend to any request preferred direct by the consul of the national whose person or property is concerned. I have, since the date of my report of the 30th June last, not received any complaints of unwarrantable interference on the part of the police with the persons or properties of British subjects, and I think that the above-mentioned procedure, if formally recognised in writing by the Russian Minister and rendered slightly more elastic so as to enable His Majesty's consul, should he see fit, to apply at once to the police direct might be considered a sufficient safeguard under the conditions now obtaining.\n\n(7.) The control of the municipal administration over the regularity of commercial dealings.\n\nA reference to this matter is contained in the second enclosure to this despatch, and I have also alluded to it in conversation with my Russian colleague, who has promised to make enquiries as to the exact meaning of the vague wording of article 2 (i) of the regulations of 1907.\n\nI have now, I think, mentioned all the important points requiring reference to you at the present stage and shall be glad to receive any instructions in regard thereto which you may deem necessary, so that I may be able to approach my Russian colleague with definite proposals.\n\n## 5\n\nIt remains, in conclusion, to furnish you with information regarding the more salient facts connected with the municipal elections held last month.\n\nThe total number of qualified voters was 812, of whom 161 were Chinese, as compared, respectively, with 1695 and 255 in 1908. Two elections were held—the first on the 19th March and the second on the 26th March. At the former, the number of voters present was 344 and at the latter 266. The Chinese, with two or three exceptions, abstained from voting. As the result of the two elections, thirty-eight members of the assembly of delegates were chosen, leaving two delegates and twelve candidate-delegates to be appointed by the manager of the railway. Among the elected delegates were fourteen persons employed by the railway administration including M. Daniel, chief of the department of foreign relations. At subsequent meetings of the assembly of delegates, M. Umansky, a lawyer, was elected president of the assembly of delegates and chairman of the municipal council, and Messrs. Semianikov, an engineer, and Dobisov, a merchant, were successful in securing election to the position of municipal councillors. Two attempts to obtain the selection of a fourth member failed, but one other member, M. Mimrin, has been appointed by the manager of the railway. Mention is made in `enclosure 2` of the decision reached at a meeting of the assembly of delegates on the 11th instant in regard to the remuneration of the members of the municipal council. A list of the new members of the assembly of delegates and of the candidate-delegates is enclosed—`enclosure 4`.*\n\nI have, &c.\n\nH. E. SLY.\n\n## Enclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\n### Regulations for the Municipal Administration of Harbin.\n\n#### ARTICLE 1.\nIn accordance with the General Principles governing the Organisation of the Civil Administration on the Territory of the Chinese Eastern Railway, the management of town affairs and improvements in Harbin is to be entrusted to a municipal administration represented by elected officers (article 10). The legality of actions taken by the said officers shall be subject to the control of the general administration of the company and the manager of the Chinese Eastern Railway.\n\n#### Art. 2.\nThe following matters are to be placed under the control of the municipal administration of Harbin:\n\n| Matter | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| (a.) | The management of taxes and dues introduced for the benefit of the town. |\n| (b.) | The management of town properties and funds. |\n| (c.) | The charge of town improvements; the construction of the town in accordance with approved plans; the maintenance of streets, squares, bridges, quays, public gardens, waterworks, drains, town lighting and telephones, slaughter-houses, &c. |\n| (d) | The prevention, by means of measures within the competence of the municipal administration, of scarcity and of abnormal rise in price of articles of first necessity and the provision of arrangements in such cases for the sale of fuel, bread, and meat. |\n| (e.) | The management of the medical, sanitary, and veterinary departments of the town, of town hospitals and cemeteries. |\n| (f) | The management of town destitute asylums and charitable institutions. |\n| (g.) | The management of the town fire department and of municipal mutual fire insurance. |\n| (h) | The establishment and maintenance of public educational institutions, libraries, museums, theatres, and other educational institutions, also the grant of assistance to private educational institutions. |\n| (i.) | The development of local trade and industries, establishment of market halls and bazaars, control of the regularity of commercial dealings, introduction of rules regulating the mutual relations between employers and employés and workmen in factories in commercial and industrial establishments. |\n| (j) | The operation of omnibus, tramway, and steamer lines, and the supervision of similar private enterprises and hired conveyances plying within the limits of the town. |\n\nPage 90\nPage 91", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 435312, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 92, "title": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "# \nPersons not on the lists, or having lost the right to vote before the elections take place, shall not participate in the elections.\n\nArt. 21. The chairman of the municipal council shall be chairman of the electoral meeting. Prior to the opening of the meeting, some of the electors present may be asked by the chairman to assist him in collecting and counting the votes. If it is impossible for the chairman or vice-chairman to preside at the electoral meeting, another chairman shall be appointed by the manager of the railway from among the retiring delegates.\n\nArt. 22. The meeting shall proceed to the elections only on condition of their being present not less than 100 electors.\n\nArt. 23. The delegates shall be elected from among persons having the right to vote at the elections. Any such person, unless he refuses, is eligible for ballot if he receives not less than five nominations, or if he himself expresses a wish to submit his name for ballot.\n\nArt. 24. Elections shall be conducted by closed ballot with ballot balls.\n\nArt. 25. A person in order to be elected as a delegate must receive a greater number of affirmative than negative votes. If the persons who obtain the \"ayes\" of more than half of the electors present are more than the number of delegates required, then those shall be held to be elected who have received the largest number of affirmative votes. In the case of an equal ballot, lots shall be drawn. The persons elected in excess of the number required shall rank as candidate-delegates.\n\nArt. 26. The number of votes, favourable and unfavourable, received by each person proposed for ballot shall be recorded in an electoral list, which shall be read after the elections to the electoral meeting, and be signed by the chairman and the electors present.\n\nArt. 27. After the elections, the electoral meeting shall be closed and the original electoral lists transmitted to the municipal council not later than twenty-four hours after the elections. The municipal council shall prepare a list of the elected delegates and candidates, and send the same together with the electoral lists to the manager of the railway within forty-eight hours.\n\nArt. 28. Complaints regarding irregularities committed at the elections may be addressed to the manager of the railway within three days after the elections.\n\nArt. 29. If, after examination of the minutes relating to the election, and of complaints received, the manager of the railway shall have reason to believe that any substantial infractions of the present regulations regarding elections have occurred at the meeting, he may revoke the elections entirely and give directions to proceed to the election anew, or, if he shall find that any errors have been committed in the election of any of the delegates, he may decide upon their being replaced by the candidate-delegates with the next greatest number of votes.\n\nArt. 30. If the number of elected delegates should be less than forty, a new meeting of electors shall be called to make up the required number in accordance with the procedure already indicated in the present regulations. If after the second election the number of elected delegates shall still be less than forty, the manager of the railway shall appoint the necessary number of delegates from among the residents whose names appear on the final electoral lists, taking into consideration, as far as possible, the number of votes received by each of them at the first or second meeting.\n\nArt. 31. After the elections are over and the number of delegates, if necessary, completed in the way shown in article 30, a final list of the delegates shall be compiled by order of the manager of the railway, and be published for general information.\n\n## Assembly of Delegates\n\nArt. 32. An assembly of delegates, under the presidency of the chairman of the municipal council, shall be formed by sixty delegates elected for a term of three years.\n\nArt. 33. If, during their term of office, any one of the delegates should lose his right of franchise or should resign his office, he shall be considered as retired, and during the rest of the term be replaced by the candidate who received the next greatest number of votes at the elections.\n\nArt. 34. The delegates shall elect from among themselves a secretary and an assistant secretary for the current term of three years.\n\nArt. 35. Meetings of the assembly of delegates shall be summoned, when circumstances require, by the chairman by notifications in which the nature of the questions to be considered must be clearly stated. The accounts of the municipal council for the past year shall be examined not later than in September, and the budget for the following year not later than in November.\n\nMeetings of the assembly of delegates shall be called by the chairman either on his own initiative or by order of the manager of the Chinese Eastern Railway, or on receipt of a written request, stating reasons, signed by not less than twenty delegates. On receipt of such an order from the manager of the railway, or of a request signed by twenty delegates, the chairman shall call a meeting to be held within the next five days.\n\nA quorum shall consist of not less than one-half of the whole number of the delegates.\n\nArt. 36. The decisions of a meeting shall be recorded in the minutes, and shall be signed by the chairman, the secretary of the meeting, the municipal council, and by those of the delegates present who wish to do so.\n\nArt. 37. All business shall be brought before the assembly of delegates by the chairman, with the opinion thereon of the municipal council, and shall be decided either by open or closed ballot, at the discretion of the meeting, by majority votes. In case of even ballot, the chairman shall have a casting vote. Questions bearing a personal character shall always be decided by closed ballot. Questions relating to the introduction of new taxes, augmentation of taxes already existing or abolition of such taxes, to the conclusion of long-termed loans, to alienation of property on long-termed lease, to the alteration of the present regulations, and to the dismissal before the expiration of their term of office of the chairman and members of the municipal council shall be decided by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the whole number of delegates.\n\nNote. The assembly of delegates is authorised to form committees from among its members, or from persons whose names are entered on the final electoral lists, for the purpose of preliminary investigation of matters brought before the assembly, or revision of property or moneys in the care of the municipal administration, &c.\n\nArt. 38. The following matters shall be under the control of the assembly of delegates :-\n\n(a) The confirmation of the estimates of municipal revenue and expenditure for the ensuing year.\n\n(b) Confirmation of the municipal accounts for the previous year.\n\n(c) Determination of the basis of assessing, and fixing the amounts of, the taxes mentioned in the present regulations (article 5) and the adoption of rules for the collection of same.\n\n(d) Establishment of charges for the use of municipal and public constructions and properties.\n\n(e) Extension of time for payment of, and remission of arrears of, town taxes.\n\n(f) Establishment of taxes in natura, and conversion of same into monetary taxes.\n\n(g) Introduction of new taxes not foreseen in article 5.\n\n(h) Issue of obligatory orders relating to the welfare and good order of the town.\n\n(i) Loans for public requirements and guarantees in the name of the town.\n\n(j) Grant of concessions for enterprises and constructions of general usefulness (waterworks, drainage, tramways, lighting, &c.).\n\n(k) Election of the chairman and members of the municipal council and their dismissal before the expiration of their term of office.\n\n(l) Confirmation and alteration of the instructions issued to the municipal council.\n\n(m) Sale and lease of the town's immovable property.\n\n(n) Acceptance of contributions for the benefit of the town.\n\n(o) Alteration of the plans of the town.\n\n(p) Regulation of prices of articles of first necessity and fares to be charged by carriages and carts plying for hire, tramways, steam-ships, &c.\n\n(q) Establishment of regulations regarding the relations between employers, employés, and workmen in factories and trade, industrial and commercial establishments.\n\n(r) Alteration of the present regulations.\n\n`[2062 i-3]`", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 435357, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 137, "title": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n## SECTION 1\n\n### No. 1\n\n(No. 238.) \nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 24.) \nPeking, June 5, 1911.\n\nTHE policy of the State ownership of railways, to which the Government are now definitely committed, has formed the subject of three recent edicts, copies of which are enclosed herewith.\n\nThe first deals with the province of Szechuan, and orders the abolition of the system under which the farmers are obliged to make contributions towards railway construction based upon the assessed value of their holdings. The money, it is stated, has been extorted from the people by fraud, and years have passed without anything having been done in the way of railway construction. The collection of these so-called rent shares is to cease, and the new director-general of railways is instructed to ascertain the amount already collected, and submit a report to the Throne for such action as the circumstances may appear to justify.\n\nThe second decree refers to Hunan, and is based upon a memorial in which a metropolitan official, acting doubtless under orders, had advocated that the levy of special taxes for railway construction in that province should cease. After expressing its sympathy with the sufferings of the people in terms suited to the popular ear, the Throne orders the abolition of all these unauthorised levies, and instructs Tuan Fang to have the whole question fully investigated.\n\nThe third and last decree administers a sharp rebuke to the Governor of Hunan, who had ventured to submit a petition from the provincial Assembly, asking permission to construct their own railways without the aid of foreign capital. The attitude of the provincial Assembly is construed as in the nature of a menace, and the governor is taken severely to task for having encouraged it.\n\nHis Excellency Tuan Fang, who leaves Peking in a few days, will take up his residence at Wuchang, whence he will direct the railway operations in Hunan and Hupei. He counts upon the active support of his kinsman, Jui Cheng, the viceroy of the two provinces, who also resides in Wuchang, and speaks with confidence of having through railway communication with Hong Kong established in three years.\n\nI have, &c. \nJ. N. JORDAN.\n\n### Enclosure 1 in No. 1\n\nExtract from the \"Gazette\" of May 22, 1911.\n\n**IMPERIAL EDICT**\n\nSOME time ago we issued an edict, commanding that all trunk lines of railway should revert to Government control, and appointing Tuan Fang director-general of the Canton-Hankow and Szechuan-Hankow Railways, with the rank of expectant vice-president of a board. We ordered him to proceed to his post with all speed, and carry out his duties circumspectly. The object of this resolute action on the part of the Throne was to centralise the control of the railways, and thereby relieve to some extent the financial embarrassment of the people. When the Szechuan Railway was commenced the officials and gentry of the province decided to enforce subscription to shares in proportion to the rent value of property held. Though it was nominally a commercial enterprise, the money has actually been collected from the people by fraud, and, in spite of the lapse of several years, the railway has not yet been completed. Besides, this last year there was a very large deficiency in the funds, so that the malpractices on that line are very numerous. Under these circumstances it is clear that the public have been put to much trouble without any considerable benefit to the railway. Subsequently Hunan province adopted the same system of taking up rent shares, though its financial condition is worse even than that of Szechuan. At the", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 435377, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 157, "title": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "## 2\n\nThe meeting opened at 8 o'clock in the morning, presided over by the four gentlemen named above. The attendance from the first numbered a couple of thousand, which gradually swelled as time went on to five or six thousand—some say as many as ten thousand—comprising chiefly representatives from the army, the students, and the gentry. From the account of the second writer, who attended this and the previous meeting to take notes, there appears to have been no order or coherence whatever. Speaker after speaker ascended the platform merely to indulge in hysterical denunciation of the evil designs of foreign Powers and to exhaust himself in violent abuse of the president of the Board of Communications, one perfervid orator going so far as to bite his fingers repeatedly until the blood ran. The din and hubbub were indescribable, and the audience were worked up to a pitch of frantic excitement. During the progress of the meeting a leaflet was handed round, of which, as it purports to give the plan of campaign organised by the gentry and the students, I enclose copy and translation. The language of this leaflet, like that used at the meeting, is wildly extravagant, and out of all proportion to the interests at stake. It was, of course, designed to stir up the people and to frighten the provincial authorities—an aim which would certainly appear to have been successfully accomplished.\n\nOn Monday morning, 15th May, the **\"Changsha Jih Pao\"** published verbatim a letter addressed by the governor to the director-general of the railway, expressing the utmost sympathy with the Hunanese in losing control of the line, and undertaking to exert himself to the utmost to assist them in recovering it. His Excellency promised to memorialise the Throne on their behalf; and further expressed himself willing to receive for transmission to Peking any representations they might wish to make on the subject. He concluded by deprecating violence and excitement in dealing with the question.\n\nA notification issued by the educational commissioner also appeared in the newspaper, warning the students that they were not allowed to interfere in politics, and threatening to deal severely with any who attempted to stir up trouble or spoke of closing the schools.\n\nNo real attempt was made, however, to suppress the agitation; and anti-foreign hand-bills, couched in simple language to enable them to reach the great mass of the people, were distributed freely throughout the city. They were all very similar to the leaflet handed round at the meeting, but were still more violent and inflammatory; the familiar cry of the imminent partition of China was once more raised, Hunan among other provinces being assigned to the United Kingdom. No effort was spared to stir up feeling among the people, and the shopkeepers were urged to be ready to join in a general strike by closing up their shops.\n\nIn the morning I telegraphed to you briefly the state of affairs, suggesting that the dispatch of a gun-boat to Changsha was advisable. At the same time, I addressed a despatch to the governor, forwarding a copy of one of the anti-foreign leaflets, and complaining of the inaction of the authorities.\n\nNo measures, however, were taken, and the situation developed rapidly. The same evening it was announced that, unless the reply of the Central Government to the governor's telegraphic memorial was favourable, a general strike would be proclaimed at once; and Thursday, the 18th May, was fixed as the latest date for waiting. The most reassuring factor in the situation was the confidence reposed in the troops, especially in the Hunan mixed brigade under General Yang. Some members of the foreign community were inclined to cast doubts on their loyalty; but, apart from the fact that their trustworthiness was amply vindicated at the time of the riot last year, my enquiries satisfied me that they were to be depended upon.\n\nOn Tuesday morning, 16th May, the excitement reached its height. The anti-foreign propaganda was proceeding unchecked; the anti-foreign leaflets were still being freely distributed; anti-foreign placards had made their appearance on the walls, and the students were openly threatening the governor's life if the reply of the Central Government was not satisfactory. I wrote again to the governor complaining that no precautionary or repressive measures whatever had been taken by the officials, and requested categorically to know whether he could guarantee protection to the foreign community. In reply to a question put to me on the subject, I said that it would be as well if no foreign women or children spent the night in the city. Some of them went down river to Hankow. Others slept on board the steamers in port; while others again moved over to the island opposite the city where the Customs residences stand. The men, however, with one or two exceptions, remained. At this point, however, the accounts of the two consulate writers who were busily engaged throughout in collecting information indicate that the gentry suddenly decided to range themselves on the side of law and order. In the light of subsequent events I am inclined to believe that they had not contemplated going to extremes, but had merely desired to frighten the Government into compliance with their wishes. The movement had, however, got quite out of hand; the students were altogether beyond control; and the gentry, faced with an imminent riot, decided that they must cry a halt. They urged on the students the importance of confining themselves to pacific measures; but the latter were not inclined to listen. The governor, however, heartened doubtless by the support of the gentry, at last rose to the occasion. I received a reply from him the same evening, stating that he would protect foreigners; and he also sent the Customs taotai to reassure me as to the situation. Guards of soldiers were placed outside all the foreign establishments in the city, and a proclamation was issued by the governor pointing out that, if the people really imagined they had a grievance, they could elect representatives to lay the matter before him, when he would memorialise the Throne on their behalf; but that everything must be done in a peaceable manner. I understood, however, that inflammatory leaflets were being freely distributed, which were causing great excitement, and that it was openly stated that there would be no hesitation in bringing about international complications.\n\nHe went on to say that, if a disturbance resulted, the law-abiding classes would be the first to suffer; and he further stated that the railway question was being used as a pretext by bad characters who were anxious to stir up trouble. But being responsible for the safety of the people, it was impossible for him to show the least leniency towards such manifestations; and he had therefore given orders to all civil and military officials to suppress the least sign of disorder and to punish all in any way attempting to make trouble.\n\nThe following day, the 17th May, the situation had improved considerably, as reported in my telegram of that date. The distribution of hand-bills had completely ceased; the anti-foreign placards had been torn down and replaced by copies of the governor's proclamation; the streets were patrolled by soldiers, who allowed no crowds to form and kept the people moving; while any found spreading alarming rumours were immediately arrested. The students had by no means cooled down, and still openly intimated their intention of bringing about a general strike in case the railway was not restored to Hunanese control. The gentry, however, were doing their best to check the excitement, for which they themselves were largely responsible; and I felt assured that any disturbance that might arise would be quickly suppressed with the aid of the military.\n\nThe opening of the extraordinary session of the Provincial Assembly on the 18th May was looked forward to eagerly, as it was anticipated that the regular business of the meeting would be set aside in favour of the railway question. Large numbers of notables and students attended what was expected to be a fierce debate. They were disappointed, however. Not a word was spoken on the subject of the railway, and the Assembly busied itself exclusively with the estimates for the 2nd year of Hsuan-t'ung. I attribute this largely to the influence of Yüan Shu-hsün, the ex-Governor-General of Liang Kuang, who had been specially invited down from Siangtan to assist the officials and the gentry with his advice; it unquestionably did much to allay the general excitement, and strengthened the hands of the authorities in dealing with the situation. With the arrival of His Majesty's ship `Woodlark` the same afternoon I considered that any immediate need for anxiety had disappeared. It was not, however, until the 20th May, when the appointment of Tuan-fang as High Commissioner for the superintendence of the Hankow-Canton and the Hankow-Chêngtu Railways was received with equanimity, and when the gentry made it perfectly clear that they would countenance none but peaceable methods of opposition that I felt justified in telegraphing that there was little danger of trouble arising.\n\nNevertheless, it is impossible to predict what complications may arise when the question of the actual taking over of the railway comes to be dealt with and the gentry realise that the Central Government fully intends to assume control, as indicated by the recent Imperial edicts, in which all local levies on behalf of the line are ordered to be stopped at once, and the governor is directed to issue a special yellow proclamation to announce the news to the people. The gentry still hope to resume control of the line, and it is difficult to say to what lengths they may be prepared to proceed to accomplish their ends. Yesterday I obtained a copy of the petition which they are presenting to the governor for transmission to the Throne, in which they base their opposition to a foreign loan on three pleas:\n\n[2076 99-1]\n\n## 3 \n\n## B 2\n\n155", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 435378, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "page_number": 158, "title": "CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911", "content_text": "# Enclosure 2 in No. 1\n\n## Leaflet circulated at the Meeting held on May 14, 1911\n\nThe railway is the very life blood of the province; if the control of the line is lost our life is cut short. If the control of the line is filched from us, it is as though the people of the whole province were consigned to death. This traitorous slave, Sheng Hsüan-huai, had previously signed a contract with the American Ho-hsing Company whereby the Hankow-Canton Railway was handed over to the foreigners. At that time the people of the three provinces, feeling that they could not lose control of the line, made a desperate effort to recover it. Fortunately they were able to do so, and an Imperial decree granted it to them as a private undertaking.\n\nIn the first year of Hsuan-t'ung, Chang Chih-tung raised the question of a loan for the construction of the line. But the people and gentry of Hupei and Hunan opposed this vigorously by letter and telegram; and the representatives sent by them to decline the loan travelled continually to and fro, as the issue concerned the lives and the property of our people. Consequently, no effort was spared to fight the proposal. The Government is well aware that it dare not lose the good-will of the people or incur their resentment.\n\nWhen the Governor of Hunan memorialised the Throne by telegraph on their behalf an Imperial decree was received acceding to their request, thus showing the generous solicitude of two Emperors for the people of Hunan. But once Sheng Hsüan-huai was summoned to the capital, he plotted night and day with his intimates to contract a foreign loan, hoping thereby to feather his own nest. The four nations' loan and the Japanese loan were thus carried through, and the li-kin, the tribute rice and the tobacco, wine, and salt revenues of all the provinces of China were pledged as security. Under the pretext of nationalising the railways, he handed over the Hankow-Canton trunk line entirely to the foreigners, the loan contract not having been discussed at his public office but at his private residence. This traitorous thief usurped power for his own ends; he befooled the Throne and treated the Imperial decrees with contempt.\n\nThe Imperial decree of 9th May being distinctly at variance with those previously issued it cannot express the Emperor's own views, but merely Sheng's misrepresentation thereof. Thus one man, led by his greed for gain, does not hesitate to hand over his country's territory and the lives and the property of the people to the foreigner, besides involving the Emperor in unfilial conduct.\n\nIn all the annals of the past there is no rebellious Minister among all traitorous thieves who has dared thus openly to go to such lengths as these.\n\nAll our elders and youths must band themselves together and bring their united strength to bear against him, ready and willing to lose nine-tenths of their number in the struggle; and they must swear an oath that they and the rebellious Minister shall not remain together on this earth, in the hope on the one hand to open our Emperor's eyes, and on the other to destroy the evil spirits to whom these sacrifices were made.\n\nAll you patriotic gentlemen will surely rise up in your wrath and mingle your tears while awaiting the decision of Heaven. The measures for preserving the line are set forth below:\n\n| Measure | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| 1 | All should with one heart reverently obey the decrees of the late Emperor and that of the second year of Hsüan-t'ung, by retaining their private control over the line unimpaired and by directing all their energies to effecting progress. |\n| 2 | The representatives of the entire people should ask the governor to memorialise the Throne by telegraph, praying for a rescission of the decree. |\n| 3 | A formal meeting of shareholders must be summoned. |\n| 4 | Four additional well-known notables should be selected to act as deputy directors, and to make desperate efforts to assist the director-general in making headway. |\n| 5 | The whole stretch of 1,200 li odd (not including the 100 li section from Changsha to Chuchou) must be divided into 125 sections of 10 li each; and tenders must be called for the construction, which must be completed before the 5th moon of the 4th year of Hsüan-t'ung. Regulations governing the contracts can be drawn up separately. |\n| 6 | The expenses of construction must be advanced by the contractors, to be repayable in six years; or those who wish it can take shares in lieu thereof. |\n| 7 | One engineer-in-chief and a dozen or more assistant-engineers must be engaged, besides several dozen officials for purchasing land, whose duty will be to measure and purchase land along the line of route; after which work must be started immediately. |\n| 8 | Hunanese railway students, whether they have completed their course abroad or at home, must all be employed, either on general duties, or on supervision of machinery, or as assistant-engineers, or as superintendents of works, according to the measure of their ability. They must take up the work as a duty, and shall receive no salary. |\n| 9 | Notables of all classes who have railway interests at heart should assemble together and divide themselves into four committees: one to raise shares; another to attend to the construction of the line; a third to unite all in opposition to the loan; and the fourth to attend to correspondence and to rouse popular feeling. |\n| 10 | If any oppose the retention of the full control of the Hunan railway as a private undertaking and hinder the progress of the construction, all Hunanese must unite to resist them and must oppose them by force. |\n| 11 | The house and land contributions and the levy on salaries must be raised as heretofore; but the two first named shall be collected and remitted by the local self-government bureau in each district, without trusting to the assistance of the administrative officials. |\n| 12 | The pay department of the railway must be converted into a railway bank, available for the deposit of funds and for the issue of notes. All Hunanese must make it their duty to aid by seeing that these notes circulate freely. |\n| 13 | If any foreigners come to Hunan and endeavour by force to take charge of the construction, the Hunanese must assemble in their numbers and arrange to oppose them; no matter what grave trouble may be stirred up thereby, it is no concern of ours. If the board dispatches a superintendent to Hunan, the Hunanese are to resist him also in the same way. |\n| 14 | Should the Government disapprove of the Hunanese methods of self-defence and recklessly punish any, the Hunanese must assemble together in their numbers and proceed in a body to the yamêns and demand that all of them be punished. |\n| 15 | If the Government cancels the decree and leaves the control of the railway in private hands, the Hunanese will be grateful for this act of Imperial grace and will do their best to requite it. But if the decrees of the late Emperor and that of the second year of Hsüan-t'ung are disregarded, and the wealth of the people is offered up as a sacrifice to the foreigner, then indeed will we resist with the utmost desperation; and as a last resort we are firmly resolved to close the shops, shut up the schools, and refuse to pay taxes. |\n\nThe statement of the entire population of the province of Hunan.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 439356, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-393 - Governor Sir May - 1912 [11]", "page_number": 273, "title": "CO129-393 - Governor Sir May - 1912 [11]", "content_text": "COPY.\n\nEnclosUTU\n\n8 5\n\nPUBLIC LOAN BEARING PRIZES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL INDUSTRIES OF THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF KWANGTUNG.\n\n8 5\n\nAuthorised by the Provincial Government of Kwangtung in accordance with a Resolution passed by the Delegates of the Provincial Assembly.\n\nINTEREST AT THE RATE OF 8% PER ANNUM. AUTHORISED AMOUNT $10,000,000.\n\nBOND FOR DOLLARS FIVE.\n\nA No. 0000000\n\nA No. 0000000\n\n265 This Bond entitles the Bearer to receive from the Provincial Treasury of Kwangtung the Sum of Five Dollars with interest thereon at the Rate of Eight Per Centum Per annum subject to and with the benefits of the conditions hereunder set forth.\n\nCONDITIONS.\n\n1. The Bonds are issued by the Secretary of Treasury by order of the Provincial Government of Kwangtung; and the proceeds of the Loan will be utilised only for schemes which will likely create wealth, such as Remodelling of the City of Canton, the Reclamation of the Kupper Island, and the improvement and Expansion of the Industrial Enterprises which the Kwangtung Government has already taken in hand; and this Loan is redeemable after Ten Years and will be secured on the entire Revenue of the Province of Kwangtung.\n\n2. The Bonds are issued in three classes:-\n\n1st. class ..one-whole bond......value $10.\n2nd. class................ two-half bonds. value $5 each.\n3rd. class. ..five-1/5 of a bonds. value $2 each, of one or same number, but each part will be designated by a special number under the Bond number.\n\n3. Out of the total amount of interest at the Rate of 8% Per annum, one half of it will be set aside for Prizes to be drawn twice a Year. The bond drawing a Prize, upon the receipt of the award will be forthwith cancelled.\n\n4. The Prizes for the first drawing are as follows:-\n\n1st. Prize...... ..1.... $30,000 each.\n2nd. Prize.... .2. .$10,000 each.\n3rd. Prize ..3.. $5,000 each.\n4th. Prize.... 100. $800 each.\n5th. Prize .900.. $30 each.\n6th. Prize.. 5,000. $20 each.\n\n5. The dates for the semi-annual drawing of Prizes are fixed on the 15th. day of February and the 15th. day of August. The First Drawing will take place on the 15th. of February, 1913. At the close of each drawings Prizes will be awarded upon presentation of their respective winning Bonds.\n\n6. The Prizes of the Second Drawing and all Subsequent drawings will be reckoned from the interest on the balance of the loan at 4% Per Annum.\n\n7. The first payment of Interest will be on the 31st. day of August, 1913, and thereafter on the 31st. day August yearly.\n\n8. Bonds should be presented for redemption within two years after maturity. Any interest accruing thereon will be paid together with the Principal: and within the period of two years after maturity, Bonds will be accepted at its face value, in payment of land and other Taxes at the Provincial Treasury. Bonds when due, if not presented for payment or otherwise used as above stated will, after a period of two years date become void but the Bonds will be cancelled after two years.\n\nIN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Governor-General has hereunto set his hands and the Secretary of Treasury has affixed his official Seal this the First day of November, 1912.\n\n(Whole Bond to draw Whole Prize)\n\nSignature Hu Han Min, Governor-General.\nSignature Liao Chung Hui, Secretary of Treasury.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-393 - Governor Sir May - 1912 [11].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 439884, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-394 - Governor Sir May & Public Offices - 1912 [12]", "page_number": 376, "title": "CO129-394 - Governor Sir May & Public Offices - 1912 [12]", "content_text": "IA.. \n\n368 \n\nJel \n\n138 \n\nadr dead droger of Yoono1 8.10 CVX Ï \n\nOX \n\n1::00 raiçD Iv \n\nt \n\niwonad dwolon. \n\ndischarged the duties of Chairman at the Shanghai Commission of 1909, and the fact that the Government which he represented had taken a leading part in the proceedings which led to the assembly of the present Conference.\n\nMonsieur Cremer's proposal was supported by myself and by the German First Delegate, and being carried unanimously, the 91shop took the Chair.\n\nThe Chairman then made an address to the Conference indicating its aims and the spirit in which we should approach our task.\n\n:inc0 900 bomolew ON. NonBDIVI \n\nV \n\n♦ thw topi \n\nambula Jents 3.6 to Jadr v najờng \n\nustom X bswol \n\nurda But Engel it 20911 autresye of \n\n„aboBitendo \n\nnorent at viðasunda \n\nbetonic ed alvole stogoler asdoen berlin Jan17 \n\ntom shi to Mongue de ThiJubba vonuretrob od) 10 \n\nbis godets ed doty dry Willineyft une villde \n\nhipura fost o \n\nas the official language of the Conference, but in deference to the wishes of the delegates of several countries who were not conversant with that language, it was provided that the use of others would be permissible. The Conference then appointed its Secretariat, and adjourned till Monday the 4th instant.\n\nAt the second meeting business began with the question of the rules by which the Conference should govern its procedure, and the American Delegation proposed a short code based on that adopted by the second Peace Conference.\n\nAfter the introduction of some modifications intended to bring the rules into clear conformity ...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-394 - Governor Sir May & Public Offices - 1912 [12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 439988, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-394 - Governor Sir May & Public Offices - 1912 [12]", "page_number": 480, "title": "CO129-394 - Governor Sir May & Public Offices - 1912 [12]", "content_text": "This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.\n\n469\n\n0\n\n OPIUM.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[December 13.]\n\n2018\n\nSECTION\n\nREG 20 JAN 12\n\n([49906])\n\n(No. 1.) Sir,\n\nNo. 1.\n\nSir C. Clementi Smith to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received December 13.)\n\nThe Hague, December 7, 1911.\n\nI HAVE the honour to report that the International Opium Conference met here as arranged on the 1st instant, and assembled in the Hall of Knights. I enclose herewith a complete list of the delegates, all of whom were present except those of Italy, who only arrived at The Hague on the 7th instant.\n\nThe chair was provisionally taken by M. van Swinderen, who welcomed the conference to The Hague in a speech, the text of which will be found in the procès-verbal of the first sitting. He was followed by M. Cremer, the first delegate of the Netherlands, who, speaking first in English and subsequently in French, proposed that Bishop Brent, the first United States delegate, should be elected chairman of the conference, adducing in support of his motion the ability and impartiality with which the bishop had discharged the duties of chairman at the Shanghai Commission of 1909, and the fact that the Government which he represented had taken a leading part in the proceedings which led to the assembly of the present conference. M. Cremer's proposal was supported by myself and by the German first delegate, and, being carried unanimously, the bishop took the chair.\n\nThe chairman then made an address to the conference, indicating its aims and the spirit in which we should approach our task. French was decided upon as the official language of the conference, but in deference to the wishes of the delegates of several countries who were not conversant with that language, it was provided that the use of others would be permissible. The conference then appointed its secretariat, and adjourned till Monday, the 4th instant.\n\nAt the second meeting, business began with the question of the rules by which the conference should govern its procedure, and the American delegation proposed a short code, based on that adopted by the Second Peace Conference. After the introduction of some modifications intended to bring the rules into closer conformity with the requirements of the present conference, they were adopted, and I have the honour to enclose a copy herewith.\n\nIn the afternoon sitting we proceeded to discuss a motion by the first American delegate for the appointment of a committee, to consist of one delegate from each Power represented, to draw up a definite programme of the work to be submitted to the conference. This proposal, which Dr. Hamilton Wright only put forward after consultation with the British delegation, was passed unanimously, and the committee was forthwith appointed, Mr. Max Müller being designated to represent Great Britain. As required by the rules, a committee was appointed for making the necessary communications to the press, and a drafting committee of five delegates to co-ordinate and give form to the resolutions to be adopted by the conference; to this latter Sir William Collins was elected.\n\nThe conference then adjourned until the programme committee should have been able to produce a programme on which the conference could usefully work. This committee has issued an interim report formulating items of discussion with regard to raw and prepared opium, of which copies are enclosed herewith.\n\nAt the same time, more informal meetings of technical experts have been taking place with a view to definitions of the terms which will be commonly used in discussion. Agreement has been reached with regard to the definitions of raw, prepared, and medicinal opium, and these, together with the two chapters of items for discussion mentioned in the preceding paragraph, will be reported to the full conference at its sitting of to-day.\n\nI have the honour to enclose to you herewith, besides the papers already specifically mentioned, copies of the procès-verbal of the first two sittings of the conference, in which you will find a fuller account of the proceedings than I have thought it necessary to give in this despatch.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nCECIL CLEMENTI SMITH,\n\n* Not printed.\n\n[2297 - -1]\n\nPage 480\n\nPage 481", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-394 - Governor Sir May & Public Offices - 1912 [12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 440794, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-396 - Public Offices - 1912", "page_number": 130, "title": "CO129-396 - Public Offices - 1912", "content_text": "# [This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n128\n\n2\n\nline of argument the Directorate-General cannot help recognising the great disproportion which in reality exists between the limit fixed for the preparation of opium for consumption and exportation at Macao and the revenue from the monopoly, and, on those grounds, it accepts in principle the necessity of reducing the limit of the new adjudication to be effected in 1913 by modifying the regulations concerned, in accordance with the resolutions of the International Hague Conference, by establishing heavier fines for infringements, and by modifying the system of supervision, which could be removed from the port captaincies and placed under the exclusive charge of the Inspector of Finances. The Governor of Macao, in making his calculations of the present averages, corrected by an appreciable reduction, alleges that the limit should be of 380 chests for local consumption and 460 for exportation, which would give a total of 840 chests. This Directorate-General would feel inclined, in a loyal and sincere spirit, still further to modify the above limit by bringing it nearer to that of Hong Kong, in consideration of the fact that in the latter colony the consumption exceeds the exportation, while in Macao the exportation exceeds the consumption. But a doubt arises which this Directorate-General would be glad to have cleared up: In the Hong Kong contract the wording of clause 2 tacitly admits the possibility of the limit being exceeded by a special concession of the governor of the colony. Has such a case arisen, and is this the explanation of the large revenue of 1,200,000 patacas which the monopoly there has attained? On the other hand, the result of a study of statistics is that, notwithstanding all the restrictions on the opium traffic, the value of the exports from British India during the last three years has considerably increased, as may be seen from the following note published in the *\"Economiste française\"* of the 27th July last regarding the exports of opium from British India:\n\n| Year | £ |\n| --- | --- |\n| 1908-1909 | 6,283,000 |\n| 1909-1910 | 6,209,000 |\n| 1910-1911 | 8,509,000 |\n\nThe ideas and suggestions of this Directorate-General having been clearly and plainly expressed in the sense of continuing sincerely and honestly to co-operate in the gradual restriction of the opium traffic in Macao, at the same time protecting, as far as possible, within the bounds of reason and justice, the important revenue accruing from the monopoly, it hopes that the British Minister will not fail to recognise the legitimate interests taken by us in the defence of the interests of Macao, the more so when he can have no doubt as to the reality of the endeavours which the colony of Hong Kong has exerted and is exerting to guarantee and defend its own interests. This Directorate-General has also reason to believe that the interests of Macao do not clash with those of Hong Kong, there being no possible antagonism either in this or any other question of a commercial character between the two neighbouring and friendly colonies, each one keeping within the bounds of its own sphere of activity and resources, and, though jealous of its rights, fully conscious of its duties.\n\nFraternal salutations.\n\nLisbon, September 6, 1912.\n\n**FREIRE D'ANDRADE,**\nDirector-General.\n\n**OPIUM.**\n**CONFIDENTIAL.**\n\n`[39982]`\n`C. O. 33132`\n`REC REGS 21 OCT 12`\n\n[September 23.]\n\n## SECTION 4.\n\nNo. 1.\n\nMessrs. E. D. and Messrs. David Sassoon and Co. to Foreign Office,— (Received September 23.)\n\nSir,\n\n17, St. Helen's Place, E.C., September 23, 1912.\n\nWe have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated the 11th instant, and are not surprised at the information conveyed to us, as it is the usual Chinese style of shirking responsibility.\n\nWe beg to direct your attention to the following cables received from our houses in China:\n\nNo. 1-\"Canton notify will not renew smokers' licence after December. Represent Foreign Office instruct British Minister take up the matter.\"\n\nNo. 2.-\"We have telegraphed to Minister, Peking, as follows:- \"Proclamation issued, Anhui, prohibiting importation Indian opium and establishing monopoly for sales of present stocks in provinces. [? Anking] authorities have forcibly seized and destroyed by fire seven cases Malwa opium [taken] from China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company's hulk. Such oppressive and high-handed measures have caused utmost consternation amongst all dealers and merchants, and we respectfully request prompt protective actions.\" \"Take immediate action on your side.\"\n\nNo. 3.--\"National Assembly, Peking, passed second reading Bill for entire suppression of opium traffic end next year. You must arrange existing stocks should be cleared before prohibition comes into force.\"\n\nOn telegrams Nos. 1 and 2 it is unnecessary for us to comment, but with regard to telegram No. 3, we cannot too strongly urge the necessity for His Majesty's Government to make adequate arrangements about the stocks in China, and on the protection of British merchants, before total prohibition comes into force. May we beg that His Majesty's Government will give this very important question their careful consideration.\n\nWe have, &c.\n\n**E. D. SASSOON AND Co.**\n**DAVID SASSOON and Co. (Limited).**\n\n`Ved (2644 z-4)`", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-396 - Public Offices - 1912.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 440911, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-396 - Public Offices - 1912", "page_number": 247, "title": "CO129-396 - Public Offices - 1912", "content_text": "# THE OPIUM EVIL.\n\nThe Italian Government has pointed out the importance of the question of the traffic in Indian hemp drugs to that Government and has suggested that the conference might advantageously deal with the question of this traffic.\n\nThe Netherlands Government, while agreeing to the general principles of the tentative program, at the same time observed that for the Netherlands Indies, where the culture of the poppy does not exist and where the opium régie has been or will be introduced, the question of most importance to the Netherlands Government is for the conference to arrive at an agreement as to measures to be taken to combat the smuggling of opium.\n\nThe Russian Government, while approving in principle of the general tenor of the tentative program, took exception to item (f) inasmuch as there is almost no production of opium in Russia, and for that reason the restriction and control of the cultivation of the poppy, as provided for by that item, would be superfluous as far as Russia is concerned, and would oppose a serious obstacle to the development of one of the branches of Russian agriculture.\n\nThe other powers have accepted the tentative program as a basis for discussion, reserving their particular views upon it, which will be expressed at the conference itself.\n\nYou will see, therefore, that, although the tentative program proposed by the United States has been in some respects narrowed by the reservations made by several of the powers, generally speaking, the scope of the work of the conference has been broadened by the suggestions that it include in its deliberations the question of the manufacture of and trade in morphine and cocaine and the Indian hemp drugs. It therefore seems to this Government desirable that the production of and traffic in all habit-forming drugs which have been proved to be a menace to the moral, physical, and economic welfare of the world would be considered by the conference and adequately dealt with by it in the spirit of resolution 5 of the International Opium Commission, which places a ban on all drugs which appear on scientific inquiry to be liable to abuse and productive of the ill effects of opium, its derivatives, or preparations.\n\nIt would be inexpedient to limit you by too rigid instructions upon the different questions which may be brought forward in the conference for discussion; but you should closely bear in mind that, though it has been clearly demonstrated that the United States has large material interests in any action which the conference may take, this Government has no revenue of moment at stake; and that primarily the international movement for the suppression of the opium evil was initiated by this Government with the object of assisting China in her recent and energetic effort to suppress her opium evil.\n\nAll of your communications and reports to this Government will be made to the Department of State for due consideration and final preservation in the archives. The records of the delegation will be kept by its secretary, Mr. Frederic L. Huidekoper. Should you be in doubt at any time in regard to the meaning or effect of these instructions, or should you consider at any time that there is occasion for special instructions, you will communicate concisely with the Department of State by telegraph.\n\nI may say to you that it is the President's earnest desire that the very old and troublesome opium problem growing out of the abuse of opium and the allied habit-forming drugs may be successfully dealt with by the conference.\n\nI am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,\n\n**ALVEY A. ADEE.**\n\nThe Dutch Government set aside for the use of the conference a part of the Hall of the Knights, the seat of the States General, and on the first day of December, 1912, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the conference was opened by his excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands in the presence of the delegations representing the twelve nations, the diplomatic corps, the press, and the general public. His excellency the foreign minister made a felicitous address of welcome, saying amongst other things, that the Netherlands Government considered it a special privilege to greet at the royal residence a conference of eminent diplomats and experts arrived from the four quarters of the globe to discuss an international problem; that the problem before the conference pressingly claimed solution for the welfare of mankind; that the conference would have to deal with one of \n\n## THE OPIUM EVIL.\n\nthose complications of Providence where God had created a plant containing in itself the elements to make it a real benefactor to humanity, but where man had by an abuse of that benefit transferred it into a scourge spreading economic ruin and moral as well as intellectual degradation; that the Netherlands Government had been anxious for the honor of seeing the conference meet on Netherlands soil, the mother country of vast colonies where the opium problem was of great actual importance, and that the interested governments responding to that appeal with an enthusiasm as graceful as it was flattering, he extended the welcome of the royal government to the conference as a tribute of gratitude.\n\nAt the conclusion of this address of welcome the first delegate of the Netherlands Government proposed for president of the conference Bishop Charles H. Brent, of the American delegation. This was seconded by the chiefs of the British and German delegations. With the unanimous consent of the assembly, Bishop Brent accepted the presidency and then delivered an address, partly personal, in which, besides thanking the conference for the honor of the presidency, he called attention to the work of the International Opium Commission, which convened in 1909, and then outlined the purpose for which the International Opium Conference had been assembled. On the termination of the presidential address, and with the consent of the conference, the president proposed the personnel of the secretary general's office. His Excellency R. de Marees van Swinderen, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Dutch Government, was elected honorary president. In the name of the conference the president dispatched the following message to Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands:\n\nThe representatives of the 12 nations assembled at The Hague for the International Opium Conference have the honor to lay at the feet of Your Royal Majesty the homage of their most respectful devotion and the expression of their gratitude for the gracious reception given to them in your residence.\n\nAt the second plenary session of the conference the president read the following telegram:\n\nI am glad to see at The Hague the representatives of twelve States assembled for an International Opium Conference. Thanking you, Mr. President, for the feelings which you have interpreted, I express to you my good wishes for the humanitarian goal of the conference.\n\n**WILHELMINA.**\n\nPrevious to the assembling of the conference, the Netherlands minister for foreign affairs had requested the American delegation to suggest a body of rules to govern the conference. At the second plenary session the conference proceeded to consider the tentative rules proposed by the American delegation, which were as follows:\n\n## Rule I. \nThe International Opium Conference is composed of all the plenipotentiaries and technical delegates of the powers which have accepted the proposal of the United States Government and the invitation of the Government of the Queen of the Netherlands.\n\n## Rule II. \nAfter organizing its bureau, the conference shall appoint committees to study the questions submitted to it. The plenipotentiaries of the powers are free to register on the lists of these committees according to their own convenience, and to appoint technical delegates to take part therein.\n\n## Rule III. \nThe conference shall appoint the chairman of each committee. The committees shall appoint their secretaries and reporters.\n\n## Rule IV. \nEach committee shall have the power to divide itself into subcommittees which shall organize their own bureau.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-396 - Public Offices - 1912.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 445266, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-405 - Public Offices - 1913", "page_number": 340, "title": "CO129-405 - Public Offices - 1913", "content_text": "## Kauband \n\n339 \n\n2 \n\naverage on account of the uncertain conditions arising out of the revolutionary troubles. It will be seen, however, that the fears expressed by the foreign importers in their letter to His Majesty's consul-general of being without a market or the prospect of a market have not been fully realised.\n\nIn my telegram No. 30 of the 1st February, I had the honour to communicate the following proposals made by the Chinese Foreign Minister at an interview:—\n1. The British Government undertake to import no more opium into China.\n2. The Chinese Government will take over the existing stocks and establish an opium monopoly on the basis of the Japanese system which aims at gradual suppression under Government control.\n\nThe proposals of the Chinese Foreign Minister would appear to show that the Chinese Government have recognised the futility of the present violent repressive measures for the sudden extinction of opium, and that they have at last realised the danger of violating even opium treaties.\n\nIn regard to the Japanese system to which reference is made in the second proposal, I enclose a short report on the State monopoly of opium in Formosa drawn up in this legation. The Japanese opium policy and system for Chinese opium smokers in Formosa appears to have commended itself to the Foreign Ministers as applicable to the needs of China.\n\nThere would be no necessity to entertain the Chinese proposal to take over the existing stocks, valued at about 10,000,000, if China had not imposed restrictions on the legitimate trade in contravention of the opium agreements. The history of the recent anti-opium campaign bears testimony to the fact that the Central Government has been too weak to control the independent action of the provinces and to restrain them from violating these agreements in a most flagrant manner.\n\nI have repeated every argument and exerted the strongest pressure in my power in the endeavour to obtain the due observance of the opium treaties, and to prevent the closing of the legitimate outlets for the enormous stocks now lying at Shanghai and Hong Kong. I cannot, however, hold out any strong hopes of any improvement in the present unsatisfactory position during the current year. It is possible, indeed, that a period of relaxation may follow the tension caused by the strongly worded proclamations and stringent measures of the provinces. So long as there is a demand for opium, so long will smuggling continue in China and assist the lightening of the heavy stocks in the hands of the foreign importers in Hong Kong and China. But it would be an unfortunate solution of the present deadlock for the British name to be associated with opium smuggling and its concomitant evils.\n\nThe financial details connected with the second proposal to take over the stocks will not be easy to arrange under existing conditions in this country. The Foreign Minister had evidently not worked out the scheme in any detail when he presented his proposals, nor did he make any more definite statement than that the stocks would require to be taken over in four or five instalments. He seemed to think that the Cabinet and the National Assembly would endorse his proposals.\n\nComparing the two sets of proposals put forward by the foreign opium importers and the Chinese Foreign Minister, the latter appears to offer a less complicated and less uncertain solution of the disposal of the stocks, thus affording relief to the foreign importers and foreign banks concerned from a grave and critical situation. I have, &c.\n\n**(No. 11.)** Sir,\n\nJ. N. JORDAN.\n\n## Enclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\n**Consul-General Fraser to Sir J. Jordan.**\n\nShanghai, January 22, 1913.\n\nI HAVE the honour to forward copy of a communication from the opium importers, setting forth a scheme for the liquidation, within less than two years, of the existing intolerable burden on trade constituted by the large stocks in China.\n\nThe scheme pre-supposes the acceptance by His Majesty's Government of the Chinese repudiation of the existing agreements as to the Indian opium trade. It depends on the maintenance within the colony of Hong Kong and the foreign settlements here (each of which markets is said to consume 400 chests a month) of the licensed sale of the drug. I hear that certain United States citizens propose bringing forward at the approaching meeting of ratepayers a resolution to close all opium shops within one month, but the risk of such a policy being adopted is, I believe, remote.\n\nMr. Ezra admits that the scheme will be opposed by the Straits Settlements, Java, and Indo-China, where the Governments have profited enormously through the reduction in the value of uncertificated opium brought about by the 1911 agreement. The French commercial attaché told him that Indo-China made 1,500,000 dollars a year at present from opium, and so its authorities had protested against the recent diminution of the amount of uncertificated drug to be offered at the Indian auctions. Singapore likewise, that used to pay 2,000 taels or so per chest has, he says, maintained the retail cost to consumers while buying wholesale at 900 taels. Java is in a similar position. Each of these markets takes monthly an average of 200 chests; while Hong Kong, Macao, and \"other places\" take each 65 to 70 chests for their own consumption, although Macao has recently followed the precedent of Formosa in buying direct from the Indian Government.\n\n| Market | Monthly Consumption (Chests) |\n|---------------|-------------------------------|\n| Hong Kong | 65 to 70 |\n| Macao | 65 to 70 |\n| Other places | 65 to 70 |\n| Straits Settlements | 200 |\n| Java | 200 |\n| Indo-China | 200 |\n\nThe effect of the scheme would be to put on India the burden of carrying a considerable stock of Bengal opium (for malwa is used outside India only in China) until the China stock had been worked off; to divert the handsome profit on wholesale and retail business in uncertificated opium from the non-Chinese markets' Governments, and to force them to raise the rates to consumers some 50 per cent. in order to meet the 3,000 taels laying-down cost of the China stocks.\n\nOn the other hand, the Indian Government may hope, after the China stock has vanished, to obtain higher prices for what is now uncertificated opium (especially as, for some time at least, there will, in all likelihood, be considerable smuggling of opium by junk and overland into China and consequently an increased demand), and will avoid any claim for refund of the very considerable sums paid for certificates for the 13,000 or 14,000 chests of malwa in China or on the way hither. Indo-China and the other markets, which sell under monopolies, can recoup any extra charges from their consumers, and will be able to keep on the enhanced retail rates after the immediate reason for them has passed; while these higher rates will tend to discourage a vice condemned or, at least, deprecated by all the administrations concerned.\n\nOf the 37,000 chests to be dealt with under the scheme, as shown in Enclosure 2, 11,000 had been before the recent agitation contracted for by native dealers at an average of 3,000 taels, exclusive of the old duty of 150 taels. The dealers are, through their authorities' action, quite unable to carry out their contracts. If those authorities' sense of justice were alive, they should gladly pay the difference between the contract price and that ruling in the Straits Settlements and the other markets (especially since China has already profited by the extra-duty paid since the 1911 agreement, without giving the stipulated consideration for that duty), in which case the opposition of those Governments would presumably be lessened.\n\nThe scheme would not leave the importers scathless, as it does not provide for repayment of the banks' heavy charges for interest and the other costs of keeping the stocks in store.\n\nProbably the fairer arrangement to obviate the possibility of the scheme resulting in a monopoly, for the non-China markets have no stocks to draw on and no other source of provenance, except Turkey, Persia, and Yünnen, would be for India to hold auctions for those markets of uncertificated opium, to be drawn from the stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai, an upset price equivalent to whatever is considered a fair value (say 2,500 taels a chest) being fixed and the number of chests determined by the demand only.\n\nIf Shanghai Settlement shops are left unhindered the duty-paid cargo (at present 4,300 chests) will go into consumption here and only the opium in bond will go elsewhere.\n\nWith the greatest diffidence I venture to suggest the possibility of estimating the total loss due to the recent course of events in the China opium trade and apportioning it equitably among China, India, and Great Britain. It is to the resolution of the House of Commons condemning the trade that the agitators have persistently appealed, as proof that our nation would not object to any measures of reform taken in China, and that the subsequent 1911 agreement need not be considered a serious obstacle to the attainment of their object. It is to the excessive sales of uncertificated drug by India that the wide divergence of prices in the China market from those elsewhere, with which they used to be practically identical, is generally ascribed. It is to the arbitrary suddenness of China's prohibitive measures that the vast accumulation of opium here and in Hong Kong is due. Even if the importers' plea that they had to keep paying at...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-405 - Public Offices - 1913.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 445723, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913", "page_number": 194, "title": "CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913", "content_text": "2\n\nEnclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\nExtracts from the “Peiching Paö\" of June 20, 1913.\n\nTRANSLATION OF TWO LETTERS FROM GENERAL CHANG TO PRESIDENT YUAN SHIH-KAI.\n\nA LETTER written the other day by Chang Yu-chün, representative of the National Anti-Opium Association, to the President, contains the following:\n\n\"I earnestly trust that the Chinese Government will maintain a firm front to the end, seeing that there is no risk of friendly relations with Britain being impaired. Sir J. Jordan, as an experienced diplomat, was bound to make a show of opposition, but this is only an unavoidable diplomatic move; it does not in the least imply an unfriendly attitude, nor can it conceivably bring about any other complications. If the Wai-chiao Pu allows itself to be coerced by His Majesty's Minister and suddenly weakens its attitude, not only will a rebuff be suffered, but foreigners will ridicule China's complete lack of persistence. China's diplomatic relations with foreigners have invariably ended in discomfiture, owing to the mask worn by foreigners being accepted as genuine. The British people are opposed to the action of their Government in regard to the opium sales, and will never allow provocative measures to be undertaken on this account against China. I earnestly trust that you will instruct the Wai-chiao Pu to maintain a firm front to the end, thereby causing Great Britain to revise and do away with the restrictions of the Agreement of 1911, thus permitting China to have complete liberty in suppressing opium, both native and imported.\"\n\nSecond letter:-\n\n\"Since last week I have been in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, where I have been delivering addresses in all the churches. I have received support on all sides, and the decision has been formed to present a request to the British Government to revise the agreement and stop the import, as well as to remove the stocks now held at Shanghai. The general public is also most warm-hearted in its support; all expressed their shame at not knowing how earnestly aroused China was, nor the obstinate selfishness of the British Government. I have made great progress in the English language, and am able to give addresses with my own mouth, as a result of which my hearers are all much moved. I am (or they are) ignorant as to the action taken by the Wai-chiao Pu, as to whether it will be able to maintain a firm front to the end, and whether it will be possible to prevent the opium stocks now held at Shanghai from being disposed of in China. British Members of Parliament, such as Messrs. Taylor and Scottie all agree with what I say, and give me great encouragement. They intend to introduce me to Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and to Lord Crewe, Secretary of State for India, in order that I may have a talk with them about everything. My idea is that if the Wai-chiao Pu finds it difficult to bring the negotiations in China to a successful issue, the best thing to do will be to transfer them to my charge in Great Britain. Owing to the assistance of the British public this will be much easier. Otherwise this will be another case in which we shall fall into the trap set by others, and the reputation of the republic will be injuriously affected.\"\n\nEnclosure 3 in No. 1.\n\nExtract from the \"Peking Daily News\" of July 3, 1913.\n\nANTI-OPIUM CAMPAIGN.\n\nA LETTER from General Chang Yu-chün, the representative of the Chinese Anti-Opium Society, to President Yuan Shih-kai, regarding the anti-opium movement in London:-\n\nYour Excellency,\n\n\"This afternoon the various anti-opium societies in England held a meeting in the committee room of the House of Commons. Many members of Parliament such as Mr. Taylor, &c., were present, and I was invited to take part in the conference. It was proposed that delegates should be appointed to call upon Sir Edward Grey, the Minister of the Foreign Office, and to request him to cancel the treaty for the sale of opium to China, in order that China might be enabled to carry on her prohibitive measures freely, and that the stock of 20,000 chests of opium at Shanghai might not be sold in the interior.\n\nIn the course of the meeting I was asked whether the Government of China had any intention to prohibit the stock of opium at Shanghai as well. Thereupon, I said that China wants very much to remove the stock of opium, but for the lack of funds our Government, though earnest to stamp out the evil, has been afraid lest your Majesty's Government should not comply with our request for its removal. Mr. Taylor, however, told me that China need not be anxious about the question of payment. 'His Majesty's Government,' he said, 'would never compel the Chinese Government to pay any compensation. If the Chinese Government were really in earnest to prohibit the importation of this opium stock, and would make clear demands for its exclusion, we would use our best efforts to persuade His Majesty's Government to act accordingly. The Chinese Government is too ignorant of the conditions of foreign countries. It does not know, even now, that we are sincerely helping it with respect to this opium affair. It has been too careful to make known its intentions even in a matter of claiming its own rights. How can a person give up anything without being asked? Your country remains as weak and timid as ever and we are now at our wits' end.' I was really ashamed to hear him say so, and I could not but excuse ourselves by saying that all these faults were due to the weakness of our nation. Then he advised me to urge our Government to lodge a strong representation immediately with the British Government, without any fear or doubt, and said that although there were verbal demands of compensation made by the British Government, these demands were merely formalities of the diplomatic officers, and that the British Government would never insist on them.\n\n\"At last two resolutions were passed, namely:\n\n\"1. His Majesty's Government should be requested to give back to China the right of opium prohibition, and to enable China to prohibit the opium stock in Shanghai as well; and\n\n\"2. His Majesty's Government should be requested to stop the cultivation of opium in India for two years, so that the present stock of Indian opium may be sold to other countries during this period of time.\n\n\"After the close of the meeting I sent to your Excellency a telegram requesting that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly should be ordered, and requested respectively to settle this question as soon as possible, and to lodge a demand for the prohibition of the Shanghai opium stocks, and I trust that this telegram has reached your Excellency in due course.\n\nHoping our Government will adopt the measure advised by Mr. Taylor without loss of time, I have, &c.\n\n\"CHANG YU-CHUN.\"\n\n193", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 445813, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913", "page_number": 284, "title": "CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913", "content_text": "THIRD PLENARY SESSION.\n\nFriday, July 4, 1913.\n\nPresidency of Mr. J. T. Cremer.\n\nThe Session opened at 11 a.m.\n\nAll the Delegations were present except that of Colombia.\n\nThe minutes of the first Session, on July 1st, 1913, were approved.\n\nDr. Wu Lien-Teh made the following statement:\n\nMr. PRESIDENT,\n\nPermit me to make a statement supporting the weighty words which my Honorable colleague, the Chinese Minister to Germany, expressed last Wednesday. I had the good fortune to be present as one of the Delegates at the last Conference, which sat in this Hall 18 months ago, and can testify abundantly to the earnestness and goodwill with which all the nations assembled at that gathering treated the several points of this difficult problem. Particularly was I impressed with the unanimity with which the five Chinese resolutions, embodied later on in Chapter IV of the Convention, were received and passed. Our Government, encouraged by the sympathy shown everywhere in our national struggle against a great evil, have since the signing of the Convention made still greater strides than before in suppressing both the growth and abuse of opium throughout the country, and we have come to this Conference prepared to ratify this Convention of last year at the earliest possible moment.\n\nIn this connection, I may add a few words since there appears to be still some doubt among the minds of a few of my colleagues in this Conference as to the efficacy of the measures which China has adopted and enforced in the suppression of the cultivation and abuse of opium.\n\nFar from being backward in our national campaign against the vice since the signing of the Convention, our Government have done all in their power, in the way of Presidential mandates, enactment of laws, imprisonment, fines, uprooting of thousands of acres of poppies, and even death penalties to recalcitrant law breakers, in order that our object may be attained for the happiness of our people.\n\nI could quote to you pages of foreign consular reports, newspapers and other independent sources to support my statements, but perhaps two facts are sufficient.\n\nThe first is that 18 months ago, when we assembled here, five of our Provinces, viz. Szechuen (hitherto the largest opium producing Province in China), Shansi, Fengtien, Kirin and Heilungkiang had been declared by the British Opium Commissioner to be free from opium. Since then five more Provinces, namely, Shantung, Chihli, Anhui, Kuangsi and Hunan have been examined by other British Opium Commissions and declared closed to opium.\n\nThe second fact is that the British Government have decided to cancel further exportation of Indian opium to China from May last, and the Under-Secretary of State for India, in his speech in the House of Commons said: \"There cannot be the slightest doubt of the earnestness, sincerity, steadfastness and courage of the Chinese Government and the Chinese people as a whole in ridding themselves of opium. All the evidence points to that conclusion with all sense of responsibility on this question, that there is no room for cynicism and scepticism, and no work for the scoffer or sneerer. China has shown to the world an example of moral courage which is rare in the annals of the human race...\n\nI say,\n\nWe are the more desirous to see the early and successful culmination of a great humanitarian work, in which almost all the nations of the world are now taking part, because we are convinced that the longer it is delayed the greater will be the danger of new evils arising. As my Hon. colleague on my left pointed out on Wednesday, the President of our Republic, our National Assembly, our Governors and our people have, one and all, without consideration of loss of revenue to the Government or means of livelihood to the masses, united in translating into action the letter and spirit of the Convention.\n\nWe ask for early ratification also because the Convention contains Articles which specially apply to China. These Articles are practically dead letters at the present moment; of these our Government have instructed us to call the particular attention of the Conference to Article 18, which says:\n\n\"The contracting Powers having treaties with China shall take effective measures for the gradual reduction, pari passu with the effective measures which the Chinese Government shall take with the same object, of the number of shops in which raw and prepared opium is sold, which may still exist in their leased territories, settlements, and concessions in China. They shall adopt effective measures for the restriction and control of the retail trade in opium in the leased territories, settlements, and concessions, unless regulations on the subject are already in existence.\"\n\nNow, in Tientsin, a city of over a million inhabitants, and industrial capital of Chihli, one of the provinces which is supposed to be closed to opium, although no opium selling shops or smoking dens are to be found anywhere throughout the Chinese city, there are at present ten opium shops in the French Concession, openly selling the drug and doing more business than they have ever done before.\n\nIn Shanghai, although the Chinese city has many years ago closed all its opium selling shops and smoking dens, the Municipal Council of the International Settlement issued last year 374 licences for opium selling shops. It is even asserted in the papers by one who saw him, that the Secretary of the Municipal Council declared that there was no intention of carrying out Article 18 of the Convention about reducing the number of shops in the foreign concessions pari passu with China.\n\nIn view of the above the Chinese Government, therefore, earnestly hopes that the Powers represented here, particularly those having Treaty relations with her, will exert their utmost to adopt measures whereby the Convention both in letter and spirit can be enforced.\n\nThe Secretary of the Chinese Delegation then read a French translation of the foregoing statement.\n\nPage 17\n\n...\n\nPage 283", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 450674, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914", "page_number": 256, "title": "CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914", "content_text": "46\n\nSo that, compared with the figure of 168,112,520 dollars—the estimated expenditure submitted to the National Assembly—economies amounting to upwards of 30,000,000 dollars have been effected, and the expenditure actually sanctioned by the Cabinet has not been exceeded.\n\nWith regard to the actual receipts of the Central Government, no returns are yet available. It will be remembered that the Budget estimated the total revenue during the half-year at 51,336,880 dollars only. However, we may say that the amount of receipts for the first half of the second year of the Republic is the minimum that will be collected by the Chinese Government. The reasons are obvious. The administration, completely disorganised by the revolution, has not yet been restored to its normal condition, and the Government has not received the regular remittances from the provinces upon which it could formerly rely. The condition of provincial finances is now being subjected to rigorous examination, and we can only repeat the opinion that has been so emphatically expressed recently, that China's financial salvation depends upon the ability of the Government to enforce the collection and remittance to the National Treasury of those taxes which have always been regarded as national, as distinguished from provincial, revenue.\n\n[35653]\n\nNo. 105.\n\nSir,\n\nColonial Office to Foreign Office.—(Received August 2.)\n\nDowning Street, August 1, 1913.\n\nI am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you, to be laid before Secretary Sir E. Grey, a copy of a telegram from the Governor of Hong Kong respecting the protection of the Chinese section of the Canton-Kowloon Railway in the event of hostilities between the northern troops and the Kwangtung rebels.\n\nMr. Harcourt would be glad to be favoured with Sir E. Grey's observations on the Governor's suggestions.\n\nI am, &c. (For the Under-Secretary of State),\n\nH. J. READ.\n\nEnclosure in No. 105.\n\nGovernor Sir F. May to Mr. Harcourt.\n\n(Confidential.) (Telegraphic.) P.\n\n[Received July 29, 1913] CONSUL-GENERAL at Canton and I concur in thinking that, in the event of hostilities between northern troops and Kwangtung rebels, rebels may seize and perhaps destroy the Chinese section of the Canton-Kowloon Railway. There are two large bridges at Sheklung, a third at Kensui, and a fourth at Shektan respectively, 1 mile and 6 miles north of Sheklung; and the destruction of either first two would take twelve months to repair. Gunboats could assist in the defence of first two bridges, but I would suggest that His Majesty's Government should consider what action, if any, should be taken for the neutralisation and armed protection of the railway. I have spoken to the General Officer Commanding, who concurs, and considers that troops for protection can be spared.\n\n[35843]\n\nNo. 106.\n\nMr. Alston to Sir Edward Grey. (Received August 3.) (No. 182.) (Telegraphic.) R.\n\nPeking, August 3, 1913.\n\nSOUTHERN rebellion in China: General situation. Central Government continue generally successful in Yang-tsze Valley. Rebel forces based at Nanking are retreating down Tien-tein-Pukow line, and two divisions will probably desert to northerners. Northern forces in Kiangsi are driving the rebels towards Nanchang, and latter are not expected to offer serious resistance. Kuling is no longer within area of operations. Rebel attacks on Shanghai arsenal have been discontinued during the last four days. Woosung forts remain in the hands of the south, but their capture is expected shortly. Position in Hunan and part of Hupei\n\n252", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 450698, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914", "page_number": 280, "title": "CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914", "content_text": "75\n\nWhen calling on me after taking up their appointments, the Premier and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Justice, each dwelt at some length on the feeling of profound gratitude entertained by the President and Government of China towards the Government of His Majesty for the friendly and sympathetic attitude adopted by us from the commencement of the revolution, and continued during the recent rebellion, an attitude which they hoped might still be observed in the future.\n\nI replied in each instance to the effect that the policy of His Majesty's Government would always be in favour of a strong and stable Government in China, and that our sympathetic support to this end could be relied on.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n[46367]\n\nNo. 151.\n\nB. ALSTON.\n\nSir,\n\nForeign Office to War Office.\n\nForeign Office, October 18, 1913.\n\nI AM directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to transmit to you herewith, to be laid before the Army Council, copy of a telegram from His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking, recommending that the decision as to a reduction of the garrison in North China should be postponed for the present.\n\nI am to inform you that the Secretary of State is entirely in accord with the view of the situation expressed by Mr. Alston, and would deprecate any reduction of the garrison in the immediate future.\n\n[48735]\n\nI am, &c.\n\nW. LANGLEY.\n\nNo. 152.\n\nMr. Alston to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received October 27.)\n\n276\n\n(No. 387.) Sir,\n\nPeking, October 11, 1913.\n\nI HAVE the honour to report that the election of the first President of the Chinese Republic was held on the 6th instant.\n\nArticle 2 of the law for the election of the President states that the President shall be elected by an electoral college organised by the members of the National Assembly, and that, for the purposes of the presidential election, a quorum shall be constituted by two-thirds of the total number of electors voting by secret ballot. Of the total number of votes cast an absolute majority, amounting to three-fourths, must be obtained by the successful candidate. This procedure is followed twice, and, in the event of no decisive result being obtained, a third ballot is held, the candidates being limited to the two who headed the poll at the second ballot. On this third occasion a bare majority suffices for election.\n\nContrary to general expectation, the proceedings were protracted throughout the day, and three ballots were required before the provisional President could be legally confirmed in his office. It had been hoped that the unanimity with which the members of both Houses had hurried forward the election, in order to enable the inauguration to be held on the second anniversary of the outbreak of the revolution, foreshadowed a similar unanimity in the choice of the President. But this proved not to be the case. At the first ballot 759 members were in attendance, of whom 471 voted for Yuan Shih-kai and 154 for Li Yuan-hung. The remaining votes were cast for Wu Ting-fang, 33; Tuan Chi-jui, 16; Sun Yat Sen, 13; Kang Yu-wei, 11; and Tang Shao-yi, 5; several others obtained one or two votes each.\n\nYuan Shih-kai was therefore short by 99 votes of the number required for election.\n\n• No. 149.\n\n1", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 450699, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914", "page_number": 281, "title": "CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914", "content_text": "Page 76\n\nA second ballot was then held; 745 members were present, and, although Yuan Shih-kai received 26 additional votes, he was still 62 short of the requisite majority, while General Li's votes were increased to 162. It then became necessary, according to the article of the law quoted above, to have a third ballot to decide between Yuan Shih-kai and Li Yuan-hung. In this final ballot 703 members participated, of whom 507 voted for Yuan Shih-kai, 179 for Li Yuan-hung, and 17 voted irregularly. President Yuan was therefore elected by an overwhelming majority over one who has been the most loyal of his coadjutors and who has emphatically asserted that he has no aspirations towards the presidency. The announcement was greeted with outbursts of applause within and without the Assembly building.\n\nIt is difficult to ascertain the reasons for such strenuous opposition. General Li Yuan-hung, in spite of repeated announcements that he would not accept the presidency, received the votes of more than 150 members on each occasion, and several votes were given to other persons who were never seriously considered as candidates, and who would, in any event, have been ineligible. This attitude of the Assembly was the more unexpected inasmuch as the Kung-ho Tang, or Conservative party, of which General Li is president, at a trial election held recently, decided unanimously to adopt Yuan Shih-kai as their candidate for the presidency. Voting being by secret ballot, it is impossible to ascertain which party in the Assembly persisted in voting for General Li, but it is generally believed that he received most of his support from the Chin-pu Tang, who represent what might be called the Progressive party. One obvious defect of the election was the absence of any formal procedure for nominating candidates. Members were left absolutely free to vote for any name they liked without complying with any formality or even observing the constitutional qualifications of a presidential candidate.\n\nThe Minister for Foreign Affairs notified the result of the election to the foreign legations the same evening in identic notes, and by the following day all those countries which had not already done so officially signified their recognition of the Chinese Republic in the same manner. On the receipt of my note, the Wai-chiao Pu conveyed to me the thanks of the Chinese Government for the recognition accorded by His Majesty's Government. The Minister for Foreign Affairs called on me in person on the 7th instant and also requested that I would transmit the thanks of the Chinese Government for the action taken by His Majesty's Government in the matter, as well as for their attitude throughout the course of the past two years.\n\nThe election for the vice-presidency of the Republic of China was held on the 7th October.\n\nUnlike the vote for the presidency, only one ballot was required, Li Yuan-hung being elected by a sweeping majority of 610 out of a total of 719 votes. The remaining 109 votes were distributed over about half as many different candidates, Chang Hsun and Sun Yat Sen receiving one apiece.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nB. ALSTON.\n\n277", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 451470, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-417 - Public Offices - 1914", "page_number": 397, "title": "CO129-417 - Public Offices - 1914", "content_text": "## \n\nthing in the history of mankind. The fact that the convention had been signed by all the Powers with only two exceptions demonstrated the great advance that had been made towards the end in view.\n\nOn the motion of Mr. van Dyke, the senior delegate of the United States, M. Cremer, who had presided at the second Conference, was again elected to the chair; and M. Loudon was appointed honorary president.\n\nA loyal and dutiful message was ordered to be conveyed to Her Majesty the Queen.\n\nFrench was adopted as the official language, the secretariate was appointed, and the twelve rules of procedure which had been followed at the previous Conferences were again passed.\n\nA Commission de Rédaction, consisting of Sir William Collins, Baron Fallon, M. van Deventer, and Mr. Charles Denby, was appointed, also a Press committee, consisting of M. de Jongh, Mirza Mahmoud Khan, and Mr. Archer.\n\nM. Aranha, the Brazilian delegate, raised the question of fixing a date as from which the convention should come into force, whether all the united Powers had adhered or not.\n\nMr. van Dyke, the senior delegate of the United States, gave notice of a resolution binding the signatory Powers to ratify as soon as possible, and to put the convention into force as from the 1st December, 1914.\n\nM. Marcellin Pellet, the French delegate, observed that to put the convention into force without the adhesion of all the Powers would create a commercial monopoly highly remunerative to the non-adherent States. Further discussion was adjourned until the next session.\n\nAt the commencement of the second full session of the Conference on the 16th June, M. Cremer, the president, explained, for the benefit of those delegates who had not attended the previous Conferences, the changed position of affairs which confronted the third Conference compared with the state of things dealt with by the second, when the signatures of no fewer than twelve Powers were wanting. The present Conference was called in obedience to a resolution passed by its predecessor with a view to consider not the possibility of depositing ratifications, for that had been decided affirmatively, but of bringing the convention into force notwithstanding the abstention of two or three Powers whose co-operation had been invited. He concluded by stating that the motion, of which notice had been given by the United States delegation, was in order, but before entering upon its discussion, he invited any statement on behalf of any Government which might be ready to proceed to ratification.\n\nHaving regard to the terms of our instructions and to the nature of the proposals to be made on behalf of the American Government, we deemed it advisable at once to state clearly the position of Great Britain, and indeed we had previously advised the President that we thought some general discussion on the situation as now disclosed would probably be generally advantageous before proceeding to discuss the fixation of a definite date as from which the convention would automatically come into force as provided by the proposed American resolution.\n\nWe therefore informed the Conference that, as already intimated by M. Loudon, Great Britain was now prepared to ratify the convention, and that we entertained the hope that all the other signatory Powers were also ready to do so; that His Majesty's Government cordially recognised the success which had attended the efforts of the Netherlands Government in securing so many additional signatures since the rising of the second Conference, and shared the regret expressed at the abstention of Turkey and Servia and the partial abstention of Greece.\n\nThe attitude of His Majesty's Government was, we said, as follows: If all the signatory Powers were ready to ratify, the convention would, in accordance with the effectuating clauses, come into force automatically three months after the receipt by the Netherlands Government of the last act of ratification. The minutes of the first and second Conferences, however, showed that we had always contemplated the possibility of a situation arising like that now confronting us, owing to the abstention of one or two Powers. Article 23 prescribed two different routes by which ratification might be achieved:\n\n1. Consequential on signature by all the invited Powers without convoking a conference; and\n2. In case all such signatures had not been received by the 31st December, 1912, to meet to reconsider the question of ratification, a conference was notwithstanding.\n\n### Page 390\n\nSuch Conference was held in July 1913, and unanimously decided that ratification of the convention should proceed without awaiting signature by all the invited Powers. Article 23 proceeded to state that ratification would take place with as little delay as possible, and article 24 prescribed three months as the period which should elapse between the last deposit of ratification and the coming into force of the convention. But the second Conference had resolved that if the signature of all the invited Powers had not been received by the 31st December, 1913, a fresh Conference should assemble to consider the question of coming into force of the convention. The question therefore arose whether a date could be fixed from which the coming into force should date. It was well also to recall that article 24 provided for the consideration by a Conference of any suggestion relative to ratification, legislation, &c., which could not be resolved otherwise. The position then was that forty-three out of forty-six Powers had signed the convention and nine of the former had already ratified, while several others were ready to do so. It seemed inconceivable that the objects in view should be frustrated by two or three Powers. The decision of the second Conference to proceed with ratification seemed to preclude the suggestion that the convention should not be put in force until every one of the invited Powers had signed it; it might even be possible to contrive measures with a view to neutralise the effects of their abstention, which abstention could not be regarded as a reason for abandoning the humanitarian objects which had been pursued with so much international accord.\n\nM. van Deventer stated that the Second Chamber of the States-General had that day passed the ratification of the convention, and that he had reason to hope that the First Chamber would shortly do the same.\n\nBaron Fallon, delegate for Belgium, announced that he had that morning deposited the ratification of his Government.\n\nM. Carlin, the delegate for Switzerland, explained that in signing the convention, his Government had made the reserve that, for constitutional reasons, it would not be possible to put the convention in force within the three months mentioned in article 24, but that steps were being taken with a view to secure the necessary constitutional modifications and to enact the required cantonal legislation.\n\nM. de Veyga, the Argentine delegate, claimed that his Government should be included among those ready to ratify, as the delay was due solely to constitutional formalities.\n\nM. Huneaus, the Chilean delegate, stated that ratification merely awaited the approval of the Chambers, and M. Seminario added that the Government of Ecuador was in the same position.\n\nM. von Müller, who was at this Conference the sole delegate from Germany, then informed the Conference that the Imperial Government had replied, on the 19th March, to the invitation of the Netherlands that Germany would be unable to take up a different attitude from that assumed at the second Conference. The fact that Germany thought that the moment for ratification had not arrived could not therefore be a matter of surprise. He was authorised to declare that the Imperial Government adhered to the view that an international convention for regulating the manufacture and sale of opium, morphine, and cocaine could not attain the results desired so long as certain States which had not entered into any formal engagement were able to carry on an unrestricted trade. He cited the reserves attached to the signatures of Sweden, Montenegro, and Greece, as well as to the abstention of Turkey and Servia. The declaration made by Austria-Hungary could not be regarded as altogether satisfactory. It was therefore to be feared that the desired object could not be attained by reason of such reserves and abstentions. The Imperial Government, to its deep regret, could not therefore, at the present moment, contemplate the possibility of ratifying the convention.\n\nM. de Klercker, the Swedish delegate, at once explained that the adhesion of Sweden was in effect without any reservation.\n\nM. Marcellin Pellet was charged by his Government to announce the adhesion of all the French colonies except those of Indo-China and India, which were in a special position on account of their geographical proximity to the opium-producing countries, China and British India, and the absence of any effective customs barrier against an active contraband. Such abstention, however, would not prevent their co-operation in the struggle against the use of opium.\n\nMr. van Dyke, the United States Minister and first American delegate, expressed the desire of his Government to put the convention into force without any reserve. He proposed the resolution of which he had given notice, binding all the signatory", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-417 - Public Offices - 1914.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 451474, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-417 - Public Offices - 1914", "page_number": 401, "title": "CO129-417 - Public Offices - 1914", "content_text": "## C. The following signatory Powers were prepared to ratify so soon as the necessary legislative sanction had been obtained :-\n\n1. Argentine.\n2. Brazil.\n3. Chile.\n4. Ecuador.\n5. Spain.\n6. Haïti.\n7. Luxemburg.\n8. Mexico.\n9. Costa Rica.\n10. France (was disposed to ratify with a reserve for Indo-China and India).\n\n## D. The following signatory Powers had not yet announced their intention of ratifying-\n\n1. Germany (had intimated that she was not disposed to ratify at present).\n2. Dominica.\n3. Montenegro.\n4. Roumania.\n5. Russia (was disposed to ratify so soon as the application of the convention could be sufficiently general to be effective).\n6. Salvador.\n7. Switzerland (had made a reserve in regard to ratification that it would not be possible to promulgate the necessary legislation within the time specified by the Convention).\n8. Uruguay.\n9. Bolivia.\n10. Bulgaria.\n11. Colombia.\n12. Cuba.\n13. Peru.\n14. Nicaragua.\n15. Norway.\n16. Panamá.\n17. Paraguay.\n18. Greece (had withdrawn the reserve in respect to her newly-acquired territories).\n\n## E. Austria-Hungary had not yet signed the convention owing to reasons of a constitutional nature, but had declared her firm intention to adhere, and had undertaken to adopt the measures necessary to ensure its application as soon as the convention should be put in force by the signatory Powers.\n\n## F. Two Powers had hitherto refused to sign the Convention :-\n\n1. Turkey (for economic reasons).\n2. Servia (because she had been unable to study it sufficiently).\n\nThe third Conference has secured\n\n1. An all but unanimous expression of opinion on the part of the signatory Powers represented in favour of the convention coming into force without awaiting signature by two of the invited Powers. Germany alone opposed this resolution. That is to say, an affirmative reply has been recorded to the question propounded to the third Conference by the second, with only one negative voice.\n2. An absolutely unanimous request to the Dutch Government to press for early ratification by all the signatory Powers which had not yet ratified, in order that the convention may come into force as soon as possible. Germany, which had declined to assent to the enforcement of the convention without securing the signature of all the invited Powers, acquiesced in this proposal, as did also the representatives of several signatory Powers, which had, for one reason or another, not yet ratified.\n3. A recognition by the Conference, although with several abstentions, of the feasibility of enforcement by a group of the Powers who might be ready to co-operate for that purpose, without awaiting the automatic enforcement of the convention provided for in article 24 after ratification by all the signatory Powers. The date as from which such group enforcement might take place was fixed as the 31st December, 1914, and a special protocol is to be provided for Powers desiring to co-operate to this end for signature by them.\n\nIncidentally the assembly of the Conference may perhaps be also credited with securing, through the Dutch Foreign Office, the deposit of ratifications by Italy, Belgium, Sweden, and China, and the signature without reserve by Greece.\n\nAt the close of the first Conference twelve Powers had signed the convention which they had participated in drafting, and thirty-four other Powers were invited to attach their signatures.\n\nAt the close of the second Conference thirty-four out of the total of forty-six Powers had signed the convention, and twelve had not then done so, while eight Powers had either ratified it or were disposed to do so.\n\nAt the close of the third Conference, forty-four out of the total forty-six Powers have signed the convention, eleven have ratified it, and fourteen more are disposed to do so, while not one of the remaining nineteen signatories has expressed any intention of not proceeding to put the convention in force. Moreover, all the signatories present were desirous that respectful representations should be pressed upon those which had not deposited their ratifications to do so as soon as possible.\n\nWe are under no illusion as to the influence which events which have occurred since the rising of the Conference must have upon all international concert of the nature contemplated by the Opium Convention. Humanitarian aims of the kind which invoked these three Conferences and inspired their constructive work must suffer eclipse or serious retardation during a time of warfare. We nevertheless recall that one of the first objects attained in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna, after the close of the Napoleonic wars, and on the initiative of the British representative, was an international declaration of the abolition of the slave trade.\n\nWe trust that when, in the course of time, international relations are resumed, the progressive stages in abolishing the abuse of opium and other kindred drugs may be resumed, and that the efforts of the three International Conferences may achieve the beneficent objects which from first to last inspired those who have borne their part in these deliberations.\n\nWe would once again express our sincere acknowledgment to the Netherlands Government, to M. Loudon, the Foreign Minister, M. Cremer, the president of the Conference, and M. van Deventer, the chairman of the Comité de Rédaction. From each of these gentlemen we invariably received the greatest courtesy and the most friendly co-operation.\n\nWe have, &c.\n\nW. G. Max Müller. \nW. J. Collins.\n\nPage 394", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-417 - Public Offices - 1914.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 456883, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915", "page_number": 199, "title": "CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915", "content_text": "2\n\nthing in the history of mankind. The fact that the convention had been signed by all the Powers with only two exceptions demonstrated the great advance that had been made towards the end in view,\n\nOn the motion of Mr. van Dyke, the senior delegate of the United States, M. Cremer, who had presided at the second Conference, was again elected to the chair; and M. Loudon was appointed honorary president.\n\nA loyal and dutiful message was ordered to be conveyed to Her Majesty the Queen.\n\nFrench was adopted as the official language, the secretariate was appointed, and the twelve rules of procedure which had been followed at the previous Conferences were again passed.\n\nA Commission de Rédaction, consisting of Sir William Collins, Baron Fallon, M. van Deventer, and Mr. Charles Denby, was appointed, also a Press committee, consisting of M. de Jongh, Mirza Mahmoud Khan, and Mr. Archer.\n\nM. Aranha, the Brazilian delegate, raised the question of fixing a date as from which the convention should come into force, whether all the united Powers had adhered or not.\n\nMr. van Dyke, the senior delegate of the United States, gave notice of a resolution binding the signatory Powers to ratify as soon as possible, and to put the convention into force as from the 1st December, 1914.\n\nM. Marcellin Pellet, the French delegate, observed that to put the convention into force without the adhesion of all the Powers would create a commercial monopoly highly remunerative to the non-adherent States. Further discussion was adjourned until the next session.\n\nAt the commencement of the second full session of the Conference on the 16th June M. Cremer, the president, explained, for the benefit of those delegates who had not attended the previous Conferences, the changed position of affairs which confronted the third Conference compared with the state of things dealt with by the second, when the signatures of no fewer than twelve Powers were wanting. The present Conference was called in obedience to a resolution passed by its predecessor with a view to consider not the possibility of depositing ratifications for that had been decided affirmatively-but of bringing the convention into force notwithstanding the abstention of two or three Powers whose co-operation had been invited. He concluded by stating that the motion, of which notice had been given by the United States delegation, was in order, but before entering upon its discussion he invited any statement on behalf of any Government which might be ready to proceed to ratification.\n\nHaving regard to the terms of our instructions and to the nature of the proposals to be made on behalf of the American Government, we deemed it advisable at once to state clearly the position of Great Britain, and indeed we had previously advised the President that we thought some general discussion on the situation as now disclosed would probably be generally advantageous before proceeding to discuss the fixation of a definite date as from which the convention would automatically come into force as provided by the proposed American resolution.\n\nWe therefore informed the Conference that, as already intimated by M. Loudon, Great Britain was now prepared to ratify the convention, and that we entertained the hope that all the other signatory Powers were also ready to do so; that His Majesty's Government cordially recognised the success which had attended the efforts of the Netherlands Government in securing so many additional signatures since the rising of the second Conference, and shared the regret expressed at the abstention of Turkey and Servia and the partial abstention of Greece.\n\nThe attitude of His Majesty's Government was, we said, as follows: If all the signatory Powers were ready to ratify, the convention would, in accordance with the effectuating clauses, come into force automatically three months after the receipt by the Netherlands Government of the last act of ratification. The minutes of the first and second Conferences, however, showed that we had always contemplated the possibility of a situation arising like that now confronting us, owing to the abstention of one or two Powers. Article 23 prescribed two different routes by which ratification might be achieved:-\n\n1. Consequential on signature by all the invited Powers without convoking conference; and\n\n2. In case all such signatures had not been received by the 31st December, 1912, a conference was to meet to reconsider the question of ratification notwithstanding.\n\n3\n\nSuch Conference was held in July 1913, and unanimously decided that ratification of the convention should proceed without awaiting signature by all the invited Powers. Article 23 proceeded to state that ratification would take place with as little delay as possible, and article 24 prescribed three months as the period which should elapse between the last deposit of ratification and the coming into force of the convention. But the second Conference had resolved that if the signature of all the invited Powers had not been received by the 31st December, 1913, a fresh Conference should assemble to consider the question of coming into force of the convention. The question therefore arose whether a date could be fixed from which the coming into force should date. It was well also to recall that article 24 provided for the consideration by a Conference of any suggestion relative to ratification, legislation, &c., which could not be resolved otherwise. The position then was that forty-three out of forty-six Powers had signed the convention and nine of the former had already ratified, while several others were ready to do so. It seemed inconceivable that the objects in view should be frustrated by two or three Powers, The decision of the second Conference to proceed with ratification seemed to preclude the suggestion that the convention should not be put in force until every one of the invited Powers had signed it; it might even be possible to contrive measures with a view to neutralise the effects of their abstention, which abstention could not be regarded as a reason for abandoning the humanitarian objects which had been pursued with so much international accord,\n\nM. van Deventer stated that the Second Chamber of the States-General had that day passed the ratification of the convention, and that he had reason to hope that the First Chamber would shortly do the same.\n\nBaron Fallon, delegate for Belgium, announced that he had that morning deposited the ratification of his Government.\n\nM. Carlin, the delegate for Switzerland, explained that in signing the convention his Government had made the reserve that, for constitutional reasons, it would not be possible to put the convention in force within the three months mentioned in article 24, but that steps were being taken with a view to secure the necessary constitutional modifications and to enact the required cantonal legislation.\n\nM. de Verga, the Argentine delegate, claimed that his Government should be included among those ready to ratify, as the delay was due solely to constitutional formalities.\n\nM. Huneeus, the Chilean delegate, stated that ratification merely awaited the approval of the Chambers, and M. Seminario added that the Government of Ecuador was in the same position.\n\nM. von Müller, who was at this Conference the sole delegate from Germany, then informed the Conference that the Imperial Government had replied, on the 19th March, to the invitation of the Netherlands that Germany would be unable to take up a different attitude from that assumed at the second Conference. The fact that Germany thought that the moment for ratification had not arrived could not therefore be a matter of surprise. He was authorised to declare that the Imperial Government adhered to the view that an international convention for regulating the manufacture and sale of opium, morphine, and cocaine could not attain the results desired so long as certain States which had not entered into any formal engagement were able to carry on an unrestricted trade. He cited the reserves attached to the signatures of Sweden, Montenegro, and Greece, as well as to the abstention of Turkey and Servia. The declaration made by Austria-Hungary could not be regarded as altogether satisfactory. It was therefore to be feared that the desired object could not be attained by reason of such reserves and abstentions. The Imperial Government, to its deep regret, could not therefore, at the present moment, contemplate the possibility of ratifying the convention.\n\nM. de Klercker, the Swedish delegate, at once explained that the adhesion of Sweden was in effect without any reservation.\n\nM. Marcellin Pellet was charged by his Government to announce the adhesion of all the French colonies except those of Indo-China and India, which were in a special position on account of their geographical proximity to the opium-producing countries, China and British India, and the absence of any effective customs barrier against an active contraband. Such abstention, however, would not prevent their co-operation in the struggle against the use of opium.\n\nMr. van Dyke, the United States Minister and first American delegate, expressed the desire of his Government to put the convention into force without any reserve. He proposed the resolution of which he had given notice, binding all the signatory\n\n195", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 456887, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915", "page_number": 203, "title": "CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915", "content_text": "C. The following signatory Powers were prepared to ratify so soon as the necessary legislative sanction had been obtained:——\n\n1. Argentine.\n\n2. Brazil.\n\n3. Chile.\n\n4. Ecuador.\n\n5. Spain.\n\n6. Haïti.\n\n7. Luxemburg.\n\n8. Mexico.\n\n9. Costa Rica.\n\n10. France (was disposed to ratify with a reserve for Indo-China and India).\n\nD. The following signatory Powers had not yet announced their intention of ratifying:-\n\n1. Germany (had intimated that she was not disposed to ratify at present).\n\n2. Dominica.\n\n3. Montenegro.\n\n4. Roumania.\n\n5. Russia (was disposed to ratify so soon as the application of the convention could be sufficiently general to be effective).\n\n6. Salvador.\n\n7. Switzerland (had made a reserve in regard to ratification that it would not be possible to promulgate the necessary legislation within the time specified by the Convention).\n\n8. Uruguay.\n\n9. Bolivia.\n\n10. Bulgaria\n\n11. Colombia.\n\n12. Cuba.\n\n13. Peru.\n\n14. Nicaragua.\n\n15. Norway.\n\n16. Panamá.\n\n17. Paraguay.\n\n18. Greece (had withdrawn the reserve in respect to her newly-acquired territories).\n\nE. Austria-Hungary had not yet signed the convention owing to reasons of a constitutional nature, but had declared her firm intention to adhere, and had undertaken to adopt the measures necessary to ensure its application as soon as the convention should be put in force by the signatory Powers.\n\nF. Two Powers had hitherto refused to sign the Convention:—\n\n1. Turkey (for economic reasons).\n\n2. Servia (because she had been unable to study it sufficiently).\n\nThe third Conference has secured :-\n\n1. An all but unanimous expression of opinion on the part of the signatory Powers represented in favour of the convention coming into force without awaiting signature by two of the invited Powers. Germany alone opposed this resolution. That is to say, an affirmative reply has been recorded to the question propounded to the third Conference by the second, with only one negative voice.\n\n2. An absolutely unanimous request to the Dutch Government to press for early ratification by all the signatory Powers which had not yet ratified, in order that the convention may come into force as soon as possible. Germany, which had declined to assent to the enforcement of the convention without securing the signature of all the invited Powers, acquiesced in this proposal, as did also the representatives of several signatory Powers, which had, for one reason or another, not yet ratified.\n\nPage 11\n\n3. A recognition by the Conference, although with several abstentions, of the feasibility of enforcement by a group of the Powers who might be ready to co-operate for that purpose, without awaiting the automatic enforcement of the convention provided for in article 24 after ratification by all the signatory Powers. The date as from which such group enforcement might take place was fixed as the 31st December, 1914, and a special protocol is to be provided for Powers desiring to co-operate to this end for signature by them.\n\nIncidentally the assembly of the Conference may perhaps be also credited with securing, through the Dutch Foreign Office, the deposit of ratifications by Italy, Belgium, Sweden, and China, and the signature without reserve by Greece.\n\nAt the close of the first Conference twelve Powers had signed the convention which they had participated in drafting, and thirty-four other Powers were invited to attach their signatures.\n\nAt the close of the second Conference thirty-four out of the total of forty-six Powers had signed the convention, and twelve had not then done so, while eight Powers had either ratified it or were disposed to do so.\n\nAt the close of the third Conference, forty-four out of the total forty-six Powers have signed the convention, eleven have ratified it, and fourteen more are disposed to do so, while not one of the remaining nineteen signatories has expressed any intention of not proceeding to put the convention in force. Moreover, all the signatories present were desirous that respectful representations should be pressed upon those which had not deposited their ratifications to do so as soon as possible.\n\nWe are under no illusion as to the influence which events which have occurred since the rising of the Conference must have upon all international concert of the nature contemplated by the Opium Convention. Humanitarian aims of the kind which invoked these three Conferences and inspired their constructive work must suffer eclipse or serious retardation during a time of warfare. We nevertheless recall that one of the first objects attained in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna, after the close of the Napoleonic wars, and on the initiative of the British representative, was an international declaration of the abolition of the slave trade.\n\nWe trust that when, in the course of time, international relations are resumed, the progressive stages in abolishing the abuse of opium and other kindred drugs may be resumed, and that the efforts of the three International Conferences may achieve the beneficent objects which from first to last inspired those who have borne their part in these deliberations.\n\nWe would once again express our sincere acknowledgment to the Netherlands Government, to M. Loudon, the Foreign Minister, M. Cremer, the president of the Conference, and M. van Deventer, the chairman of the Comité de Rédaction. From each of these gentlemen we invariably received the greatest courtesy and the most friendly co-operation.\n\nPage 0\n\nWe have, &c.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER. W. J. COLLINS.\n\nPage 199", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 457129, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915", "page_number": 445, "title": "CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915", "content_text": "440\n\n30\n\nArticle 24.\n\nThe present Convention shall go into effect three months after the date mentioned in the Netherlands Government's notification, as indicated in the last paragraph of the preceding article.\n\nWith regard to the laws, regulations and other measures provided for by the present Convention, it is agreed that the drafts necessary to this end shall be drawn up not later than six months after the going into effect of the Convention. With regard to the laws, these shall also be proposed by the Governments to their parliaments or legislative bodies within this same period of six months, and in any case at the first session which shall follow the expiration of this period.\n\nThe date from which these laws, regulations, or measures shall go into effect shall be the subject of an agreement between the signatory Powers, at the instance of the Netherlands Government.\n\nIn case questions shall arise relative to the ratification of the present Convention, or relative to the going into effect of the Convention, or of the laws, regulations and measures which such Convention involves, the Netherlands Government, if these questions cannot be decided by other means, shall invite all the Signatory Powers to designate delegates who shall assemble at The Hague to come to an immediate agreement on these questions.\n\nArticle 25.\n\nIf it should happen that one of the Contracting Powers should wish to denounce the present Convention, such denunciation shall be notified in writing to the Netherlands Government, who shall immediately communicate a certified copy in conformity with such notification to all the other Powers, informing them at the same time as to the date on which it received such notification.\n\nThe denunciation shall have no effect except with respect to the Power who shall have given notice thereof and one year after such notice shall have reached the Netherlands Government.\n\nIn witness whereof, the Plenipotentiaries have affixed their signatures to the present Convention.\n\nDone at The Hague, January 23, 1912, in one single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the Netherlands and copies of which, certified in conformity, shall be delivered through diplomatic channels to all the Powers represented at the Conference.\n\n[Here follow signatures.]\n\n[Translation.]\n\nPROTOCOLE DE CLÔTURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL OPIUM CONFERENCE.\n\nThe International Opium Conference, proposed by the Government of the United States of America and convoked by the Government of the Netherlands, assembled at The Hague in the Palace of the Knights, December 1, 1911.\n\nThe Governments, the enumeration of which follows, have taken part in the Conference, to which they had designated the Delegates hereafter named.\n\n[Here follow names of Governments and Delegates.]\n\n31\n\nIn a series of meetings held from the 1st of December, 1911, to the 23rd of January, 1912, the Conference determined upon the text of Convention hereto annexed:\n\nThe Conference has further expressed the following wishes:\n\nI. The Conference is of the opinion that there is reason to draw the attention of the Universal Postal Union:\n\n1° to the urgency of regulating the transmission by post of raw Opium;\n\n2° to the necessity of regulating, so far as possible, the transmission by post of Morphine and Cocaine and their respective salts, and of the other substances contemplated by Article 14 of the Convention;\n\n3° to the necessity of prohibiting the transmission of prepared Opium by the post.\n\nII. The Conference is of the opinion that it is advisable to study the question of Indian Hemp from the statistical and scientific standpoint, with a view to regulating its misuse, should the necessity therefor make itself felt, by domestic legislation or by an international agreement.\n\nIn testimony whereof, the Plenipotentiaries have affixed their signatures to the present Protocol.\n\nDone at The Hague, the 23rd day of January, 1912, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the Archives of the Government of the Netherlands, and copies of which, certified and conforming thereto, shall be delivered through the diplomatic channel to all the Powers represented at the Conference.\n\n[Here follow signatures.]\n\n[Translation.]\n\nFINAL PROTOCOL OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL OPIUM CONFERENCE-1918.\n\nThe Second International Opium Conference, convoked by Government of the Netherlands in virtue of Article 23 of the International Opium Convention, met at The Hague, in the Palace of the Counts, July 1, 1913.\n\nThe Governments enumerated below took part in the Conference, for which they had designated the following-named delegates.\n\n[Here follow names of Governments and delegates.]\n\nIn a series of meetings held from the 1st to the 9th the conference after examination of the question put before it by paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the International Opium Convention of January 23, 1912-\n\nI. Decided that ratifications may be deposited from this moment.\n\nII. Unanimously adopted the following resolution:\n\nRESOLUTION.\n\nDesirous of following up in the path opened by the international commission of Shanghai of 1909 and the first conference of 1912 at The Hague, the progressive suppression of the abuse of opium, morphine, cocaine, as well as of drugs prepared with or derived from those substances, and deeming it more than ever necessary and mutually advantageous to have an international agreement on that point, the Second International Conference-\n\n1. Utters a wish that the Government of the Netherlands be pleased to call to the attention of the Governments of Austria-Hungary, Norway, and Sweden the fact that the signature, ratification, drawing up of legislative measures, and putting the convention into force constitute four distinct stages which permit of those powers giving their supplemental signatures even now.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 460293, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2]", "page_number": 426, "title": "CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2]", "content_text": "VII.\n\nbeing responsible only for the details of his own department, while the whole executive power of the State is vested in the hands of the President. On the advice of the defunct Administrative Council the President called into being a new Assembly termed the Tsanchengyuan, generally spoken of as the \"State Council.\" It consists of 70 Members, all nominated by the President himself, and mainly chosen from the older officials of the late dynasty, including a fair number of Manchus. To this body has been assigned temporary legislative functions, pending the inauguration of the new Parliament. It is apparently contemplated to continue the State Council as a permanent branch of the Constitution, though what particular role it is to fulfil vis à vis the Parliament seems as yet undetermined. Possibly it is intended as a counter-weight on the side of the President in case the elected Parliament should prove recalcitrant.\n\nSide by side with this Assembly another body has been sitting termed the Constitutional Conference, to which has been entrusted the important work of drawing up, in consultation with the Foreign Advisers, a revised Constitution. This new Code which was promulgated on May 1st, has been termed in Chinese a \"Constitutional Compact,\" indicating it would seem a sort of bargain between the President and the people. It defines the rights and duties of the citizens on the one hand and of the President on the other; provides for an elected legislature; prescribes the general course of Administration, and forecasts the organization of regular Law Courts and the independence of the judiciary. A copy of this important document will be found in the Supplement, PP. 75/84.\n\nAs regards the Provinces, several important changes have taken place. In the first place the Provincial Assemblies have been entirely abolished as being useless and obstructive. In the second place the important step has been taken of separating the civil and military functions. Under the Manchu regime the Governor was ex Officio Commander-in-Chief of the Provincial Forces, and under the revolutionary system the Governors, termed Tutuhs, were primarily Military Commanders with civil functions attached. Both systems have been abolished. The whole forces of the Empire are now declared to be National, not Provincial, and under the supreme control of the President. Three or four Provinces are grouped together to form one military district, under the command of a Chiangchun or Commander-in-Chief.\n\nThe result of these changes will no doubt be to enhance very materially the powers of the Central Government. Under the old system the provincial governments with their command of local troops were able to disregard orders from Peking, and to interpose obstacles to reform or changes of which they disapproved. On the other hand the responsibility for the maintenance of order and good government is transferred to Peking, the duties of the local Governors being limited to the repression and punishment of ordinary crime for which purpose they are allowed to organize a police force. It is remarked however, that these changes, though projected on paper, seem to be but imperfectly carried out, as Chiangchun have been appointed to almost every provincial Capital, thereby causing, it is said, much friction between the Civil and Military Authorities.\n\nThe Government has announced that a new Parliament, the Lifayuan, under a restricted franchise, will be summoned in 1915. The qualifications of both electors and candidates will shut out many of the elements which brought discredit on the Parliament of 1912-13. China's experience of parliamentary government has, so far, not been very happy, but although the new experiment will be on conservative lines, it will none the less be a step in the direction of constitutional government.\n\nThe Republic has justified its existence in a remarkably short space of time. It has re-established the authority of Peking over the Provinces, has to a great extent suppressed disorder, and has inaugurated judicious fiscal reforms on conservative lines, as, for example, in the case of the Salt Gabelle.\n\nThere is an element of weakness in the present system of government in that it is mainly dependent on one man—the President—but the country may count itself extremely fortunate, while it has been passing through a period of violent upheaval, in having a strong man to direct the course of affairs; a weak leader, even with the best intentions, might easily have landed the whole country in anarchy. China has the good fortune, at this crisis in her affairs, to have a leader who not only knows his own mind, but also knows his fellow countrymen, who has decision of character and the courage of his opinions.\n\nIt is clear, however, that there is a great element of danger in any system of government which is dependent on any one individual, however...\n\nPage 423", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 461990, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6]", "page_number": 623, "title": "CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6]", "content_text": "# THE GOSPEL OF GURU NANAK AND INDIAN IMMIGRATION ISSUES\n\n## RETALIATION THE REMEDY\n\nAt the last session of the India National Congress a resolution was moved urging the Government to enact retaliatory measures against the Colonies which deny us our birthright as British subjects (says the Tribune, Lalore). The press has cried hoarse for such legislation, and it is but right and proper that the national assembly should register the will of the nation. The obstinate perversity of the Colonies has fully roused the nation to a sense of its humiliation; and men, women and children are smarting under the indignities heaped upon them by the un-British conduct of Colonials. Nevertheless, we prefer that the action of the national assembly and that of the Government should be defensive and not retaliatory. After all, the Colonials are also British subjects. It is a most painful spectacle that one part of the British Empire should retaliate against another. But we are free to adopt the policy of the Colonies to defend our internal interests. Why, for instance, should we permit the emigration of Indian labor for the benefit of alien capitalists? We want the manhood of India for the development of India, and we must set our face against all forms of emigration, whether \"indentured\" or not. That should be the first and foremost duty of the Congress and of the Government. We are at present not only depleting our labor reserve, but are inflicting upon a number of our countrymen the greatest of injuries imaginable. By allowing them to submit to the treatment of the Colonies we are letting them humiliate themselves.\n\nSecondly, as regards the language test and productive duties, the practical difficulties are great unless the Government can be induced to undertake them purely as retaliatory measures. That India cannot erect a colour bar as the Colonies are doing must be clear to the commonest understanding. But at the same time we have as much right as the Colonies to exclude those who compete with us unfairly or whose presence here we consider undesirable. It would be remembered that only the other day the new Governor of Madras, Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael, said that the spirit of the British statesman was to give every encouragement to \"our fellow-subjects,\" meaning Indians, \"wherever they are, to develop to the full the resources of their own portion of the empire, to make the fullest use of their abilities and talents in the development of that part.\" If this is the spirit of British statesmen, it must be possible for the Government of India to exclude unfair competition from all outsiders, particularly Colonial subjects, natural-born or domiciled, in activities which should be reserved for the sons of the soil.—*Indian Opinion*, Natal.\n\n## LAW-MAKING EXTRAORDINARY\n\nA Hindu asked a friend of ours to write to Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son, the well-known passenger agents at Calcutta, for a son of his to be brought into this country for studying in a college in Canada. The reply which we print below is very interesting:\n\nDear Sir:-\n\nWe are in receipt of your favor of the 12th ult., and in reply beg to state that if the young man whose passage to British Columbia you wish us to arrange is an Indian, we regret we cannot undertake same owing to the very strict immigration laws which have been passed recently. There is no direct steamer service to Canada from here, and it is therefore impossible for us to issue a through ticket as required by the immigration law. If, however, the young man is European, we shall be pleased to arrange his passage, the second-class fare from Calcutta to Vancouver by Apcar line to Hongkong, thence per Nippon Yusen Kaisha to Victoria being Rs 515- or £34:6:8. These services are fortnightly and monthly respectively.\n\nYours faithfully,\n(Signed) THOS. COOK & SON.\n\n## THE GOSPEL OF GURU NANAK\n\n(Continued from Inside Front Cover.)\n\n\"Wash your mind rather than the stone images,\"\n\nHere then is the summing up of the teachings of Guru Nanak. Love God and love the God in man. Love God and show forth your love to Him by loving those who come in contact with you. Our nation needs this Gospel: it is the gospel which binds together, unifies, harmonizes, makes for peace and love; it is the gospel of harmony, of good-will to all and hatred to none, the gospel of peace. We stand on the threshold of a New Age which is destined to witness important reconstruction in world relations. Shall India play her part in these reconstructions? Then must you, young men, and to you, young men, my words are especially addressed—keep alive the sense of the Unseen. Remember the piteous need of our civilization is God-realization. Remember our urgent need is the restoration of our spiritual perspective. Remember no civilization can endure without religion. And may weary hopes try to realize the happy day when the present decay of religious desire shall give way to rational Faith, when the sense of social injustice shall assert itself, when life beyond this life shall be discerned as the dominant idea of thought and deed, when the material will be used as a sacrament of the spiritual, when the religion of Bhakti shall be lived by men of the world and the Gospel of Guru Nanak be enthroned in our hearts again.\n\nThere is a suggestive little story in the Sikh scriptures. We read that Guru Nanak was one day invited by a poor man to dine at his house, and the Teacher of mercy accepted the invitation. A day was fixed; and on that day the Teacher moved out towards the house. He knocked at the door, but it was some time before the door was opened. When the poor man came out, he said to Guru Nanak: \"Master, forgive me, I did not open the door in time.\" The Teacher asked: \"What were you doing?\" The man replied: \"Master! I was driving nails into the wall.\" The Teacher looked into the eyes of this poor man with love and compassion and said: \"Brother, what are you doing? Driving nails into the walls? Follow me.\" The poor man answered: \"Master, as thou dost order. I follow thee.\" Forthwith, the man left his all; he followed the Teacher, and became a disciple of Guru Nanak. Think you the Voice of the Teacher is silent now? Methinks even at this moment the loving voice of the compassionate Teacher comes to you and to me and asks: \"What are you doing? Driving nails into the wall? What are you doing? Still immersed in the maya of lower life? What are you doing? Still oblivious of the sacred meaning of life? Still unconscious of the supreme Realities of the Unseen?\" The Teacher tells us all today, \"Brothers, what are you doing? Driving nails into the wall?\" What shall be your answer? What shall be my answer? Shall we not say, as did the dear disciple of old—shall we not say in accents of faith, of love and reverence?—\"Master, we are poor and weak; our faith is dim; our hearts are dull: yet we, too, shall follow thee.\"—Prof. Vaswani.\n\nPage 615", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 462009, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6]", "page_number": 642, "title": "CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6]", "content_text": "## REFORMS DESIRED\n\n### CANADA AND INDIA\n\nThe first Indian National Congress assembled for business in the Tejpal Samskrit College, Bombay, on December 28th, 1885. The deliberations of the congress were formulated in the shape of resolutions demanding from the administration certain concrete reforms. The first resolution was for a Royal Commission to enquire into the working of the Indian administration. The tribute from India was a heavy drain on the Indian taxpayer. They asked for simultaneous examination for the Indian Civil Service in India and in England. Another resolution reads: \"That this congress considers the reform and expansion of the Supreme and existing Local Legislative Councils by the admission of a considerable proportion of elected members essential, and holds that all budgets should be referred to these Councils for consideration, their members being, moreover, empowered to interpellate the Executive in regard to all branches of the administration.\" These resolutions were sent to the proper quarters.\n\nThe next session of the congress met in Calcutta in Christmas week, 1886, and ever since then they have met every Christmas in nearly all the most important centres of India. The assembly has been presided over by men well-known for their probity and service. The congress movement has drawn to its fold such names as the late Mahadev Govind Ranade, Surendro Nath Banerjea (\"the uncrowned King of Bengal\"), Krishna Kumar Mitra, Motilal Ghosh (editor of the Amrita Bazar Patrika), Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Dadabhai Naoroji, S. Subramania Iyer, Pherozshah Mehta, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Lala Lajpat Rai, and the late Gopal Krishna Gokhale, founder of the Servants of India Society.\n\n### INDIA NOT PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD\n\nIn welcoming the second congress in Calcutta, Dr. Rajindralal Mittra, the famous scholar, said: \"We live not under a National Government, but under a foreign bureaucracy; our foreign rulers are foreigners by birth, religion, language, habits, by everything that divides humanity into different sections. They cannot possibly dive into our hearts, they cannot ascertain our wants, our feelings, our aspirations. They may try their best, and I have no reason to doubt that many of our Governors have tried hard to ascertain our feelings and our wants; but owing to their peculiar position they have failed to ascertain them.\"\n\n### BITTER POVERTY OF INDIA\n\nHon. Dadabhai Naoroji, who later on sat in the Imperial House of Commons, was the president of this session. He laid stress on the bitter poverty of India. Mr. D. E. Wacha, who afterwards became secretary of the congress, said that the condition of the ryots, or peasants, had steadily deteriorated since 1848, and that forty millions of people had only one meal a day, and not always that. The main cause is the tribute to Great Britain, exported to fructify there, and swell still further the unparalleled wealth of those distant isles, never in any shape to return here to bless the country from whose soil it was wrung, or the people, the sweat of whose brow it represents.\n\nAnother delegate spoke of the extortion of the revenue authorities.\n\n### INDIA SPEAKS\n\nAnother resolution, and the most important, was moved by Raja Rampal Singh, a well-known public man from North India, appealing to the Government to sanction volunteering. The moral debasement caused by the disarmament of the whole nation, was and is felt acutely. He said: \"We are deeply grateful to the Government for all the good that it has done us, but we cannot be grateful to it when it is, no matter with what best of intentions, doing us a terrible and irreparable injury. We cannot be grateful to it for degrading our natures, for systematically crushing out of us all martial spirit, for converting a race of soldiers and heroes into a timid flock of quill-driving sheep. Thank God, things have not yet gone quite so far as this. There are some of us yet, everywhere, who would be willing to draw sword, and if needful lay down our lives, for hearth and homes, aye, and for the support and maintenance of that Government to which we owe so much. But this is what we are coming to... and when we once come to that, then I think that, despite the glories of the Pax Britannica, despite the noble intentions of Great Britain, despite all the good she may have done or tried to do us, the balance will be against her, and India will have to regret rather than rejoice that she has ever had anything to do with England.\n\n\"This may be strong language, but it is the truth; nothing can ever make amends to a nation for the destruction of its national spirit, and of the capacity to defend itself and the soil from which it springs.\n\n\"High and low, we are losing all knowledge of the use of arms, and with this that spirit of self-reliance which enables a man to dare, which makes men brave, which makes them worthy of the name of men.\n\n\"I might dwell on the fact that in the way the Arms Act is now worked in many localities, the people, their herds, their crops, are wholly at the mercy of the wild beasts. I might dwell on the insult, the injustice, the violation of the most sacred and solemn pledges by England to India, that are involved in the rules that permit Indian Christians, but do not permit Indian Hindus or Mohammedans to volunteer.\" This resolution was carried, and yet 29 years later the Arms Act is still on the Statute Book, and no Hindus or Mohammedans are permitted to defend their hearths and homes. In this connection, it is well to remember that although even in France and Russia the native Algerians and Moslem Russians and others can get commissions in the army and command regiments, no native of India can get a commission or ever join a military college in India, paid for and supported by the taxpayers of India. The congress has passed resolutions every year asking that commissions be granted to Indians, but to no purpose.\n\n### SELF-GOVERNMENT THE GOAL\n\nThe first and foremost plank in the congress is, of course, **Swaraj**, or self-government. Indians are at every step reminded of being a subject race. They want a Government national in spirit and an administration that will feel that India's interests are its first consideration. India wants to be governed by Indians, who will know the real sentiments and desires of the people. The government of the people by the people and for the people is the watchword. If \"Canada for the Canadians\" holds good, why not \"India for the Indians\"! That does not mean hostility to anyone, but it does mean a federated India consisting of various autonomous provinces or States, under one whole. When Indians were harshly treated in South Africa and Canada, things would have been far different if they had some representatives to look after their interests in those countries.\n\n\"No taxation without representation\" is the first commandment in the Englishman's political Bible; how can he falter with his conscience and tax us here, his free and educated fellow-subjects, as if we were dumb sheep or cattle? But we are not dumb any longer. India has found a voice at last in this great congress, and in it, and through it, we call on England to be true to her traditions, her instincts, and herself, and grant us our rights as free-born British citizens.\" So said the famous scholar, Pandit Madan Mohun Malaviya, who long afterwards became one of the founders of the Hindu University of Benares.\n\nAnother plank in the platform of the congress is the separation of judicial and executive functions. In India, the police is the handmaiden of the bureaucracy, and very often the prosecutor and the judge are the same person, and not as in advanced countries, where the two offices are separate. The police, even according to the official class, is not exactly what it ought to be. For carrying out impartial justice, it is absolutely essential that the two functions be not in the same hand.\n\n### SWADESHI AND PROTECTION\n\nThe third great plank is **Swadeshi** or promotion of home-made goods. In Canada, there is the \"Made-in-Canada\" programme, but not so with India. The authorities looked askance at this. Although Indian industries are hampered at every step, e.g., there is a countervailing duty of 3 1/2 per cent on cotton goods manufactured in India herself. (One wonders if there is any country in the wide world which has this curious anomaly of imposing a tax on her own manufactures, and yet this is so in India.)\n\nGerman and Austrian goods were dumped on India's shores. German and Austrian ships, flying the flags of the Central Empires, called regularly at Bombay and other Indian ports, although Indian shipping, which was well-known all over the Orient in the past, has on account of unfair competition been swept away. **Swadeshi** demands that home-made goods be given preference to foreign manufactures, and as the Government of India is not national, the Nationalists, if they had their day, would have protection for India's infant industries, and are trying to do the next best thing, which is promoting the industries of India.\n\n### COMPULSORY EDUCATION ESSENTIAL\n\nThe congress has, through the efforts of the late Mr. Gokhale, passed a resolution demanding free and compulsory education. It seems strange that in a country like India, which has been under British control for over a century, education is not so advanced as in the Philippines, which during the last ten or fifteen years have made wonderful progress under American suzerainty. Even in States like Baroda, which is under an Indian prince, and where there is a purely Indian administration, the system of elementary education has been made free and compulsory both for boys and girls. Why not in India, with all her efficient administration?\n\nThe congress has in most of the Provinces a Provincial Committee, holding a conference every year, where the Nationalist sentiment finds expression. The head offices for the All-India National Congress are at Madras, there being two secretaries, Nawab Sayed Mohammed and Mr. Subba Row. G. A. Natesan & Co., of Madras, have published some interesting literature on the congress. They also issue every year a book giving the proceedings of the congress.\n\n## CANADA AND INDIA\n\n### INDIAN ASPIRATIONS TO-DAY\n\nIn a pamphlet dealing with India and the war, Mr. Bhupendra Nath Basu, ex-member of the Imperial Legislative Council of India and President of the Indian National Congress, held in Madras at Christmas, 1914, writes:\n\n\"There is in India a spirit of frank recognition of the benefits of British rule and of its immense potentialities for good, if carried on under the lead of the British democracy and free from the trammels of constant tutelage, which certain Anglo-Indian administrators would like to impose upon it. Several generations in India were born and lived during the reign of Queen Victoria. To her, as their great Queen and Mother, from whom emanated the great charter of their rights and liberties, the Indian people were passionately attached and devoted. This feeling of personal attachment and devotion has been greatly stimulated and strengthened by the visits to India of members of the Royal Family. They knew how to say and to do the right thing at the right moment, and by their inbred courtesy and geniality of manner, they have helped to soften the atmosphere of aloofness which some British officials, under the erroneous sense of dignity and prestige, at times surround themselves.\n\n### INDIAN DEMAND FOR EDUCATION\n\nThe visit of the King and Queen, as the visible embodiment of sovereignty, and the generous and noble utterances of the King in his various addresses in India, did much to hearten the people in their faith in the ultimate fulfilment of the great Proclamation of Queen Victoria, for hopes deferred had made them falter. The Indian people justly demand a great extension of education among the masses, for it is the foundation of all progress, and the words of the King in his reply to the address of the University of Calcutta have been taken by them as a fresh landmark in the development of education in India. His Majesty said: \"It is my wish that there may be spread over the land a network of schools and colleges, from which will go forth loyal and manly and useful citizens, able to hold their own in the industries and agriculture and all the vocations in life. And it is my wish, too, that the homes of my Indian subjects may be brightened and their labour sweetened by the spread of knowledge with all that follows in its train, a higher level of thought, of comfort, and of health. It is through education that my wish will be fulfilled, and the cause of education in India will ever be close to my heart.\"\n\n### WANTS CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS\n\nThese are precious words to the Indian people as the declaration by the Sovereign of a policy which must be carried out. Great and far-reaching as have been the benefits of British rule in India, it has not yet risen to the full height of the British people in whose name and on whose behalf it is administered, nor of the people, heirs to an ancient civilization, for whose benefit the great Queen asked Divine help to administer her rule. Important questions, such as the right to carry arms, to enlist as volunteers, to enter the commissioned ranks of the Army, the recognition of equal citizenship in British colonies, the better administration of justice, a more equitable participation in the government of the country, still await solution, and India has necessarily felt at times sore and heart-sick; but there never has been any desire to break away. India has definitely set herself to forge ahead.\n\n### WORKING FOR SWARAJ\n\nShe has never doubted. Her heart has been wholly with British rule; the foundations of her faith and loyalty have been too well and firmly laid to be lightly disturbed; all that she desires is that British rule in India should be compatible with the self-respect of her people, growing in education, knowledge, and experience; that it should develop into a rule by the people as part of the British Empire as was foreseen and foretold by the great statesmen who moulded her destinies in the early part of the nineteenth century. And India has been working towards this goal; she realizes it must be a slow and laborious process.\n\n### INDIAN NATIONALISM AND THE WAR\n\nMr. John Matthai, in a recent pamphlet on \"Indian Nationalism and the War,\" says: \"The effect of the war will for the present be confined to the educated class in India, whose importance, however, is not to be measured by their number. It has shown them to be a loyal body, willing to co-operate with the Government. At the same time, it will strengthen the spirit of nationalism among them. The primary cause of the hostile element in the Indian Nationalism is the extent to which Indians are shut out of the higher offices; to remedy this is the immediate necessity. In the meantime, the question of elective Government and the extent of its possible application must be carefully weighed and thought out before any large committal is made. On the positive side, nationalism will be prompted under the influence of the war to devote itself more than before to the condition of the masses. This added sense of social needs will strengthen the desire for security and peace; it will also lead to a deeper cultivation of the ancient spirituality of the race.\n\n\"If these considerations are at all valid, it may be added that there is nothing in them to alarm or to alienate either people. There is much to give hope and confidence to both. There have been things in the past to hurt and wound. They need not have been. But it seems we have decided to forget the things of the past. In the face of the un-speakable tragedy which is enacted before our eyes, in which men of many nations are mingling their blood for a common cause, we can afford to fix our eyes away from the past across this vale of tears, on the love and hope and abiding peace of the future. There was no black and brown and white in the blood which flowed from Calvary. Nor is there in the warm, precious, human blood which flows over the battle-fields of Europe. All of it is red alike, and every drop of it, without distinction of race, betokens the sob of a broken mother-heart. Therefore, while this great elemental struggle is driving us back to a sense of eternal values, let us put back—all of us, both those who won and those who lost, those who laughed and those who wept—let us put back the things that divide and hold fast to the things that bind.\"\n\n### DR. BOSE AT CALCUTTA\n\nDr. Jagdish Chandra Bose, D.Sc., C.S.I., C.I.E., the famous Hindu scientist, has arrived in India after his travels in Europe, America, Japan, and the Far East. The other day, an address of welcome was presented to him at Madura, and recently a reception in his honour was held at the Ram Mohan Library at Calcutta.\n\nInspired by his visits to the ancient universities of India at Taxila, at Nalanda, and at Conjeevram, Dr. Bose had the strongest confidence that India would soon see a revival of those glorious traditions. There will soon rise a Temple of Learning where the teacher, a real sanyasin, would go on with his ceaseless pursuit after truth, and, dying, hand on his work and enthusiasm to his disciples.\n\n### ECONOMIC DANGER IN INDIA\n\nDr. Bose referred especially to the economic danger in India, and the revival of Indian industries cannot be too highly appreciated. That is the question in India to-day. The tocsin of alarm raised by him ought to go straight into the hearts of both the people and the Government. If India is to be saved from the disastrous effects of the increasing poverty, her commerce and industry must be revived. And this is her opportunity now that the great war has driven Germany from her markets.\n\nBut what do we find? Instead of that, Japan has captured all our industrial markets. Dr. Bose assures us that she has made gigantic preparations for that purpose. Within a few decades, she has even surpassed her past master Germany in developing her manufactures and shipping. One of the methods employed by her, Dr. Bose tells us, is to practically exclude all foreign manufactured articles from her soil by prohibitive tariffs. The coast-wise and foreign shipping of India is in alien hands. Japan is more and more encroaching upon this preserve.\n\n### PROTECTION THE RIGHT POLICY\n\nWhy should not the Government of India follow Japan in this respect? It is free trade which has ruined India commercially. It is free trade which is really at the bottom of the economic state, forcing a Sikh from North India to seek his fortune in lands where he is unwelcome. If protective duties had been imposed upon imported articles, India would have long ago become one of the great manufacturing countries of the world, and to which she is rightly entitled, producing as she does such a large variety of raw materials. Germany and Austria would have never made a footing in our markets if free trade principles had not been allowed to rule supreme in India. Java has killed our sugar industry completely. When a small countervailing duty on foreign sugar was levied in India, such a howl was raised against it by the advocates of free trade in England that it had to be given up.\n\n### HINDU MINISTER OF EDUCATION\n\nWhen Sir Sankaram Nair joins the Viceroy's Executive Council this month, the Departments of Education, Local Government, and Sanitation will, for the first time in the history of British India, pass under Indian control. The significance of the event cannot be exaggerated. It is in these three directions that progress is especially demanded at the present moment; and the order in which we have placed the departments exactly represents their respective importance. Not only is the spread of education absolutely necessary to the establishment of a genuine system of local government and to the due understanding of the principles of sanitary science. The very continuance of the British connection depends largely upon the same factor.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 477933, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "page_number": 170, "title": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "content_text": "**[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]**\n\n\"This Government still recognises that Li Yuan-hung is still the President of the Republic of China, and the National Assembly is still in existence. It shall strive to combat, remove, and destroy all those causes which have hitherto disabled President Li and the National Assembly from functioning and discharging their respective duties. It will cease to exist as soon as the objective it aims at is fully attained, namely, when the rebellious Tuchuns are suppressed, President Li Yuan-hung is re-established, and the National Assembly is reassembled.\n\n\"This Government is directed by a Generalissimo, assisted by three Field-Marshals. Under the Generalissimo are the heads of six Ministries functioning as the executive of the Government. Dr. Sun Wen is the Generalissimo, and Generals Lu Jung-t'ing and Tang Chi-yao are two of the three Field-Marshals. The six Ministers are:\n\n| Ministry | Minister |\n| --- | --- |\n| Foreign Affairs | Dr. Wu Ting-ting |\n| Home Affairs | Sun Hung-yi |\n| Finance | Tang Shao-yi |\n| Army | General Chang Kai-ju |\n| Navy | Admiral Cheng Pi-kuang |\n| Communications | Hu Han-min |\n\n\"They are all elected by the National Assembly now holding extraordinary session in Canton.\"\n\n## CHINESE LOANS AND CONCESSIONS\n\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n`[229809]`\n\n**(No. 297.) Sir,**\n\n## No. 1.\n\n167\n\n`[December 3.]`\n\n## SECTION 2.\n\nMr. Alston to Mr. Balfour.-(Received December 3.)\n\nPeking, September 21, 1917. IN my telegram No. 428 of the 15th instant I had the honour to forward to you a telegram from the British, French, Russian, and Japanese group representatives respecting the proposal of the Minister of Finance for a loan of 20,000,000 for currency reform.\n\nI have the honour to enclose herewith copies of two memoranda from the Ministry of Finance on which that telegram was based.\n\nIn accordance with the instructions contained in your telegram No. 348 of the 15th instant, I am not taking any steps to encourage this project.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nB. ALSTON.\n\n## Enclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\n**Memorandum on proposed Loan received from Minister of Finance.**\n\nTHE whole proceeds of the loan to be used for the unification of the monetary system on silver basis and redemption of depreciated paper.\n\nAmount of the loan, 20,000,000.\n\nBonds of the loan to be issued in two or three series.\n\nSecurities of the loan: (1) Seigniorage profit; (2) profit from melting and refining of old copper cash; (3) customs surplus; and (4) salt surplus.\n\nThe whole proceeds of the loan to be paid in gold to the Chinese Government at London, Tokyo, &c. Chinese Government to deposit with great banks in Europe, America, and Japan the money so received, and/or the first-class foreign securities and/or short-term bills bought with such money, against which foreign drafts in gold will be drawn and internal loan bonds issued.\n\nChinese Government to establish a Monetary Bureau and appoint three foreigners: one as Adviser on Monetary Reform, one as technical officer (\"Master Assayer\"), and one as Inspector of the Chinese Government Gold Reserve abroad.\n\n## Enclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\n**Memorandum on General Outlines of Monetary Reform received from Minister of Finance.**\n\nMONETARY reform to be divided into three stages, viz.:—\n\nFirst stage: Unification of the monetary system in silver basis.\n\nSecond stage: Redemption of depreciated paper.\n\nThird stage: Adoption of gold exchange standard.\n\nThird stage to be deferred till the end of the great war.\n\nWhat is contemplated:\n\n1. Reform of the mints. Such measures as: decrease the number of mints; render the mints not institutions for profit-making.\n2. The mint to appoint one foreign technical officer (\"Master Assayer\").\n3. When Committee of Examination of Coins is established, foreigners may be invited to become its honorary members.\n4. To mint new coins-their form, weight, and fineness to be in strict conformity with the National Coinage Law promulgated in the 3rd year of the republic. The principle of free coinage to be adopted with regard to the principal money of 1 yuan.\n\n`[2752 c-2]`", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 478017, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "page_number": 254, "title": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "content_text": "## CONFIDENTIAL\n\n### Sir J. Jordan to Mr. Balfour.(Received January 4, 1918.)\n\n(No. 345. Secret.)\n\nPeking, October 30, 1917.\n\nAs my telegrams will have indicated, there is a growing belief here that Japan is acquiring a dominating position in this country, and her attitude has been severely criticised not only by the foreign and native press in China, but by a considerable portion of the opposition papers in Japan. The air is full of rumours, and reports of fresh negotiations between the two countries, the accuracy of which it is impossible to test, appear almost daily in the newspapers.\n\nThe American Minister, however, who is much concerned at these developments, and who has apparently been actively engaged in trying to thwart them, is convinced that a so-called \"arms alliance\" has virtually been concluded between some members of the Cabinet and unofficial Japanese agents, and that it carries with it the right to nominate a few Japanese advisers, nominally to see that the arms are not used against the South, but in reality to gain a footing for the exercise of eventual control in the military administration of China. Another enterprise which is said to be included in the scope of these negotiations is the acquisition of the large iron area of Feng-huang-shan, about 20 miles from Nanking. The Japanese, it is pointed out, already control nearly one-half of the iron deposits in this country, and are in possession of all the iron mines and works that employ modern machinery, and should they secure this fresh concession it is considered that Japan would have a virtual monopoly of all the iron that China produces. It seems that the Japanese acquired some sort of a claim to this mine by the usual process of an advance of money made in the closing days of the Yuan Shih-kai régime.\n\nIt is perhaps not unnatural that, at a time when other foreign markets are closed to China owing to the war in Europe, Japan should seek to acquire a position of financial supremacy at Peking, but the methods which she has adopted for the attainment of her object are certainly, in some cases, open to criticism, as not being conceived in the true interests of China herself. For instance, as pointed out in a previous despatch, the so-called first instalment of the Second Reorganisation Loan, amounting to 10,000,000 yen, which was lent by Japan alone, has, as must have been foreseen from the outset, been practically wasted, and the further loan of 20,000,000 yen negotiated by Tsao Ju-lin, whose Japanese sympathies are well known, to prop up the insolvent Bank of Communications will doubtless go the same way. So also with the advance of 2,000,000 yen which the Ministry of Finance has asked the banks to make in connection with the Currency Loan. The Japanese are understood to favour compliance with this demand, but they must know as well as we do from previous experience that all these advances are thoroughly unsound, and are only made as a means of securing eventual political control. They know also that the appreciation of silver and the postponement of the indemnity payments, not to mention the release from her obligations to enemy nations, have placed China in a better financial position than she has enjoyed for years past, and that a prudent use of her resources should enable her to dispense with foreign assistance. And yet this is chosen as the moment to place large and uncontrolled sums of money at her disposal.\n\nUnfortunately, as was clearly foreshadowed in Mr. Alston's telegram No. 97, Secret, of the 1st March last, the Government of this country has largely fallen under Japanese influence, and trusts in a great measure to that influence to see it safely through its struggle with the South. The Minister of Communications, Tsao Ju-lin, is an avowed agent of Japan, and the Minister of Finance, Liang Ch'i-Chao, has lived many years as an exile in Japan, and has intimate associations with that country. The Chinese Government, as it stands to-day, is a weaker edition of the military autocracy established by Yuan Shih-kai, which may last for a year or two but lacks the element of permanence. Its position in the country is not improved by its open reliance upon Japan, and many of its acts would probably not be attempted and certainly not ratified were there anything in the nature of a Representative Assembly in Peking.\n\n### AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\nPage 250\n\nW. LANGLEY\n\n[January 4.]\n\nREC(8 FEB 18)\n\nSECTION 1.\n\nNo. 1.\n\n[2521]\n\nIn view of the possibility that the release of German and Austrian prisoners by the present Russian Government may lead to a large influx of enemy subjects into China, it is considered of special importance that the Chinese Government be persuaded to accept the principle of deportation forthwith, and for this reason Mr. Balfour desires me to express the hope that it may be found possible to sanction in principle and at an early date the assumption by His Majesty's Government of such part of the expenditure as may fall to their share.\n\nThe number of enemy subjects to be deported is believed to be in the neighbourhood of 4,000.\n\nI am, &c.\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\nC.O.\n\n7053\n\n[2767 d-1]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 478043, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "page_number": 280, "title": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "content_text": "## [This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n2\n\nIn view of the possibility that the release of German and Austrian prisoners by the present Russian Government may lead to a large influx of enemy subjects into China, it is considered of special importance that the Chinese Government be persuaded to accept the principle of deportation forthwith, and for this reason Mr. Balfour desires me to express the hope that it may be found possible to sanction in principle and at an early date the assumption by His Majesty's Government of such part of the expenditure as may fall to their share.\n\nThe number of enemy subjects to be deported is believed to be in the neighbourhood of 4,000.\n\nI am, &c.\n**W. LANGLEY**\n\n## AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n[2521]\n7053\nREC REAR & FEB 1&1\n[January 4.]\n\n### SECTION 1\n\n**Sir J. Jordan to Mr. Balfour**—(Received January 4, 1918.)\n\n**(No. 345. Secret.)**\nSir,\n\nPeking, October 30, 1917.\n\nAs my telegrams will have indicated, there is a growing belief here that Japan is acquiring a dominating position in this country, and her attitude has been severely criticised not only by the foreign and native press in China, but by a considerable portion of the opposition papers in Japan. The air is full of rumours, and reports of fresh negotiations between the two countries, the accuracy of which it is impossible to test, appear almost daily in the newspapers.\n\nThe American Minister, however, who is much concerned at these developments, and who has apparently been actively engaged in trying to thwart them, is convinced that a so-called \"arms alliance\" has virtually been concluded between some members of the Cabinet and unofficial Japanese agents, and that it carries with it the right to nominate a few Japanese advisers, nominally to see that the arms are not used against the South, but in reality to gain a footing for the exercise of eventual control in the military administration of China. Another enterprise which is said to be included in the scope of these negotiations is the acquisition of the large iron area of Fong-huang-shan, about 20 miles from Nanking. The Japanese, it is pointed out, already control nearly one-half of the iron deposits in this country, and are in possession of all the iron mines and works that employ modern machinery, and should they secure this fresh concession it is considered that Japan would have a virtual monopoly of all the iron that China produces. It seems that the Japanese acquired some sort of a claim to this mine by the usual process of an advance of money made in the closing days of the Yuan Shih-kai régime.\n\nIt is perhaps not unnatural that, at a time when other foreign markets are closed to China owing to the war in Europe, Japan should seek to acquire a position of financial supremacy at Peking, but the methods which she has adopted for the attainment of her object are certainly, in some cases, open to criticism, as not being conceived in the true interests of China herself. For instance, as pointed out in a previous despatch, the so-called first instalment of the Second Reorganisation Loan, amounting to 10,000,000 yen, which was lent by Japan alone, has, as must have been foreseen from the outset, been practically wasted, and the further loan of 20,000,000 yen negotiated by Tsao Ju-lin, whose Japanese sympathies are well known, to prop up the insolvent Bank of Communications will doubtless go the same way. So also with the advance of 2,000,000l. which the Ministry of Finance has asked the banks to make in connection with the Currency Loan. The Japanese are understood to favour compliance with this demand, but they must know as well as we do from previous experience that all these advances are thoroughly unsound, and are only made as a means of securing eventual political control. They know also that the appreciation of silver and the postponement of the indemnity payments, not to mention the release from her obligations to enemy nations, have placed China in a better financial position than she has enjoyed for years past, and that a prudent use of her resources should enable her to dispense with foreign assistance. And yet this is chosen as the moment to place large and uncontrolled sums of money at her disposal.\n\nUnfortunately, as was clearly foreshadowed in Mr. Alston's telegram No. 97, Secret, of the 1st March last, the Government of this country has largely fallen under Japanese influence, and trusts in a great measure to that influence to see it safely through its struggle with the South. The Minister of Communications, Tsao Ju-lin, is an avowed agent of Japan, and the Minister of Finance, Liang Ch'i-Chao, has lived many years as an exile in Japan, and has intimate associations with that country. The Chinese Government, as it stands to-day, is a weaker edition of the military autocracy established by Yuan Shih-kai which may last for a year or two but lacks the element of permanence. Its position in the country is not improved by its open reliance upon Japan, and many of its acts would probably not be attempted and certainly not ratified were there anything in the nature of a Representative Assembly in Peking.\n\n[2767 d-1]\n\n276", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 478044, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "page_number": 281, "title": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "content_text": "# AFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\n## CONFIDENTIAL.\n\n### No. 1.\n\n**Sir J. Jordan to Mr. Balfour.-(Received January 4, 1918.)**\n\n**(No. 345. Secret.)**\n\nPeking, October 30, 1917.\n\nAs my telegrams will have indicated, there is a growing belief here that Japan is acquiring a dominating position in this country, and her attitude has been severely criticised not only by the foreign and native press in China, but by a considerable portion of the opposition papers in Japan. The air is full of rumours, and reports of fresh negotiations between the two countries, the accuracy of which it is impossible to test, appear almost daily in the newspapers.\n\nThe American Minister, however, who is much concerned at these developments, and who has apparently been actively engaged in trying to thwart them, is convinced that a so-called \"arms alliance\" has virtually been concluded between some members of the Cabinet and unofficial Japanese agents, and that it carries with it the right to nominate a few Japanese advisers, nominally to see that the arms are not used against the South, but in reality to gain a footing for the exercise of eventual control in the military administration of China. Another enterprise which is said to be included in the scope of these negotiations is the acquisition of the large iron area of Feng-huang-shan, about 20 miles from Nanking. The Japanese, it is pointed out, already control nearly one-half of the iron deposits in this country, and are in possession of all the iron mines and works that employ modern machinery, and should they secure this fresh concession it is considered that Japan would have a virtual monopoly of all the iron that China produces. It seems that the Japanese acquired some sort of a claim to this mine by the usual process of an advance of money made in the closing days of the Yuan Shih-kai régime.\n\nIt is perhaps not unnatural that, at a time when other foreign markets are closed to China owing to the war in Europe, Japan should seek to acquire a position of financial supremacy at Peking, but the methods which she has adopted for the attainment of her object are certainly, in some cases, open to criticism, as not being conceived in the true interests of China herself. For instance, as pointed out in a previous despatch, the so-called first instalment of the Second Reorganisation Loan, amounting to 10,000,000 yen, which was lent by Japan alone, has, as must have been foreseen from the outset, been practically wasted, and the further loan of 20,000,000 yen negotiated by Tsao Ju-lin, whose Japanese sympathies are well known, to prop up the insolvent Bank of Communications will doubtless go the same way. So also with the advance of 2,000,000 which the Ministry of Finance has asked the banks to make in connection with the Currency Loan. The Japanese are understood to favour compliance with this demand, but they must know as well as we do from previous experience that all these advances are thoroughly unsound, and are only made as a means of securing eventual political control. They know also that the appreciation of silver and the postponement of the indemnity payments, not to mention the release from her obligations to enemy nations, have placed China in a better financial position than she has enjoyed for years past, and that a prudent use of her resources should enable her to dispense with foreign assistance. And yet this is chosen as the moment to place large and uncontrolled sums of money at her disposal.\n\nUnfortunately, as was clearly foreshadowed in Mr. Alston's telegram No. 97, Secret, of the 1st March last, the Government of this country has largely fallen under Japanese influence, and trusts in a great measure to that influence to see it safely through its struggle with the South. The Minister of Communications, Tsao Ju-lin, is an avowed agent of Japan, and the Minister of Finance, Liang Chi-Chao, has lived many years as an exile in Japan, and has intimate associations with that country. The Chinese Government, as it stands to-day, is a weaker edition of the military autocracy established by Yuan Shih-kai which may last for a year or two but lacks the element of permanence. Its position in the country is not improved by its open reliance upon Japan, and many of its acts would probably not be attempted and certainly not ratified were there anything in the nature of a Representative Assembly in Peking.\n\n[2767 d-1]\n\n## \n\n**277**\n\n2\n\nThere is an aspect of the situation on which I venture to touch with much diffidence. All this tangle of schemes, concessions, and loans is accentuating the acute local estrangement which exists between Japan and the United States, and if the views of the American Minister reflect those of his Government, there is a growing disposition to challenge Japan's action in China. In offering to furnish China with a loan of $625,000,000 gold for military purposes in Europe, in undertaking to equip a Chinese army of 48,000 men for service in France, in intimating their intention to take part in and determine such a measure of currency reform as China may be held to require, and in various other ways the United States Government have given evidence of their intention to substitute for a policy of detachment in the past one of active interest in Chinese questions in the future.\n\n(Copies to Tokyo and Washington.)\n\nI have, &c.\n\n**J. N. JORDAN.**\n\nC.O.\n\n7053\n\nREG 8 FEB 18\n\n(January 4.)\n\nSECTION 1.\n\n[2521]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 479181, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-453 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1919 [1-3]", "page_number": 157, "title": "CO129-453 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1919 [1-3]", "content_text": "# Press to the question of Chinese representation. \nI may frankly tell you that we considered these resolutions very fully and were largely influenced at the outset of affairs in not inviting the Chinese to take a part in this appeal because less than two years ago they were invited, through their authorised members, nominated by the Government, to join our petition to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for an elective representation instead of a nominative representation. At that time they chose, through their own members, to write to the Government and say that they did not desire to take part in the request. Well, gentlemen, in the last few days they have, apparently, held various meetings at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and we have learnt, somewhat to our surprise, that there is a desire among the Chinese for more representation, and, being a progressive body, it was but natural that we should incorporate in our own ideals what appeared to be a fair thing for the Chinese also.\n\nThe resolutions which I have to propose to you deal with two wide principles. The first is the principle of election versus nomination by the Government for all unofficials save the two Chinese members. The second is to ensure that the wishes of the public on all public and local or domestic questions shall be carried out. I think that this Government has failed to realise, not only before the war, but more especially since the war broke out and the Home Government, in consequence, has also failed to realise that there is such a thing as public opinion in this Colony. (Applause.) The large assembly gathered here this evening, I think, is a proof of the fact that public opinion cannot, and will not, be ignored. (Applause.) The resolutions which I have to propose are as follows:—\n\nThat this public meeting of Hongkong residents, whilst affirming its unswerving loyalty to the Crown and Empire, is of opinion that the instructions to His Excellency the Governor relative to the mode of selection of the Legislative Council require amendment in such a way as to secure:-\n\n## Resolutions\n| No. | Resolution |\n| --- | --- |\n| 1. | That as regards all the unofficial members of the said Council (other than the two Chinese nominated members) the principle of election instead of nomination shall be applied. |\n| 2. | That the number of unofficial members shall be increased from 6 to 9, and that the number of official members shall remain as at present, namely, 8. |\n| 3. | That of the seven elected unofficial members (all of whom shall be British subjects) two shall be elected by the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce; one by the Justices of the Peace; three (two of whom shall be of British race and one of Portuguese race) by British subjects who are jurymen, or are qualified for, but exempt from jury service; and one by the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, or some other body representative of the Chinese community. |\n\nAnd in order that due and prompt attention and consideration may be given to the opinion, thus publicly expressed, this meeting requests the Government to transmit this resolution by telegram to His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies.\n\nThe reason, gentlemen, for asking for an unofficial majority of one, briefly, is this:- My experience of the Legislative Council is nothing like so long as that of my honourable friend on the right, who will corroborate what I say. Upon every occasion that the Government sees fit to refuse a resolution proposed by the unofficial members of the Council, and directly that announcement has been made, the official vote is automatically registered against it, which always means that the resolution must be defeated. I am perfectly well aware that the full facts of the debate are at once sent Home to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, by His Excellency the Governor, but it is equally true that the debate is accompanied by a private dispatch, at least I infer that it is—from His Excellency.\n\n148", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-453 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1919 [1-3].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 486203, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-465 - Public Offices & Others - 1920", "page_number": 557, "title": "CO129-465 - Public Offices & Others - 1920", "content_text": "## \nwickedness of sending opium to China, and second, that while the amorphous Government of that country could not control its affairs very efficiently, other countries could, as they knew how, like India, to realise a maximum of revenue from a minimum of consumption.\" He added, \"if you send opium to a country like that you are really promoting the cause of Temperance, because the people get less under high taxation than they would under smuggling.\" It might have been supposed that views like those, reminiscent as they are of the Royal Commission of 1895, would, like that discredited instrument, have become obsolete now after the Philippine success, the triumph of China, the resolutions of Shanghai and the following Articles of the Hague. But they are still alive, as letter from the present Secretary for India to the Edinburgh Anti-Opium Committee proves.\n\nThe moral and humanitarian aspect of the question has been pointed out to him, and the opinion expressed that the Hague Articles if carried out, would necessitate the reduction of the opium manufacture in India to medical requirements. He had also been asked if the Dangerous Drugs Bill included India. The date of his reply is 26th June:— \n\n\"SIR, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th May, 1920, on the subject of the opium traffic, as affecting India. \n\n\"for Secretary, Revenue and Statistics Dept.\" \n\nIt is well to note, in connection with India being declared outside the scope of Mr. Shortt's Bill, that this seems contrary to the declaration which appears below the signatures of the three British delegates to the Hague Convention. It runs thus: \"The Articles of the present Convention, ratified by His Britannic Majesty's Government, shall apply to the Governments of British India, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, Hong-Kong, and Wei-hai-Wei in every respect in the same way as they shall apply to the United Kingdom and Ireland.\" \n\nIf the view taken in the above letter of the objects of the Hague Convention is to prevail, Britain will continue to lead in an opium traffic which is every whit as morally indefensible as that which she abandoned for her own sake and China's. A traffic which the League of Nations in Article 23 couples with that in \"women and children.\" We have acted on, the provisions of the Convention; they have invariably construed these provisions in the manner most consonant with the avowed objects of the signatory Powers; and, as has already been pointed out, have in certain cases gone further than the provisions of the Convention. \n\n| Government Action | Description |\n|-------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|\n| Accepted Provisions | The Government of India have accepted, and acted on, the provisions of the Convention; |\n| Construed Provisions | have invariably construed these provisions in the manner most consonant with the avowed objects of the signatory Powers; |\n| Further Action | and, as has already been pointed out, have in certain cases gone further than the provisions of the Convention. |\n\nThe Dangerous Drugs Bill does not apply to India. I am to explain, however, that the Government of India were requested some time ago to examine their laws, regulations, departmental rules, and practice, and arrange for such emendations and alterations, if any, as might be necessary in order to bring their laws, rules, and procedure into exact conformity with the provisions of the Hague Convention. It is believed that no alterations will be necessary, as the Indian law and practice have for years been in accord with the principles of that Convention.—I am, sir, your obedient servant, \n\n\"H. J. TOZER, \n\n\"3. The views of your Committee, and of the Government of India, as you point out, widely divergent. The Government of India do not admit that the opium used in India, or exported, is 'abused'; they do not consider it advisable to limit the export of opium from India to the amount required solely for 'medicinal' purposes; and they do not accept the suggestions that India should prohibit the export of opium in order to force, or to attempt to force, the countries which now receive their supplies from India to abandon their present opium policy. In this connexion, I am to point out that the Hague Convention contemplates, and provides for, the use of opium for other than purely medicinal purposes; it does not stigmatise the use of opium for such purposes as an 'abuse'; and it places the responsibility for regulating the import of the drug, and the derivatives, upon the importing country. The Government of India have complied with all the provisions of the Convention; they fully accept the ultimate object of the measures adopted by the Government of India for controlling and regulating this traffic are by no means in consonance with the spirit of the Hague Opium Convention. \n\n\"z. Mr. Montagu takes strong exception to the statement that the measures adopted by the Government of India for controlling and regulating this traffic are by no means in consonance with the spirit of the Hague Opium Convention. \n\nAs the preamble states, that Convention was concluded with the object of achieving certain ends set forth therein, and the provisions of the Convention embody, in precise terms, the considered decisions of the various Governments represented as to the most suitable means to be adopted in order to attain those ends. The Government of India have accepted, and acted on, the provisions of the Convention; they have invariably, in order to raise £2,000,000 or £3,000,000 of revenue, continued to cultivate 200,000 acres of the best land of India (and the number has risen of late) for growing opium, 8000 chests of which are consumed in India, several thousands more than what is needed for medicine, the excess of which is exported to countries for a \"pernicious luxury\" which the terms of the Convention neither denounce nor suggest as desirable. In these circumstances, Mr. Montagu cannot say that the Government of India are certainly not open to the charge that they have failed to act in consonance with the spirit of the Convention. \n\nIt is a case of the pot and the kettle. Still, if smoking is worse than eating opium, which was recently described in the Legislative Assembly, it must be bad indeed. Rai Bahadur Lala Frijut Ram, as reported in the Calcutta newspaper Capital, said in May: \"Since 1903 the consumption of the drug has been steadily increasing. Though the price is touch higher, the victims pay it freely, at the cost of comforts and the bare necessities of life. They are fully aware that they are in the grip of a most deadly poison, which they cannot get free from even if they wish to, but they would welcome any measure which would save their children from it. If I could convince the European members of this House, as well as the members from the other Valley, of the most appalling moral, intellectual, spinal, and economic deterioration of these victims. There is no mean, no humiliation, which a needy opium-eater will refuse to stoop to, in order to get a dose of the drug. How many useful persons have been thoroughly spoilt. How many happy homes have been ruined for good.\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-465 - Public Offices & Others - 1920.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 489256, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921", "page_number": 404, "title": "CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921", "content_text": "# Ningpo\n\n201\n\nThe most noteworthy event of the quarter was the unexpected resignation of the Civil Governor of the province, Ch'i Yao-shen, in the middle of June, following impeachment in the Provincial Assembly. A difference of opinion between Ch'i and the Military Governor, Lu Yung-hsiang, as to the appointment of the provincial treasurer seems to have been the direct cause of the former's resignation, which has resulted in a number of officials following suit. Meanwhile, a party has come forward to urge Peking to appoint Lu Yung-hsiang concurrently Civil Governor; in view of Lu's already powerful position, however, it is hardly likely that the Central Government will give him the two posts.\n\nThanks to the activities of the Students' Association, the Japanese boycott is still enforced, and occasional raids are made on shops suspected of selling Japanese goods.\n\nIt is hoped to continue the construction of the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway. Two engineering difficulties have to be overcome, namely, the bridging of the Chien Tang and the Tsao Ngo rivers. As regards the former, a ferry service will be instituted to connect the two lines, while the bridging of the Tsao Ngo is held up for lack of material, of which the large quantities stored for the purpose at Tsingtao were used during the war.\n\n## Chunkiang\n\nOn four occasions during the quarter, public warnings were issued against the activities of \"extremists,\" who, to quote a police circular, had been secretly hatching plots to subvert the Government. That pamphlets of extremist origin were circulated amongst the students of the district there can be no doubt; but as the cause of the unrest seems to be rather a sense of the instability of the Central Government than the hostility of labour to the ruling classes, it is difficult to believe that the movement is more than an effort, failing an appeal to the electorate, to turn the Government out of office.\n\nThe anniversary of Japan's twenty-one demands (9th May) was commemorated by the boys and girls of the various schools, who paraded the city, carrying flags with patriotic and in some cases aggressive inscriptions, as for instance, \"dwarf devils!\" and \"Servile traitors are below the level of horses and dogs.\" Pamphlets describing the unprepared condition of the country in the face of Japanese aggression were distributed in the streets.\n\nAs a result of the appointment of Hsiung Kai-hsien as head of police, the force has been reorganised and considerably reduced. The old uniforms were withdrawn and new ones issued, and 120 men were dismissed from the service as physically unfit. Furthermore, the pay of all ranks has been increased as from the 1st May last, the expenses being met by a loan of 4,000 dollars from the Bank of Communications.\n\nSemi-military organisations such as boy scouts are developing in the Chinese schools, where physical drill and gymnastics receive official encouragement. One school possesses a corps of eighty boys from 8 to 17 years of age, whose drill and general appearance are creditable.\n\n## Tengyueh\n\nIn the preceding summary, a brief account was given of the unrest on the Burma frontier, which culminated at the beginning of March in the attack on a detachment of British military police in the northern Shan States. Since that outbreak, there has been no further attack reported, and all is now quiet on the frontier. Only one of the ringleaders, however, was taken, namely, Tsai Hsueh-Ch'ang, whose capture, it is noted, took place on the Burma side of the frontier.\n\nOn the Chinese side, there is no system of military police, and there will be none until the frontier posts are manned by adequate garrisons in accordance with the Manai Agreement. This is a reform which the Yunnan Government might be expected to undertake.\n\nOn the 10th June, a proclamation was posted outside the south gate of Tengyueh announcing the abolition of the Tuchunship and the assumption by the self-deposed Tuchun, Tang Chi-yao, of the supreme command over all troops in his province. The proclamation summarises in brief the story of misgovernment since the revolution of 1911. Tang is most careful to emphasise the unselfish part that he has played throughout the war of North and South, and particularly in the Peace Conference at Shanghai, which might have been brought to a successful issue, declares the Tuchun, had his aspirations been carried into effect.\n\nEverywhere there is unrest, which may at any time break out into civil war; the country must be saved at once if she is to be saved at all. In the abolition of the Tuchunship, which, in Tang Chi-yao's opinion, is the primary source of all the trouble, lies China's salvation. Yunnan sets the example and calls upon the other provinces to follow suit. Beyond a certain amount of speculation among the merchants, the posting of the proclamation produced little effect in Tengyueh.\n\nIn spite of the urgent representations made by His Majesty's Consul to the Taoyin, nothing has been done to put a stop to the cultivation of opium in this district, with the result that a record harvest has been reaped, and raw opium is now selling at 30 cents per ounce as against 1 dollar 50 cents last year and 3 dollars the year before.\n\nThe attitude of the Taoyin in this matter, as in that of the frontier trouble, appears to be most reprehensible. He is quite content to issue orders and proclamations, which are treated by local officials as so much waste paper. Though aware of the opium-dealing activities of several merchants, he is neither able nor disposed to take proceedings against them. There is little hope of the evil being checked so long as this man with his shiftings, his promises, and his assurances remains in office; meanwhile, the opium trade grows steadily on the main road between Tengyueh and the frontier.\n\n## Yunnan-fu\n\nThe South-Western Confederacy has been considerably weakened, if it has not come to an end, during the quarter. This is an immediate consequence of the activity of the Cheng Hsueh Hui, of which all the chief men of the Kwangsi Party were members. Attempts have been made to embroil Yunnan and Kwangsi, but always without success. Marshal Tang Chi-yao, Tuchun of Yunnan and leader of the South-West Confederacy, broke finally with Li Ken-yuan, one of the Yunnanese commanders, over these intrigues of the Cheng Hsueh Hui, and this split marks the beginning of a more definite policy on Tang's part.\n\nOn the 1st June, the latter promulgated his decision to abolish the Tuchunship. His proclamation (summarised in the report on Tengyueh) gives no true indication of the feelings which actuated him in this step, which was in effect the second move in a project to seize Szechuan, or, at any rate, the financial resources of that province. Marshal Tang's first move had been to secure in April his election as Commander-in-chief of the united armies of Yunnan, Szechuan, and Kweichow, with Liu Hsien-Shih as Vice-Commander-in-chief. The war with Szechuan, which broke out in May, has strengthened Tang's position still further. Although at the end of June, Tuchun Hsiung Ko-wu was fighting hard, his ultimate defeat seems certain unless he can obtain assistance, for the Yunnanese are more than a match for their luxury-loving neighbours.\n\nWhen Hsiung Tuchun has been overthrown, the Tuchunship in Szechuan will be abolished, and according to the Yunnan plan, the provincials are to be allowed to select their own Governor. Liu Hsien-shih of Kweichow abolished the Tuchunship on the 21st June. The day is perhaps not far distant when Marshal Tang Chi-yao will have brought the three provinces under his sway.\n\nSince the break-up of the Canton Military Government, General Li Lieh-Chun, Chief of Staff, has arrived in Yunnan, bringing with him twenty-seven senators and representatives.\n\nYang Tien-Fu, the brigand chief, is still at large, although in May he might have been taken had a determined effort been made, for his fortunes at that time were at a low ebb. He is now as strong as ever and commands a following of 2,000 men, all well-equipped.\n\nEarly in July, a couple of villages in the Yunnan-fu plain, some 8 miles north of the town, were attacked by robber bands. This is the first time that they have ventured so close to the capital.\n\nThere seems to have been a considerable amount of internal discord amongst the forces of the South-West Confederacy in the Shih-nan region; telegrams have appeared in the local press referring to the murders of officers. Marshal San Tien-wei was appointed in April to the post of General Officer Commanding the 1st Hupeh Army in the place of General Po Wen-wei, whose period in office is considered to have been a failure.\n\n## Chungking\n\nThroughout the quarter, interest has centred in the political and military struggle between the Szechuanese and Yunnanese factions. Yu Chi-t'ang, military commissioner... \n\nPage 402 \nPage 5", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 489257, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921", "page_number": 405, "title": "CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921", "content_text": "# 6\n\nand sole representative of the former faction, fled from the city on the 10th May, having previously concentrated his men at spots outside the walls,\n\nChungking has seen no fighting, although on two occasions strong thrusts were made towards the city by the Second Szechuanese Division. Commerce, however, has suffered great losses, both direct and indirect; at the end of the quarter the total requisition made on the city amounted to 1,200,000 dollars.\n\nThe behaviour of the Kweichow troops in and around Chungking has been in general quite good, and discipline is surprisingly well maintained.\n\nAs an inevitable consequence of the war in Szechuan, brigandage has become a pest. On the departure of the bulk of the Kweichow garrison, brigands were so far emboldened as to commit their robberies right under the walls of the city. The favourite haunt of the robber bands, however, has been the \"Kitten Gorge,\" between Kiantsing and Chungking; not even the protection of an escort guaranteed parties against being fired on in this stretch of the river. Another \"plague spot\" is Tai-ping Chen, west of Chungking, on the border of Yungchuan, Jung-ch'ang, and Ta-tsu. About the middle of the quarter, a party of American missionaries, who had been looted at this place two years before, tried to escape attention by circumventing Tai-p'ing Chen, but the brigands detected them and gave chase, firing as they ran. When the bullets came dangerously close, the missionaries, who had sought to outstrip their assailants, stopped and threw up their hands. The brigands then merely rebuked them for trying to evade the town and took from them the price of the ammunition expended, estimated at 5 dol. 50 c. Even this was subsequently restored to them.\n\nIt is interesting to note that this body of brigands made no secret of their object, viz., the formation of a strong well-armed band which would sell its services to the highest bidder of the two opposing factions and be incorporated in the army on one side or the other.\n\nThe embargo on the export of silver, declared in April by the Kweichow command, caused apprehension at first amongst the native population, who regarded the order as an indication that the Kweichow troops were going to loot the city. Their fears, though not unnatural, were quite groundless. The sole object of the Kweichow command appears to have been to ensure an adequate supply of ready money for paying the troops, and the general himself, with his primitive notion of economics, could think of no other expedient.\n\n## Ichang\n\nDuring the early part of the quarter, the unpaid troops of the Upper Yang-tsze Expeditionary Force were a constant source of danger to the native population. They committed robberies under the cloak of searching for opium and did not hesitate to use violence.\n\nTowards the end of July, the situation became threatening for a few days, partly in consequence of the war in Chibli, but chiefly by reason of the arrest at the Tuchun's order of Wu Kuang-hsin, Commander-in-chief of the Upper Yang-tsze Expeditionary Force, and incidentally a son-in-law of Tuan Chi-jui. The nominal cause of Wu's arrest was the fighting that had occurred between his troops and those of the Tuchun at Hankow; it is more than probable, however, that his relationship with Tuan was the real reason.\n\nFears were generally held that Wu's capture would result in hostilities between the latter's forces and those of Wang Mou-Shang, Commander-in-chief of the Hupei provincial troops. Finally, the Tuchun himself took over Wu's forces and incorporated them in his own army, a step which has relieved the situation, for the time being, at all events.\n\nThe state of affairs at Shasi gave cause for alarm on more than one occasion during July. Owing to friction between the troops of Wang Ju-ch'in and those of Wu Kuang-hsin, there was talk of withdrawing the former; their departure would have left Wu's troops, for long unpaid, free to loot the place, and the latter announced to Wang's troops that if they did, they would spare neither foreigner nor Chinese. Wang's troops remained, however, and looting was merely spasmodic, being confined to native shops and customs stations. With the disbandment of Wu's troops at Shasi, orders having recently been issued by Wang Tuchun to that effect, the situation there will be restored to something like normal.\n\nThanks to the constant patrolling of the danger zones by gunboats, the firing on steamers near Wan-hsien and other places on the Upper Yang-tsze has entirely ceased latterly. There are now seven vessels on the run, of which five are British and two American.\n\n# 7\n\nIn consequence of the struggle in Szechuan, junk trade on the river has practically ceased.\n\nThe largest seizure of opium during the quarter was made on the \"Aulan,\" an As the circumstances Asiatic Petroleum Company boat, where ... piculs were found. pointed to gross negligence on the part of the officers, the vessel's extra-treaty privileges were cancelled, to be restored later, however, on payment by the company of 250 taels. The new season's crop of opium from Szechuan, Kweichow, and Yunnan is now being taken to Chungking for export. It is therefore likely that the difficulties for steamers arising out of the smuggling of the drug will increase in the near future.\n\n## Mukden\n\nThroughout the quarter, the struggle between the Anfu and Peiyang Parties for political supremacy and the Chinese Eastern Railway question have almost monopolised the attention of Governor Chang Tso-lin, who surprised many well-informed people by championing the Peiyang cause. It had been thought that Chang was too much under Japanese influence to oppose the then powerful Anfu clique. His well-known ambition to become Vice-President and eventually President of the Republic had, doubtless, a good deal to do with this unexpected step.\n\nChang Tso-lin's career, his rise from the lowly position of a pig-gelder to that of virtual ruler of Manchuria, is eloquent testimony of the man's strength of character. In his dealings with the Japanese, he has given proof of a political astuteness equal to that of any of his fellow officials. Chang's earlier life as a brigand chief developed his natural gifts of leadership and helped to make him the man of action he is to-day, and of this type of official, there is a sorry lack in China. With the people, he has the reputation of being ruthless but just.\n\nHandicapped though the Governor is by his lack of education, he has reduced the Military and Civil Governors of Kirin and Heilungchiang to a state of total subservience and controls every act of the Provincial Assembly. His troops, regularly paid and well-disciplined, are amongst the best in China, and his officers are wholly devoted to him.\n\nThe Presidency of the Republic is indeed a reasonable goal for such a man, but, apart from possible outside opposition, his lack of education and of political experience outside Manchuria must always prove grave obstacles to his progress.\n\nOpium, of which the cultivation in Fengtien has been suppressed, is being consumed to an increasing extent among the higher classes, and especially in Mukden; even the Governor himself is suspected of indulging in the habit. Amongst the lower classes, on the other hand, the habit is going out, morphine having taken the place of opium. The suppression of either drug is an almost impossible task in view of the lack of restrictions on their conveyance and sale by Japanese subjects.\n\nNo foreigner can visit Manchuria without being struck by the intense anti-Japanese feeling which exists amongst European and American residents in the country. The reasons for this general feeling, though difficult to understand at first, are not far to seek.\n\nIn the first place, the missionaries resent the way in which the drug business is being carried on by the Japanese, who are ruining the Chinese body and soul with their opium and their morphia.\n\nAmongst foreign merchants, the anti-Japanese feeling is the result of the discrimination in favour of Japanese trade shown by the authorities generally. The methods of discrimination are calculated to deepen this resentment. One favourite trick of the Japanese is to put as many difficulties as possible in the way of foreign merchants, who have to use the Japanese railway for transport purposes. There are endless delays, and no notice is taken of complaints. Again, claims for cargo lost or stolen on the South Manchuria Railway are almost always refused; even when the company cannot wriggle out of its responsibility, a third of the claim is the maximum paid.\n\nIt might be thought by the casual observer that the Chinese are reconciled to the presence of the Japanese in Manchuria, and the fact that the boycott has never reached this country tends to confirm such an opinion. The Chinese there, however, dislike the Japanese at least as much as they dislike them elsewhere in China, but they realise how powerless they are and are consequently more cautious in their utterances.\n\n## Foochow\n\nThere has been no event of general political importance during the quarter under review.\n\nAbout the beginning of April, three attempts to bring bombs into the Military ...\n\nPage 403", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491257, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "page_number": 250, "title": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "content_text": "SOCIÉTÉ DES NATIONS\n\n247\n\nLEAGUE OF NATIONS\n\nLE TRAFIC DE L'OPIUM.\n\nRAPPORT PRÉSENTÉ A LA DEUXIÈME ASSEMBLÉE PAR LA CINQUIÈME COMMISSION.\n\nL'abus de l'opium est répandu dans beaucoup de pays comme un terrible fléau. Aussi, a-t-on compris qu'il était indispensable de le combattre, mais on s'est vite aperçu que les mesures d'un caractère national étaient insuffisantes. On a cru alors que seuls les accords internationaux pourraient venir à bout du fléau.\n\nLa Commission internationale, réunie à Shanghaï en 1909, a été la première tentative de ce genre; elle a préparé la Conférence de La Haye de 1911-1912 qui a abouti à la Convention du 23 janvier 1912. Cette Convention devait entrer en vigueur le 31 décembre 1914, mais la guerre survint qui remit tout en question; cependant, les auteurs du Traité de Versailles se préoccupèrent des dangers de l'opium et, par l'article 23 du Pacte, ils chargèrent la Société des Nations du contrôle du trafic de l'opium et autres drogues nuisibles.\n\nLa première Assemblée décida, dans sa séance du 15 décembre 1920, d'instituer une Commission consultative qui, trois mois avant l'ouverture de chaque session, présenterait au Conseil un rapport sur tous les sujets relatifs à l'exécution des accords concernant le trafic de l'opium. Cette Commission s'est réunie du 2 au 5 mai dernier.\n\nElle a, en premier lieu, élaboré un questionnaire sur les mesures prises pour appliquer les termes de la Convention. Ce questionnaire a été envoyé par le Secrétariat aux différents gouvernements. Elle a, en outre, rédigé six recommandations qui ont été soumises au Conseil. Celui-ci, après en avoir pris connaissance, a adopté une résolution en sept paragraphes.\n\nEn possession de ces éléments, c'est-à-dire «des recommandations de la Commission consultative et de la résolution du Conseil, la cinquième Commission de la deuxième Assemblée a commencé ses travaux. Elle a également eu l'aide éclairée de deux experts: M. van Wettum et sir Malcolm Delevingne. La cinquième Commission a constaté, en premier lieu, que le Conseil, dans sa résolution du 28 juin (voir Annexe 228 au procès-verbal de la 13me session du Conseil), approuvait pleinement quatre des six recommandations de la Commission consultative, mais que, par contre, il en ajournait une et donnait plus d'ampleur à une autre.\n\nLa Commission a approuvé les quatre paragraphes de la résolution du Conseil, § 1, 2, 4, et 5 ainsi que la seconde recommandation de la Commission consultative relative (voir A. 38. 1921. IV) à l'établissement, par chaque Etat, d'un rapport annuel sur l'exécution de la Convention (cette recommandation ayant été approuvée par le Conseil mais ne faisant pas partie du texte des résolutions du Conseil). Mais des divergences de vues s'étant produites sur les autres paragraphes, c'est-à-dire sur les numéros 3, 6 et 7, la Commission nomma une Sous-Commission chargée de concilier, si possible, ces opinions différentes.\n\nCette Sous-Commission tint quatre séances et, malgré les profondes divergences de vues de ses membres, elle put arriver à un résultat, grâce à l'esprit de conciliation dont ils firent preuve, et grâce aussi à l'influence éclairée de son distingué président, M. Marées van Swinderen. Le rapport que M. van Swinderen a présenté a été unanimement approuvé par la cinquième Commission. Les délégués de la Chine et du Siam ont fait une réserve au sujet des modifications mentionnées dans le rapport à propos du paragraphe 7 de la résolution du Conseil.\n\nQuelles sont donc les conclusions que la cinquième Commission présente à l'Assemblée au sujet du trafic de l'opium?\n\nLes voici: en dehors des quatre paragraphes de la résolution du Conseil du 28 juin mentionnés ci-dessus, elle présente huit recommandations, que je vais avoir l'honneur de vous lire et qui, j'espère, rallieront l'assentiment de l'Assemblée:\n\n1. L'Assemblée approuve le paragraphe 3 de la résolution du Conseil, étant entendu que les enquêtes entreprises auront un caractère scientifique et que, lorsqu'elles s'appliqueront en particulier à un pays déterminé, elles seront faites par l'intermédiaire du gouvernement du pays ou avec son consentement.\n\nTRAFFIC IN OPIUM.\n\nREPORT SUBMITTED TO THE SECOND ASSEMBLY BY THE FIFTH COMMITTEE.\n\nThe abuse of opium is a widespread and terrible scourge in many countries; moreover, it has been realised that it was indispensable to combat this evil, but it was quickly perceived that merely national measures were inadequate. It was felt, therefore, that this scourge could only be overcome by international agreements.\n\nThe International Commission, assembled at Shanghai in 1909, was the first move in this direction. It paved the way for the Hague Conference of 1911-1912, which resulted in the conclusion of the Convention of January 23rd, 1912. This Convention was to come into force on December 31st, 1914, but the outbreak of war unsettled everything. However, the authors of the Treaty of Versailles devoted consideration to the opium peril, and, in Article 23 of the Covenant, they entrusted the League of Nations with the duty of controlling the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs.\n\nThe first Assembly decided at its meeting of December 15th, 1920, to establish an Advisory Committee, which, three months before the beginning of each meeting, should submit to the Council a report on all subjects referring to the execution of the agreements regarding the traffic in opium. This Committee met on May 2nd to 5th last.\n\nIt began by drawing up a questionnaire as to the measures taken to carry out the terms of the Convention, and this questionnaire was sent by the Secretariat to the various Governments. It also drew up six recommendations which were submitted to the Council. The latter took note of them and passed a resolution containing seven paragraphs.\n\nThe Fifth Committee of the second Assembly began its labours, therefore, with these data at its disposal, that is to say, the recommendations of the Advisory Committee and the Council's resolution. It was also assisted in its task by the enlightened assistance of two experts, M. van Wettum and Sir Malcolm Delevingne. The Committee noted in the first place that the Council in its resolution dated June 28th (see Annex 228 to the Minutes of the 13th Session of the Council), fully approved four out of the six recommendations of the Advisory Committee, but that, on the other hand, it postponed one of these recommendations and widened the scope of another.\n\nIt concurred in four paragraphs of the Council's resolution, namely, paragraphs 1, 2, 4 and 5, and also the 2nd recommendation of the Advisory Committee (see A. 38, 1921, IV), which was to the effect that each State should make an Annual Report on the carrying out of the Convention. (This recommendation had been approved by the Council, but did not form part of the text of Council's resolution.) But, as differences of opinion had arisen with regard to the other paragraphs, that is to say, Nos. 3, 6 and 7, the Committee appointed a Sub-Committee to reconcile these initial divergencies if possible.\n\nThis Sub-Committee held four meetings, and, in spite of the great differences in the views of its members, it was able to arrive at a definite result, thanks to the conciliatory spirit manifested by both sides and thanks also to the skilful guidance of its President, M. de Marees van Swinderen. The report submitted by M. van Swinderen was unanimously adopted by the Fifth Committee.\n\nThe Delegates of China and of Siam made a reservation regarding the change proposed in this report as regards paragraph 7 of the Council's Resolution. What, therefore, are the conclusions laid before the Assembly by the Fifth Committee in regard to the traffic in opium?\n\nThey are as follows:-\n\nBesides the four paragraphs, referred to above, of the resolution of the Council dated June 28th, the Committee submits eight recommendations which I shall have the honour of reading to you, and which, I hope, will be accepted by the Assembly.\n\n1. The Assembly concurs in paragraph 3 of the Council's Resolution on the understanding that the enquiries undertaken will be of a scientific character and that, when they apply specifically to any particular country, they will be made through, or with the consent of, the Government of that country.\n\n8. d. N. 1800. 9. 21. Imp. Jent. 8. 4.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491258, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "page_number": 251, "title": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "content_text": "2. L'Assemblée recommande au Conseil que, dans sa résolution No. 5, il attire également l'attention du Gouvernement de la Chine sur l'article 15 de la Convention internationale de l'opium.\n\n3. L'Assemblée recommande au Conseil que, afin que l'examen visé dans le paragraphe 7 de sa résolution s'étende sur toute la quantité d'opium dont la consommation peut être considérée comme légitime, le mot « strictement » soit supprimé et les mots « médicaux et scientifiques » soient remplacés par le mot « légitimes », et aussi que le Conseil supprime toute mention de « l'opium préparé », c'est-à-dire, l'opium préparé pour être fumé, dont la suppression complète est prévue par la Convention au chapitre II.\n\n4. L'Assemblée recommande au Conseil d'inviter les divers Gouvernements à fournir au Secrétariat, quand ils n'y voient pas d'obstacle, outre le rapport officiel annuel, tous renseignements relatifs à la production, à la fabrication et au commerce illicites d'opium et autres drogues nuisibles, utiles à la Société dans l'accomplissement de sa tâche.\n\n5. L'Assemblée recommande au Conseil d'examiner si toutes les nations particulièrement intéressées à la culture ou à la fabrication de l'opium et autres drogues nuisibles, ne devraient pas être représentées à la Commission consultative.\n\n6. L'Assemblée prie instamment ceux des Etats Membres de la Société qui n'ont pas encore signé et ratifié la Convention de l'Opium, qu'ils le fassent aussitôt que possible.\n\n7. L'Assemblée prie instamment tous les Etats Membres de la Société, qui sont signataires de la Convention, de faire connaître, aussitôt que possible au Secrétariat, leur adhésion à la quatrième recommandation de la Commission consultative relative à la nécessité de certificats d'importation, afin de faciliter l'exécution de la Convention.\n\n8. L'Assemblée recommande au Conseil de charger la Commission consultative d'étendre ses études, de façon à ce qu'elles comprennent non seulement les drogues visées dans la Convention de 1912, mais toutes les autres drogues nuisibles quelle que soit leur origine et produisant des effets similaires, ainsi que de lui faire connaître les avantages qu'il y aurait à convoquer une nouvelle Conférence internationale des Etats signataires de ladite Convention, et de ceux Membres de la Société des Nations, afin que celle-ci rédige une Convention à l'effet de supprimer l'usage illégitime de ces drogues.\n\nVotre rapporteur voudrait maintenant présenter les observations suivantes au sujet de trois des recommandations dont il vient de donner lecture :\n\nAu sujet de la deuxième recommandation, la Commission, après avoir entendu les déclarations du délégué de la Chine sur les mesures prises par le Gouvernement chinois relativement à la culture de l'opium, est d'avis qu'on pourrait ajourner, conformément au paragraphe 6 de la résolution du Conseil, la recommandation No. 5 de la Commission consultative. Les déclarations du délégué de la Chine sont les suivantes :\n\nEntre le 25 juin et le 15 août dernier, le Gouvernement chinois a nommé sept Haut Commissaires spéciaux afin de faire des recherches sur les conditions exactes dans huit provinces et deux districts administratifs spéciaux, où une recrudescence de culture d'opium aurait été constatée. Ces Commissaires se sont mis en route pour accomplir leur mission et quelques-uns ont déjà commencé leurs investigations. Je crois que le Gouvernement chinois sera disposé à communiquer à la Société des Nations les résultats de ces investigations dès qu'ils auront été portés à la connaissance du Gouvernement chinois.\n\nLa Commission prend acte de ces déclarations.\n\nEn ce qui concerne la troisième recommandation, les modifications apportées par la Commission au paragraphe 7 de la résolution du Conseil ont été motivées par les conditions toutes spéciales qu'on rencontre dans divers pays, notamment dans l'Inde. En effet, le délégué de l'Inde a fait observer à la Commission que le nombre des hôpitaux et des dispensaires bien équipés y est disproportionné avec celui de la population qui, sur une étendue très vaste, est privée de secours médicaux. Le même délégué a affirmé que, pour combattre les maladies qui, dans certaines de ces localités, règnent d'une façon endémique, la population cultive le pavot depuis des temps reculés et en use habituellement par petites doses, comme remède préventif ou curatif. Ce sont les usages de ce genre qu'on ne saurait appeler purement médicaux, c'est-à-dire ce qui est prescrit par un médecin, que la Commission a en vue en utilisant le terme « légitimes ».\n\nLes Membres suivants de la Société n'ont pas encore ratifié la Convention sur l'Opium de 1912, ni signé le Protocole de 1914 :\n\n \n Albanie\n Argentine\n Chili\n \n \n Colombie\n Costa-Rica\n Finlande\n \n \n Paraguay\n Perse\n Salvador\n \n \n Suisse\n \n \n \n\nLes Membres suivants ont ratifié la Convention, mais n'ont pas encore signé le Protocole de 1914 :\n\n \n Danemark\n Venezuela\n \n\n2. The Assembly recommends to the Council that, in paragraph 5 of the latter's resolution, it should also draw the attention of the Government of China to Article 15 of the International Convention on Opium.\n\n3. The Assembly recommends to the Council that the enquiry referred to in paragraph 7 of the latter's resolution should be extended to include all opium the consumption of which may be considered legitimate, and that to this end the word \"strictly\" be omitted, and the word \"legitimate\" be substituted for \"medicinal and scientific\". It further recommends to the Council the omission of the reference to prepared opium, that is to say, to opium prepared for purposes of smoking, the complete suppression of which is provided for in Chapter II of the Convention.\n\n4. The Assembly recommends to the Council that the different Governments be invited, where they see no objection, to furnish to the Secretariat, in addition to the official annual report, any information concerning the illicit production, manufacture or trade in opium or other dangerous drugs which they think likely to be useful to the League in the execution of its task.\n\n5. The Assembly recommends the Council to consider whether all nations specially concerned in either the growth or manufacture of opium or other dangerous drugs should not be represented on its Advisory Committee.\n\n6. The Assembly urges those States Members of the League which have not yet signed and ratified the Opium Convention to do so as soon as possible.\n\n7. In order to facilitate the execution of the Convention, the Assembly urges all States Members of the League which are parties to the Convention to signify to the Secretariat as soon as possible their acceptance of the fourth recommendation of the Advisory Committee relating to the requirement of importation certificates.\n\n8. The Assembly recommends the Council to request the Advisory Committee to extend their investigations to include not only the drugs mentioned in the Convention of 1912, but also all dangerous drugs of whatever origin which produce similar effects, and to advise as to the desirability of convoking a further international conference of States which are parties to the Convention, as well as States Members of the League of Nations, with a view to drawing up a Convention for the suppression of the abuse of such drugs.\n\nHaving placed before you the various recommendations, I must make the following observations with regard to three of them:\n\nAs regards the second recommendation, the Committee, after having heard the statements of the Delegate of China on the steps taken by the Government of China in respect of the cultivation of opium, is of opinion that, in accordance with paragraph 6 of the Resolution of the Council, the consideration of Recommendation No. 5 of the Advisory Committee may be postponed. The statements of the Delegate of China, of which the Committee takes note, are as follows:-\n\n\"Between June 25th and August 15th last the Chinese Government appointed seven special High Commissioners to investigate the real situation in eight provinces and two special administrative districts where a recrudescence of poppy cultivation is reported to have been taking place. These Commissioners have started on their mission and some are already beginning their investigations. I believe the Chinese Government will be disposed to make available to the League of Nations the results of these investigations after they are laid before the Chinese Government.\n\nAs regards the third recommendation, the grounds for the alterations recommended by the Committee in paragraph 7 of the Council's resolution are to be found in the very special conditions obtaining in various countries, particularly in India. The Indian Delegate has informed the Committee that the number of properly equipped hospitals and dispensaries in India is inadequate to the needs of the population, which over vast areas is without medical assistance. In order to cope with the diseases with which some of these regions are constantly infected, the population has cultivated the opium poppy from time immemorial, and habitually takes opium in small doses as a prophylactic or an effective remedy. It is this use of opium which cannot be styled purely medical, i.e., that which is prescribed by a physician, that the Committee has in mind in using the term \"legitimate\".\n\n \n The following Members of the League have not yet ratified the Opium Convention of 1912 nor signed the Protocol of 1914 :\n \n \n Albanje\n Argentiue\n Chile\n \n \n Costa Rica\n Finland\n Paraguay\n \n \n Persia\n Salvador\n Switzerland\n \n \n Colombia\n \n \n \n\n \n The following have ratified the Convention, but not signed the Protocol of 1914 :\n \n \n Denmark\n Venezuela\n \n\n248", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491260, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "page_number": 253, "title": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "content_text": "DEUXIÈME ASSEMBLÉE\n\nDE LA\n\nSOCIÉTÉ DES NATIONS\n\nGENÈVE 1921\n\nCOMPTE RENDU PROVISOIRE\n\n24e SÉANCE PLÉNIÈRE\n\nVENDREDI 30 SEPTEMBRE 1921, A 10 H.\n\nMessieurs les Délégués qui auraient des corrections à apporter au texte du Compte Rendu Provisoire voudront bien les communiquer à M. Vigier, Chambre 139, au Secrétariat, au plus tard 48 heures après réception du numéro à leur hôtel.\n\nLe Secrétariat désirant commencer le plus tôt possible la mise au point du texte définitif du Compte Rendu, l'insertion de corrections reçues après le délai indiqué ci-dessus ne saurait être garantie.\n\n250\n\nSECOND ASSEMBLY\n\nOF THE\n\nLEAGUE OF NATIONS\n\nGENEVA 1921\n\nPROVISIONAL VERBATIM RECORD\n\n24th PLENARY MEETING\n\nFRIDAY, SEPT. 30th, 1921, AT 10 A. M.\n\nDelegates are requested to communicate any alterations for incorporation in the text of the Provisional Verbatim Record to M. Vigier, Room 139, at the Secretariat, within 48 hours of the delivery of each issue at their Hotel. It is desired to start work as soon as possible on the preparation of the text of the definitive Verbatim Record, and consequently the inclusion of corrections received after a longer delay than that indicated cannot be guaranteed.\n\nII.\n\nIII.\n\nIV.\n\nV.\n\nSOMMAIRE\n\nTrafic de l'opium.\n\n(Rapport de la cinquième Commission).\n\nCommunication de M. le Président relative à la troisième Commission.\n\nŒuvre de secours aux populations russes.\n\n(Rapport de la sixième Commission).\n\nCommunication de M. le Président relative à l'ordre du jour.\n\nReprise de la discussion sur l'œuvre de secours aux populations russes.\n\n(Rapport de la sixième Commission).\n\nLa séance est ouverte à 10 heures, sous la présidence de M. le Jonkheer van KARNEBEEK.\n\nI. TRAFIC DE L'OPIUM. (Rapport de la cinquième Commission).\n\nM. le PRÉSIDENT. - L'ordre du jour appelle la discussion des conclusions du rapport présenté par la cinquième Commission sur le trafic de l'opium.\n\nJ'invite le président et le rapporteur de la cinquième Commission à vouloir bien prendre place à la tribune.\n\n(M. Doherty, président, et M. Ferreira, rapporteur de la cinquième Commission, prennent place à la tribune).\n\nM. le PRÉSIDENT. La parole est à M. le rapporteur.\n\nSUMMARY\n\nI. - Traffic in opium.\n\n(Report of the Fifth Committee).\n\nII. - Communication by the President with reference to Third Committee.\n\nIII. - Relief Work in Russia.\n\n(Report of the Sixth Committee).\n\nIV. - Communication by the President with Reference to the Agenda.\n\nV. - Continuation of the Discussion on Relief Work in Russia.\n\n(Report of the Sixth Committee).\n\nThe meeting opened at 10 a.m. under the Presidency of M. van KARNEBEEK.\n\nI. TRAFFIC IN OPIUM.\n\n(Report of the Fifth Committee.)\n\nThe PRESIDENT. Interpreter:\n\nGentlemen, the meeting is open. The first item on today's Agenda is the Report of the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium. The Rapporteur (M. Ferreira) will first address the Assembly.\n\nM. FERREIRA (Portugal) (Rapporteur) presented the Report of the Fifth Committee.\n\n- 1 -", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491261, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "page_number": 254, "title": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "content_text": "251\n\nJ\n\nMonsieur le M. FERREIRA (Portugal), rapporteur. Président, Mesdames, Messieurs, vous savez que l'abus de l'opium a produit de tout temps des effets nuisibles et que la consommation de cette drogue n'a cessé de s'étendre en provoquant des ravages toujours plus considérables. Les pays qui en souffraient n'ont pas tardé à comprendre qu'il fallait enrayer ce fléau dont les progrès risquaient d'entraîner des conséquences sociales de plus en plus graves. Des mesures limitatives plus ou moins sévères ont été prises.\n\nQuelques Etats avaient, jusqu'à la Conférence de La Haye, édicté des lois et des règlements impliquant des restrictions et des pénalités, mais il ne semble pas que ces mesures, qui n'avaient généralement qu'une portée intérieure, aient eu un résultat très efficace.\n\nEn effet, il ne faut pas oublier que le problème n'est pas seulement d'ordre humanitaire. Des intérêts immenses et souvent divergents sont engagés dans le trafic de l'opium; il serait puéril de négliger ce facteur: il faut, au contraire, en tenir compte, car c'est seulement en se plaçant sur le terrain de la réalité qu'on fera œuvre utile et solide.\n\nC'est pourquoi la question de l'opium est éminemment un problème international qui nécessite la collaboration de tous les intéressés. Pour faire cesser les ravages de cette drogue, que Balzac appelait « la loterie de la misère », il faut que chaque Etat consente sa part de sacrifice. La première fois que l'on s'occupa de régler internationalement la question du trafic de l'opium, ce fut à Shanghai, où, à l'instigation du Gouvernement américain, une conférence se réunit le 9 février 1909; elle fit un travail préparatoire et dans un mémorandum, adressé au ministre de la reine des Pays-Bas, à Washington, on lit : « que, pour arriver au but poursuivi, la coopération et la sympathie des pays producteurs étaient nécessaires. » On reconnaissait ainsi justement que, pour obtenir le résultat humanitaire auquel nous voulons parvenir, il ne fallait pas perdre de vue le côté économique et je dirai presque financier de la question.\n\nCelle-ci fut parfaitement posée par S. E. M. de Marus van Swinderen qui, en sa qualité de ministre des Affaires étrangères de la reine des Pays-Bas, ouvrit la Conférence internationale de l'opium à La Haye, le 1er décembre 1911. Il synthétisa, en une phrase pleine de finesse et d'élévation, l'œuvre à accomplir :\n\n« Quoi de plus noble, dit-il, que la tâche qui vous est échue, celle de ramener peu à peu le petit pavot somnifère à son rôle de médecine salubre et d'enrayer, d'un commun accord et avec des vues larges, les conséquences qu'entraînerait la prolongation des conditions actuelles ? »\n\nC'est dans cette voie que s'engagea la conférence : elle élargit même ses travaux, car, sur la demande de la Grande-Bretagne, elle s'occupa également de réglementer le trafic de la cocaïne, de la morphine et d'autres produits similaires. Ce n'est ni le moment ni le lieu d'étudier en détail l'œuvre de la conférence. Il nous suffira de dire que la convention qu'elle élabora comporta un ensemble de mesures restrictives qui marquent la première étape vers la suppression totale du trafic de l'opium non affecté à un but médicinal.\n\nCelle-ci devait entrer en vigueur le 31 décembre 1914, mais la guerre survint entre temps et tout fut remis en question jusqu'à la Conférence de Versailles, qui créa une nouvelle situation; en effet, par l'article 23 du Pacte, elle charge la Société des Nations des accords relatifs au trafic de l'opium et autres drogues nuisibles. D'accord avec le Gouvernement des Pays-Bas, la première Assemblée décida que la tâche confiée à ce dernier, quant à l'opium, incomberait désormais à la Société des Nations. Le 15 novembre de l'an dernier, elle vota une résolution invitant le Conseil à nommer une Commission consultative qui, trois mois avant l'ouverture de chaque session, présentera au Conseil un rapport sur tous les sujets relatifs à l'exécution des accords concernant le trafic de l'opium.\n\nCette Commission a été nommée et elle s'est réunie à Genève, du 2 au 5 mai, avec les représentants des pays intéressés, c'est-à-dire Pays-Bas, Grande-Bretagne, France, Inde, Japon, Siam et Portugal. Assistée de trois experts, cette Commission a élaboré un questionnaire qui a été adressé à tous les gouvernements, ayant pour objet de recueillir tous les renseignements utiles relatifs à l'application de la Convention de La Haye.\n\nLa Commission a invité les Etats à répondre dans le délai de trois mois pour les pays européens et de six mois pour ceux d'outre-mer. Le délai pour ces derniers, qui sont à proprement parler, les intéressés, n'est pas expiré actuellement; de nombreuses réponses ne sont pas encore parvenues; dans ces conditions et conformément au désir de la Commission, il faut attendre que toutes ces réponses soient arrivées afin de pouvoir examiner la situation dans son ensemble. La Commission se réunira de nouveau au début de l'an prochain et elle espère être à même d'élaborer un rapport pour la troisième session de l'Assemblée.\n\nLa Commission a également élaboré une série de recommandations que le Conseil a examiné à son tour, en prenant, le 28 juin, une résolution en plusieurs paragraphes.\n\nC'est avec ces éléments que nous venons de signaler, c'est-à-dire Convention de La Haye 1912, travaux de la Commission consultative et résolution du Conseil, que nous arrivons à la deuxième Assemblée; celle-ci a confié à votre cinquième Commission la question du trafic de l'opium.\n\nLe rapport que vous avez devant vous fera connaître les travaux de la cinquième Commission. Pour épargner votre temps, je me bornerai, si tel est votre avis, aux observations qui ont été faites à la cinquième Commission, au sujet des recommandations que vous avez dans ce même rapport.\n\nAu sujet de la deuxième recommandation, la Commission, après avoir entendu les déclarations du délégué de la Chine sur les mesures prises par son gouvernement relativement au trafic de l'opium, a été d'avis qu'on pourrait ajourner, conformément au paragraphe 6 de la résolution du Conseil, la recommandation No 5 de la Commission consultative.\n\nLes déclarations du délégué de la Chine sont les suivantes :\n\n« Entre le 25 juin et le 15 août dernier, le Gouvernement chinois a nommé sept Haut Commissaires spéciaux afin de faire des recherches sur les conditions exactes dans huit provinces et deux districts administratifs spéciaux, où une recrudescence de culture d'opium aurait été constatée. Ces commissaires se sont mis en route pour accomplir leur mission et quelques-uns ont déjà commencé leurs investigations. Je crois que le Gouvernement chinois sera disposé à communiquer à la Société des Nations les résultats de ses investigations dès qu'ils auront été portés à la connaissance du Gouvernement chinois. »\n\nJe crois, comme rapporteur, devoir faire remarquer à ce sujet les déclarations qui ont été faites à la Commission consultative des experts, qui rappellent les efforts merveilleux faits par la Chine entre 1907 et 1916 pour se débarrasser de l'opium et qui rendent hommage aux autorités chinoises. Ils ajoutent que la Chine était pour ainsi dire complètement débarrassée de la production de l'opium en 1917, de manière que nous pouvons avoir toute confiance dans les efforts de la Chine pour en finir avec le trafic de l'opium. Il serait bon de citer à ce sujet les paroles de M. Jordan. Vous les trouverez à la page 20 du document 77 M. 39.\n\nEn ce qui concerne la troisième recommandation, les modifications apportées par la Commission au paragraphe 7 de la résolution du Conseil ont été motivées par les conditions toutes spéciales qu'on rencontre dans divers pays, notamment dans l'Inde.\n\nOn a supprimé, dans la résolution du Conseil, le mot « strictement » et on a remplacé les mots « médicaux et scientifiques » par le mot « légitimes ».\n\nLa Commission a été d'accord que cette modification devait être faite à la suite des explications données par le délégué de l'Inde.\n\nEn effet, le délégué de l'Inde a fait observer à la Commission que le nombre des hôpitaux et des dispensaires est, en Inde, tout à fait disproportionné à la population, qui, sur une vaste étendue, est sans moyens médicaux. Le délégué de l'Inde a également fait observer que, pour combattre des maladies qui, dans certaines localités, sont endémiques, la population utilise habituellement cette drogue à petites doses comme remède préventif ou curatif. C'est cet usage de la drogue, qui ne saurait être qualifié de purement médical — c'est-à-dire ordonné par un médecin — que la Commission vise par le mot « légitime ».\n\nEn ce qui concerne la huitième recommandation, il convient de signaler que la cinquième Commission a été saisie de cette question sur la suggestion de M. Jean Lanessy, délégué français. Il a attiré l'attention de la Commission sur les abus liés à la vente et à la consommation de drogues de nature minérale ou chimique, non visées par la Convention de La Haye de 1912, et a souligné que ce fléau, qui ...\n\n- 2 -\n\nMr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, you know that the abuse of opium has always produced harmful effects, and that the use of this drug has continued to spread with ever-increasing gravity. The countries which suffered from its use soon realised the necessity of putting an end to this Scourge, whose progress threatened to bring about the most disastrous social consequences. Restrictive measures of a more or less severe character have been taken.\n\nBefore the Hague Conference, certain States had promulgated laws and regulations, laying down restrictions and penalties, but it does not appear that these measures, which generally had only an internal effect, had very successful results.\n\nIt must not, indeed, be forgotten that the question is not merely of humanitarian order. Enormous interests, often of a divergent nature, are implicated in the Opium Traffic; it would be absurd to omit to take this factor into consideration. It must, on the contrary, be carefully considered, for useful practical work can only be done by coming to grips with reality.\n\nIt is for this reason that the Opium question is essentially an international problem which calls for the collaboration of all concerned. To put an end to the ravages of this drug, which Balzac called, \"The Lottery of Misery,\" each State must consent to take its part in the sacrifice. The first time that the regulation of the question of Opium Traffic by international means was considered was at Shanghai, where a Conference was held on February 9th, 1909, at the instigation of the American Government.\n\nThis Conference took preparatory measures, and declared, in a Memorandum addressed to the Dutch Minister at Washington: \"That in order to attain the desired object, the co-operation and sympathy of the producing countries were essential.\" It was thus rightly recognised that, in order to attain the humanitarian object for which we strive, the economic - I might almost say financial side of the question must not be lost to view.\n\nThe latter was excellently set forth by His Excellency M. de Marius van Swinderen, who, as Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs, opened the International Opium Conference at the Hague, on December 1st, 1911. In a brilliant and idealistic speech, he summed up as follows the work to be accomplished:\n\n\"What could be more noble,\" he said, \"than the task assigned to you, that of gradually limiting the action of the soporific poppy to that of a healing medicine, and, in common agreement and with wide views, to abolish the consequences which will arise from a continuation of present conditions.\"\n\nIt is on these lines that the Conference undertook its work; it even widened the scope of its labours, for, on the request of Great Britain, it also undertook to regulate the traffic in cocaine, morphine, and other similar products. This is neither the place nor the time to study in detail the work of the Conference. Suffice it to say, that the Convention which the Conference will draw up will include a series of restricted measures, which will constitute the first step towards the total suppression of the traffic in opium used for non-medicinal purposes.\n\nThis Convention was to have come into force on December 31st, 1914, but, meanwhile, there came the war, and everything was postponed until the Conference of Versailles, which created a new situation; for, by Article 23 of the Covenant, the League of Nations was entrusted with the agreement to be arrived at with regard to the traffic in opium and other noxious drugs. In agreement with the Netherlands Government, the First Assembly decided that the duties which had been entrusted to that Government in respect of opium should fall henceforward upon the League of Nations. On December 15th of last year, the Assembly voted a Resolution asking the Council to appoint an Advisory Committee, which, three months before the beginning of each meeting should submit to the Council a Report on all subjects relative to the carrying out of the agreements concerning the Opium Traffic.\n\nThis Committee has been appointed; it met at Geneva from May 2nd to 5th, with the representatives of the countries concerned, namely: Netherlands, Great Britain, France, India, Japan, China, Siam, and Portugal. With the help of three experts, this Committee drew up a questionnaire, which was sent to all the Governments with a view to obtaining from them all useful information relative to the application of the Hague Convention.\n\nThe Committee asked the Governments of Europe to send in their replies within three months, and the overseas Governments within six months. The time limit for the reply of these latter countries, which are strictly speaking, the States concerned, has not yet expired, and many replies have not yet been received. Under these circumstances, and in accordance with the Committee's wish, these replies must be awaited before the situation as a whole can be considered. The Committee will meet again at the beginning of next year, and hopes to be able to draw up a Report for the third meeting of the Assembly.\n\nThe Committee also drew up a series of recommendations, which the Council in its turn considered, adopting on June 28th a Resolution in several paragraphs.\n\nBy the various steps of which we have just spoken - namely, the Hague Convention of 1912, the work of the Advisory Committee, and the Council Resolution - we come to the Second Assembly. The latter body had entrusted to your Fifth Committee the question of the Opium Traffic.\n\nThe Report that you have before you will acquaint you with the work of the Fifth Committee. To save time, I will confine myself, if you agree, to the remarks which were made in the Fifth Committee with regard to the recommendations which are contained in this same Report.\n\nWith regard to the second recommendation, the Committee, after hearing the statements of the Chinese Delegate as to the measures taken by his Government with regard to the Opium Traffic was of opinion that, in conformity with paragraph 5 of the Council's Resolution, Recommendation No. 5 of the Advisory Committee might be postponed.\n\nThe statements of the Chinese Delegate are as follows:\n\n\"Between June 25th and August 15th last the Chinese Government appointed seven High Commissioners specially instructed to investigate the precise conditions in eight provinces and in two special administrative districts, where a recrudescence of the production of opium had been noted. These Commissioners have set out to undertake their task, and some of them have already begun their investigations. I think that the Chinese Government will be prepared to communicate to the League of Nations the results of its investigations, as soon as these have been brought to the knowledge of the Chinese Government.\"\n\nAs Rapporteur, I think that I should note in this connection the statements which were made in the Advisory Committee by the Experts, which recall the wonderful efforts made by China between 1907 and 1916 to rid herself of opium, and which pay a tribute to the Chinese authorities. They add that China had, so to speak, completely rid herself of opium production in 1917, so that we can have every confidence in China's efforts to have done with the Opium Traffic. In this connection, it might be well to quote the words of M. Jordan. You will find them on page 20 of Document 77, M.39.\n\nAs regards the third recommendation, the alterations introduced by the Committee into paragraph 7 of the Council Resolution are explained by the quite special conditions which are met with in certain countries, notably in India.\n\nThe word \"strictly \" has been deleted in the Council Resolution, and the words \" medicinal and scientific \" have been changed to the word \"legitimate.\"\n\nThe Committee agreed that this alteration should be made, in view of the explanations given by the Indian Delegate.\n\nFor the Indian Delegate pointed out to the Committee that the number of hospitals and well-equipped dispensaries is, in India, wholly disproportionate to the population, which, over a vast area, is without medical facilities. The Indian Delegate also pointed out that, in order to combat diseases which in certain localities are endemic, the population habitually uses this drug in small doses as a preventive or curative remedy. It is this type of employment of the drug, which could not be called purely medical - that is to say, ordered by a doctor - which the Committee refers to by the word \"legitimate.\"\n\nWith regard to the eighth recommendation, it should be pointed out that the Fifth Committee had this matter referred to it on the suggestion of M. Jean Lanessy, French Delegate. He directed the attention of the Committee to the abuses in connection with the sale and consumption of drugs of a mineral or chemical nature, not dealt with by the Hague Convention of 1912, and pointed out that this scourge, which ...\n\n- 3 -\n\nwww", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491265, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "page_number": 258, "title": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "content_text": "255\n\nIII.\n\nOEUVRE DE SECOURS AUX POPULATIONS RUSSES.\n\n(Rapport de la sixème Commission)\n\nRESOLUTIONS ADDITIONNELLES PROPOSÉES PAR LORD ROBERT CECIL\n\nM. le PRÉSIDENT. — L'ordre du jour appelle l'examen des conclusions du rapport fait au nom de la sixième Commission sur l'œuvre de secours aux populations russes, ainsi que des propositions additionnelles présentées par lord Robert Cecil.\n\nJ'invite le président et le rapporteur de la Commission à vouloir bien prendre place à la tribune.\n\n(M. le comte de Gimeno, président, et M. Motta, rapporteur de la sixième Commission, prennent place à la tribune).\n\nJe prie Monsieur le rapporteur de la sixième Commission de donner connaissance à l'Assemblée des conclusions de la Commission.\n\nM. MOTTA (Suisse), rapporteur de la sixième Commission. — L'Assemblée me dispensera sans doute de la lecture du rapport qui a été distribué. Je me contenterai de lui présenter un résumé très succinct des conclusions auxquelles la Commission est arrivée et de dégager les grandes lignes, je dirai même les pensées maîtresses de la question qui nous occupe en ce moment.\n\nDans la séance du 9 septembre, M. Nansen avait demandé à l'Assemblée de se prononcer sur deux points. Il proposait, d'abord, de décider si l'Assemblée devait adresser un appel aux États pour qu'ils accordent des crédits officiels, en vue de porter secours aux populations affamées de la Russie.\n\nLe deuxième point à examiner était de savoir s'il fallait prier le Conseil de mettre à la disposition de l'œuvre de secours les services de l'organisation des crédits internationaux qui a été créée, sur la suggestion de l'Assemblée, par le Conseil de la Société des Nations.\n\nTelles étaient donc les propositions que la Commission a eu à examiner à la suite de la motion de M. le Docteur Nansen.\n\nLa Commission n'a pas pu entrer dans les vues du Docteur Nansen. Elle a cependant dû se demander, au cours de ses discussions, s'il était loisible à l'Assemblée de la Société des Nations de se renfermer dans une attitude d'indifférence et en quelque sorte d'abstention absolue. La Commission a estimé que l'abstention totale, que la froide indifférence serait nuisible, et elle est arrivée aux conclusions qui sont à votre connaissance.\n\nVoici les éléments du problème; je n'en dis que les choses absolument essentielles, laissant de côté tout ce qui est polémique, tout ce qui est secondaire ou accidentel.\n\nLa Commission a d'abord constaté que l'étendue et la gravité du mal sont incontestables, que, sur ce point, toute discussion serait en quelque sorte oiseuse. Elle a constaté ensuite que le problème n'est pas seulement d'ordre humanitaire, mais aussi d'ordre social et économique, qu'il y a une solidarité qui lie tous les peuples et les rend, particulièrement aujourd'hui, tous intéressés à l'économie de la Russie.\n\nLa politique a également été mêlée au débat. La Commission estime et je voudrais insister fortement sur cette pensée qu'il est désirable que la politique soit tenue absolument à l'écart. Sans doute, il y aura une tentation toute naturelle d'examiner dans quelles mesures le désastre de la Russie est dû à la responsabilité — disons le mot — la faute des hommes et dans quelles mesures il est plutôt la conséquence de la guerre et du jeu éternel des lois de la nature.\n\nMais un examen de cet ordre ne pourrait que diviser les esprits et passionner le débat. Or, il est du devoir de chacun, au moment où le fléau grandit, où il menace de prendre toujours des formes plus aiguës et de se prolonger non seulement au cours de cette année, mais aussi durant les années qui viendront, il est de l'intérêt de tout le monde d'éliminer de l'action de secours tout ce qui pourrait en paralyser l'élan.\n\nIl faut éviter toutes les discussions qui ne sont pas absolument nécessaires et avoir toujours dans l'esprit ce proverbe que la sagesse romaine a exprimé en ces termes: Dum Romae consulitur Saguntum expugnatur ! Il ne faut pas entrer dans des polémiques qui pourraient entraver l'élan et empêcher la générosité des peuples qui veulent aller au secours de ceux qui ont faim.\n\nVers la mi-août de cette année, une conférence s'est réunie à Genève sur l'initiative du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge et de la Ligue des Croix-Rouges. Cette conférence a pris un certain nombre de mesures : elle a constitué une Commission mixte; elle a nommé deux Hauts Commissaires, M. le Docteur Nansen et M. Hoover. M. Hoover n'a pas pu accepter cette mission et M. le Docteur Nansen se trouve aujourd'hui le Haut Commissaire de la Conférence de Genève, délégué de la Commission mixte.\n\nEn même temps, le Conseil suprême des principales puissances s'est saisi de la question. Il a nommé à son tour une Commission internationale de secours pour la Russie.\n\nM. le docteur Nansen, en sa qualité de Haut-Commissaire, s'est rendu à Moscou. Il a mis immédiatement en œuvre ses grandes et magnifiques vertus d'homme d'action. Il est même arrivé à conclure avec le Gouvernement des Soviets des accords sur lesquels je vous dirai un mot tout à l'heure.\n\nAu moment même où M. le Dr Nansen déposait ici sa motion, la Commission apprenait qu'une conférence d'États était convoquée sur l'initiative de la Commission internationale de secours nommée par le Conseil suprême et présidée par M. Noulens. Cette conférence va se réunir le 6 octobre, à Bruxelles. J'ajoute ce détail sans doute inédit: hier encore, en ma qualité de chef du département politique du Conseil fédéral de la Confédération suisse, j'ai reçu une invitation de M. Noulens pour cette conférence et j'ai pu constater que les États invités à cette conférence sont au nombre de vingt-sept, parmi lesquels se trouvent, entre autres, les États-Unis et l'Allemagne; le Vatican lui-même est invité à s'y faire représenter. Je donne ce détail à titre d'information.\n\nNous sommes donc à l'heure actuelle en présence d'une convocation des États qui vont se réunir à Bruxelles pour s'occuper de cette question des secours. Il est certain dès aujourd'hui que cette conférence doit étudier toutes les formes possibles sous lesquelles l'aide doit être apportée à la Russie. Parmi ces formes, il en est une qui, en quelque sorte, prend la tête de toutes les autres: c'est la forme des crédits officiels à ouvrir par les États.\n\nLa question s'est donc posée, devant notre Commission, de savoir ce que devait faire la Société des Nations dans cette circonstance. Après de longues discussions, nous sommes tous tombés d'accord pour reconnaître que nous devions constater en premier lieu qu'une conférence d'États s'étant saisie d'une manière précise de la question, la Société des Nations ne pouvait pas, sans violer le grand principe: ne bis in idem, envahir un champ qui n'était pas soumis à sa compétence. Notre Commission a eu la crainte de voir se produire une confusion regrettable entre deux organisations, si la Société des Nations se mêlait de trancher une question qui devait être résolue dans un autre lieu.\n\nÀ cette manière de concevoir le problème, on a objecté que nous formons, nous aussi, une grande Assemblée et que nous représentons les États. Cela est exact, mais notre rôle est beaucoup plus général, notre compétence est infiniment plus abstraite, si j'ose dire, et plus vaste. La conférence de Bruxelles, au contraire, a une mission précise, concrète et déterminée.\n\nAutant nous sommes d'accord pour admettre que l'Assemblée de la Société des Nations doit être un corps agissant et vivant, qui sait prendre des initiatives, autant nous devons penser qu'il faut empêcher, entre la Conférence d'États de Bruxelles et l'Assemblée de notre Société, des conflits, même en apparence, et des confusions qui pourraient entraver l'action de l'une et de l'autre.\n\nIII. RELIEF WORK IN RUSSIA.\n\n(Report of the Sixth Committee)\n\nADDITIONAL RESOLUTION PROPOSED BY LORD ROBERT CECIL.\n\nThe PRESIDENT. — We will now take up the question of the Relief Work in Russia. We will examine the conclusions contained in the Report and the draft Resolution moved by Lord Robert Cecil.\n\nM. Motta, Rapporteur, will now address the Assembly.\n\nM. MOTTA (Switzerland), in presenting the Report of the Sixth Committee, said:\n\nGentlemen, I think you will all agree that I need not read the Report, because it is before you, but I should just like briefly to summarise the results achieved by the Committee. You will remember that at the meeting on September 9th, Dr. Nansen suggested that the Assembly should decide on two points. First, should an appeal be made to all States to grant official credits for Russian relief, and, secondly, should the Council be asked to put the services of the International Credits Organisation created by the Council of the League of Nations at the disposal of the Russian Relief work.\n\nThe Committee could not altogether agree with Dr. Nansen's proposal, but it saw that it was utterly impossible for this Assembly to pass the question by with indifference. It would be very harmful if we did not show that we realise how very serious this question is. Nobody disputes the extent and the seriousness of this disaster. The problem is not only a humanitarian one, but it is also a social and an economic one, and I realise that what happens in Russia affects all other peoples.\n\nPolitical considerations were brought into the debate at one moment, but we of the Committee thought—and I should like to emphasise this point—that we must keep any political considerations or political ideas out of this matter. Of course, the question may be raised as to how far this disaster is due to the war, how far it is due to natural causes, and how far it is the fault of certain men, but it is not for us to discuss that matter. When this danger is spreading, and when it seems likely to continue not only this year but possibly next, we must not think of any political considerations whatsoever; we must only think of saving the lives of men. We must remember the Roman proverb, Dum Romae consulitur Saguntum expugnatur \"While men were discussing and debating at Rome, Sagunto was being stormed.\"\n\nWell, Gentlemen, about the same time that Dr. Nansen brought forward these proposals we heard that a Conference had been summoned at Brussels. There had been a previous Conference on this subject in August at Geneva. This was called on the initiative of the International Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies, and they appointed a Commission and two High Commissioners, Mr. Hoover and Dr. Nansen. Mr. Hoover did not see his way to accept; Dr. Nansen accepted. Dr. Nansen went to Moscow, and concluded certain agreements with the Authorities there. In the meantime, the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers appointed a Commission to deal with the subject, and it was this Commission which took the Initiative in summoning this Conference for Brussels.\n\nYesterday, as Head of the Federal Political Department of Switzerland, I received an invitation for Switzerland to be represented at this Brussels Conference, and then also I heard that twenty-seven States will be represented, including Germany and the United States, and that there will also be a Representative of His Holiness the Pope. This Brussels Conference is going to deal with all possible methods by which the relief might be given to Russia. And of course, it will deal with the efficacious means by which relief can be brought.\n\nWe were of opinion, therefore, that inasmuch as the Brussels Conference was already to deal with this matter, it would not be advisable for the League of Nations to take any direct action. We must be careful to avoid duplication. It is true that we are Delegates of States, but our rôle is a more general and a more vague one than that of the Delegates who will attend at Brussels, and we should be well advised to avoid any confusion or conflict between our work and that of the other Conference.\n\nTherefore, Gentlemen, your Committee was of opinion that at present it should not deal with the question of Credits, but should wait for the Brussels Conference.\n\nWith regard to the agreements which Dr. Nansen has concluded with those in power in Russia, I have only this much to say: We wish to pay the highest tribute to Dr. Nansen, and to express our very high opinion of his abilities, and to make our acknowledgment of his previous successes. We are aware of the great success which he achieved in the repatriation of prisoners, and we have every reason to hope that in this question also he will achieve the same success.\n\nBut can the Assembly give its official sanction to these agreements? Dr. Nansen entered into them as representative of the Geneva Conference, and therefore he is responsible, not to us, but to that Conference, and it is to that Conference that he will give an account. There is also the fact to be considered that political questions might possibly be raised if we gave a definite approval to these agreements.\n\nWe are perfectly ready to express our confidence in Dr. Nansen, but we are asked to do more than that, we are asked also to express our confidence in the other party to these agreements, and I do not think that we can express such confidence in the other party.\n\nBut we can—and it is recommended—act as follows. We must address an urgent appeal to charitable bodies to give every assistance. In the second place, we must appeal to the Governments for every assistance, both of a moral and material kind, to be given to those charitable organisations. Then we should also point out that relief is required, not only in Russia, but in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaidjan.\n\nAnd there is another suggestion which we should make to the Governments; it is that they should use the very simple and easy means of doing something immediately by placing at the disposal of suffering Russia the very large stocks of material left on their hands as a result of the war.\n\nLord Robert Cecil desired us to strengthen our action by turning into Resolutions, paragraphs 3 and 6 of the Report; that is to say, he wished us definitely to state our belief that Dr. Nansen will be successful in this matter, and also to disengage the responsibility of the League of Nations, in view of the statements made by certain Delegates, that they did not think that at the present moment their Governments would be able to grant official credits.\n\nHe wished us also to put in a Resolution our feeling that it would rest with the Council of the League to take up the question should circumstances so demand.\n\nAs Rapporteur, I shall have to make certain reservations, because I cannot speak in this matter on behalf of my colleagues, but I can say that what we desire is that there should be a unanimous movement of sympathy for Russia to proceed from this Assembly, and if Lord Robert Cecil thinks it very desirable that these Resolutions should be adopted, and other Members are able to meet his wishes and agree with him, I myself think that I could agree to these Resolutions as he desires to propose them.\n\nThere is one other point. The Chairman of the Committee, the Delegate for Spain, suggested that he should communicate the text of the Resolutions passed by us to His Holiness the Pope. The Committee enthusiastically approved of this proposal, and I am sure the Assembly will do the same. (Applause.) We are particularly glad of the noble act of His Holiness the Pope, because it shows the sympathy His Holiness feels for those ideals of justice, freedom, and charity for which the League of Nations stands.\n\nThe PRESIDENT. — Dr. Nansen, the Delegate for Norway, will address the Assembly.\n\nDr. NANSEN (Norway).—Mr. President and Gentlemen, I think the Assembly expects me to say a few words on the Report which has been so ably presented by the Chairman of the Sub-Committee, M. Motta. This Report deals with the Resolution which I ventured to lay before this Assembly in the very early stages of its deliberation, and I take this...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491266, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "page_number": 259, "title": "CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921", "content_text": "256\n\n1\n\nVoilà pourquoi la Commission est arrivée à cette conclusion - étant donné surtout que les délégués, au sein de la Commission, ont presque tous déclaré que leur gouvernement n'était pas en état d'accorder aujourd'hui des secours officiels que la situation présente dégageait la responsabilité de la Société des Nations et qu'il convenait d'attendre les résultats de la Conférence de Bruxelles.\n\nA cette occasion s'est posée la question des accords conclus par M. le Dr Nansen.\n\nLa Commission a été unanime pour rendre un hommage sincère, je dirai même éclatant, aux vertus du philanthrope et de l'homme d'action. La Commission a pensé que les succès antérieurs vraiment admirables que M. le Docteur Nansen a réalisés et que la dernière œuvre qu'il vient d'accomplir entouré de la reconnaissance du monde entier du rapatriement des prisonniers de Russie, sont des raisons pour la Commission, comme d'ailleurs pour le monde entier, d'espérer que les accords conclus par lui pourront l'amener à réaliser les buts humanitaires qu'il s'est proposés.\n\nDès lors, cette question a surgi: l'Assemblée peut-elle voter en quelque sorte l'approbation, peut-elle donner sa sanction officielle aux accords du Docteur Nansen ? Après de longs débats, la Commission est arrivée à cette conclusion que cette approbation ne rentre pas dans notre compétence. M. le Docteur Nansen a agi comme mandataire de la Conférence de Genève. C'est à elle qu'il doit rendre compte de la manière dont il a exécuté son mandat. Nous ne sommes pas ses mandants. Nous avons avec intérêt tout ce qu'il a fait, mais nous n'avons pas qualité pour exprimer une approbation quelconque.\n\nD'ailleurs, cette approbation soulèverait nécessairement des problèmes politiques les plus délicats et les plus compliqués. Nous pouvons affirmer notre confiance dans le Docteur Nansen, mais en approuvant ces accords, nous, Assemblée politique, nous risquerions d'affirmer d'une manière indirecte notre confiance dans la contre-partie du Docteur Nansen. Or, je ne veux rien dire qui puisse froisser qui que ce soit, mais il me semble qu'il est impossible de demander à l'Assemblée de la Société des Nations d'émettre un vote de confiance à l'adresse de la contre-partie de M. le Docteur Nansen. Alors que faire ?\n\nLa Commission a estimé qu'il fallait adresser un appel à l'opinion publique, afin qu'elle aide dans toute la mesure du possible les organisations charitables qui se sont formées et qui ont déjà agi en faveur de l'aide aux populations affamées. La Commission a pensé qu'il fallait tout particulièrement adresser cet appel aux organisations de la Croix-Rouge. Elle a cru également qu'il fallait l'adresser aux gouvernements, afin que ceux-ci aident de leur appui matériel et moral les organisations charitables, en laissant en suspens la question des crédits officiels qui doit être tranchée dans un autre lieu, dans une autre conférence.\n\nElle a cru, en outre, nécessaire de signaler que la nécessité de l'aide n'est pas seulement bornée à la Russie proprement dite, mais qu'il y a des pays infiniment intéressants auxquels s'adresse notre sollicitude et, en quelque sorte notre tendresse, tels que l'Arménie, l'Azerbaïdjan, la Géorgie.\n\nIl fallait les mettre en lumière pour que l'on sût que la Société des Nations désire voir l'effort de solidarité humaine s'exercer également en faveur de ces petits peuples libres, dont elle souhaite l'affranchissement et la souveraineté.\n\nNous avons pensé aussi que nous devions indiquer aux gouvernements qu'ils avaient un moyen très facile de contribuer à l'œuvre de secours : c'était de lui abandonner des stocks de vêtements militaires et autres approvisionnements, accumulés par eux pendant la guerre, et qui se trouvent encore à leur disposition.\n\nEnfin, nous avons pensé qu'il fallait affirmer l'idée de la coopération de l'œuvre de secours avec la Commission instituée par le Conseil pour la lutte contre les épidémies.\n\nTel est, Mesdames et Messieurs, le sens des résolutions qui vous sont proposées. Je viens d'apprendre et vous le savez par le texte imprimé qui vous a été distribué...\n\n... opportunity of expressing to M. Motta and his colleagues my sincerest and deepest gratitude for the sympathetic attitude they have taken. I know that M. Motta has done everything that he can to help the work we have so much at heart. But at the same time, I cannot conceal—and I shall make no attempt to conceal from the Assembly my disappointment at the result of this Report. Frankly, I regret the attitude which has now been taken. The purpose of the Resolution which I brought forward for your consideration was to secure the co-operation of the Governments in the great international undertaking to relieve Russia and save that country from famine. It was not my purpose merely to strengthen the appeal to private charities. That I consider to be unnecessary. I think that the famine in Russia is of such dimensions that in itself it constitutes a sufficiently strong appeal, and no word from this Assembly can strengthen that appeal. It was an appeal to the Governments which I was making, and in that appeal I have failed.\n\nLet me remind the Assembly in one sentence of the situation which I laid before you. There are at this moment between 20 and 30 millions of people who are threatened with starvation and death. If help is not forthcoming within two months from now, their fate is sealed. Everything that is needed to save them is only a few hundred miles away. The necessary transportation can be available at a moment's notice. Agreements have been made for the perfect control and distribution in Russia of the supplies that we may bring. The methods for the execution of those Agreements are ready. There has been raised in the Committee no valid objection against those Agreements or the methods proposed for their execution. \"No more is necessary to avert appalling disaster than the provision of a relatively small sum of Government money. It is no great sums that we ask for; we have only asked for £5,000,000. If we get that we think indeed, we feel convinced that it is possible to carry out very important work before Christmas, and to save the situation to a great extent.\n\nThe Governments have said that they cannot do it. Let me remind the Assembly that, from the very beginning, the charitable organisations themselves urged their absolute incapability to deal adequately with this disaster. The Conference which was called a month ago in this City, and on behalf of which I act as High Commissioner, represented sixty-seven charitable or voluntary organisations and thirteen Governments, and that Conference said the same thing. Its very first Resolution which was placed before us pointed out the necessity of Governmental action if anything really adequate for the disaster was to be done.\n\nThe Governments now throw back the whole responsibility on to the voluntary organisations. I cannot think that that is right. I cannot think that that is wise. I cannot think that it is anything but a disastrous mistake. None the less, we shall go on with our appeal to private charity. We have already made a start. You know, every one of you, that Mr. Hoover's organisation is only ready to feed three million children in Russia. Our organisation has received many gifts. From the Pope we have received one million lire. From the \"Save the Children\" Fund in Great Britain we have received a declaration that they are now willing to feed one-quarter of a million children in Russia. The Second Internationale, in Amsterdam, has given ten million marks. Contributions are being received from many communes in France, and innumerable smaller sums have been received and are being received. The Swedish Government, through the Red Cross, is already starting an expedition, in co-operation with our plans, to Russia in order to work there under our scheme and through our machinery. We shall go on striving through the great voluntary organisations which have accomplished such splendid service in the cause of humanity during the last few years, to do what is possible to mitigate a small part of the misery which is now in front of Russia.\n\nBut I fear that it is my duty—and it is a duty which I cannot carry out without deep regret—to make again some observations which I have already had the opportunity of making in the Committee.\n\nWe are doing what we can through private charity, but even our charity is being impeded and is being very seriously impeded by the campaign of misrepresentation which is being carried on. There are any amount of lies being circulated. I may remind you of one story that went to the papers...\n\n12\n\n...contribué que lord Robert Cecil a désiré compléter les résolutions que nous vous soumettons en transformant en résolutions les paragraphes 3 et 6 de l'exposé des motifs du rapport que vous avez sous les yeux. Il s'agirait d'indiquer, dans les résolutions elles-mêmes, d'une part, qu'à notre avis l'activité du Dr Nansen est un gage de ses succès futurs, d'autre part, que la réunion d'une Conférence d'Etats à Bruxelles dégage en quelque sorte la responsabilité de la Société des Nations.\n\nIl s'agirait de dire ensuite que le Conseil de la Société des Nations pourra, s'il le juge bon et si la situation vient à se modifier, intervenir ultérieurement dans la mesure et la forme qu'il estimera les plus utiles et les plus efficaces.\n\nMon rôle de rapporteur m'oblige à faire quelques réserves au sujet de l'attitude de mes collègues de la Commission.\n\nPersonnellement, je voudrais donner un gage de ma bonne volonté et de mon esprit de conciliation à lord Robert Cecil et lui dire que je désire avant tout que se produise ici une manifestation unanime de l'union complète des cœurs et des esprits et, comme je constate que ce qui est dit dans l'exposé des motifs pourrait être exprimé sous forme de résolution, si lord Robert Cecil attache une importance particulière à cette dernière forme, je n'y ferai, quant à moi, aucune opposition.\n\nSi tout le monde accepte ce point de vue, nous serons heureux de voir s'affirmer dans cette grande question, beaucoup plus importante qu'elle ne l'est en apparence, l'unanimité des membres de l'Assemblée.\n\nM. le Président de la Commission, M. le comte de Gimeno, a demandé à l'Assemblée de décider qu'elle enverra à sa Sainteté Benoit XV, par l'entremise du Président de l'Assemblée, communication des résolutions que nous allons prendre. La Commission s'est associée avec élan à cette proposition de son président. Je pense que l'Assemblée agira de même. Il est juste qu'elle applaudisse au geste généreux de Benoit XV, ce grand souverain des âmes.\n\nIl nous plaît aussi de constater qu'en s'adressant à nous, Benoit XV a accompli un acte qui dépasse la pure et simple courtoisie et qui a une grande importance morale.\n\nPar son geste, il a affirmé d'une manière éclatante la sympathie qu'il éprouve pour la Société des Nations et pour les idées de paix, de collaboration et de fraternité qu'elle entend représenter dans le monde. (Vifs applaudissements).\n\nM. le Dr NANSEN (Norvège). (L'orateur en montant à la tribune, est accueilli par les applaudissements de l'Assemblée).\n\nL'interprète :\n\nJe pense que l'Assemblée attend de moi quelques mots sur le rapport qui vous a été présenté si admirablement par M. Motta.\n\nCe rapport est présenté par la Commission au sujet de la résolution que j'ai soumise moi-même à cette Assemblée et je tiens à remercier très spécialement M. Motta pour les paroles qu'il a bien voulu prononcer sur mon œuvre et pour la manière si conciliante dont il a dirigé les débats de la Sous-Commission.\n\nD'autre part, en toute franchise et il n'y a pas de raison de ne pas parler franchement - je ne puis pas cacher ma profonde déception devant les décisions qui ont été prises. Je regrette, de tout mon cœur l'attitude adoptée.\n\nLe but de mon intervention était d'assurer une coopération des gouvernements pour sauver la Russie de cette terrible famine. Je n'avais pas comme but d'adresser un nouvel appel à la charité, car j'estime que la famine elle-même fait son appel qui doit s'imposer à la conscience des gouvernements et des peuples. Je souhaitais un appel aux gouvernements, je n'ai pas réussi.\n\nVingt à trente millions d'êtres humains sont menacés de mourir de faim, si l'on n'arrive pas à leur porter secours dans les deux mois qui vont suivre. Tout ce qui pourrait aider, toutes les provisions nécessaires sont là, elles existent: elles sont tout près de la Russie; le transport est possible, il est préparé. Le contrôle est assuré...\n\n...which you all remember, namely, that the first train that Mr. Hoover sent in to feed the Russians was looted by the Soviet Army in Russia. It was a lie; but still the same story is repeated over and over again in the Press of Europe. I was abused for having sent an expedition to Siberia, and I understand that it was said that I was bringing arms for a revolution. It was a lie. I have seen it in the papers. It is said that my friend, Captain Sverdup, was in command of it, but all that he was doing was carrying agricultural machinery to Siberia. That was not so very dangerous, after all. There are many similar stories being circulated. It is perfectly evident that they come from some central agency; I do not know where. It is from somebody who seems very interested in preventing anything being done to save the starving people of Russia. I think that I know what is the underlying thought in this campaign. It is this, that the action which we propose will, if it succeeds, strengthen the Soviet Government. I think that that is a mistake, I do not think that we shall strengthen the Soviet Government by showing the Russian people that there are hearts in Europe, and that there are people there ready to help the starving Russian people. But supposing that it does strengthen the Soviet Government: Is there any Member of this Assembly who is prepared to say that rather than help the Soviet Government he will allow twenty million people to starve to death? I challenge this Assembly to answer that question.\n\nThe central point to which the campaign has been directed seems to be the agreement that I made with the Soviet Government. Let me say a few words about that agreement. It is said that by allowing the Soviet Government to have an equal representation on the executive of two men which I propose to establish in Moscow, I am enabling the Soviet Government to impose upon our undertaking a vote preventing us from doing what we wish.\n\nIt has been urged that this agreement, which establishes such an executive, would give the other representative greater freedom and greater control. But I ask this Assembly to judge whether I, dealing with one representative of the Soviet Government, shall be more free than Mr. Hoover, who will have to deal with many and deal with the whole Government. I ask them to say whether any agreement can override the necessity for the free consent and co-operation of the Soviet authorities. My purpose is to carry out the relief without bringing in any kind of politics, and without dealing with any political party if it is possible to avoid it. But no relief can be carried out in any country, and least of all in Russia, against the wishes of the Government authorities. Mr. Hoover's agreement, no less than mine, depends, and must depend at every moment, on the goodwill and the consent and the co-operation of the Soviet.\n\nIt is not because they are mine that I am so anxious to secure the approval and the support of this Assembly to the agreement and the plan which I have made. It is needless to say that I will sacrifice them any moment, and would do so gladly if only there were anything to take their place. But I see nothing. There is no other plan, and there can be no other plan, and those precious weeks that we now have before us are so vital for successful action before they are passed.\n\nWe have heard a great deal in the Committee about the Conference at Brussels, which has been asked to meet on October 6th. The Members of the Committee expressed their warmest confidence that this Conference, which is called a Conference of Governments, will solve the financial problem of bringing help to Russia, I hope, and sincerely hope, that they are right. I hope nothing so ardently as that the Brussels Conference may fulfil every hope that is reposed in it; but I may point out that great doubt has been expressed as to whether the Conference in Brussels will be able to do anything. Unless the Governments reverse the decision which they have now taken, I do not see how that Conference can attain anything. Let me warn you that if that Conference should proceed, first by sending a Commission of Enquiry into Russia, and then when it has received the Report of that Committee has prolonged negotiations with the Soviet Government in order to attain a new agreement for action instead of mine, and if when that agreement has been made, they are to create a new machinery for the execution of the agreement, their surety and help inevitably will come too late.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491966, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "page_number": 504, "title": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "content_text": "Page 71\n\n501\n\n#\n\nYou expected to get to Canton before you got any more? - I could get food in Chinese territory.\n\nDid the gentleman who gave you all the information in Queen's Road produce a disc or token?\n\nNo.\n\nHe did not show you anything?\n\nNo.\n\nDid he say whether he was connected with any Labor Association?\n\nNo.\n\nHis Worship. I have evidence that the boy of Mr. S.B.C. Ross was in the crowd and also that the servants of Mr. Lindsell and others were there. The Jury wish me to say that they would like any further witnesses from the crowd who are available, to assemble here tomorrow so that they may pick out any whom they wish to be examined.\n\n4\n\nL1 Shing, I.C. (C) No.279. Stationed at Yaumati, then gave evidence.\n\nHe said I was on duty at 5:15 a.m. on March 1st, in Nathan Road outside the Po Hing theatre. I was in plain clothes.\n\nI saw a crowd of several hundred people. I went among them but I did not speak to any of them. I was by myself but there were five other Chinese constables separately on duty.\n\nI heard the people talk of walking to Shun Chun by road. I heard one man walking to and fro saying \"Don't you go, we want to go but were stopped, we had to turn back.\"\n\nThere were between seven and eight hundred men and they would not listen to this man. They started off. I do not know who the man was advising them not to go. There were about ten women in the crowd.\n\nThe crowd moved off about 5:20 a.m. and then a second crowd arrived about 5:30 a.m. Some appeared to be tea-house attendants and some appeared to be house-boys and cooks.\n\nOne man said to this crowd again \"Don't go, you cannot go, it is impossible to walk there, there are soldiers posted.\" It was the same man who had spoken to the first crowd who said this. The crowd made no reply.\n\nThe same man told them that they could go to Tai Pak Lau where they would be accommodated.\n\nThe crowd took this man's advice and scattered.\n\nPage 72 (expected but not shown in the given snippet)", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491990, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "page_number": 528, "title": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "content_text": "The inquiry was resumed at II a.m. on Friday March 17th.\n\nHis Worship, to Mr. Shenton. With reference to the definition of an unlawful assembly, there are two sub-heads. You rested your case on the second sub-head. Do you rely in any way on the first sub-head \"with intent to commit a crime by open force\"?\n\nMr. Shenton, I was coming to that under another heading. One of the questions I was going to submit was that the firing was justified in preventing a violent crime.\n\nHis Worship. I am dealing with the intention of the crowd when it started. Will you argue, or do you ask the Jury to find, that this crowd had the intention to commit a crime by open force?\n\nMr. Shenton. They intended to carry out this unlawful purpose in disregard of any opposition they might meet. They were going to carry it through at all costs.\n\nHis Worship. Therefore it comes under the first sub-head of the definition \"an assembly of three or more persons with intent to commit a crime by open force\". Now with regard to the second sub-head \"with intent to carry out any common purpose, lawful or unlawful, in such a manner as to give firm and courageous persons in the neighbourhood reasonable ground to apprehend a breach of the peace\". You say the assembly comes under that sub-head.\n\nMr. Shenton. Yes.\n\nHis Worship. Who were the persons in the neighbourhood?\n\nMr. Shenton. The police.\n\nHis Worship. Have you a case where in a perfectly peaceful neighbourhood the police interfered, - a case where no one was inspired with fear except the police themselves?\n\nMr. Shenton. The case of Rex v Mollaughton is somewhat on those lines.\n\nHis Worship. In that case the crowd had assembled for a violent purpose. It may be argued that this crowd had not assembled for a violent purpose. They assembled to walk along the road and the only violence apprehended was violence contingent on resistance by...\n\nPage 525\n\n \n\nwas replaced with a more standard \nPage 525\n\n stays as is. The rest of the text is formatted into proper paragraphs. Other than that, minor corrections were made for spelling and spacing issues, such as \"sub-hoads\" to \"sub-heads\", \"orowd\" to \"crowd\", \"mero\" to \"more\", \"pelice\" to \"police\", \"omas\" to \"case\", \"fær\" to \"for\", \"nasembled\" to \"assembled\", \"enly\" to \"only\", \"oentingant\" to \"contingent\". No other changes were made.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 491991, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "page_number": 529, "title": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "content_text": "II. Bomunat\n\nPage 7\n\n526 the authorities. Have you any case on all fours with that where such a gathering was held to be an unlawful assembly. Mr.Shenton. The definition itself practically carries us as far.\n\nHis Worship, I am taking the second part of the definition which was the sub-head on which you rested your case. Let us assume they intended to move out peacefully if they possibly could; let us assume that no one on the road apprehended violence from them.\n\nAre they an unlawful assembly merely because the police apprehended violence if they interfered with them?\n\nMr. Shenton. The real crux of the case is the position of that assembly immediately before the firing took place. That the Jury have to consider is what was the state of that assembly when the firing took place. They were an unlawful assembly from the very beginning because they intended to carry out a common purpose notwithstanding my opposition they might meet, but I think I should have some difficulty in satisfying Your Worship that the crowd, when they started from the Pei Hing theatre actually contemplated an assault on the police. They ultimately came to that conclusion undoubtedly when they met opposition. My strongest position is under the second definition \"An assembly .....to carry out any common purpose, lawful or unlawful, in such a manner as to give firm and outrageous persons in the neighbourhood reasonable ground to apprehend a breach of the peace\"\n\nHis Worship. Who were the persons who had that reasonable ground?\n\nMr. Shenton. The police.\n\nHis Worship. Have you a case of that kind man where the only persons who had this apprehension were the police?\n\nMr. Shenton. The nearest case is Rex.v McNaughton.\n\nHis Worship. In that case the crowd were volunteering violence. In this case the crowd volunteered no violence. That is the difference between the two cases.\n\nPage 7", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 492010, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "page_number": 546, "title": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "content_text": "Page 3\n\n543\n\nlosing control of the crowd.\n\ntwo men we might still hold on.\n\nI thought that if we got rid of\n\nThe man was close to me, in front of me.\n\nI leant forward and grabbed him with my left hand,\n\nhold\n\nI drew him back to the matter when he was called and he then said \"I was playing for time and the plan appeared to be working successfully until these two men came up and forced their way through the crowd. Their shouts of encouragement took the crowd away. I said that unless I got rid of those two men out of the crowd we should not hold on. He was behind the other. I seized the front man. I said \"Here Pitt, take this man\". My intention in so doing was to pacify the riot, not to deal with the man personally.\" That is Mr. King's evidence on this point.\n\nIf you accept this as a correct statement of what happened you will find also that no claim of right to use force on this occasion can be based on the exercise of any statutory power of arrest. What was done was done to control the crowd and not to bring any person to justice.\n\nWe then come to the second ground on which the claim of right to use force has been founded. It is the right possessed by every citizen to disperse by force a crowd which is guilty of the common law offence of \"unlawful assembly\". This is a common law right possessed by us all and is not peculiar to police officers.\n\nIn the common law the term \"unlawful assembly\" has a very special meaning. Many assemblies which we might expect to be classed as 'unlawful' are outside the definition. Professor Walker, in his book \"Law And Constitution\", describes the term \"unlawful assembly\" as a term of art. For instance, supposing a crowd with knowledge of the legal prohibition met to walk over the frontier in an entirely peaceful manner and not otherwise, it would then not be an unlawful assembly, although assembled to carry out an unlawful purpose.\n\nNo peaceable assembly, so long as it remains peaceable, can constitute an unlawful assembly.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 492011, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "page_number": 547, "title": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "content_text": "Peg 1-4.\n\nAn element of violence intended by the persons assembled or anticipated reasonably by someone in the neighbourhood where it has assembled, is essential. I will now read the definition of \"unlawful assembly\" which is derived from the \"History of Common Law\" which has already been read to you several times during these proceedings. \"An unlawful assembly is an assembly of three or more persons with intent to commit a crime by open force, or with intent to carry out a common purpose, lawful or unlawful, in such a manner as to give firm and courageous persons in the neighbourhood of the assembly reasonable ground to apprehend a breach of the peace in consequence of it.\" That, Gentlemen, is the definition you have to bear in mind. You will see that this definition contemplates violence in both its sub-heads.\n\nIt is not claimed, and it is not law, that the police could lawfully have fired on any person or any number of persons merely to prevent them from crossing the border into Chinese territory, or from attempting to do so. Also, it is not law that a police officer who detains one of those persons, having stopped him in the peaceable pursuit of his object, could lawfully fire on such person if after detention he attempted to escape from custody. To fire in these circumstances taken by themselves would be clearly a criminal act.\n\nTo come back to the definition: was this crowd at the time when it was fired on an unlawful assembly? Mr. Shenton has argued that it was, but he has rested his submission mainly on the second part of the definition. In order to bring the circumstances within this part of the definition, he has been driven to argue that the Deputy Superintendent of Police is the person in the neighbourhood of this assembly with reasonable grounds to apprehend a breach of the peace. I do not follow him to this conclusion - the conclusion that the second part of this definition will cover the present circumstances.\n\nIt seems to me essential that the persons in the neighbourhood contemplated in the definition must be persons to whom the crowd comes and not persons who attend in order to interfere with the crowd.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 492012, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "page_number": 548, "title": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "content_text": "Lugo 5.\n\nFor\n\nSubtotal comfort\n\nYou can...\n\n...\n\n22. fly setela\n\ntio and missant\n\nsuzeta saty\n\n...\n\n1 Pheard a homogeneal corps of skivorm slimo... 767 netextimo et hautomo abit of min mo male linsern edt zevoo ku moins eht melden end mt monter of tada relie and rain of mosten od tamm mit into\n\n545\n\nChonton has remarked on the absence of authority to be noted, but will you please note my direction to you that this crowd will not constitute an 'unlawful assembly' within the second part of this definition unless you find that in the areas through which it passed, violence, either to the person or property, was anticipated or reasonably inferred from it by residents or by persons making the ordinary use of the road. You may be able to do this on your view of the evidence as to the behaviour of the crowd, but I hardly expect that you will.\n\nThen it remains to consider if the crowd was an unlawful assembly within the terms of the first part of the definition \"An assembly of three or more persons with intent to commit a crime by open violence\". You have the evidence in mind.\n\nYou are satisfied, I take it, that the deceased and his companions set out together with the common purpose of breaking the law by unlawfully attempting to leave the Colony. Meeting together in this way they are guilty of criminal conspiracy. Also the attempt is in itself made a statutory offence by the terms of section 10, sub-section 1, of the \"Traveller's Restriction Ordinance 1915\".\n\nThe question you must ask yourselves is this. At the time when fired upon had this crowd the intention of accomplishing this purpose by open force?\n\nAccording as you answer this question you concede to or deny the police officers present, the legal right claimed to use force in order to disperse this crowd. In order to answer this question in the affirmative it is not necessary to be satisfied that this crowd was an unlawful assembly either at the commencement of its journey or at any earlier point during its progress.\n\nTo judge from the evidence that the parties composing this crowd may have had different views as to the course of conduct to be pursued in the event of official opposition, and the main body of the crowd may have varied its intentions from time to time.\n\nLet it be admitted for the moment that the crowd was an unlawful assembly when earlier it forced the police barrier at the Kowloon Waterworks. It may be that during the next two and a half miles of road its intention became entirely orderly in which case the crowd lost the character of an unlawful assembly.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 492014, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "page_number": 550, "title": "CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4]", "content_text": "IMA\n\nDo not be limit\n\n.:\n\nJ\n\n: 13 020\n\nT8་:།\n\n„DienatiO CH\n\n12\n\nFazo 7-1\n\n»\n\n547\n\n0яl\n\nin the other. The right to employ force to disperse it may remain a duty; to do so becomes more urgent. Finally, on this point of the claim of right to use force, reference has been made to the right to employ force in self-defence, to repel attack by force. Here the alleged assailants are acting together as in the present case; evidence which in support of a finding of lawful assembly or riot will, in general, be found to support a finding of \"assault.\" Those on which the right to employ force on a crowd rest differ in their result. The crime of unlawful assembly lays the offenders open, in law, to force sufficient to disperse them. The crime of assault will justify only sufficient force to ensure self-protection from the assault and no more. I will assume that you are satisfied that the right to employ some force on the crowd...\n\nYou may not be satisfied. You may think that what occurred in the crowd was mere noise and effervescence, in which case you will find that there is no criminal act, and need not listen any further to what follows, for you will have no concern in it. Just to proceed, next comes the second question: was the force actually employed in the circumstances reasonable and necessary? This is an equally important question. If the firing was reckless, the crime might amount to murder. If you consider that the measure of force used – the use of deadly weapons – was not required to disperse the unlawful assembly or riot, or if you consider that, though required in some measure, it was in excess of the necessities of the occasion, the crime will be manslaughter. On this point, I cannot give you any special guidance.\n\nPut yourself in the place of Mr. King and consider what you, in their own circumstances, would have done, assuming a criminal intent on the part of the crowd, that you correctly understood your legal rights and duties, and also that you were there ready to act with fairness, firmness, without panic, and with reluctance to injure or kill any of your fellow citizens.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-474 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 492970, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-476 - Acting Governor Claud Severn & Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [8-12]", "page_number": 323, "title": "CO129-476 - Acting Governor Claud Severn & Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [8-12]", "content_text": "REMOVAL NOTICE.\n\nAndersen, Meyer & Co., Ltd., beg to announce the removal on September 1st., 1922, of their offices from No. 2, Queen's Road Central, to No. 67, 69, Des Voeux Road. (SITE OF THE OLD VICTORIA THEATRE)\n\nThe Hongkong Telegraph. FOUNDED 1881 No. 12,503\n\nKEMAL TO MEET GENERAL HARINGTON. Atlantic Flotilla En Route. GREECE INVOKES AID OF VENIZELOS.\n\nSATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1922.\n\nConstantinople, September 29. Replying to General Harington's telegram mentioned in a message of the 28th inst., Mustapha Kemal declares that his troops will not advance further. He desires that no incident shall occur, and will seize the earliest opportunity of meeting General Harington.\n\n[A message of the 28th inst. stated: General Harington, in a conciliatory reply to Kemal Pasha, thanks him for his declaration to respect the neutrality of the Straits and his desire to avoid incidents, and points out that the destruction and building of roads was carried out as a military necessity. He assures Kemal Pasha that no shot will be fired except by his, General Harington's, orders, and expresses readiness to meet Kemal Pasha anywhere that is convenient to discuss an understanding.]\n\nNaval Reinforcements on the Way.\n\nGibraltar, September 29. The flotilla leader and eight destroyers of the first flotilla of the Atlantic Fleet have arrived en route to the Near East, also two submarines.\n\nFull Support from Australia.\n\nMelbourne, September 27. Speaking in the House of Representatives, Mr. Hughes said that Australia was praying that there would not be war, but if it came Britain would be in the right, even if left alone. Australia had previously put in the field a larger army than the Turks could now muster, and would do the same again if necessary.\n\nVenizelos to Represent Greece at Conference?\n\nThe Revolutionary Committee has telegraphed to M. Venizelos at Paris asking him to undertake the defence of Greek interests with the Entente and to represent Greece at the Near East conference.\n\nThe Committee demanded the immediate departure from Greece of ex-King Constantine, ex-Queen Sophie, and the Princes Nicholas and Andrew. It is understood that they departed aboard a battleship last night.\n\nThe Committee has forbidden demonstrations in the streets. It is announced that the revolution has not been accompanied by a single drop of bloodshed. Several Royalist officers arrested at the outbreak of the revolution have been released, and all political prisoners have been liberated. The elements which long terrorized the city under the Constantin regime have mysteriously disappeared. It is rumoured that ex-Premiers, Gounaris, Stratos, and Protopapadakis have been arrested. Many politicians believe that the reign of the new King will not be a long one, and that a republic is likely.\n\nGreece Talking of Retrieving Disaster.\n\nLater. The revolutionary leaders, in a statement, insist that the movement is absolutely national, and is exclusively aimed at reparation of the recent catastrophe and the creation of a strong army to save Thrace. They declare that the settlement of the dynastic question must conform to the will of the great majority of the Greek people.\n\nHigh Commissioners Despatch Pacificatory Delegates.\n\nConstantinople, September 29. The High Commissioners have decided to despatch a commission composed of British, French, and Italian officers to Rodosto, Lule Burgas, and Adrianople to exercise a pacifying influence.\n\nArrest of Greek Premiers Confirmed.\n\nParis, September 29. A message from Athens confirms the arrest of the three ex-Premiers. M. Theotokis and Rear-Admiral Goudas have also been arrested. The message adds that it is expected they will be brought to trial as responsible for the events in Asia Minor.\n\nCabinet Regards Kemalist Action as Infringement.\n\nLondon, September 29. At the conclusion of further series of Cabinet meetings, anxiety in official circles was nowise eased. It is understood that the Government regard the Turkish action as an infringement of the Allied Note, and decided that it is impossible to permit the Kemalists to remain and continue positions in the neutral zone. The Government has therefore informed the military authorities that they have complete support in demanding the withdrawal of the Kemalists, leaving the question of a time-limit to the discretion of General Harington, Admiral Brock, and the High Commissioner. Meantime, the members of the Cabinet are standing by ready for emergencies, and are expecting an early development.\n\nRumour of War Causes Slump.\n\nLondon, September 29. The nervousness created by the Near Eastern situation is exemplified by the slump on the Liverpool cotton market today owing to a baseless rumour that Britain had declared war on Turkey, concerning which an authoritative denial was subsequently issued.\n\nLANCASHIRE COTTON TRADE DEPRESSION.\n\nCompanies Gradually Losing Their Capital.\n\nLondon, September 29. The question of the continued severe depression in the Lancashire cotton trade was discussed at a Manchester meeting of representatives of over fifty per cent. of the spinning companies. Leading spinners pointed out that most concerns were gradually losing their capital, and only immediate and drastic action would avert a financial crisis. An enquiry into the question of fixing minimum prices for standard counts of yarn was suggested, also the curtailment of production.\n\nLEAGUE OF NATIONS FINANCES.\n\nSUN YAT-SEN'S REPLY.\n\nAuthenticity of \"Telegraph\" Letters Admitted.\n\n1922. 日十初月八\n\nLAST NIGHT'S SENSATION.\n\nDetective Murdered; Two Men Shot.\n\nSINGLE COPY 10 CTS. $30 PER ANNUM\n\nTHE BANK\n\nREMOVAL NOTICE.\n\nAndersen, Meyer & Co., Ltd., beg to announce the removal on September 1st., 1922, of their offices from No. 2, Queen's Road Central, to No. 67, 69, Des Voeux Road. (SITE OF THE OLD VICTORIA THEATRE.)\n\nMYSTERY. PORTUGUESE CRUISER.\n\nNot a Book-keeping Error.\n\nOrdered to Macao.\n\nLisbon, Sept. 29. The cruiser Republica has been ordered to proceed to Macao from South America.\n\nThe disappearance of $200,000 from the International Banking Corporation still remains shrouded in mystery. A Telegraph reporter who called on the acting manager this morning to inquire if anything had been discovered which would throw some light on the affair was informed that the Bank are still in the dark as to what has happened to the money.\n\nIt has been ascertained that the loss is not through any book-keeping error, the pressman was told, and there has been no tampering with either the vaults or the safes. Beyond those facts, practically nothing appears to be known.\n\nAbout eight o'clock last night, armed men visited 26, Wing Wo Street, an emigrants' boarding house. They gagged and bound the inmates and during the half-hour they remained on the premises collected all the money and valuables, including gold dollars and foreign coin to the value of some $6,000.\n\nAs the robbers were leaving, they were observed by Detective Sergeant Sin Chuen, who, it will be remembered, was highly praised for his services in the famous Wo Ping Theatre case. Although single-handed, the detective tackled the gang, but they were too many for him. One of the armed men pointed his revolver at the officer and fired, hitting him in the chest. The gang then made off, chased by a number of police and others who by this time had been attracted to the scene.\n\nThe chase was an exciting one, and firearms were used frequently. Two men, on one of whom was found a revolver, were arrested. They were escorted to the Central Police Station by a party of constables with drawn revolvers, and on the way, an accident happened. In Graham Street, the weapon of one of the constables accidentally went off and wounded two brothers who came out of No. 6 to watch the procession pass.\n\nThe police visited the boarding house where the robbery occurred and it is understood that three daggers were found.\n\nJAPAN'S MILITARISTS.\n\nFurther Disclosures.\n\nTokyo, Sept. 30. The revelations continued by the Kokumin alleging that Japanese militarists have completed plans to establish a buffer state in alliance with Germany and Russia intended.\n\nDenial of Bolshevism.\n\n(Our Own Correspondent.)\n\nShanghai, September 29. Dr. Sun Yat-sen admits the veracity of the Hongkong Telegraph's disclosures relative to the proposal to form an Alliance with Germany and Russia.\n\nHe says, however, that the letters have been improperly translated and are partly false. He defended himself on the ground that all the Powers except Germany and Russia continued to be aggressive. He cites the relinquishment of extra-territoriality as proof that Germany and Russia have shown a favourable attitude to China.\n\nChina's Desire for Equality.\n\nDr. Sun Yat-sen says that the creation of the Soviet Government had removed China's greatest political menace, so long as the Soviet Government continues its non-Imperialistic policy. He says that China's greatest need is assistance from Powers which will treat China as an equal, and believes that Germany and Russia are the only Powers qualified to treat China in that manner. He therefore favours a conciliatory attitude towards Germany and Russia.\n\nAccording to Dr. Sun, such a policy will not injure any of the other Powers which honestly desire a re-united China. He states that these are his main considerations.\n\nBolshevism Unsuited to China.\n\nDr. Sun says that epithets accusing him of Bolshevistic views do not injure him and will not deter him. He denies that he has any sympathy with Bolshevism as a principle and says that a correct reading of his letters will prove this beyond doubt. He also says that he may issue an English translation of the letters reproduced in the \"Hongkong Telegraph\". He asserts that the \"Hongkong Telegraph's\" insinuation that the letters reveal a leaning towards Bolshevism is a charge unworthy of an answer, as all intelligent minds will realise that China is politically and economically unsuited to Bolshevism. Dr. Sun says that he never once dreamed of transforming China into a Bolshevik Republic.\n\nFruitless Overtures to Foreign Capitalists.\n\nIn conclusion, the late President of the South says that he had made repeated overtures to American, British, and other foreign capitalists with a view to arousing their interest in the commercial development of China, but all were deaf to his suggestions. Hence, he says, he had to turn elsewhere for much-needed co-operation.\n\nSIKI'S VICTORY.\n\nEndorsed by French Boxing Federation.\n\nParis, September 29. The French Boxing Federation has endorsed the decision of the judges in the Carpentier-Siki fight and approved Siki's claim to the light-heavyweight championship of the world.\n\nARMS TRAFFIC.\n\nFull Sentence Imposed.\n\nWhen charged today with trafficking in arms on river boats, the prisoner was found guilty. Inspector Fallon prosecuted, and asked the Magistrate to pass an exemplary sentence, pointing out that this trafficking in arms was attaining serious proportions. The Magistrate accordingly imposed the full penalty of a year's hard labour on the prisoner.\n\nThe Chinese detective, Sin Cheun, who was shot by the armed men, was taken to the Government Civil Hospital, but the wound was serious and the gallant man expired shortly after admission.\n\nA report was made to the police by the accountant of the Wong Tak Loong, import and export firm, occupying the first and second floors of No. 26 Wing Wo Street, to the effect that the gang entered the premises at 7.30, being armed with daggers and revolvers which they used to intimidate the twelve fokia of the firm.\n\nAfter being bound and gagged, the victims were all bundled into one room whilst the process of ransacking the floors took place. From a safe, the robbers took a sum of $4,176, some American money, and a gold watch and chain, the value of which is unknown.\n\nHONGKONG FINANCES.\n\nA Healthy Outlook.\n\nHongkong's finances continue in a healthy state. The figures for the first half of the year are now available. These show that at the end of June there was a balance of $11,512,230, which compares with $7, $7,810,494 during the first half of 1921. The increase was largely due to more receipts from land sales, which produced no less than $2,197,356, against $208,627 for 1921.\n\nDuring the month of June, the revenue was $1,646,108, this comparing with $1,372,442 for June, 1921.\n\nThe total expenditure during the half year was $8,278,026, this contrasting with $6,421,324 for the first six months of 1921, there being considerable increases in Miscellaneous Expenditure and Public Works Extraordinary. For the month of June, the outgoings totalled $1,519,647, compared with $1,066,426 in June last year.\n\nV.R.C. SPORTS.\n\nSecond Day's Events.\n\nThe attendance on the second day of the annual sports carnival of the Victoria Recreation Club left much to be desired, for it was the poorest on record. However, there were enough competitors to make every race interesting, the 220 yards Championship being the outstanding feature of the day.\n\nIn the absence of Johnstone, Lyon was favourite, though with rivals of the capability of Laing and Jack, the finish was a hot one. Lyon set the pace, and in the fourth length, the tussle between Laing and Jack for second place became very keen. Jack had enjoyed the advantage, but in this length, Laing made up and was ahead of the former by a mere matter of feet. The race then resolved itself principally into a tussle between these two for second place, Laing eventually beating Jack by a few seconds. Lyon's win yesterday makes his third championship success in this year's sports. Time—D. Lyon, 2 mins. 40 secs.; D. Laing, 2 mins. 47 secs.\n\nFollowing are the results of the other events:\n\nFour lengths handicap (members).—1, S. A. Marcal; 2, T. Stewart. Time 1 min. 13 sec.\n\nLong plunge.—1, M. Souza; 2. B. Rasmussen. Distance 58 ft. 2 ins.\n\nTwo lengths handicap (open).—1, Baldwin, 2, G. McDade.\n\nTwo lengths test race (men).—1, D. Lyon, V. Ramsay, A. A. R. Remedio, W. Hyde, A. Kitchell, G. A. Razavet, and D. Ogilvie. Time 3 mins. 38 secs.\n\n100 yards boys' championship.—1, A. May; 2, J. Montalto. Time 1 min. 7-2/5 secs.\n\nFour lengths handicap (ladies).—1, Miss R. Kitchell; 2, Miss E. Bell. Time 1 min. 40 secs.\n\nFour lengths handicap (girls) 1st. heat.—1, E. Allen; 2, Molly Groundwater. 2nd. heat.—1, E. Bliss; 2, B. Pathejohns.\n\nTwo lengths handicap (boys).—1st. heat.—1, A. May; 2, W. Tillery. 2nd. heat.—1, W. G. Urquhart; 2;, L. Rozs Pereira. 3rd. heat.—1, A. Bliss; 2; F. Suzara. 4th. heat.—1, H. Watson; 2, G. Noronha. 5th. heat.—1, J. Montalto; 2, M. Noronha.\n\nCANTON'S FINANCES.\n\nReported Conclusion of Foreign Loan.\n\nOur Canton correspondent states that the members of the Provincial Assembly, on hearing that a foreign loan of £2,000,000 has been concluded and was signed by the Civil Governor on the 28th instant, are keen to know the details of the scheme.\n\nIRISH POSTAL SETTLEMENT.\n\nLondon, September 29. The report of the Fourth Commission shows that the League of Nations is financially stressed, owing to the non-payment of contributions totalling 5,000,000 gold francs for 1921 and the payment so far of only 55 per cent. of the 1922 contributions while the Budget has increased to 25 millions.\n\nThe Irish postal settlement provides that three-eighths of the proposed wage reduction shall operate from September 1st, and the remainder from December 1st. The submitted to and approved by the Assembly.\n\nAn Unsatisfactory Position.\n\nGeneva, September 29.\n\nLISTEN!\n\nMake a hobby of your advertising.\n\nThe full week-end programme at the World Theatre is given on page 4.\n\n\"The Witness for the Defence\" is being shown at the Star Theatre tonight.—Page 4.\n\nTo-Day's Exchange. The closing rate of the dollar on demand today was 2s, 6.13/16d\n\nLighting Up-Time. Lighting-up time today, 6.13 p.m.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-476 - Acting Governor Claud Severn & Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [8-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493653, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 44, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "into force at once. An alternative proposal was made by the British Government that the ratification and enforcement of the Convention should be made one of the terms of the Conditions of Peace. This proposal was eventually adopted, and Articles in similar terms were inserted in all the Treaties of Peace, which provided that ratification of the Treaty should be deemed to be equivalent to ratification of the Convention, and that the necessary legislation to give effect to the Convention should be passed within 12 months from the coming into force of the Treaty.\n\nFurther, it was agreed in the Treaties that, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international conventions existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the League of Nations should be entrusted with the general supervision over the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs.\n\n# PART IV. THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE OPIUM CONVENTION.\n\nIn 1920, the British Government passed the legislation necessary to give effect in the United Kingdom to the Opium Convention as required by the Treaties of Peace. This legislation, which is entitled \"The Dangerous Drugs Act, 1920,\" and the Regulations and Orders which have been made under it, establish a complete system of control over the drugs to which the Convention applies. No person can lawfully import, export, manufacture or supply the drugs unless he is licensed or authorized for the purpose, and no person may have such drugs in his possession unless he is so licensed or authorized, or unless they have been prescribed for his use by a duly qualified medical practitioner, dentist, etc. Opium smoking is absolutely prohibited.\n\nAs regards exports of the drugs, a separate licence has to be obtained in respect of each consignment proposed to be exported.\n\nThe necessary measures for the control of the traffic in accordance with the Convention have also been taken (or in a few cases are in process of being taken) in all the colonies, possessions and protectorates of the British Empire.\n\nIn the case of the self-governing Dominions, the responsibility for the enforcement of the Convention rests with the Dominion Governments, by whom effective measures are being taken.\n\n# PART V. THE WORK OF THE OPIUM ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.\n\nAt the first meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations the question of the arrangements to be made by the League for the execution of the supervisory duties entrusted to it by the Treaties came up for consideration, and it was proposed by Mr. Barnes, one of the delegates of the British Government, that an Advisory Committee should be appointed in order to secure the fullest possible cooperation between the various countries in regard to the matter and to assist and advise the Council in dealing with any questions that may arise, special provision being made for the representation on the Committee of the United States of America and other countries not members of the League, whose co-operation was important. This proposal was adopted. The first meeting of the Committee was held in May, 1921. At this meeting, on the motion of the British representative, the Committee decided on two important recommendations, the first that all members of the League should be asked to adopt a system of control over imports and exports by means of importation certificates, on the lines on which the British Government had already been proceeding; the other that an inquiry should be made into the world's requirements of the drugs. The system of importation certificates was approved by the Council and Assembly of the League and recommended for adoption to all members of the League. The British Government has accepted the system both for the United Kingdom and for its colonies (other than the Dominions), possessions and protectorates.\n\n# PART VI. OPIUM SMOKING IN BRITISH COLONIES.\n\nBy the Second Part of the Opium Convention, the contracting Powers undertook to take measures for the gradual and effective suppression of the manufacture of, internal trade in, and use of prepared opium (i.e., smoking opium). Opium smoking is still permitted in certain British Colonies, and it is desirable to state what steps have been taken to carry out the obligations undertaken in the Treaty, and what is the present position.\n\nThe Colonies or Possessions where opium smoking is still allowed by law are Hong Kong, the Straits Settlements and Malay States, British North Borneo, Ceylon and Wei-hai-wei.\n\nHong Kong. With the exception of the small European, Eurasian and Indian communities, the population is entirely Chinese (according to Census of 1921, Chinese 610,368, others 14,798). The public smoking resorts, known as opium divans, were finally abolished in 1910, and in 1914 the monopoly, which previously had been farmed out, was taken by the Government into its own hands. A reduction in the consumption has been gradually effected, until it has fallen in the last 10 years from 900 chests to 240 per annum. This has been brought about partly by the increasing strictness of the Government control, partly by the raising of the selling price of opium. Purchasers are limited to one tael (=1.4 oz.) at a time, except in the case of certain registered persons, who may buy three-tael tins, and no one may have more than five taels in his possession. At the same time the price has been gradually advanced from $5.50 to $15 a tael. The consumption amounts at the present time to something less than 1 oz. per annum of raw opium per head of the Chinese population, and as it is anticipated that new smokers will not to any extent take the place of the present old smokers, a continual diminution of consumption is expected to occur. To prevent smuggling out of the Colony the opium is packed in such a way that it easily leaks out from its receptacle.\n\nIt is considered doubtful whether further restrictive measures would produce any good result.\n\nPage 7\n\nPage 41", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493682, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 73, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "into force at once. An alternative proposal was made by the British Government that the ratification and enforcement of the Convention should be made one of the terms of the Conditions of Peace. This proposal was eventually adopted, and Articles in similar terms were inserted in all the Treaties of Peace, which provided that ratification of the Treaty should be deemed to be equivalent to ratification of the Convention, and that the necessary legislation to give effect to the Convention should be passed within 12 months from the coming into force of the Treaty.\n\nFurther, it was agreed in the Treaties that subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international conventions existing or hereafter to be agreed upon the League of Nations should be entrusted with the general supervision over the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs.\n\n# PART IV. THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE OPIUM CONVENTION.\n\nIn 1920, the British Government passed the legislation necessary to give effect in the United Kingdom to the Opium Convention as required by the Treaties of Peace. This legislation, which is entitled \"The Dangerous Drugs Act, 1920,\" and the Regulations and Orders which have been made under it, establish a complete system of control over the drugs to which the Convention applies. No person can lawfully import, export, manufacture or supply the drugs unless he is licensed or authorized for the purpose, and no person may have such drugs in his possession unless he is so licensed or authorized, or unless they have been prescribed for his use by a duly qualified medical practitioner, dentist, etc. Opium smoking is absolutely prohibited.\n\nAs regards exports of the drugs, a separate licence has to be obtained in respect of each consignment proposed to be exported.\n\nThe necessary measures for the control of the traffic in accordance with the Convention have also been taken (or in a few cases are about to be taken) in all the colonies, possessions and protectorates of the British Empire.\n\nIn the case of the self-governing Dominions, the responsibility for the enforcement of the Convention rests with the Dominion Governments, by whom effective measures are being taken.\n\n# PART V.--THE WORK OF THE OPIUM ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.\n\nAt the first meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations the question of the arrangements to be made by the League for the execution of the supervisory duties entrusted to it by the Treaties came up for consideration, and it was proposed by Mr. Barnes, one of the delegates of the British Government, that an Advisory Committee should be appointed \"in order to secure the fullest possible co-operation between the various countries in regard to the matter and to assist and advise the Council in dealing with any questions that may arise\" special provision being made for the representation on the Committee of the United States of America and other countries, not members of the League, whose co-operation was important. This proposal was adopted. The first meeting of the Committee was held in May, 1921. At this meeting, on the motion of the British representative, the Committee decided on two important recommendations, the first that all members of the League should be asked to adopt a system of control over imports and exports by means of importation certificates, on the lines on which the British Government had already been proceeding; the other that an inquiry should be made into the world's requirements of the drugs. The system of importation certificates was approved by the Council and Assembly of the League and recommended for adoption to all members of the League. The British Government has accepted the system both for the United Kingdom and for its colonies (other than the Dominions), possessions and protectorates.\n\n# PART VI. OPIUM SMOKING IN BRITISH COLONIES.\n\nBy the Second Part of the Opium Convention, the contracting Powers undertook to take measures for the gradual and effective suppression of the manufacture of, internal trade in, and use of prepared opium (i.e., smoking opium). Opium smoking is still permitted in certain British Colonies, and it is desirable to state what steps have been taken to carry out the obligations undertaken in the Treaty, and what is the present position.\n\nThe Colonies or Possessions where opium smoking is still allowed by law are Hong Kong, the Straits Settlements and Malay States, British North Borneo, Ceylon and Wei-hai-wei.\n\nHong Kong. With the exception of the small European, Eurasian and Indian colonies, the population is entirely Chinese (according to Census of 1921, Chinese 610,368, others 14,798). The public smoking resorts, known as opium divans, were finally abolished in 1910, and in 1914 the monopoly, which previously had been farmed out, was taken by the Government into its own hands. A reduction in the consumption has been gradually effected, until it has fallen in the last 10 years from 900 chests to 240 per annum. This has been brought about partly by the increasing strictness of the Government control, partly by the raising of the selling price of opium. Purchasers are limited to one tael (=1/3 oz.) at a time, except in the case of certain registered persons, who may buy three-tael tins, and no one may have more than five taels in his possession. At the same time the price has been gradually advanced from $5.50 to $15 a tael. The consumption amounts at the present time to something less than 1 oz. per annum of raw opium per head of the Chinese population, and as it is anticipated that new smokers will not to any extent take the place of the present old smokers, a continual diminution of consumption is expected to occur. To prevent smuggling out of the Colony the opium is packed in such a way that it easily leaks out from its receptacle.\n\nIt is considered doubtful whether further restrictive measures would produce any good result. The essential difficulty of the situation\n\nPage 7\n\n...\n\nPage 70", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493708, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 99, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "38\n\n# CHAPTER VII.\n\n## THE POSITION OF INDIA IN RELATION TO THE WORLD'S OPIUM PROBLEM.\n\nIn view of the facts that have been related in the previous chapters, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the attacks which have been made on the production and export of Indian opium were based on an uninformed and impatient idealism. India has been accused of failure to carry out the terms of the Hague Convention, and of flooding the world with her opium. It is hoped that the falseness of these ideas has been clearly demonstrated, but it may be well in conclusion to summarise briefly the action that has been taken by the Government of India, and to place the production and export of Indian opium in its true perspective, a correct understanding of which is essential if any hope is to be entertained of confining the world production of opium to legitimate purposes.\n\nThe principles embodied in the Hague Convention have been accepted and acted upon by the Government of India for many years past. Long before the Convention was framed India gave a ready assent to assist the Government of China in the great task of suppressing poppy cultivation which that Government undertook in 1906, an assent that involved a sacrifice of four millions sterling annually. The sacrifice was voluntarily and willingly made, though the sum lost represented no less than 8 per cent. of India's net revenue at that time, and necessitated the imposition of fresh taxation in India. This action was taken in spite of grave doubts as to the possibility of suppressing the opium traffic in China, doubts which experience has proved only too well founded, and two years before the formulation of international opinion at the Shanghai Conference of 1909. Nor did India's co-operation end with the cessation of export to China. In order to guard against the smuggling of Indian opium into China, in 1912 she subjected her exports to markets outside China to a maximum limit of 13,200 chests, a reduction of 20 per cent. on the normal requirements of those markets, and a maximum limit has been imposed ever since.\n\nThe cessation of the China trade reduced the Indian export trade to very small proportions compared with the world supply. When all importing Governments faithfully carry out the provisions of the Hague Convention, and as the progressive suppression of opium smoking by those Governments begins to take effect, it is possible that they may take still less opium from India. In view of the fact, which cannot be too strongly emphasised, that effectual international action on the lines laid down in the Hague Convention is necessary for the attainment of the objects aimed at by that Convention, the Government of India would be fully justified in refusing to assent to a modification of the Convention in the direction of greater stringency until the results of concerted and effectual action by all the signatories have been seen.\n\n39\n\nIndia exports no opium to any country that prohibits imports, she is ready to export no opium to any country in excess of the amount which the Government of that country expresses a wish to obtain, and, in order to place the responsibility for regulating import directly and publicly upon the Government of the importing country, she has followed since 1915 a policy of selling her opium direct to foreign Governments wherever that course has proved possible. Three-quarters of the amount exported is disposed of in this way, and attempts are even now being made to extend the system to the remaining considerable importers of Indian opium. Should these attempts prove successful, the Calcutta auction sales would in all probability cease, and the private merchant would be entirely eliminated. But even as regards the small quantity at present disposed of by public auction, amounting for the calendar year 1921 to 705 chests, the Governments of the importing countries have the fullest power of control. In this connection it may be noted that the Assembly of the League of Nations at its second session proposed that all Governments should adopt a licensing system for imports and exports of opium and other dangerous drugs. If this proposal is adopted responsibility for imports will be placed upon the Government of the importing country in the clearest possible manner.\n\nThe position as regards the import and export of the drugs other than raw opium referred to in the Convention was described in the last chapter, and can be very briefly disposed of here. The export of prepared opium is prohibited, and none has ever been exported from India. Medicinal opium is not manufactured in India, and has never been exported. The imports of morphia are small and those of cocaine negligible. No cocaine is manufactured in India or exported, nor is morphia, except in so far as certain waste products at the Government opium factory of Ghazipur are capable of being used for this purpose; until recently some of these were exported to England.\n\nThe question of consumption of opium in India was dealt with in Chapters III. and IV. Briefly summarised, the position is as follows:-\n\nThe production and distribution of opium is most strictly regulated from the time the poppy seed is sown to the time the opium reaches the consumer. Cultivation, production, manufacture, transport, sale, possession and use are controlled with a completeness and precision probably unequalled by any other country in the world. At the beginning of the 19th century it was the wish of the East India Company entirely to suppress the consumption of opium in India, but...\n\n96", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493709, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 100, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "Owing to the facilities for smuggling opium from the Indian States and elsewhere, and the deeply-rooted nature of the habit, it proved impossible to pursue the ideal of prohibition, and a policy was substituted which aimed at keeping the consumption within the strictest possible limits by continuously raising the cost of opium to the consumer. The success of that policy cannot be gainsaid. The population of British India to-day consumes annually 26 grains of opium per head, 20 grains less than the probable per capita consumption of the United States of America, and a very small fraction of the per capita consumption of other opium-consuming countries in the East.\n\nIn India proper, apart from Burma, opium smoking seems only to an extremely limited extent. It is strongly reprobated by public opinion, and the Government of India have done everything short of absolute legal prohibition to check the practice. The manufacture of opium for smoking, except by an individual for his own use, is prohibited; opium smoking preparations cannot be bought; the amount of opium an individual can obtain for manufacture into preparations is strictly limited; and the amount he can have in his possession is generally limited to 90 grains. Opium smoking is essentially a social vice, and the question of making illegal any assembly of three or more persons for the purpose of smoking is at present being considered by Local Governments, together with the question of the practicability of prohibiting opium smoking altogether.\n\nBurma, where opium smoking was introduced from China, and affects Burmans adversely, presents a separate problem. Since 1885 there has been absolute prohibition of the use of opium except for medical purposes for all Burmans in Upper Burma. The same prohibition has been in force since 1887 in Lower Burma, except for registered consumers. No new consumers are registered, and the number has now fallen from 34,000 to 5,405. The population of Burma consists of 12,000,000 people. Non-Burmans in Upper Burma, and non-Burmans and registered Burmans in Lower Burma can obtain opium at licensed shops, subject to limitations of amount, but, as in the rest of India, the sale of prepared opium is prohibited.\n\nThose who advocate the suppression of poppy cultivation in India do so on two grounds. First, that the inhabitants of India are being drugged against their will, and, second, that India is flooding the world, especially China, with her opium. Space need not be wasted over the first of these contentions. It has been seen that the Government have been engaged in a struggle to keep the consumption of opium in India as low as possible during the last hundred years, and the opinions expressed by the Royal Commission of 1893 were described in Chapter I. If the Government of India ceased to control the production of opium and prohibited poppy cultivation in British India, an unregulated supply would at once begin to flow from the Indian States, over the border from China, and from Persia and the Levant. Armies could not stop it. Further, as Provincial Governments have now been invested with control over excise, it may be expected that under the pressure of public opinion, exerted through the new Legislative Councils, the policy of restriction hitherto followed will not be abandoned. It may indeed become more stringent.\n\nIt is not clear why the delusion should persist in some quarters that India floods the world with opium, and that Indian production is responsible for the morphia epidemic in China and the Western countries. Once the amount of opium produced in India and exported is viewed in its proper perspective, compared with production and export in other parts of the world, that delusion must immediately vanish. The legitimate markets for Indian opium, apart from export to China, took 16,000 chests of Indian opium a year in days when the China trade was in full swing, and there was no inducement to smuggle to that country. Now those markets take only 6,000 to 11,000 chests, and will very probably take less in future. Indian opium is not exported to the United States, and Chinese opium is sold retail in China at less than the cost of production in India. Such are the facts regarding the statements sometimes made that India is drenching America and China with her opium.\n\nThe production of opium by the Government of India in 1919-20, including a certain quantity supplied by the Native States, amounted to 936 tons, of which 643 tons were exported. In 1906 China produced 34,852 tons, and in 1908, according to an estimate by Mr. Hamilton Wright, 21,887 tons. So far as it is possible to ascertain, she produces to-day about 20 per cent. of her output in 1906, say 7,000 tons, or more than seven times the production of India. So far as Turkey is concerned, accurate information is not obtainable in respect of total production, but authorities agree that in normal times the average Turkish export amounts to 7,000 chests annually, each chest containing 150 lbs. of opium, rising in a good year to 12,000 chests. Seven thousand chests of Turkish opium represent by weight 469 tons, but when comparing Turkish with Indian opium it must be remembered that the former contains 12 per cent. of morphine, while the average morphine content of Indian opium is only 8 per cent. Seven thousand chests (469 tons) of Turkish opium are the equivalent in morphine of 662 tons of Indian opium, and Turkey has not signed the Hague Convention. Persia, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, produced 10,000 piculs of opium in 1907, nearly all of which was exported, and there is no reason to believe she exports much less to-day. Ten thousand piculs (594 tons by weight) of opium, with a morphia content of 12 per cent., are equivalent to 838 tons of Indian opium containing only 8 per cent. of morphine, and Persia signed the Hague Convention with a reservation of Article 3 (a), which deals...\n\nPage 41\n\n...\n\nPage 40\n\n97\n\nL\n\nPage 42\n\n4983\n\nE", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 494184, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 576, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "COPY.\n\nSociete des Nations.\n\nGENEVA.\n\n569\n\nLeague of Nations.\n\n20th February, 1922.\n\nMy dear Sir Malcolm,\n\nYou will doubtless remember that during the last Assembly it was tentatively arranged that Mr. Wessels - an opium expert from Holland - would be secured to prepare the material for the second Session of the Opium Committee if the services of a special man were required for that work. In view of the fact that Dr. Yen is not returning until late in the Spring, it now seems quite necessary to secure someone for this preparatory work. I wrote accordingly to Mr. Van Wettum about getting Mr. Wessels here, but Mr. van Wettum's reply came in this morning saying that on account of sickness it was impossible for Mr. Wessels to come to Geneva and take on the work which we expected him to do. Mr. van Wettum said, too, that he did not know of anyone capable of taking Mr. Wessels' place and he suggested that I might approach you about securing someone.\n\nI remember that in one of your recent letters you spoke of the possibility of securing the co-operation of Consuls returned from the Far East for any special work on opium questions, and I hope very much that you will be able to suggest someone who can do this expert work during the next two months. You know the type of man required and the work to be done much better than I do, but I will drop down a few points which occur to me in this connection:\n\nThe expert should be prepared to assist the Secretary to the Committee in preparing the material received from the various Governments for the April Meeting, i.e. replies to the questionnaire, replies concerning the Importation Certificates, etc. He would, I think, work largely independently of the Secretary to the Committee in so far as the technical work is concerned. The preparation of the material for the meeting would consist, as I see the situation, in preparing summary reports on the various items on the Agenda and also in making an analytical study of this material from the legal and practical standpoints. The expert should, of course, have a good working knowledge of French as well as English, and I think that knowledge of other languages might also be of assistance.\n\nWe should have someone who would be prepared to start work in Geneva early in March and who would plan to stay here for at least six weeks - and probably two months. If everything went well I believe he would be of the greatest service in assisting the Secretary of the Committee during the Meeting in April and also in winding up affairs afterwards, therefore, that the man chosen will envisage this also in his two months' programme. In the case of Mr. Wessels, it was understood that his salary should be at the rate of £70 per month, with travelling expenses in addition.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 496022, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923", "page_number": 102, "title": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923", "content_text": "## 9 \n\n## 8 \n\nMr. CAMPBELL (India) said that he saw no actual objection to the Chairman's proposal with reference to the principle of reciprocity. Certain countries, however, might consider it to their advantage to remain detached from the system, and the Committee might thus fail to obtain the universality which it desired.\n\nThe CHAIRMAN agreed that the introduction of the system piecemeal on a reciprocity basis could only be considered as a temporary and provisional arrangement.\n\nThe discussion continued on the dangers of reciprocity.\n\nSir John JORDAN and Mr. CAMPBELL agreed with the views expressed by the Chairman.\n\nMr. CAMPBELL thought that the Committee should press as strongly as possible for the general adoption of the system of importation certificates, as this was its only means of controlling the consumption of opium.\n\nOn the CHAIRMAN's proposal, it was agreed that Mr. Campbell should draft a resolution to be submitted to the Committee at the afternoon meeting.\n\n### 4. Report on the Progress of the Enquiry regarding the Production, Distribution, etc., of Cocaine\n\nThe SECRETARY read the third part of her report (`O. C. 60`).\n\nMr. CAMPBELL stated that there was no manufacturing or production of cocaine in India. Importation was only authorised for medical purposes.\n\nThe total consumption was about 140 ounces per year for a population of 320,000,000 inhabitants, which was very little. In fact, it might be said that there was no local cocaine problem in India; what smuggling there was, was by sea.\n\nThe CHAIRMAN thought that the particulars of seizure communicated by the Indian Government showed that there was a fairly widespread illicit traffic in cocaine in India.\n\nSir John JORDAN asked where cocaine was manufactured.\n\nThe CHAIRMAN replied that the four principal manufacturing countries were the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and France. A certain amount was also manufactured, he believed, in the Japanese Empire. He was not aware whether any was made in the United States of America.\n\nDr. ANSELMINO (Germany) stated that he knew of an exchange of correspondence concerning the proposed building of a cocaine factory in Latvia. The export from Germany into Latvia of a considerable quantity of raw cocaine had been asked for, but the German Government had refused to grant it.\n\nThe illicit use of cocaine was increasing in every country in the world. To combat this practice, it would be necessary, first of all, to persuade the medical profession that the medicinal use of cocaine was indispensable only in very rare cases, and that, in general, it could be replaced by other non-injurious drugs. The small quantities actually needed could be supplied by a central official authority to the few doctors who might require them.\n\nA second preventive method would be to add a colouring matter which would immediately betray the consumer of cocaine, but it would have to be ensured that all manufacturers treated cocaine with this colouring matter.\n\nHe begged the Committee to consider his suggestions at its next session.\n\nThe CHAIRMAN suggested that Dr. Anselmino should send to the Secretariat a note setting out his suggestions, which would then be circulated.\n\nM. BOURGOIS (France) requested further particulars regarding the very interesting suggestions of Dr. Anselmino, and asked whether coloured cocaine had already been used in medicine.\n\nDr. ANSELMINO replied that the experiments made hitherto had chiefly been in the laboratory, but that, in any case, colouring in cocaine was not injurious to sick persons.\n\nThe CHAIRMAN expressed regret that the replies to the enquiry were coming in so slowly. The Committee could do no useful work as long as the necessary information regarding cocaine production was lacking.\n\nSir John JORDAN and M. van WETTUM (Netherlands) supported this statement.\n\nM. BOURGOIS stated that France's reply would very shortly be forthcoming.\n\nDr. ANSELMINO stated that he could not fix a date for the German reply.\n\nM. van WETTUM (Netherlands) asked whether the Committee, at its last meeting, requested the Dutch Government to supply information regarding cocaine traffic in 1921.\n\nThe SECRETARY said that on June 1st all the Governments had been asked to communicate any figures which might be available, but that no year had been specified.\n\nThe CHAIRMAN suggested that, as it was essential for the progress of the Committee's work to have figures of cocaine production, the Secretary-General should be asked to send a communication to the Governments of the chief manufacturing and producing countries concerned, requesting them to provide this information as soon as possible.\n\nM. BOURGOIS (France) requested that if Document `O. C. 60` were placed before the Council or the Assembly, mention should be made of the fact that France's reply was only lacking owing to an unavoidable delay, and that it would be forwarded immediately.\n\nThis proposal was adopted.\n\nThe CHAIRMAN asked whether anyone wished to make any observations on the resolutions passed by the Committee in April last.\n\nThere being none, the meeting rose at 12.45 p.m.\n\n## 100", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 496024, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923", "page_number": 104, "title": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923", "content_text": "12 ---- \n13 - \n102 \n\nThe SECRETARY answered in the affirmative. \n\nThe Committee adopted this procedure. \n\nDr. ANSELMINO (Germany) stated that the Chairman had sent him a list of seizures made in Great Britain. He had asked his Government's permission to reply to communications of the Chairman, Secretariat, members, and Assessors of the Committee. This permission had been granted him. \n\nHe explained that the French police authorities had seized at Saint-Nazaire three cases, each containing 5 kilos of cocaine, and bearing the label of a Darmstadt factory. The boat on which the seizure had been made came from Mexico and touched at Santander, where the cocaine had been loaded. The German firm concerned said that the labels should be carefully examined because they were often falsified. It was also discovered that a firm in Hongkong had ordered 1,500,000 falsified labels. \n\nM. BOURGOIS (France) said that he had received information concerning this particularly interesting case. The French police authorities had seized cocaine in quantities which were sometimes so considerable that it wondered whether the trafficker had not obtained his stocks directly from the firm. \n\nHe asked Dr. Anselmino if the sale of cocaine was unrestricted in Germany. \n\nDr. ANSELMINO answered that it was controlled. \n\nThe CHAIRMAN said that the British authorities had also seized cocaine on ships that had touched at Santander. \n\nDr. ANSELMINO said that the authorities at Santander had seized cocaine that was marked as sent by the firm Schering in Berlin. This firm had never exported to Spain, only to Portugal; from examination of the labels, the routes followed could be recognised from the letters and figures inscribed thereon. German manufacturers demanded that, in the case of the seizure of an entire bottle, or less, a label should be shown. \n\nThe CHAIRMAN asked Dr. Anselmino if he could give this information to the Governments concerned. \n\nDr. ANSELMINO replied in the affirmative. \n\nSir John JORDAN pointed out that such falsifications were common in the Far East. English labels had also been falsified. \n\nThe CHAIRMAN asked the Committee if it would not be advisable for the Secretariat to communicate with the Spanish Government as to the seizures on ships from Santander. \n\nThe Committee agreed. \n\n## 7. The Compilation of a Black List (Document Q.C. 64)\n\nThe CHAIRMAN said that he found that there had been a misunderstanding as to the meaning of this suggestion. \n\nHe read the relevant document and suggested that the Secretariat should communicate the particulars in the \"black list\" to the various competent authorities to which it would be useful. \n\nSir John JORDAN stated that it would be an excellent thing if the names of traders were published. In Northern China, such a procedure had an excellent result and diminished the traffic. \n\nThe CHAIRMAN said that it might not be advisable to let the illicit traders know that their names were known. \n\nMr. CAMPBELL (India) was of the opinion that this would mean a heavy burden on the Secretariat. Chinamen and Laskars employed on ships plying between Europe and the East were largely concerned in the illicit trade, but it would be difficult to transcribe their names properly. In the case of Indians, a man's name alone would usually be insufficient to identify him. Names could also easily be changed. \n\nHe thought the local police authorities, in direct communication with the police of the second country, could perhaps best deal with such cases. \n\nM. BOURGOIS (France) wished to know whether the list was to be confidential. \n\nSir John JORDAN did not think it necessary. \n\nThe CHAIRMAN said he had in view, not the Chinese and Laskar sailors who mostly smuggled in a small way, but the traders who practised the traffic on an international scale, for which a big capital was needed. As each one of these was discovered, it was desirable that the Governments should be informed so that they could be on their guard. \n\nMr. CAMPBELL (India) said that if the list were limited in such a way, the system was worth trying. \n\nSir John JORDAN was of the opinion that publicity would do much good in the case stated in Document Q.C. 64. There had been some years ago a Chinese syndicate in Liverpool that introduced large quantities of drugs without the police being able to discover the culprits. Publicity would have helped the police in that case. It had already stopped the traffic organised by large associations which could not have been stopped before. \n\nThe CHAIRMAN suggested that the Secretariat should be asked to prepare the black list without any formal resolution of the Committee. It should request the various Governments to communicate the relevant cases. The results should be examined at the next session of the Committee, which would then be in a position to judge the usefulness of the procedure. \n\nPublicity might have served the fight against the traffic in China, but the situation was not the same in Europe. \n\nIn any case, the Secretariat should communicate the list to the Governments concerned. \n\nSir John JORDAN asked by which channel this communication should be made, as the diplomatic channel was slow. \n\nThe SECRETARY thought that, as there was no other channel, it should use the diplomatic channel to begin with. \n\nM. CHAO-HSIN CHU (China) said that the smugglers were foreigners as well as Chinese, for nine out of ten traders condemned were not Chinese. \n\nM. BOURGOIS (France) stated that the system of black lists appeared to him to involve certain dangers, as it caused suspicion to rest indefinitely upon traders who might only have offended once. The public list appeared to him to be inadmissible, contrary to custom and even to law. The Committee could perhaps recommend an exchange in certain cases of confidential communications between the police authorities. The question was very interesting but extremely delicate and required thorough consideration. \n\nMr. CAMPBELL was of the opinion that it might be advisable to postpone this question to the next session in view of the divergence of opinion, as some of the members of the Committee might like to receive further instructions from their Governments. \n\nThe CHAIRMAN agreed. \n\nSir John JORDAN said that there should be more co-ordination in that matter between the various Governments. \n\nOn the CHAIRMAN's proposal, the Committee decided to ask the Secretary to draft a report on the basis of the discussion; this report would be considered at the next session. \n\n## 8. Prepared Opium: Can this at any time be considered legitimate?\n\nM. van WETTUM (Netherlands) explained that he wanted to know the exact meaning of the words \"legitimate\" and \"illegitimate\" as given on page 51 (English text) of the minutes of the last session. \n\nHe said that, according to page 51 of the Minutes of the Committee's second session (English text), the Chairman had said that the Second Assembly had deleted from Dr. Wellington Koo's resolution the reference to prepared opium, precisely on the grounds that prepared opium had been declared illegitimate by the Opium Convention and that that Convention had made provision for its gradual suppression. \n\nThe speaker referred to pages 506 and 507 of the Assembly Records—Meetings of Committees. There one saw, with regard to Dr. Wellington Koo's resolution (page 506), that the word \"legitimate\" was to be substituted for \"medicinal and scientific\" and that the reference to opium prepared for purposes of smoking was to be omitted, the complete suppression of which was provided for in Chapter II of the Convention. \n\nIn consequence of these alterations, the word \"legitimate\" in the amended resolution was only used with regard to raw opium and had the special meaning (see page 507) of medical in rather a broad and scientific sense. \n\nHe opposed, therefore, the use of the word \"illegitimate\" as the Chairman had done and declared that, so long as a country did not prohibit the use of prepared opium, that use was, under the restrictions of the local law, to be considered as legitimate.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 496347, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923", "page_number": 427, "title": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923", "content_text": "## Page 425\n\nThe Council, at its meeting on September 29th, considered these two resolutions, and adopted the following resolution, which decides the place where the Conference is to be held and fixes the provisional date: **The Council of the League of Nations**, while reserving until its December session the final fixing of the Conferences provided for by the Assembly in connection with the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs, decides, provisionally, that the first Conference of countries having possessions where the sucking of opium is still continued should be convened at Geneva in July 1924, the second Conference to follow immediately afterwards.\n\nThe Secretary-General has the honour to bring this information to the notice of the Government of ... with a view to enabling it to make such preliminary arrangements as it may deem advisable to obtain the data which it will desire to place at the disposal of the Conference.\n\nThe question as to whether the Conference should be enlarged so as to include within its scope all countries which are Members of the League or Parties to the Convention of 1912 will be considered at the coming meeting of the Council in December next.\n\nI have the honour to be,\n**Erie Dummond**\nSecretary-General.\n\n## Page 2", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 496348, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923", "page_number": 428, "title": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923", "content_text": "## 3134/5/87)\n\n**LEAGUE OF NATIONS**\n\nGeneva, \nOctober 19th 1923.\n\n426\n\nMy Lord,\n\nI have the honour to refer to my communication No. C.L. 108, dated October 18th, 1923, in which the attention of your government was drawn to certain resolutions adopted by the Assembly relative to the calling of two Conferences to consider the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs.\n\nThe Council decided provisionally that the first Conference should be called for the month of July 1924, and that the second Conference should follow immediately afterwards; and further instructed me to take all necessary action arising out of this resolution.\n\nIn pursuance of this decision, the Secretariat is arranging to prepare for the use of the Conference, summaries of all available information on the following points;\n\n1. Statistics concerning production,\n2. Statistics concerning manufacture,\n3. Statistics concerning consumption,\n4. Statistics concerning Imports and Exports,\n5. Statistics concerning estimated requirements for medical and scientific purposes.\n\nI should be very grateful if I might be furnished with any information in the possession of your Government on the above heads which has not already been communicated to the Secretariat; also if I might receive any suggestions which you may wish to put forward as regards the collection of other information which might be of value for the work of the Conferences.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed) **ERIC DRUMMOND** \nSecretary-General.\n\nSecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, \nForeign Office, \nLondon, S.W.1.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 496987, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "page_number": 233, "title": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "content_text": "## Resolution and Letter\n\nIt was by the Fifth Committee considered as urgent that both Conferences should be held as soon as possible, the more limited Conference concerning the Far East to be held first, while the other should follow, if possible, immediately after the former.\n\nIn accordance with the above considerations, the Fifth Committee recommends the Assembly to pass the following resolutions:\n\n### Resolutions\n\n#### Resolution I\nThe Assembly expresses its deep appreciation of the very valuable work done by the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and other Dangerous Drugs, adopts its report and resolutions, taking note of the reservations contained therein, and asks the Council to take the necessary steps to put these resolutions into effect.\n\n#### Resolution 2\nThe Assembly, in view of Turkey having agreed, by the Treaty of Lausanne, to adopt and to enforce the International Opium Convention of 1912, and in view of its importance as an opium-producing country, expresses the wish that the Turkish Government be invited to nominate a representative to serve on the Advisory Committee on its ratification of the Convention and signature of the final Protocol of 1914.\n\n#### Resolution 3\nThe Assembly asks the Council to repeat its request to the Governments of Albania, Argentine, Colombia, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Paraguay, Persia, and Switzerland, that they should take all possible measures with a view to the prompt ratification and application of the Opium Convention.\n\n#### Resolution 4\nThe Assembly, taking note with regret of the fact that a number of countries have not yet adopted the import certificate system as recommended by the Assembly in 1921 and 1922, reiterates the opinion expressed by the Assembly in 1922, that this system is the most practical method yet suggested for controlling the import and export of the drugs in accordance with the provisions of the International Opium Convention and that its success depends on its adoption by all countries engaged in importing or exporting the drugs: and in view of the serious difficulties created by the non-adoption up to the present, of the system by several important countries, requests that the Advisory Committee may be instructed to proceed with the consideration of the suggestion contained in the second resolution adopted by the Assembly in 1922, and to report specially to the next Assembly on the whole situation.\n\n#### Resolution 5\nThe Assembly approves the proposal of the Advisory Committee that the Governments concerned should be invited immediately to enter into negotiations with a view to the conclusion of an agreement as to the measures for giving effective application in the Far Eastern territories to Part II of the Convention and as to a reduction of the amount of raw opium to be imported for the purpose of smoking in those territories where it is temporarily continued, and as to the measures which should be taken by the Government of the Republic of China to bring about the suppression of the illegal production and use of opium in China, and requests the Council to invite those Governments to send representatives with plenipotentiary powers, to a conference for the purpose and to report to the Council at the earliest possible date.\n\n#### Resolution 6\nThe Assembly, having noted with satisfaction that, in accordance with the hope expressed in the fourth resolution adopted by the Assembly in 1922, the Advisory Committee has reported that the information now available makes it possible for the Governments concerned to examine, with a view to the conclusion of an agreement, the question of the limitation of the amounts of morphine, heroin, or cocaine and their respective salts to be manufactured; of the limitation of the amounts of raw opium and the coca leaf to be imported for that purpose and for other medicinal and scientific purposes; and of the limitation of the production of raw opium and the coca leaf for export to the amount required for such medicinal and scientific purposes, requests the Council, as a means of giving effect to the principles submitted by the representatives of the United States of America, and to the policy which the League, on the recommendation of the Advisory Committee, has adopted, to invite the Governments concerned to send representatives with plenipotentiary powers to a conference for this purpose, to be held, if possible, immediately after the conference mentioned in Resolution 5.\n\nThe Assembly also suggests, for the consideration of the Council, the advisability of enlarging this conference so as to include within its scope all countries which are Members of the League, or Parties to the Convention of 1912, with a view to securing their adhesion to the principles that may be embodied in any agreement reached.\n\n### Letter\n\nDear Paskin,\n\nHotel Metropole,\nGeneva.\n29 September, 1923.\n\nI got your letter of the 27th. Just in time to enable me to act on it.\n\nI have accordingly sent off, addressed to the Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office, a huge parcel in the British Consul's bag to the Foreign Office; it contains twenty copies each of the Minutes and Report of the Advisory Committee, of the Fifth Committee's Report to the Assembly, and of the Resolutions adopted by the Assembly; you did not ask for the last two, but they may be useful.\n\nYours ever,\nM.E. Antreno.\n\nP.S. I shall be back at the Office on the 8th; if there is anything else that you want to know, in any case, I will look in and see you.\n\nPage 227", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 497149, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "page_number": 395, "title": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "content_text": "## now \nbly \naction at the most Assembly \nin Session \nto make the \nrecommendations of the Advisory Committee \nective. \n\nI am informed that there is \nlittle doubt that the recommendations of \nthe Advisory Committee will be accepted by \n\nthe Assembly.\n\nI am aware of the measures \nwhich have already been taken in \nHong Kong for the control of the manu- \nfacture, trade in and use of prepared \nopium, and I desire to take this oppor- \ntunity of assuring you of my appreciation \nof the effective manner in which these \nmeasures are administered by your Govern- \nment.\n\n1. In this connection, \nit is antici- \npated that the proposed Conference of Powers \nwith Far East territories, which was recom- \nmended in the second resolution adopted by \nthe Advisory Committee, will take place \nprobably in the late summer of next year.\n\n2. For convenience of reference, I \nwould remind you that the text of Article 6 \nof the International Opium Convention, 1912, \nis as follows:- \n\"The Contracting Powers shall \ntake measures for the gradual and effective \nsuppression of the \nmanufacture of, internal \ntrade in, and use of prepared opium, with \ndue regard to the varying circumstances \nof each country concerned, unless regula- \ntions on the subject are already in \nexistence.\"\n\n3. I have however to inform you that \nthe British Representative on the League \nof Nations Advisory Committee on Traffic \nin Opium has repeatedly expressed to my \nofficers the view that it is difficult \nto defend the continuance, in the \nterritory of a Power which claims an \neffective observance of the Convention \nof a system in which ultimately the only \neffective checks on the amount of opium \nwhich may be consumed are (1) the high \nprice of the commodity, \nand (2) the \nfluctuations of demand, determined by \nthe purchasing power of consumers.\n\n5. It cannot be denied that \n\nDRAFT, \nMINUTE. \nSir C. Davis, \nMr. Davis, \nSir G. Grindle. \nSir H. Read. \nSir J. Masterton Smith. \nMr. Ormaby-Gore. \nDuke of Devonshire. \n389 \nLalaya \n1 \n2 \n* Annex AL - \nSir", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 497163, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "page_number": 409, "title": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "content_text": "403 \n\nCommittee effective, His Grace is informed that there is little doubt that the recommendations of the Advisory Committee will be accepted by the Assembly.\n\n2. In this event it is anticipated that the proposed Conference of Powers with Far Eastern territories, which was recommended in the second resolution adopted by the Advisory Committee, will take place probably in the summer of next year.\n\n3. In connexion with this resolution I am to remind you (for convenience of reference) that the text of Article 6 of the International Opium Convention, 1912, is as follows:- \n\"The Contracting Powers shall take measures for the gradual and effective suppression of the manufacture of, internal trade in, and use of prepared opium, with due regard to the varying circumstances of each country concerned, unless regulations on the subject are already in existence.\"\n\n4. His Grace is aware that the measures which have already been taken in North Borneo for the control of the manufacture, trade in, and use of prepared opium, comply in a large measure with the requirements of the Convention. It has, however, been represented to His Grace that, in the system of control in force in North Borneo, (in common with other British Colonies and Protectorates in the Far East), ultimately the only effective checks on the amount of opium which may be consumed are (1) the high price of the commodity and (2) the fluctuations of demand, determined by the purchasing power of consumers; and that it is difficult to defend the continuance of such a system in territory under the protection of a Power which claims an effective observance of the Convention. His Grace is compelled to agree that these observations have considerable force, and \n\n... \n`6.44421/23` \n`(4`", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 497173, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "page_number": 419, "title": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "content_text": "# TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS\n## DELFT REPORT OF THE FIFTH COMMITTEE TO THE ASSEMBLY\n\n(Rapporteur: M. Helle, son excellence.\n\n1 We have before us to-day the report of the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium, or, to be more correct, the reports of two sessions held by this Committee, one in January (`Doc.100.57-91`), the other in May this year (`Doc.2.13`). The first session was an extraordinary one, called by the Council in accordance with a resolution by the Assembly, the second was the ordinary annual meeting of the Advisory Committee.\n\nThe two reports will here be treated simultaneously, their contents being grouped so that the first part of the report will deal with the progress made since last year and present state of the work, while in a second part the plans and proposals for further progress will be considered.\n\n## PROGRESS AND PRESENT SITUATION\n\nIn its report of last year the Advisory Committee regretted that co-operation had not yet been established with some of the States most interested in the production or manufacture of opium and other drugs. A resolution was therefore...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 497184, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "page_number": 430, "title": "CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923", "content_text": "## \nIn view of the derique difficulty occasioned by the non-adoption up to the present of the system by several important countries, the Assembly might request the Council to instruct the Advisory Committee to proceed with the consideration of the suggestion contained in the second resolution adopted by the Assembly in 1922 and to report to the next Assembly on the whole situation, and as to the measures which should be taken to control the import from and export to the countries which do not accept the system, of the drugs to which the Convention applies.\n\n## 4\nA resolution ought to be passed in order to welcome the co-operation of the Government of the United States of America in dealing with the question of the abuse of dangerous drugs. The Assembly might also express agreement with the propositions made by the Delegation of the United States Government to the Advisory Committee as embodying the general principles on which the International Convention of 1912 is based, and by which the Governments should be guided.\n\n## 5\nThe members of the Fifth Committee will have noted with satisfaction that, in accordance with the hope expressed in the fourth resolution adopted by the Assembly in 1922, the Advisory Committee has reported that the information now available makes it possible for the Governments concerned to examine the question of the limitation of the production of the drugs with a view to the conclusion of an agreement on the subject. A resolution ought to be passed inviting the Council to take action to carry the proposals of the Advisory Committee into effect.\n\n424", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 498540, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924", "page_number": 211, "title": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924", "content_text": "-31- \n\n6. Consignments by parcel post to be dealt with in the same manner as other consignments.\n\n7. Raw opium or any drug falling under Chapter III of the Convention found in the possession of an unauthorised person to be seized and the person on whom it is found to be liable to either imprisonment or fine, or both in conjunction.\n\n8. Mutual and complete exchange of information between the centralised authorities in different countries.\n\n9. The inclusion of coca leaves and synthetic cocaine in the Opium Convention of 1912.\n\n## XII.\n\nThe objections against the French proposal were the following:\n\n1. It discarded completely the object of the Second Conference, which was to consider the possibility of limiting the manufacture of drugs to definite amounts corresponding to legitimate requirements. All the discussions in the Advisory Committee had been conducted on this assumption and 21 Governments had already transmitted an approximate estimate of their total requirements for internal consumption. Moreover, the Resolution of the Assembly, under which the Conference would be convened, clearly defined such limitations as the object of the Conference, whilst these proposals aimed merely at the improvement of the provisions contained in Articles 9 to 13 of the existing Hague Convention.\n\n2. It seemed to be ineffective from the international", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 498572, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924", "page_number": 243, "title": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924", "content_text": "240 \n\n## ANNEX IV (s) \n\n### DRAFT STATUTE SUBMITTED BY M. BOURGOIS.\n\n#### Explanatory Note.\n\nThe French Government realises the necessity of completing the **Opium Convention** by the adoption of new international obligations, restricting the use of the narcotics enumerated in Chapter 3 of the Convention to medical and scientific requirements.\n\nWith this object the Council and the Assembly recommended that the question of limiting the manufacture of these substances and the cultivation of the raw materials for them should be investigated.\n\nThis limitation may be either direct or indirect.\n\nThe first system, that of direct limitation, meets with difficulties which would appear insuperable.\n\nTo fix a figure for the authorised world output, and another for the proportion which might be manufactured in each country, would be to base the entire working of an international convention on two inconsistent foundations; the first of these figures is reliable, and the second is to a great extent arbitrary.\n\nIt was only possible to establish the figure of 600 milligrammes of opium per head of population, put forward by experts as representing the world requirements, by methods which the experts themselves indeed they subsequently, were the first to recognise as unreliable; in a purely arbitrary manner, reduced the figure to 450 milligrammes.\n\nThe second figure, the proportion to be allotted to each manufacturing country is immensely more difficult to determine.\n\nIt is clear from the latest official statistics that the output of the manufacturing countries varies very considerably from year to year.\n\nThus in the United States the output of morphine decreased, by nearly half (from 8,000 kilogrammes to 5,000 kilogrammes) from 1921 to 1922, as did that of cocaine (from 2,300 kilogrammes to 1,650 kilogrammes); the Japanese production of morphine decreased by over a half (from 5,000 to 2,000 kilogrammes), and that of heroin by more than four-fifths (from 2,830 kilogrammes to only 653 kilogrammes). On the other hand, during the same 12 months the British", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 498832, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924", "page_number": 503, "title": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924", "content_text": "## \n\nThe Home Secretary asked whether the American proposals had the support of the majority of the Conference. Sir Malcolm Delevingne replied that he thought that at first the majority of the delegates had been in favour of them, but he had gained the impression later that the impropriety of the Second Conference trespassing on the ground of the First Conference had begun to dawn on some of them and that their opinion was inclined to waver, particularly in view of possible trouble at the next Assembly.\n\nThe Home Secretary asked whether the American proposals would wreck the Second Conference. Sir Malcolm Delevingne replied that some at least of the seven Powers represented at the First Conference would abstain from discussing them. He himself, on express instructions, had taken that line.\n\nSir Louis Kershaw asked whether the President of the Second Conference would himself give a decision as to whether the discussion of the American proposals should be permitted, or whether he would leave it to the Conference. Sir Malcolm Delevingne replied that the President was in a position of great difficulty. If on his own initiative he ruled the American proposals out of order, it was almost certain that the American delegation would withdraw, and this was a greater responsibility than the President could be expected to take. The Americans on their part claimed to be bound by the express terms of the resolution of Congress under which they were sent. At the same time, this did not excuse the unwarranted attack made by Mr. Porter in his speech and Bishop Brent in his \"Appeal\" on the \"evasion\" by certain signatory Powers of their obligations under Chapter II of the Hague Convention, or the allegation that the draft Agreement reached at the First Conference was intended to be a method of shirking these obligations.\n\nThe Home Secretary asked Mr. Waterlow whether a remonstrance could not be addressed to Washington on this point, Sir John Anderson making it clear that this remonstrance should be confined to the undiplomatic conduct of Mr. Porter and Bishop Brent, and should not be an attempt to persuade the Americans to withdraw their proposals, which it appeared that under the Congress resolution they could not do.\n\nMr. Waterlow thereupon said that he was going to propose that Sir Malcolm Delevingne should prepare a full list of all the misrepresentations of the British position which had been expressed at the two Conferences, in order that the Foreign Office might consider the making of representations to all the Governments concerned. He mentioned a Foreign Office proposal to initiate a campaign of publicity in defence of the British position. In the first place, however, he thought it necessary for the Conference to decide on the fundamental...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 498836, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924", "page_number": 507, "title": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924", "content_text": "503 \n\n!-6- \n\nauthority for an extension of the powers of the Second Conference (N.B. the convening authority is the Assembly of the League and no action could therefore presumably be taken until next September). \n\nSir Malcolm Delevingne pointed out that 4 or 5 other countries represented at the Conference besides ourselves had taken a firm line on the question of competence and would probably adhere to it. Mr. Waterlow's view was that in that case we ought not to desert them and let them bear the odium. In reply to a question from the Home Secretary, Sir Malcolm Delevingne said that the President of the Second Conference had not yet ruled the American proposals out of order and that if the 7 Powers represented at the First Conference agreed to their being considered, he would accept them. On the other hand, if any delegation opposed their consideration, he would not accept a majority decision and would probably resign. This would probably mean the end of the Conference.\n\nOn the suggestion of the Home Secretary, it was agreed to sign the draft Agreement of the First Conference (Conclusion 1). \n\nThe Home Secretary then asked whether we were to agree to a further discussion of the American proposals or to take our stand on the question of competence. He pointed out that the former alternative would let down other countries which had hitherto taken the same position as ourselves. Nevertheless, Mr. Waterlow preferred this course, subject to our giving prior warning to those countries of the action proposed. Sir Louis Kershaw maintained his attitude that we should not give way on the question of competence, and as a final compromise, it was decided that the British Government should consent to an opportunity being given to the Americans to state the case for their proposals (how this should be done would be a matter for arrangement). At the same time, the view was expressed, particularly by the Home Secretary, that however much the Foreign Office wished to please America, we must not leave in the lurch those Powers (particularly France and Holland) which had acted with us hitherto, and that we must take no action on this matter which was not agreed to by them. If necessary, Sir Malcolm Delevingne should arrange a private meeting with the representatives of France and Holland to endeavour to bring them round to our view (Conclusions 2 and 3).\n\nIt was also agreed that in the event of a discussion taking place in the Second Conference on the American proposals, the British Representative should make a public defence of the British position, and (if this policy was approved) should make the announcement regarding Hong Kong and Malaya which is referred to above (Conclusion 4).\n\nIt was further agreed that the Foreign Office should consider the question of making representations to the governments concerned regarding the unfair presentation of the British position and the unwarranted allegations against the bona fides of the British Government which had been made in the course of the Conference. It was agreed that Mr. Porter's speech was in a special position and...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 500967, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-489N - Governor Sir Stubbs & Sir Clementi - 1925 [8-12]", "page_number": 2, "title": "CO129-489N - Governor Sir Stubbs & Sir Clementi - 1925 [8-12]", "content_text": "2\n\nI work in comfort during the day and rest in comfort during the night.\n\nSKETOCIDE\n\nand quickly rid the Office and Home\n\nof\n\nMOSQUITOES, FLIES, SANDFLIES,\n\nLICE, ETC.\n\nSKETOCIDE, with nil hazards, is administered.\n\nSKETOCIDE is pleasant as water.\n\nSKETOCIDE is compressed.\n\nTHE PHARMACY\n\n1, Queen's Arcade\n\nD. J.\n\nSHAMPOOING RUGS AND CARPETS\n\nMakes them\n\nBright\n\nand Clean\n\nOnly 50 cts.\n\nper yard.\n\nCollection and Delivery Free.\n\nRolls of Dirt carried away.\n\nRolls of Cleanliness brought back.\n\nSTEAM LAUNDRY CO.\n\nHEAD OFFICE & WORKS: YAKATI.\n\nDEPOS: 26, Stanley Street, Vol.\n\nKOWLOON HOTEL\n\nKOWLOON DEPOT: 3, Cau'chi Ham\n\nFLAK HOTEL DEPOT:\n\nHONGKONG HOTEL: (Visit only;\n\nJ. T.\n\nSHAW\n\nLADIES & GENTLEMEN'S TAILOR\n\nFIRST QUALITY ONLY\n\nSOUTH CHINA MORNING POST.\n\nWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1925.\n\nINVEST YOUR CAPITAL\n\nSAFELY\n\nIN DIAMONDS.\n\nCHAIN BLOCKS\n\nELECTRIC BLOCKS & TRANSPORTING GEAR\n\nHERBERT MORRIS, LTD.\n\nAGENTS\n\nBRADLEY & CO., LTD.\n\nChute food.\n\nMachinery Dept.\n\nTel. 2020.\n\nMessrs. J. ULLMANN & Co, of Chater Road\n\nEstablished 1860,\n\nhave always pleased their Customers with the quality and the price of their diamonds.\n\nLOCAL\n\nAND\n\nGENERAL.\n\nLighting-up the to-day is at present cases of warfare cholesal 6.46 PATTY\n\nThe closing rate of the dollar on demand yesterday was 28. 9/16d.\n\n...\n\nhave declared amongst Japanese residents in Huanghai between August 15 and 18\n\na new treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation between Spain and Siam, together with a tariff.\n\nAbout Chinese, who landed in Lockor on July rate Cake, whence they had been expelled, more taken in charge by the new municipal police, and started to Spain forthwith\n\nThe Yang di Pertuan Besar, etor Negri ehk and lady He Tag were mess of Mrs Balavin,\n\nPassengers departing fav Hong Kong. Saturday included r, Paus the proteoc? along the lacs of the Hodgene, Mr. G. H. Hew, Major? Siamess American trendy of 1999, Weelings, and Mr., 34, and ise e sigurd in Merid on Anavat on Fady 25, 94, 16, Domaingreet, at Iemington.\n\nA petition has Theon sout to the\n\nracuptă a fur Gvarveen visiter M\n\nHigh teries evidently comment sobars of the Gevorazi mitted by a well organized, clever\n\nThe Paanhou Lataa Gempiains of\n\nGovernmanni by the pork solleve, gang ut Paeves within the a tre the melameree of Wataishae and gui asking that casures a week within the district berlinese is autors to rear to Laken preten, hop-oil bow by Ceiles, Mabini, Herren. Taj Pukius its no s paзig y hel kore front selling\n\nstreets.\n\npark in the\n\n41 The Co, AF have lecie tight anda.\n\nsing the Manila poliem aud secret water, or festive is na mumer Murvico division.\n\n1\n\nPalm Beaches, Gabardines, Alpsets, Tropical aiting, Dress Harondt, who will rive in the wedding- ever believed to be rephor during the tide the\n\nMaterials, Sc. B\n\nJUST RECEIVED English made Officers Sam Browne Belts, Haversacks, Fox Pattles, Khaki Tles, Metropolitan Whistles, War\n\nribbons and nature medals.\n\n11, Reaconsfield Arcade.\n\nINSPECTION CORDIALLY INVITED\n\n(Opposite City Hall.\n\nGrand Opening Sale\n\nStep in and compare our Goods and Prices\n\nINSPECTION INVITED\n\nPOPULAR SILK STORE\n\n(Opposite Kangkang Hotel;\n\nChina Building, No. B, Pedder Street.\n\nPrices\n\nAL\n\nVERMIN\n\nLOTOL\n\nKILLS ALL VERMIN\n\nSold by\n\nA. S. WATSON & CO., LTD. Sole Agents:-\n\nAnd all Chemists & Stores.\n\n#4\n\nThe forthcoming wedding is announced of Mr. Weer varick! Mr. and Mex James Fold v The captain on the genderzeɛ Who Knoke, Tung Shan Canton, to Westenzoyland, Somerset, have rele. I was ersicted of murdufeg the com. and his wife and Mies Jobs Auguste Paula bunted die 71 iversong of their wint Onyi\n\nalore guique The busbaudienthoate as Token, wali ho relent and Eje wife a your younger. Mojot from prison shoes the unddie of lower the 92, relatives war Log Sepeansion songlazenie Nieto, konta\n\none from Australi\n\nColony by the ss. Oldestory.\n\nThe Chinese Brunumie Slonthig for August has detailed cla cussion of Shane agricultural practice, wita interesting 3.1\n\nLoving\n\nA Chinese 2d Japanese nurs are among tbury who have promised to monk at the International Co Surse of Sick-Norses, which opened dengtors, aly 20, aut is laing sitended by Jelegnies from\n\nentiona of the appliances weed, Maveled Chang Teo-in bas Jeans Sericulture cotton-growing timed Mex 000 rough General ber markerg.\n\nчто? ecuneuit so in the Stedent Anda bots my in diferent regions of the Bumiy Univexity Jay Chinu are also very interativolyj and Erogel Tieptene) far- Realt with.\n\nof ge pour white Kanziar. Studenata,\n\n*\"\n\nalvd, is differort suuntaies\n\nTwo hurr-one, with ts, ad\n\nTeal vien, two if who were the other ten would lus beau un- portion of shell, obtaled Frogs * mnied with daggers, com with a hur to corrpite their contres esingi tas estruese deposit in Heuer,\n\nCaina, have been presented to thei! Crevolver. and the other with at lesk, of Curta,\n\ntieological Department of the Bri-3\n\n| pair of scissors, heid up a Chinese j\n\nin Jubilee Sheet, yasierday even\n\n*.*\n\nA Shanghai ziceaz soole who di ti ser by Me Fulhas pior,\n\ning at twerty minutes to seven woneret that & malo passenger till we repris par des of\n\nand rubbed him or $66. The led a paringe of jewelley worth, victim showed a little restaurace 2.000 16 bir terba, took the package, and was slightly stabbed on the\n\n**\n\nThe ees of assault agaturi Tam\n\nballeha\n\nMr J. L. North, estrator of thin\n\nto Sins Police Station, where the toys Potande Boruty, who for on owner of it appearad Isten gave the coulis8568TOWY PRO expstimating with for his honesty. The englie left leave, is growing worch this year\n\nthe statica in bewildoriams, count\n\n**\n\nuL Chiswick. where they serni\n\nto or doing well in North is alre\n\nhaving nya Ibalit grown >1\n\nRonding and Talesbury, in see The Thienene of faunilton is alen\n\nPat, who is de cercandong the aver so he went for intiraidson against a Chineas!\n\nreporter, wan dismissed by bir. W Hamilton a the Kowloot: The Italian Cotobato wtrises tuv\n\nMagiswans yesterday,\n\nThe de the election which took place re-swing it in Willshire. fendant was alleged to have a crucis at Felermo, a large alias] aulted twe men of the Hup Lee city of over 200,000 inhabitants, in night-nd contractors, folfering a vordim of Fall, liberty of meeting\n\nspute. The intimidation case is fart beard.\n\n*u?\n\nSeven Chiuole wrament, pisacing\n\nsilty to charge of unlandaily rat\n\nand votea, tesuited in the ting wi damaging trees at a Govern- |\n\nwende ictor of the Fascist's\n\nmort plantation at Nagan Bye War, list showing that be Fascis Karison, were anak fied Bio by Mu Bozerament is enjoying not only W. Hamilton, at the Kowloon The return of notifiuble dlecases povar, but also the full conádenca) Magistracy this neunbug. The de- for the 24 hours ending August of the Italian people.\n\nfendant were stati fu kavu deng e number or rase weighing Organised by the Koristang, aflens cha 90 unties derenstation be GONOMETRUJANJ\n\n124, showa tự, uszeg ni enteria | fever, que Bnglish (mynted) and joze Chinese. The return for the)\n\n**\n\nun\n\nweek ended August shows tour the fatha e Chinese who lost Me J. Tokugawe, autơi pensily Uses of enteric fever with two this list in the cover of Vi rekirst Secretary and Auting deaths, Chinese, Drs Japan, dishares heat. Hanko lloc to the imprese Bibery in Jo Indika su one Philippine (in and where he held at the Ties London, has been appointed facia porter) and cae care of parki An Men Pakun August 12 new Consul General et. Sydres, phoid fever, Chiacan, te death W92 114 Target, aticoded, Australia; and Mr. K Hogi, vulli\n\nfrom intussen is also reported. Spence wore and by various roses Japaneen Commanerai wanch in Londen, has been appointed Kuomintang Isagera\n\nAs the embur. of the late Panchal Fannin perialine\n\nCho\n\nequal\n\nVilla were lowered over the aid of renties\n\ninbor of the Japaness Legution Ah Beking. Both diplomats wetu\n\nths President Harvizos at Yuda,\n\n**\n\nmost popaliw ti Landen esrides.\n\nnot and was heard thosaglomm\n\nAccording to a story appearing w\n\nfier T\n\nArhus Guy Carless. 35, patiseer,\n\nAll operations were ele\n\npender. Thoes of heads were the Shaters Time, a Chinese mer\n\nBared. The lus table of the des chant, F. T. Canag of Narking, was\n\nbe best post in Shanghai in 1915,\n\na bed enteroed at Birmingham\n\nA detective.\n\nTEST YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR BY READING THESE\n\nCHILDREN'S FUNNY SA UNGS gelikatel, ke D--B: Kora $2.75 The nices Eubiour a chuit is perkara the west amusing This book contrine headrede of\n\nof all forras of Auu.\n\nchildren a whimsical sayings.\n\nSPORTING AND DRAMATIC VADNS, 65 R. 1. B. Seliar 32.45 Theas ven stories to note-sad quote at one's non-in the drawing seca, in the club sowking-room, and in pinces where charming peuple assemble in hosz hores make after- Sinter speechan.\n\nrick engines, as the body, in a coffin hirisapped by invite cu demanded to gnicon rasuthy' impris shrouded by the American Bag, nt is wito raumNot for coupting to obtail money by Embed the dude, luc broke the paid within two weeks, otherwise false referatations. silsues Wrenting of lowers, given they rentended to kill the bushand inspector said that Carinus, who, by the Filipine communities of hole; The wife, who did not a vleie inther was Town Cleak of victor\n\nthirty years, failed ia hist Yokoburn, Shanghai and longkong, og i pay the consent, arferred for\n\nher rabant's predicaron examinations for the Bar and and Atually evanized ice by came a farmer. u 109 his father banking self\n\nGloc audi he then travelled on a Coloidea in America be opened an\n\nwere laid is the eart\n\nDuring the interval betzen the\n\ndeparture of Sir Edward Stubbs,\n\nthe\n\nAtontreal, but va\n\nQUOTABLE ANECDOTER nollected by D. B. Koox ...\n\nThe special feature di Usungen mandje oghter providing book is its quctableness. Most of the anecdotes are Lovel And extremely envenug but the peculiarity that distin. guisbes them as than they cku be rubly quoted in spoe thes, articles and etzversublock.\n\nRAVAM Chinesa doajors ut Manila; rates with another inu, had atter K. C. M. G., and the arrival of car\n\nGovernor (Mr. Cecil Cle-have been senght selling the mixed they bad obtained $5,000 eme nienti) Sir Claud Severn, E. P. E, vi arushed its of glass A warr-appiicans for the position of mave will uet an Officer Administering to the public to beware of buyer the couple disappeared. Thay\n\nEdwardice in Chinese \"sari-sa\" moves were eresied Government. Bir\n\nwe tested by the health services. Tabel the morey. Paperý sledi Stubbs.\n\ntc according\n\nhas also been disovered that a few they find engaged in similar dealings Arrangements and provided the Chinese reice dealers we also selling in various part of Canada, and the local situation pomte, will leave lard aflated with pontos al Toronto authorities bustested Hongkong during the early part) Sume Chiese store keepers and am pretensional “rooks\" and of October, his successor beloties merahnuts see now facing it-nordenen tiskaters. From Adelaido due to arrive atout Puree weeks watigation by officials of the head was reperied in 1969 that Cur Jater. Sir Clad Severn expects to series. Proceention fer violation of loss rat another man sarried proceed Home on leave in Deeen the pore food and drug law will be operations (is donhiul shararterį\n\nlie that were. isted against sum of timin.\n\nber,\n\n$8.15\n\nKELLY & WALSH, LIMITED. Carb Koed.\n\nEx 9. FRENCH MAIL AMBOISE,\"\n\nA NICE ASSORTMENT-OF BEST KIND OF FRENCH PRESERVES\n\nIncluding\n\nBeans, Peas, Celery, Spinach, Mushrooms, Whole Artichokes, elc,\n\nMacquerel, Sardines, Tunay, Herrings, Auchovies, etc., in White Wine, Oil, Tomato or Various Sauces.\n\nFoie Gras Naturel Forced, Pigs Feet, Truffed Boudins, Hare Pate, Veul Head Sauce Tortue Turkey Galantine.\n\nPort-Salut Cheese, Face Maggi, etc, etc.\n\nMAG - SIN GENERAL The Corner Shop\n\nPhone C5312\n\nTAMANTER\n\nThe latest designs\n\nLADIES' PLATINUM WRIST WATCHES SET WITH DIAMONDS\n\nfrowe\n\n$200\n\nSwiss Made\n\nAT\n\nSENNET FRERES\n\nTHE ALEXANDRA CAFE\n\nCAN SUPPLY\n\nBREAD AND CAKES.\n\nBirthday Cakes, Christenning Cakes, Wedding Cakes,\n\nand all kinds of fancy Cakes.\n\nAGENTS\n\nHUNG CHEONG, Kowloon. FOOK CHEONG TAI, Quarry Bay.\n\nSIMPLEX PLASTER PARTITIONS\n\nAND\n\nGEILINGS\n\n5 Beaconsfield Arcade\n\nThe SIMPLEX SYSTE\n\nHARPER'S\n\nSUMMERTIME SPECIALITY.\n\nMOSKA-CIDE\n\nA little of this wonderfu) commate apickled on subirea ce pillows wül kap rayosquito from thu vio.usty of your bedside or couch\n\nBartles $1.00 and $2.00. MOSQUITOES WON'T COME NEAR IT. Obtainable only ai\n\nQueen's Dispensary\n\nTel. No. 492.\n\nC. W. HANDLEY & CO. 29, Dog Vonx Rund, Centesi,\n\nGrand Prize of Honour\n\nPanama-Pacific International\n\nExposition\n\nSAN FRANCISCO, 1913\n\nAsahi-Beer\n\nSold Everywhere.\n\nSOLE AGENTS :\n\nMITSUI BUSSAN KAISHA, LTD.\n\n\"BARGAINS\"\n\nIN\n\nREFLEX CAMERAS & FOLDING CAMERAS\n\nWind with the failu-wing user\n\nCooke F2-5, F3-λ, F4-5 & F5-3,\n\nDallmeyer F2 3, F36, F4-5, & F6-3.\n\nZrise F36, FI-S & P6.3.\n\nKOER 4-5, 56 & 76-2.\n\ncall at\n\nA. TACK & Co.\n\n26 De Road Central.\n\nTHE\n\nFIRE PROOF\n\nSOUTH\n\nCHINA MORNING POST\n\nWEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26,\n\n1925.\n\nSPORTS fall SORTS\n\nHONGKONG BASEBALL\n\nGAMES FOR TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW.\n\nIn accordanLE with the re-41- ranged schedule wijet makes pro- valon for rener insiche, betw9) altores the Coague, there wit\n\nTHE WEET DAUGHTER\" GOLF CLUB,\n\nMORE STRIKE FIGURES.\n\n(By. \"Missolputts\" for the\n\nS. C. M. Post.)\n\nLAWN TENNIS.\n\nJOHNSTON WINS TROPHY.\n\nNewport R ), Aug 24. In the final of the Newport Ja vitation singles bowl, Johnson heat Norrou 63, 63, 8.3, thus) winning the trophy entright. And the Durables, fobistan and fin boat Serien and Casey 6, S1, 5,7, 26, 6.3. Treater Ancorican, Service.\n\nTHE OLD FAVOURITE\n\nBOORD'S\n\nOLD TOM GIN.\n\nCAT on BARREL BRAND\n\nOBTAINABLE AT ALL FIRST CLASE STORES.\n\nBred 111, Arg 24. Miss talen Wills roteinod the Women's National Lawa Tennis Championship, defeating Miss\n\nSale Agente\n\n3\n\nIn convection with the lies Meus 3:6, 6/9, 4,3 Reder's CALDBECK, MACGREGOR & Co., Ltd.\n\nbe two mid-week games played off moule corved daring the month at American Snowce juu the Houpy Valley dirmeist this \"ono Daughter Weep Golf\n\nin the opening matches of the\n\nBrookline, August 25,\n\nThe Grai u thoso i tired to Chuh,, za patience is \"Backpi's\" comurance at 5 pm, today, when festes on the 2nd instat, I wanted National Dumbles Championships the Filipino Club wil meet the Iu the courtcess Setreing of the Kinsey brothers, holders, boat dian R. P., who are at present at Clah with\n\nbtaining Hot and Halia Smuth, 7-6,6-4, 8-4; the boils of the Lable. To can- Purcher statintizm\n\nDemagis and Reignon beat Levazil noo but be anticipated that the\n\n02 mors\" mit hallused Vansien, 6-3,7-5, 6-3, Mili ant Filipino side will win, although Geoval, po fiering a co vite, jone Casey bost Shuster and Jonkines. the Indian team is alowing better those that one that isly, 7-5,6-4, 4; Westcased Emen Dora and pat up a stering came which we leerely devined. Pirids and Wasaki. 6-2,66, agalust the Japannes na Saturday Rogel tot To Golf Cirs le proad 6-2; Vildog and Wience boat Jopen last. The Arst guns between for its sacreen reden for Angvei, bal and logeshest, 6-4,56, 618-N--;\n\nthem treated in win for the do not for a moment eaypow that ¦ Bruter's American Service. Filipines by 15 to three.\n\nxo am entering into ang serious The Volunteer Defence Corps jrivalry with the Hant You: anl are scheduled to meet the base werk High Rocks or any other straling Japanese at 5, p.no, tommur- jorganization; and also you wil cow and a goat game la expected, please remember that we are far too wing the Volunteers falling to hard bung to provide full statistics of our the lesboinly percet Nipponesa, attivities weile stila\" Full who will have the velcer of the prof this was indeed patent in Playing x Chesterboid, La recevabtable ishimatsu as pitcher. teribe what of typewriter, calbire defence Derbyshire by Their earlier woering ended in au calculating machine pencil shara intings and 132 rans. Bears: Joverwhelming victory for the rengly want other Inclinary by Laucalice, 278.\n\nDerbyshire, S7 and 78. Japanse by 18 to four, which jbich we were surtunJed considering all things, was a good\n\nThe highest contributora Fressed however, harp. Ex tuore Lancashire wore Watson 62, Hal- for showing by the Volunteers. It gres, the aubice of tus peindust and Pewires 15, whikt. hoped that they will ranke an eventer wired papur and pen Towsond, Derby's Bowler, took better nue tomorrow.\n\nNo icons have bean received.\n\nJani alter serve nderful work y\n\nthe\n\nYACHTING.\n\nMR. BLAKE ON 6 METRE COMPETITION,\n\nQualities of Monsoon.\n\nHOME CRICKET.\n\nLANCASHIRE'S EASY WIN.\n\nLondon, Aux. 24.\n\nIr.\n\ntied staff of the sarees, four wickets for 57 rina. Your Peri Sage, Spoke and Darby's first innings, Tyldesley Chr was able to give us the jojowok eight wiekota for 40 runt, Seg infertuskinn.\n\nard in Derby's second krock Years ago, before the great Get Sibbles took fire wickets for 30\n\n| xuan---Herten hendi, Mr. Pineb valeukased that the jaar generated by jutits missed on iche gli con of Great Brita in jose past wuulih, it properly tiliaest, jelove and feed a men for six\n\nTHE ST. LEGER.\n\nMANNA IS FAVOURITE.\n\nLondon, Aug. 24.\n\nA reported in these columns jaga; working on the sette foarala, from me to rina, Bir. Blake's 1 may say than the host genercial Mouser from Singapore has met in me year by balta bene lost t\n\nTo be rst esiinrer of the Sz. Find a rery successful sencon at Weep lygter wee tothe and Legs at tex Victoria Cob to-day,\n\nhorse, but has been consistently red suitably ten Canton Bolshevicts Manza\n\nwas installed favourite, read at all the South Coast re- or the terms of their wanatabil Res 4 in 1 otuz taken and offered\n\nsttas. Writing From England may say that in their counter.\n\nto Singapore, 3. Blake says he original formula bo beru varieg\n\nabout racing away et rout of lightly and wilde fond be be avecis viven for the Eolant Dussafak, of rice per die red for Classes round about Sonthampton, labing t\n\nbut so far without getting a win- niux Beg.\n\nTheatre Class ic\n\nja very bor any, including as it\n\nA Few Move Piprez,\n\nits la empaled that the number\n\nLEAGUE'S OPIUM\n\nCOMMITTEE.\n\nBRITISH APPOINTED CHATEMAN,\n\nGeneva, Aug 24. The campout snriggling of\n\nduce the rack helicamen and ni rada not dancer in the Cleb frzewa of the South Coast of Eug-House after dinact by ki wh\n\nlead, and Mr. Blake feels quite have dine there is equal to the ex- SOUND PROOFd that his yacht can five plant of the ads in this Colony, drugs was one of the principal\n\nSending Now Thavidurios This, I take subjects of discussion of the) among them at all.\n\nManwood is best in light breezes, it, is a striking testimony the League's Advisory Committen on Togain, which niet te-lay, and but when it blow up she anot excelience of this fre 15wvinna.\n\nHONGKONG EXCAVATION, PILE DRIVING & CONSTRUCTION Co., Ltd.\n\nTel. 01. 8718.\n\nZad Floor, Powell's Building.\n\nCalfore pure de Ferments lactiques bulgares sur mitinu végétaj\n\nGLEED-INTÉZ\n\nBARRELS, CONTALIONS\n\nTELL Sza\n\nSAPAN Am\n\nAMERICA AND NEW ZEALAND.\n\nCONDIAL FAREWELL\n\nEXPRESSIONS.\n\nign to windward with the other - munder of Brinks prottered looted Sir Makrola Delovingue bosts, not being an ait This fee and refused by rubenbers wond Cosieman, and he dermian, due to her hul beine constructed unt, if poured into the ses at Wey. Professor Terr Acainuno, as Vice-Chainman. The absence of of teakwood, which takes a lot Daughter Bag, effent the love of the the Chien delegate, Mr. Chr ECONOMICAL extra weight, which is evidert wules of Weiss Buy is in 2-sue of instructions, in the keels of the other Boula mass of an inch at ordinary Spisens no sarprise in view of the better advantage.\n\nWides\n\nChinese wishdrawal from the on- Still, Mr. Make sud his com Enter of tadies invading ference on February 7th- Raster. : jpanions pog swag, learning of ine lide menie zgacha romte and bee in a\n\nine, and the international Rules (week would, if it were possible (and į row have no terrors for the Jusirable) to stand them end on end, when designing another bout.\n\nterm a dle appwainuately venel ini\n\nMr. Blake says that if he was height to Mount Kellet; moly thei in England for good he would take two lower was, however, jassustic cat that tenkwood darks of Mon- that the pile were rigid and not zour and replace them with pine- foent) would be able to see into tha wood, as lighten up further mens dressing room, iters and put the weight a\n\nes proves in the greons at Week! gained down amongst the read. Daughter theory approximately age to the reale vs New The rigat and mash pane in the tran-font of their own Zealand says: A view our Cine sama very light compared weight in aarti Jaily. It is there parting with feelings of sadness. with what they are eastern- torn, eniculated that this were at the ehost space of two weeks ed to oul East, mud would ut feultured over a year it would'ng the varicas detachments of the lagi long with natives as crews. Jquire 20 even the size of the Priest have grown to love your pouple Mr. Blake adds that he personal- jdenk of the, Club to carry the earth and your counky, Oar twenty- ty, and lab the Royal Siegapuce iya yarde in three days\n\ntwo thend men will go home nich Yach Club, are deeply indehind The notices posed to use various\n\nspeak intelligently of Ney Hackelahi-Smith, the Chul Buses in car year comes Zolnud. iry M.\n\nYou may be sure thes Editor of The Fachling Monthly Įpaar fomitbag the rapina filed in sili ev as twenty-two thousan for the great trouble he has taken the office) uneagh to acce eft the well-wishers and boosters of your on behalf of Monsoon.\n\nFairways of de Chan verine Wonderful country.\"-- Restor\n\nPROCITIES, AZŠNES QRAPIN, ARTISTE PALZEMENTS DIE challe DERSGITUNES, TORKULASES SEGET STUMATHYRA PYCRPUDES Frog Taktiken i 19ŠEČE VYVENIŠE OSATIZIRA\n\nBULGARINE\n\nTHEPENIER\n\n14 COMPRIMIR grustten Swaggia - » POUDRY\n\nAdalton Suver dans compolnas;\n\nBukemeina 206 25mideure\n\nJapan 16 a 2 par jour).\n\nEntente: te doua.\n\nPricer, if\n\nFocuirer\n\n3 par jom,\n\nLARGRAT JIRE 4 PERMYNYS A. FAEPENISA. f. 1. Or,\n\nCompagnie Optorg\n\nAptu\n\nAMERICAN EXPRESS\n\nRAILWAY AND STEAMSHIP\n\nTICKETS\n\nTRAVELLERS' CHEQUES Express and Freight Forwarding.\n\nHONGKONG\n\n44 Des Voeux Ecad,\n\nTel. C. 4825.\n\nBOXING.\n\nPROSPECTS OF AN INTERESTING SEASON.\n\nIn at Interview with Afr. J. Bronk of the Hougkong Boxing Asesora-\n\nsica yesterday, our representative\n\ncanreek In this connection it is in- teresting to note, drag experiments face huing carried and with a new ane resobling real turf in gastify Frero which it is byped that pertines Butter beter juraced turd igzurady mag re nitized for revuling the greDAT\n\nthe various Courasi,“\n\nWellington, Aug, 21. Admiral Shortz in a tazewell\n\nwwwwwww.xxx.com.com GERMAN PULĪTICS.\n\nHERR WIRTH RESIONS.\n\nBerin Aug 24.\n\nPelion des are exload by ex-Chancellor Wield's resigna\n\nAt this point several telepboursion from berlap of the\n\nbelle mang, for routies appeared Centrists owing principally, to\n\nwas informed that there is every with chit hooks and with the depot disapproval to the Party's action prospect of a brilians winter se regret I was torcel is te ry son in the fisticuff sphere of Rong parure.\n\n[korg.\n\nYoungsters are coming along in\n\ngood style, he suic, and there will\n\nbo no dearth of entries in the possibility of arme of these being various classes. Hittorio.\n\nthe induced to come forward and put\n\npozices have given the best shows jep a show.\n\nhere, but new arrivals cu the stas\n\nPerhaps the most prominent of tion, both Navs! and Military, are the new arrivals is at present\n\nof\n\nBewegtners\n\na sapporting the Tarif Bill.\n\nHarr Wirth will remsin head of\n\na small party, of Independenti Centrists. Reutt\n\nSYRIAN OUTLOOK.\"\n\nTHE CALM CONTINUES.\n\nPark4, Aug. 21.\n\nThe Ministry of War annon\n\ncalibre to enthase the most on board . . . Farmes. | Cardened of fight tans.\n\nfa welter weight he has participated Among the\n\nare in the Army and Navy Champion-txt\n\nમ ea continea in the some dark horses win, although shops at Home, where bas Jebeltrase regim. they are men of merit, elden ven a good second at bheselt Suela is set earrounded but fe The town al 14, Klukiong Road appear outside their e intership and aceding to report is Ingres regulady applied by aeroplanes.\n\nBEANOHAL\n\nor regiontal bouts and there in King'a the ame\n\nReter.\n\nQuien's Bood Central.\n\nTelephone C. 75.\n\nBIG BARGAIN!\n\nTo make room for new stock, we will sell the entir\n\nstock of.\n\n“VOCALION” & “BANNER”\n\nDance Records\n\nFrom TO-DAY to 31st inst.\n\nAt the following prices ---\n\nBANNER DANCE RECORDS\n\nVOCALION DANCE RECORDS.....$ 1.20 each cash\n\n0.70 Babae hours:10 .. to 7 p.m. Sablay:-10 e.. to 4 p..\n\n+3\n\nCOSTA MUSIC CO., LTD.\n\n48. Nothes Road. Kowleon.\n\nPICCADILLY CLUB\n\nBREVAS PINAS\n\nAN EXCER}}}NGLY\n\nFINE SHOKE\n\nBaler\n\nMANGFACTURERS\n\nBox of\n\n23\n\nB. Yander TAX & CO.\n\nHOLLAND\n\nGET INABLE Ar\n\nTABAQUEIRA FILIPINA\n\n58 Quesu's Road, Central,\n\nYEE SANG FAT CO.\n\nTHE HONGKONG\n\nBARGAIN\n\nHOUSE.\n\nQUEEN'S ROAD & D'AGUILAK ST.\n\nB.V.D. BARGAINS\n\nUnion suit\n\n$2.75\n\nSingle Garment $1.40\n\nSUN HELMETS\n\nA big shipment\n\njust arrived\n\nAt\n\nBARGAIN PRICES\n\n$4.50, $6.75, $13.50\n\nSTRAW HATS\n\n$2,50, $3.00\n\n53 50, $4.00\n\nEvery Day Bargains.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-489N - Governor Sir Stubbs & Sir Clementi - 1925 [8-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 503917, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-494 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [9-10]", "page_number": 413, "title": "CO129-494 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [9-10]", "content_text": "2\n\nhim to Nanking as his secretary, and thereupon Ch'an Kwong-meng became acting tu-tuk of Kuang-tung for the first time.\n\nPrior to the abdication of the Manchu Emperor, a provisional republic had been constituted at Nanking with Dr. Sun as President. But, when the Manchu Emperor abdicated on the 12th February, 1912, Dr. Sun resigned in favour of Yuan Shih-k'ai and the centre of the Chinese republican government was transferred from Nanking to Peking. Dr. Sun then returned to Canton bringing with him Lu Hsiu-man. The acting tu-tuk, Ch'an Kwong-meng, promptly resigned; and thereupon Lu Hsiu-man was \"re-elected\" tu-tuk by the Provisional Assembly. He was confirmed in this office by the Peking government on the 12th July, 1912, and Ch'an Kwong-meng became Commandant of the Cantonese army with Lung Tsai-kong as Deputy Commandant.\n\nLung Tsai-kwong, a Yunnanese, was also destined to fill an important role at Canton. He had held high civil and military posts under the Manchu dynasty, chiefly in his native province and in Kuang-hsi, and it was not long before his chance came in Kuang-tung; for on the 14th June, 1913, Lu Hsiu-man was removed from Canton to be Pacificator of Tibet and Ch'an Kwong-meng, who then assumed office as tu-tuk of Kuang-tung for the second time, came next month into conflict with President Yuan Shih-k'ai in connection with the so-called \"Second Revolution\", instigated by the Kuo-min-tang leaders. On the 16th July, 1913, Ch'an Kwong-meng declared the independence of Kuang-tung, whereupon on the 26th July the President appointed Lung Tsai-kwong to be Pacificator...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-494 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [9-10].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 504910, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-496 - Public Offices - 1926", "page_number": 175, "title": "CO129-496 - Public Offices - 1926", "content_text": "way by sheer weight.\n\n174\n\nEach man said \"Kill, kill, kill the foreigners\". I still did not open the church door but they got a bunch of Chinese keys with a key that fitted the lock and opened the doors and took possession. I had not yet seen the Commanding Officer, but in a few moments he came up to speak to me and said \"Not only the church, but Mr. Leverett's house (the bungalow) he would have\". He ordered the local sheriff to order all the refugees to their homes, and his soldiers took possession of the boys' school. Then talking with me he said he would only be here three days and Sunday he would give up the church for our services, and that his soldiers were \"wen ming\" (civilised) and would do nothing to interfere with women and girls on the compound and the girls' school. There are between two and three hundred soldiers in here; they go everywhere, drill about our houses, toot their bugles right into our windows, tie their horses where they please, pull open the shutters of our windows, gather around the windows by dozens, take our wood, come and wash their clothes on our lower verandah, and yet they have a wall and quite sufficient room for all this down in the boys' school which they are occupying. When I left my room the first day, the cry would go through the crowd \"Kill, kill the foreign woman\". I knew it was just a part of their propaganda to scare so paid no attention to it. One company left here the second morning of their stay, going to Nanfong and returning the next day and that was the worst company of all.\n\nSunday a.m. the petty officer who first came to force themselves upon us, came to ask if they might open an assembly for the people at 11 o'clock in the church yard. That is the house for our Sunday service, and I told him they had promised to leave, and we needed the church for our services. He said they would not stay in the church but on the terrace. They", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-496 - Public Offices - 1926.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 507041, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-499-4 Canton situation- governor's despatches 18-3-1927 - 22-4-1927", "page_number": 52, "title": "CO129-499-4 Canton situation- governor's despatches 18-3-1927 - 22-4-1927", "content_text": "# CANTON: EVENTS AND CURRENT RUMOURS: 7th APRIL, 1927.\n\nThe Kwangtung General Labour Delegation Union's Congress has passed the following resolutions:\n\n1. Demand promulgation of Labour Law.\n2. Demand protection of labour union's privileges against the old shop practice of discharging employees on the second day of lunar new year.\n3. Oppose all regulations and rules formed by Government for restricting labour movements, and demand absolute freedom of speech and assembly.\n4. Oppose all regulations promulgated by Labour & Agriculture Department restricting registration of labour unions.\n5. Promote labour education and propaganda work.\n6. Organise labour hospital.\n7. Consolidate labour union foundation and unify labour organisation.\n8. Protest against Mechanic Union oppressing railwaymen.\n9. Support union's demands for increase of pay.\n10. Dissolve bogus labour unions.\n11. Settle outstanding labour disputes among unions.\n12. Settle other miscellaneous labour questions.\n\nK.F.C. HEDGELAND.\n**Commissioner**", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-499-4 Canton situation- governor's despatches 18-3-1927 - 22-4-1927.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 507306, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-500-1 Canton situation- governor's despatches 18-5-1927 - 9-6-1927", "page_number": 37, "title": "CO129-500-1 Canton situation- governor's despatches 18-5-1927 - 9-6-1927", "content_text": "The CANTON GAZETTE \n特産 \n廣州日報 \n新聞能問 \n\nRegistered No the Past Othee 23 \n\n民國十六年五月十八日 星期三 \n# Vol. V No. 951 CANTON, CHINA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1927 \n\n## NATIONALIST GOVT. AT NANKING BASED ON KUOMINTANG PRINCIPLES, SAYS GEN. CHIANG; DENIES MUSSOLINI CHARGE \n\nOfficial messages received here from Nanking confirm the report of the capture of Pukow by General Chiang Kai-shek's forces. The big drive against the Northern militarists, which was recently launched, is being pushed with vigour in all directions.\n\nPukow was captured by the 1st and 40th army on the morning of the 15th inst. 3,000 Shantung soldiers were made captives. Our army crossed the river at 7 a.m. on Sunday. The enemy soldiers retreated in disorder towards the north. Railway ferry service between Hsiakwan and Pukow was at once restored.\n\nSingle Copy: 10 Cent $2.00 A Month $24.00 A Year \n\n## MINISTER C. C. WU ISSUES STATEMENT ON THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE NATIONALIST GOVT. AT NANKING \n\n(From our Nanking Correspondent)\n\nThe Nationalist Government addresses itself to the task of the movement.\n\n(From a Correspondent) Shanghai, May 12.—The Bureau of Foreign Affairs for Kiangsu has issued the following extract from a statement made by Mr. C.C. Wu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government at Nanking:- \n\n\"When General Chiang returned to Nanchang, he reported to the Central Council of the Kuomintang. With its inauguration, the Nationalist Government in Nanking was in full accordance with the resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. The establishment of the Nationalist Government in Nanking is another stage reached in the Chinese Nationalist movement.\n\n\"The opposing forces, Progress and Reaction, which came to grips in 1911, have continued to struggle up to the present. Both of the communications sent to the Hankow Government automatically cease to function. The continuation of its regime is a revolt against the Three People's Principle, and consequently the Kuomintang.\n\n\"The Nationalist Government in Nanking is built on the true principles of the Kuomintang. Our chief task then is to consolidate the power of the Party so that it constitutes the supreme authority of the Government.\n\na. Overthrow of militarism.\nb. A friendly policy towards Russia, and.\nc. Uplift of farmers and labourers.\n\nThe first and third policies are so evident to permit any mis-understanding and are not to be altered under any circumstances. All the loyal members of the Kuomintang should give their fullest support to them.\n\n## Second Policy \n\nNo Mussolini Ambition \n\nAt first, the southern army stationed at Nanking under a barriage of heavy gun-fire advanced upon the enemy and crossed the Yangtze river. The Chihli and Shantung forces owing to their weakness retreated towards the north at 4 p.m. They are being pursued by our army at present.\n\nThe principles of the Kuomintang have moulded the thought of new China, and the Government founded on these principles has in the short space of two years extended its jurisdiction from Canton to more than half of China, including the richest, most populous, and most progressive cities and provinces.\n\nWith every confidence in the good intentions of the foreign governments, this government will no doubt as to the ultimate triumph of the cause of Progress and will employ for that purpose all legitimate means. It has taken note of the statements emanating from authorized spokesmen of the foreign governments as to the inapplicability of the existing treaties and their readiness to meet the wishes of the Chinese people.\n\nMeanwhile, the Nationalist Government will do all in its power to protect foreign life and property according to the generally accepted rules of international law.\n\nThere are not a few who criticized General Chiang for aspiring to be the Mussolini of China and attempting to work for a Fascist government for this country. Such criticism is entirely unfounded.\n\nThe Nanking Government is not a personal Government of General Chiang but a party government in the interest of the entire Chinese people.\n\nBut what we are opposed to is the vicious actions of Borodin, the Russian representative, which tend to be detrimental not only to the cause of the Party but also of the Nation.\n\n## Northerners Retreat \n\nShanghai, May 15.—Vernacular papers report that Marshal Chiang Kai-shek's troops have occupied Pukow, this morning, taking prisoners more than 3,000 Northerners, including 600 Russians, and a great quantity of ammunitions.\n\nThe defeated troops are retreating to Chuchow on the Tientsin-Pukow railway.—Reuter.\n\n## Capture Of Yangchow \n\nShanghai, May 16.—A wireless message from Nanking states that Gen. Ho Yiu-cho crossed Pukow, opposite Nanking, fell to the river secretly from Tai-shingkwan and Chosekki to cut the Tientsin-Pukow and Tung-ko-wuyi railway lines and then attacked the enemy from the rear and front with the troops who had crossed the river from Nanking.\n\nOn the 15th at 7 a.m. Pukow was completely captured by us. 3000 Shantung captives and a few hundred were White Russians. Scores of heavy guns and machine guns were captured. Our troops are pursuing forward.\n\n(Continued on Page 2)\n\n## Merchants Must Pay In Share Of Strike Relief Loan In 3 Days \n\nMerchants in this city who have not yet done so are given three days within which to pay in their quota of the $1,500,000 loan which the General Chamber of Commerce has undertaken to make to the Government to enable the Canton-Hankow Strikers' Relief Fund.\n\n## To Organise A New Students Union Federation At Nanking \n\nStudent unions in the various provinces are invited by the Students' Union of Kwangtung to organise an All-China Students' Federation at Nanking.\n\nA circular telegram sent out says: \"The All-China Students' Federation at Nanking will be inaugurated to organise a strong revolutionary student organ there.\"\n\n## Instructions to Improve Local Prisons \n\nInstructions to district magistrates to improve the conditions of local prisons were given by the Provincial Government yesterday.\n\nAn Order No. FAII-4988 has been received from the Military Headquarters is to the following effect: \"The installation of the Nationalist Government at Nanking affords an opportunity to make a public statement of its foreign policy.\n\nPrivileges Of Foreigners \n\nIn the forthcoming negotiations for the abrogation of the special privileges of foreigners in China, the Chinese object, not to the presence of the foreigner, but to his position of privilege. They consider that the foreigner should be placed on a footing of equality with the people among whom he has voluntarily chosen to live and trade.\n\nThe presence in the party of Communist influences at variance with the precepts of the Kuomintang has during the past few weeks brought what hitherto has been an internal schism to an open split. Nevertheless, as these influences are small, there is every confidence that they will be completely eliminated in the near future.\n\n## Foreign Policy \n\nThe Chinese people, irrespective of geographical situation and political creed, are all united in demanding international justice and fairplay. In the interest of peace and welfare of the world, such a simple and reasonable request by a quarter of the human race ought not to be made in vain.\n\nThe Nationalist Government trusts that the foreign governments and peoples will display farsighted statesmanship and practical wisdom in the solution of the outstanding problem of the day.\n\n## BRITISH INDUSTRIAL LEADERS ON TOUR IN GERMANY \n\nBerlin, April 25.—A British industrial commission including Sir Alfred Mond, Sir Henry MacGowan, General Duncan and William Coates arrived at Berlin after having inspected the great Leunt Wireless Works.\n\n## RATIFY TURCO-GERMAN TRADE PACT \n\nBerlin, April 14.—The Turkish National Assembly ratified the Turco-German trade pact.\n\n## Gunboats Ordered For Patrol Service \n\nRepairs to the gunboats `Fuk On` and `Fei Ying` have recently been completed, and the two vessels will be immediately commissioned for patrol work. The gunboats `Moo Fung` and `Kong Kim` are still in dock, and every effort is being made to complete the repairs.\n\nPage 37", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-500-1 Canton situation- governor's despatches 18-5-1927 - 9-6-1927.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 508147, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-501-3 Chinese situation- Protection of British subjects of Chinese race 23-10-1926 - 21-12-1927", "page_number": 115, "title": "CO129-501-3 Chinese situation- Protection of British subjects of Chinese race 23-10-1926 - 21-12-1927", "content_text": "## Page 115\n\n\n## Page 116\n\n2 \n\nstatistics which were laid before the Extra-territoriality Commission, together with a supplementary volume of Chinese legislation. I am forwarding to the Foreign Office such English and French texts as are included in the above, and I enclose herein a tabular statement prepared by Mr. Garstin.* based on the Ministry of Justice's list and on the volumes referred to, in which the laws, regulations, &c., are grouped with appropriate references under four heads :-- \n\n(1.) Laws, &c., which appear suitable for consideration in connection with the third of the proposals communicated by this Legation to the Wai-chiao Pu on the 28th January last. \n\n(2.) Judicial precedents. \n\n(3.) Draft laws. \n\n(4.) Legislation which does not seem suitable for application in British courts in China. \n\n6. The Ministry of Justice's list is confined to laws, &c., which can properly be classed as civil, commercial or criminal. It does not include legislation relating to the administration of the Government, organisation of the judiciary and similar administrative matters, as such legislation could not be applied in British courts. On the other hand, the Ministry have included legislation, such as the Civil Procedure Regulations, which does not come within the scope of the British proposals. \n\n7. It will be seen that in many cases, mostly legislation of a less important character, no translation is available. In answer to an enquiry on the subject, the Chinese commissioners informed Mr. Garstin that they would be glad, as occasion arose, to give such assistance as might be possible, but that the work of translating all the laws and regulations was too big an undertaking for the Chinese authorities. They suggested that even without official translations the application of the laws in British courts might be possible. Translation could be supplied from unofficial sources, and in any specific case, if the meaning of a provision in one of the laws was doubtful, expert evidence could be called to explain it. This suggestion seems hardly feasible, and it is to be hoped that when the draft Civil and Commercial Codes now in course of preparation are promulgated by the Chinese Government they will publish translations in English or French, as they have already done in two cases, the \"Draft Civil Code, General Principles,\" and the \"Draft Law of Negotiable Instruments.\" \n\n8. Mr. Garstin will in all probability leave Peking for home some time in May, and the legal advisers of the Foreign Office will no doubt desire that he should be available for consultation, unless it is proposed to suspend all action until the position in China becomes clearer, at any rate as regards the application of one code of laws throughout China. \n\nI have, &c. \n\nSir. \n\n## Enclosure in No. 1\n\nMr. Garstin to Sir M. Lampson. \n\nMILES LAMPSON. \n\nApril 13, 1927. \n\nI HAVE the honour to submit herewith a report on the conversations which I held on the 22nd, 27th and 30th ultimo and 4th and 9th instant with the Chinese commissioners appointed by the Chinese Government to examine with myself such of the proposals communicated on the 28th January last by His Majesty's Legation to the Wai-chiao Pu as relate to the application of Chinese law in British courts in China. \n\n2. The first proposal presented little difficulty. I informed the Chinese representatives that I thought that the modern Chinese law courts referred to were those listed on pp. 118-121 of the Report of the Commission of Extra-territoriality in China (\"China No. 3, 1926\"), and that the provisional court at Shanghai would not be included. \n\n2A. It seems that the recommendation of the commission (report, p. 95) that foreign lawyers should be permitted to represent clients, both foreign and Chinese, in all mixed cases will not be adopted or even considered by the Chinese Government in favour of the nationals of any Power until that Power has renounced the practice of extra-territoriality in China. The \"Provisional Regulations relating to the Practice of Lawyers who are Citizens of Countries having no Extra-territorial Jurisdiction in China,\" were promulgated in 1920. Such lawyers, if they have obtained lawyers' certificates from the Ministry of Justice in China, may, on being registered with a high court and enrolled as members of a Chinese Bar Association, practise before the Chinese courts, but only in litigation concerning their own nationals, and in otherwise acting on behalf of such nationals. \n\n3. With regard to the second proposal, relating to the Chinese Law of Nationality, the Chinese representatives submitted a formula for overcoming the difficulties arising from the dual nationality of persons of Chinese origin born within the British dominions. This is based partly on the Sino-Dutch arrangement of 1911, and partly on a suggestion that was mooted during the drafting of the Extra-territoriality Commission's Report. Its aim is to secure for such persons, when they visit their country of origin for a short time, immunity from the jurisdiction of Chinese courts, but to make it obligatory on them, if they wish such immunity to continue for longer than six months, to obtain from the Chinese Ministry of the Interior a certificate of denationalisation, in accordance with the Revised Chinese Law of Nationality. The provisions of that law on this subject are contained in Chapter III, articles 12 to 16. Permission to denationalise himself will not be granted by the Ministry of the Interior to an applicant unless- \n\n| Condition | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| (1.) | He is over 20 years of age. |\n| (2.) | He has legal capacity, as defined by Chinese law. |\n| (3) | Having attained military age he is exempt from military service and has not yet served in the army. |\n| (4.) | He is not in the active service of the army. |\n| (5.) | He is not a civil or military officer, or a member of a legislative assembly, or a functionary of a local administration. |\n\nThere are other cases in which a certificate will be refused, such as those where the applicant is a suspect or a criminal, a defendant in a civil case, an undischarged bankrupt or a defaulter in the payment of taxes; but generally, I was given to understand, it is unlikely that difficulties will be raised in the case of a bona fide applicant. \n\n4. The third proposal raised at once the question whether there is any legislation at present in China which can fairly be said to come within its terms. It is a question to which the Chinese representatives could give no satisfactory answer. In view of the findings of the Extra-territoriality Commission on this subject (paragraph 223 of their report) and of the fact that political conditions in China have not improved since that report was written, it may be suspected that the true answer is not encouraging. Nevertheless, as we want to have on record duly certified copies and translations of the laws which the Chinese Government claim come within the terms of the proposal, I asked whether these could be filed. The Chinese delegates promised that a list of the laws in force in China would be furnished to His Majesty's Legation by the Ministry of Justice, and that copies of bound volumes containing the Chinese texts and copies of such translations as had been made and printed, as submitted to the Extra-territoriality Commission, would be forthcoming; but they seemed unwilling to commit themselves to any undertaking to supply duly authenticated translations. \n\n5. The meaning of certain phrases used in the third proposal was examined by the Chinese delegates. Thus, it was urged that 'modern Chinese Civil and Commercial Codes\" should be deemed to include \n\n| Inclusion | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| (1.) | The interpretations placed by the Chinese Supreme Court on the laws; |\n| (2.) | The general legal principles applied by the court; |\n| (3.) | Well-established customs and usages. |\n\nThe modern Chinese courts have been in the habit of seeking in the draft codes prepared by the Chinese Government the general principles which they are authorised to apply. The practice has now received the sanction of the Government. A presidential mandate issued on the 18th November, 1926, authorises the courts to consult for their guidance and to apply as occasion demands the following draft codes :-- \n\n| Draft Code | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| (1.) | Civil Code, general principles; |\n| (2.) | The law relating to obligations; |\n| (3.) | Commercial Law; |\n| (4.) | The Law of Negotiable Instruments; |\n| (5.) | Maritime Law; |\n| (6.) | The Bankruptcy Law. |", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-501-3 Chinese situation- Protection of British subjects of Chinese race 23-10-1926 - 21-12-1927.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 516513, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-512-2 Political situation in China- and Canton 31-5-1929 - 13-11-1929", "page_number": 71, "title": "CO129-512-2 Political situation in China- and Canton 31-5-1929 - 13-11-1929", "content_text": "- 2 -\n\n65\n\nwho are to all intents and purposes Communists. Briefly, it may be explained that the \"Western Hill\" party is that clique which clings to the resolutions adopted by the first general assembly of the Kuo-min-tang. Their principal representative in South China is General Hui Sung-chi. The left wing is generally identified with Mr. Wong Tsing-wai, whose adherents favoured the resolutions adopted by the second general assembly of the Kuo-min-tang, from which the \"Western Hill\" clique was excluded.\n\n2.\n\nThe recent civil war between the provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi has so far passed through three phases. The first phase was an attack by the Kwangsi leaders upon Kwangtung, with the hope of capturing Canton by a sudden coup de main. For this purpose, it was planned that the Kwangsi army, under its principal leaders, Pai Chung-hsi, Li Tsung-jen, and Wong Shiu-hung, should advance into Kwangtung down the valley of the West River to Samshui, and that at the same time their Cantonese adherents, namely, the eastern command in Kwangtung under the Cantonese general, Tsui King-t'ong, based upon Swatow, should advance through Waichow down the East River. There was thus to be a concerted attack upon Canton by fairly considerable bodies of troops from the west and from the east. In order to meet these attacks, the Cantonese armies would have to be concentrated at points many miles distant from Canton, both to the west. There", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-512-2 Political situation in China- and Canton 31-5-1929 - 13-11-1929.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 528250, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-531-10 Hong Kong University- encouragement of Chinese students to counteract American influence 30-5-1931 - 1-9-1931", "page_number": 207, "title": "CO129-531-10 Hong Kong University- encouragement of Chinese students to counteract American influence 30-5-1931 - 1-9-1931", "content_text": "## TEXTILE MACHINERY\n\n166. There are in China already about 120 cotton mills equipped with modern machinery, chiefly of British manufacture. Owing to war difficulties Japan and the United States obtained a larger proportion of the work for a while, but Great Britain is reasserting her dominant position and in 1929 accounted for 63 per cent. of the imports. It is estimated that a further 75,000 spindles were delivered in 1930. Continued activity in mill extensions is anticipated following the new tariff. It is stated that a certain carelessness has recently characterised replacement parts supplied by our makers. The greatest care in this sort of business is essential as we must take every care of our high prestige.\n\nIn many cases, as in Japan, the complete process from spinning to finishing is carried out in one establishment but the example of our Calico Printers' Association, who have erected a first-class finishing works at Shanghai on British lines, is likely to be imitated elsewhere. There are already four finishing works of smaller size. Much of the bulky work for this section of the trade is likely to be of local manufacture, but there will remain good openings for import.\n\nThe closely allied knitting and sewing machine business, is at present largely in American hands, but in small knitting machines for cottage industry, locally made machines are gaining ground. Close study of exact requirements of this trade should result in Great Britain securing a better share, but given the right article energetic demonstration and selling will be needed to get it accepted by conservative users.\n\n## ENGINEERING WORKS\n\n167. From large dockyards and arsenals down to small Chinese workshops there is considerable activity in engineering industry. The dockyards are steady buyers of machinery and stores of which Great Britain supplies a good proportion. At Hongkong in addition to the Government Yard, there are two large private yards with very complete equipments for ship building and ship repairs. They are also able to carry out large constructional work. The Whampoa Dockyard at Kowloon is a very fine yard, with well arranged and substantially built premises, and completely equipped workshops, docks and slipways. Its foundries turn out excellent castings, both for its own use and for others; its forges and machine shops are able to undertake high quality work. Similar conditions prevail at the Taikoo Dock of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire at Hongkong and at the four large dockyards of Shanghai, the Shanghai Dock & Engineering Company, the New Engineering & Shipbuilding Works (which are British), the Kiangnang Dock & Engineering Works (which belong to the Chinese Government, but has a British Manager), and the Société Franco-Chinoise (which is partly French-owned partly Chinese). With their excellent management, good equipment and cheap labour, these yards are able to take on important work very competitively.\n\n168. The rates of wages vary from place to place. As an instance, may be given the rate at Kiangnang where coolies get fifty cents a day, skilled men one dollar and fifty cents a day and foremen one hundred and fifty dollars a month.* Owing to the expert nature of their work and their knowledge of the value of machinery, these yards are among Britain's best customers. But we must support them by an energetic sales policy of our own.\n\nChina has some 20 arsenals, some of which are very fully equipped, and all of which are from time to time, buyers of machinery and materials. The two arsenals at Mukden have very complete workshops. The large arsenal has a big power plant of British make, but the bulk of its equipment is Danish. The small arsenal has numerous tools of rather a miscellaneous character, mostly second hand. Both of them are considering seriously the problem of taking on industrial work. The large arsenal has had several Czech engineers engaged for a considerable time to report on the possibility of doing this.\n\nIt is suggested that assembly and part-construction of railway rolling stock would be a suitable activity. The small arsenal has already started in this direction by using its foundry for turning out domestic radiators, and its other departments are busy getting ready to make a special type of motor lorry suited to Manchurian requirements.\n\n169. Another big section of engineering activity is to be found in the railway workshops. These vary in importance according to the activity of the lines they serve, but in the bulk form a very large market for engineering plant and materials.\n\nThe South Manchurian Railway workshops at Dairen are exceptionally well equipped. Many of the older tools are British, but the new ones are chiefly American or Japanese, with only a few specialties of British make. The equipment is so complete that in addition to repairs they can make vehicles and even locomotives. For general repair work they can tackle 30 locomotives, 40 passenger vehicles and 100 wagons at a time. They employ about 3,000 men, half of whom are Chinese. The educational, housing, and welfare arrangements are very ample and the whole place, including all offices and factory buildings, is a model one.\n\nThe Chinese Eastern Railway at Mukden also have an excellent lay out designed for rapid overhaul of their considerable rolling stock. Unfortunately they have very little British machinery here owing, so their chief engineer stated, to our very poor propaganda compared to the United States educational advertising.\n\n* See note to paragraph 189.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-531-10 Hong Kong University- encouragement of Chinese students to counteract American influence 30-5-1931 - 1-9-1931.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 528383, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-531-13 Proposed reorganization of the medical and sanitary services 18-11-1930 - 7-7-1933", "page_number": 35, "title": "CO129-531-13 Proposed reorganization of the medical and sanitary services 18-11-1930 - 7-7-1933", "content_text": "## The Colonial Veterinary Surgeon and the Assistant Colonial Veterinary Surgeon are attached to the department and on the department's pay roll.\n\nNeither the Medical Officers of Health, the Veterinary Surgeons nor the Sanitary Inspectors are servants of the Sanitary Board and there is nothing in the Ordinance other than Section 8(2) which gives the Board power to control their actions.\n\nAttached to the Department are 44 Interpreters who are members of the clerical service and who are not shown on the Department's estimates.\n\n## Nomination and training of Sanitary Personnel.\n\nAll Sanitary Inspectors are Europeans.\n\nNo special qualifying educational test has been laid down as is the case in Malaya, and candidates are not referred to the Medical Officer of Health before being recommended for appointment by the Head of the Sanitary Department.\n\nThe Medical Officers of Health and the Chief Sanitary Inspector hold classes and give lectures but there is yet no regular school for teaching such as exists in Malaya.\n\nHong Kong is an examination centre for the Royal Sanitary Institute and every year examinations are held for the Sanitary Inspector's Certificate, for the Sanitary Science Certificate and for the Meat and Food Certificate.\n\nThe examiners are the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services who is Chairman of the Board of Examiners, the Director of Public Works, the Medical Officer of Health, the Health Officer of the Port and the Colonial Veterinary Surgeon.\n\nCandidates come from as far distant as Shanghai to sit for these examinations.\n\nThe results of the last two years' tests have, so far as Hong Kong is concerned, been decidedly disappointing. The unanimous opinion of the examiners was that the Shanghai candidates showed a far more thorough knowledge of the subjects than did those from Hong Kong.\n\nOne of the chief reasons for the high percentage of failures among the local Inspectors is the absence of a proper school for training.\n\n## Sanitary Department's Standing Orders out-of-date.\n\nIn the book of Standing Orders and Instructions, in the keeping of the H.S.D., are to be found instructions for the M.O.H. The first of these states that \"He shall advise the Sanitary Board and the Government on all matters affecting the health of the Colony and shall report on any question relating to sanitation that may be referred to him by direction of the Board\".\n\nThe second states that \"He shall direct and superintend the work of the Sanitary Inspectors and of the entire Sanitary Staff working under his supervision and shall report to the H.S.D. any delinquencies on their part coming to his observation\".\n\nThese are departmental Standing Orders and Instructions which were issued by the Head of the Sanitary Department in 1911 and which have never been amended. They should, of course, have been brought up-to-date in 1924 and 1928.\n\nGovernment in its letter of 11.9.24 addressed to the Sanitary Board declared the P.C.M.O. (now the D.M.S.S.) the Officer responsible to Government for the Public Health of the Colony.\n\nAt the Legislative Council Meeting of September 1928 Government stated that with the view of bringing the Medical more closely in touch with the Sanitary Department and to give the Sanitary Board the advantage of the experience of the Medical Department \"the Principal Civil Medical Officer becomes Director of Medical and Sanitary Services and will be responsible for the technical side of the work of the Medical Officers of Health and for the advice that they will give to the Sanitary Board\".\n\nIt is quite obvious that by this declaration the D.M.S.S. through his Medical Officer of Health is the adviser to the Sanitary Board on all health matters.\n\nIt is also obvious that the Director being responsible for the technical side of the work of the Medical Officers of Health these Officers should be directly under him for such work, for no man can be made responsible without power of control.\n\nThe only point over which there can be difference of opinion is what exactly is meant by the word technical. The Oxford Dictionary defines \"technical\" to be \"of or in or peculiar to a particular art or science or craft\" and it is presumed that in this case the Government meant sanitary science.\n\nIt was failure to concur regarding the meaning of the word sanitary which prevented the H.S.D. and D.M.S.S. from coming to agreement regarding re-organisation in 1924 and the absence of an accepted definition has confused the issue ever since.\n\nFrom the context of the Government's letter of 11.9.24 it would seem that Government's interpretation of \"technical\" was that part of sanitary science which required for its intelligent execution such a training as is required by the medical curriculum as distinct from that which deals with cleanliness and order and which does not necessitate a medical training for its proper execution.\n\nThe nett result of six years' argument regarding reorganisation of the Sanitary Service is that the practice today remains what it became in 1908 and what it has continued ever since, viz., a cadet I.L.S.D. directing all sanitary services in the Colony other than that which deals with maritime quarantine and port health work.\n\nThe D.M.S.S. does not direct the technical side of the work of the Medical Officers of Health and he has no control over the advice given by the M.O.H. to the Sanitary Board.\n\n## The work performed by the Sanitary Department.\n\nThe work of the Sanitary Department may be considered under thirteen headings as follows:-\n\n| No. | Work Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| 1 | Measures for town cleansing, viz., street cleansing, scavenging and disposal of refuse. |\n| 2 | Measures for conservancy and night-soil disposal. |\n| 3 | Domestic sanitation measures - house cleansing and action re the provision of light and air and the prevention of overcrowding. |\n| 4 | The promotion of sanitation in places of assembly, e.g., common lodging houses, boarding houses, hotels, restaurants, eating houses, theatres, etc. |\n| 5 | The promotion of sanitation in factories including breweries, distilleries, workshops, and in connection with offensive trades. |\n| 6 | Measures for ensuring cleanliness in foods, viz., control of food factories (bake-houses, confectioneries, food preserving establishments) and markets. |\n| 7 | Measures for the prevention of importation of diseased animals or articles infected with the germs of animal diseases. |\n| 8 | Measures to prevent the spread of disease from animal to animal. |\n| 9 | Measures to prevent the spread of disease from animals to man. |\n| 10 | Measures for the prevention or mitigation of epidemic endemic, contagious or infectious disease. |\n| 11 | Measures for the disposal of the dead. |\n| 12 | The collection of samples under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act and the prosecution for offences under this Ordinance. |\n| 13 | The Registration of Births and Deaths. |\n\n49", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-531-13 Proposed reorganization of the medical and sanitary services 18-11-1930 - 7-7-1933.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 528932, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931", "page_number": 49, "title": "CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931", "content_text": "# Slavery\n\n## LORDS\n\nbut I think the Forced Labour Convention covers this matter, and it has already been assented to by the British Government. I will read a passage from the Anti-Slavery Reporter. On page 112 it deals with the specific question in these words:\n\n\"It is announced in the White Paper issued in April - that is, April of this year - 'that the British Government proposes to proceed with the ratification of the Draft Convention concerning forced and compulsory labour adopted at the International Labour Conference in Geneva in June, 1930. The recommendations guarding against indirect compulsory labour and for the regulation of compulsory labour, where recourse is had to it, are also to be adopted by the British Government. By that Convention - this is what we are going to adopt - 'States which ratify undertake to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour in all its forms'.\"\n\nI do not say that they are all equally bad, but they may tend to become synonymous with slavery. The Report continues:\n\n\"Forced Labour for private enterprise is barred absolutely; for a long time that was allowed if the private enterprise was for public utility purposes - is 'forced Labour for public purposes allowed for five years, but it must not be used unless efforts to obtain voluntary labour at local rates and on local conditions have failed, but any labour requisitioned must be paid for at local free labour rates, and in no case can labourers be called upon for more than sixty days in a year, including journey time.\"\n\nI think Lord Lugard will think that it is satisfactory that the Government have announced their intention of proceeding with the ratification of this Draft Convention. It is the latest Convention on the point, and I think it sufficiently covers all the matters to which he referred.\n\nI agree with him, and it is the basis of the position of the present Government, that none of these resolutions, Conventions or suggestions can be relied on unless you have an effective system of seeing that they are maintained in continual operation. I entirely agree that this ought to be done either by a bureau or by some organisation of an effective character, with headquarters at Geneva. Power to see that these matters are properly dealt with is essential. I think your Lordships will find, after Viscount Cecil has addressed you - I leave this matter with him - that the Government have not been backward. They have pressed it to the utmost, and I hope that we may be successful either at the next or at some future Assembly. I am afraid I have addressed you at some length, but I want to express once more my gratitude to the noble Earl, Lord Buxton for bringing this matter forward.\n\n## LORD PARMOOR\n\nSlavery.\n\n## VISCOUNT CECIL OF CHELWOOD\n\nMy Lords, my noble friend who has just sat down has asked me to say a word to your Lordships about the question of Liberia. After what my noble friend Lord Lugard has said, there is really exceedingly little to add to his account of that incident - or rather more than an incident. The only addition that I should venture to make to his history of the matter is to recall to your Lordships that it was, and it is fair that this should be remembered, at the instance of the Liberian Government that the Christy Commission was sent out to Liberia to inquire. They asked the League of Nations to appoint that Commission, and it was because of their request that the League did appoint it; and after it had reported it was due to the request of the Liberian Government for further assistance from the League that the League was able to send out the Commission which is now engaged in making inquiry into the matter to see what administrative reforms are really necessary in order to put a stop to the very terrible state of things that was demonstrated by the Christy Commission.\n\nThat Commission has gone out. It consists of a French Chairman, a Dutch member and a British member. Its proceedings were a little delayed because yellow fever is endemic in Liberia and it was felt to be really too dangerous for them to go out until some preliminary sanitary measures had been taken to diminish the incidence of yellow fever in that part of the world. That was done by a British medical officer who went out at the request of the Liberian Government, and he has carried out some provisional measures which I hope will render the proceedings of the Commission itself reasonably safe. They are engaged in the Report.\n\nThe most rev. Primate told us that there are still 5,000,000 slaves in the world, and although I suppose the estimate is a little in dispute I do not think the reality falls very far short of that number. That is a very serious state of things, and what I think one has to realise is that this system exists almost entirely because of tradition. Its economic value is exceedingly small. It is much less than that, for at any rate in Abyssinia the existence of slavery has undoubtedly been economically disastrous. I think my noble friend said that the whole of the districts in the southwest of the country have been almost depopulated in consequence of the existence of slavery, and it is, therefore, almost entirely traditional, and very strong tradition on the subject is backed up very often by a very powerful local opinion.\n\nUndoubtedly the point which Lord Lugard alluded to is the real difficulty - namely, the financial situation. As he knows, Liberian finances are of a very exiguous character and they seem to have been mortgaged, if I understand the position rightly, to this Firestone Company. At any rate the real question is as to what financial arrangements can be made, and we hope, with the advice and assistance of the United States, to make sufficient finances available to carry out whatever reforms turn out to be necessary. Until we have the Report of the Commission it is not possible for us to say exactly what will be required. I hope that the position is satisfactory, so far as it can be satisfactory at the present time, and I venture to remind your Lordships that this is a case where undoubtedly it was the action of a private inquirer, bringing to light a very serious state of things and thereby bringing to bear upon the local authorities the public opinion of the civilised world, which induced the whole of the action that has taken place.\n\nI should not have ventured to trouble your Lordship, as the matter has now been very fully discussed, except that I do very much desire to have the opportunity of supporting to the utmost of my power the suggestion made by Lord Buxton that the British Government should continue in their efforts, because that is really what he wants, to support an improved machinery in this matter in the League of Nations. I do feel that that is a matter of the very first importance. We have got a Draft Convention. No criticism has been made of the definition of slavery in that Convention, and there are the strongest possible words put into the second clause providing for the abolition of slavery. It has been stated that that has been ratified by some forty different countries, and, therefore, as far as agreement can do anything, we have taken, I think, all the steps necessary for the abolition of slavery. And yet we have regretfully to admit that slavery is still - I was going to say rampant, but still something very like rampant.\n\nYou see it in the case constantly referred to of mui-tsai in China, where apparently there is a deep feeling among large sections of the population in favour of this power of adoption of little girls, leading to something undistinguishable from slavery. In Abyssinia, undoubtedly, the great difficulty with which the Emperor has to contend is that a very strong feeling in favour of slavery exists among the feudal chiefs, who consider it part of their power and dignity to have so many slaves. So, if one went into history, one would find the existence of slavery in the southern states of America was based upon a strong local feeling. That is the great obstacle which we have against this reform - persistent tradition, particularly in those countries where tradition is very powerful. Then, of course, there is the complication of the question, the immense variety this system takes, from the forced labour we are trying to deal with by a separate Convention, through the system of adoption to debt slavery, to which Lord Lugard alluded. That is a complicated matter and requires to be dealt with not casually but scientifically and elaborately by properly organised machinery.\n\nA great deal has been said as to the function of the League of Nations. I believe that the League can do a great deal, but in this matter, as in most other matters, it must be remembered that the great weapon, and almost the only weapon, which the League has at its\n\nPage 57\nPage 1037\nPage 1038\nPage 1039\nPage 58\nPage 1040\n\nH.L. No 84", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 528933, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931", "page_number": 50, "title": "CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931", "content_text": "# Slavery\n\n## LORD CECIL OF CHELWOOD\n\nThe disposal is public opinion. It cannot—and I do not think it would be desirable that it should have the power—interfere with the sovereign rights of the Administration in any of these countries. All it can do is to bring to light the actual facts as they exist, and then publish them to the world. It is, as I see it, for that purpose almost essential, and certainly in the highest degree desirable that there should exist some permanent, impartial, highly-skilled body, such as was sketched by Lord Lugard—some kind of Commission.\n\nI do not think it would be so desirable to have a section of the Secretariat. The Secretariat cannot act in any way in criticism of any one of the Members of the League. I think it must be a Commission outside the Secretariat, but of a permanent character. I think that is essential, and certainly it must be of a highly-skilled and impartial character, and consist of men appointed not because they belong to this or that country, but chiefly because they are men in whose skill, probity, and knowledge the world will have confidence. Then it must have a continuous policy. It will not merely deal with some particular grievance or scandal, but it will have a continuous policy of setting up a standard of freedom and pointing out that this, that, or the other circumstance fails to come up to that standard of freedom. I regard this continuity as almost its greatest value, and then it must have skill and knowledge.\n\nThere are two other reasons why it is very desirable to have such a body. At present, it is recognised that slavery is an international matter, but if anything is to be done, if any attention is to be called to a condition of slavery in any particular country, it must be called by some particular Government getting up before the Assembly or Council and being placed in the position of accuser of that particular country. That is an exceedingly invidious position for any country to take up, and not very desirable from a broad international view. It is far better that the information should be furnished to such a body as this Commission, and then this Commission would be able to consider it and take whatever action it thought right. Lord Lugard told us how valuable he had found the unofficial communication when sitting on the temporary Commission. I agree that it would be one of the most valuable characteristics of a body of the same kind that unofficial information could be put before it. Undoubtedly, the impartiality of such a body is also of importance. In the Liberian case, the fact of the impartiality of the international Committee, consisting very largely of States which had no direct interest in Liberia, was one of the greatest elements of the possibility of success in this matter.\n\nI ought to say one word upon the difficulty which has always been found in pressing this proposal upon the League of Nations, for it is not a new proposal. It was put forward in 1929, and again in 1930, and I have every reason to hope that it will be put forward by the Government in 1931. The great difficulty is the fear that the countries feel that this will result in an interference with their sovereignty. There is a very widespread feeling, not unknown to your Lordships in this country, against any interference by foreigners in any matter of national administration. There are the less respectable difficulties of those who simply wish to conceal disreputable transactions which are going on under their own authority; but apart from that, which I hope is a very small influence, the main difficulty is the fear of interference by foreigners in national administration. Well, I think it very important that those who advocate this proposal should make it quite clear that no direct interference is contemplated at all. All that is contemplated is that this body shall set up a standard of administration in the public mind, and shall be in a position to publish to the world the facts of any particular case.\n\nIt is mere publication that is contemplated, and no interference beyond publication in the administration of a country.\n\nI would say to those who are afraid of a proposal of this kind, what is the alternative? The alternative is violent agitation at intervals dealing with some particular case. Some country is brought up as it were at the bar, very often of quite uninstructed public opinion. The matter is raised, it may be, in the Assembly of the League of Nations, or in some national Parliament, and some country is violently attacked, without any knowledge, without any recourse to any impartial body to clear its character. Surely, for every respectable Government, in a matter which is now recognised to be an international matter, it is of the first importance that there should be some impartial body before which they could go and say: \"Well, these charges which are now being suggested against us in the public Press or in public speeches are untrue, and we can show that they are untrue, and we are only too ready to have a full investigation into them.\" It is far better that these matters should be treated by an impartial body, such as I have tried to describe, than by the chance violence and rhetorical exaggeration of a political assembly, whether at Geneva or elsewhere. It is for these reasons that I personally am very, very anxious that we should press this matter forward to the utmost of our power at Geneva, and I very much hope that the Government will give instructions to its delegates to do so at the next Assembly.\n\n## LORD LAMINGTON\n\nMy Lords, I am in entire sympathy with the Motion of the noble Earl, Lord Buxton. The noble Lord, Lord Lugard, said it is quite proper that public attention should be drawn to and people made acquainted with the fact that it is estimated that 5,000,000 people are in slavery at the present moment. I do not think the public realise that at all. Then there is another aspect of the matter. Some of those who do know about slavery say that the slaves are generally fairly well treated and are happy and contented. May I read from a speech lately delivered at a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society by Sir Harcourt Butler, who has had such a distinguished career in the East, and who was instrumental in putting down slavery in Burma? He told his audience never to believe that slavery could be justified even when it is only a form of domestic slavery. He said:\n\n\"I have seen myself slaves on the confines of China, who I was told were living a happy existence. When I saw them myself, I was satisfied that it was nothing of the kind; it is quite impossible to lead a happy and contented existence when your children, or your wife, or your husband may be torn from you and sold away.\"\n\nThere are degrees of misery; anyhow, I came to the conclusion when I had seen it all that slavery is the worst thing that I have seen in the world.\n\nHe then made another remark which bears on what Lord Lugard said about the emancipation of slaves in Abyssinia:\n\n\"The second lesson I had was that the emancipation of slaves is an expensive business... The third lesson he learnt was the necessity of looking after the slaves that had been emancipated.\" I think that is very wise counsel. You cannot expect anybody to have a happy existence who has no personal rights whatsoever, and is subject to gross forms of cruelty, usually without any redress. It is natural to mankind to be willing to oppress their fellow creatures. It is a natural instinct, as history has shown and experience has taught me in various parts of the world. I can remember that many years ago, in a country where the whole force of British administration had sway, a Judge told me that, where there is a white jury and a native is one of the people in a suit, the native could not expect to have any justice; it entirely depended upon the Judge to secure him a proper meed of justice.\n\nIf that is the case where our system of laws is in full operation, what must it be in countries where slavery is held by tradition to be quite right, and a man behaves cruelly to one of his slaves? Is it possible, except in very few instances, that there can be any proper redress? Some people think that many generations of this form of usage have habituated the slaves to their treatment, and blunted their feelings. To show how people do not become inured to cruelty, a medical man, Dr. Harrison, who had spent over 14 years in Arabia, described the terror of the slave when about to be punished. When one of these negro slaves, he writes, as if suddenly crazed, runs round shouting and gesticulating as if a new personality had possessed him, even the hard Arab masters are a good deal awed and hesitate to inflict the punishment they have planned. In one sense, that is satisfactory as showing that more humane feelings are becoming prevalent in Arabia.\n\nI might quote other cases, but I think none of the speakers to-day have wished to harrow our feelings by a relation of the cruelties that have been and are being inflicted in China. Reuter's Agency, in a telegram in January this year, reported that over 400,000 slaves had been sold in China in recent years. That shows to what extent this form of servitude exists there. The trouble is that in...\n\nPage 50\nPage 51", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 528935, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931", "page_number": 52, "title": "CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931", "content_text": "# 1049 \n## Slavery\n\n\"In certain regions of Central Africa (e.g., in parts of the French Cameroons) children are obliged to do work which is beyond their strength and which causes them physical harm. In addition, women and children are sometimes obliged to help in heavy labour connected with road-making, supervised by native chiefs.\" \n\nSlavery, indigenous, rooted in ideas largely religious, and there have arisen also, what we had not a hundred years ago, insidious forms of slavery stimulated by industrial development and backed by economic pressure.\n\nHow the Convention is to be made effective as to these subsidiary forms of slavery is a very great question. We have been told that about forty States have adhered to the Convention, but the League cannot deal with abuses of this kind without the advice of men of administrative experience. All that I have quoted illustrates the great complexity of the question, and seems to me to show that imperatively progress requires such a bureau as has been sketched to-day. The function of providing technical examination of reports will be very valuable. The Convention binds its signatories to furnish reports, but before these can go to the Council or the Assembly they evidently require an examination which they cannot get to-day. Again, the function of advising States of the steps which are taken by other States requires a clearing-house of information. Information which is merely thrown at the head of the Secretariat, as it must be to-day, is not utilised. It comes home to one, if one sees the official now concerned with dealing with slavery information, how greatly a department is lacking. At present it is referred to the Mandates Department, and action awaits the fitting machinery.\n\nIt is melancholy to reflect that a whole century has elapsed since British liberation took place. It took forty years of strenuous agitation to end British slavery and the slave trade. It was a tremendous task, but it was simple in one way because the agitators had to deal with our own Government alone. It was a very great event in history, and in confirmation of what has been said to-day it is interesting to recall the words of Mr. Lecky when he said: \"The crusade of England against slavery may probably be regarded as among the three or four perfectly virtuous acts recorded in the history of nations.\" \n\nTo-day the problem, as we have heard, is greatly changed. The influence of States which preserve slavery to-day is based upon the fact that slavery is there. \n\n## Lord Noel-Buxton\n\nBut in one way the problem is much simpler, because we have the League to act; and action by the League avoids the odium of interference by a single State and it saves the face of the State which needs reform. Our own Government, as has been said, has acted with vigour, and let us hope that it will continue to do so till success is attained. In doing so, it has been true to the tradition of this country, which is based on the fact that it has very often been the leader in movements for liberation. To succeed it needs the backing of a keen public opinion. I think we may say that the noble Earl who introduced this debate has fully expressed the public opinion of the British race - the opinion that slavery must without delay be brought to an end.\n\n## EARL BUXTON\nMy Lords, perhaps I might say one or two words in reply. May I thank noble Lords in the House for the way they have received this Resolution, and especially the Leader of the House for what he has said with regard to the action of the Government in one or two matters? In listening to the debate I recalled to memory the biography of my grandfather, and I traced in my mind the difference between the reception that he had in his time and that which I have received in mine. He was received during the ten years he was endeavouring to deal with this question with the greatest misrepresentation, with vile abuse and with all sorts of insinuations. I receive bouquets; he received brickbats. I think that is indicative of the enormous change which has taken place in regard to this matter.\n\nThere are several points on which I should like to say something, but I do not wish to detain your Lordships at this time of the evening, and so I will only deal with two matters. The first is in reference to what the noble and learned Lord the Leader of the House has said about slaves going between Abyssinia and Arabia. In my speech I ventured to remark that co-operation between France, Italy and ourselves was greatly required. I was very glad to hear the noble and learned Lord say in reply that that co-operation is now very cordial, and we may hope it will be effective.\n\n# 1051 \n## British Sugar Industry\n\nThe other point is one raised by the noble Viscount, Lord Cecil, in reference to what he called direct interference with sovereign States. I do not know whether he heard my speech, but I referred to that especially - exactly, I think, from the point of view he expressed. I said that in all these cases the danger that there would be a feeling of interference with the sovereign independence of Members of the League of Nations was a thing which must be clearly guarded against, but, at the same time, if you had a bureau of this description, you would have a body which would be able to assist those desirous of dealing with slavery in their own countries. I agree with him that that is a danger to be guarded against, or rather, I would put it in this way, that the difficulty of getting these proposals accepted by the League of Nations is the danger of a feeling of interference. I feel sure that the Government will give to this point the attention desired by the noble Viscount, because I am sure it is an important point in getting these proposals accepted by the League. I am much obliged to the noble and learned Lord.\n\nOn Question, motion agreed to.\n\n## BRITISH SUGAR INDUSTRY (ASSISTANCE) BILL\nOrder of the Day for the Second Reading read.\n\n## THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (EARL DE LA WARR)\nMy Lords, this is a Bill to deal with an emergency that occurred in the beet sugar industry last year owing to the fact that the drop in the price of sugar from 11s. 7d., I think, in 1928, to 9s. 2d. in 1929 and then to 6s. 6d. in 1930 coincided with the halving of the beet sugar subsidy, that is, a reduction from 13s. to 6s. 6d. These two reductions, coming together, created a situation which the industry was unable to meet. The Government, therefore, decided that it would be necessary to alleviate to some extent the situation thereby brought about. It was decided to do so by increasing the new smaller subsidy - that is, the subsidy of 6s. 6d. by 1s. 3d. per cwt. Very stringent conditions are attached to that increase. Firstly, the extra subsidy is not payable at all in so far as sugar prices rise above 9s. 3d. - that means a rise in price of 1s. 9d. above what the price is now. Every penny that the world price of sugar rises comes out of this scheme for increasing the subsidy.\n\nActually the cost of the scheme would be something over £200,000, but for every penny that the price of sugar rises between now and the initiation of this scheme we save £15,000. Not only that, but if the price of sugar rises sufficiently next year to justify us in so doing, this extra subsidy will be recoverable out of the next year's payment of subsidy to the factories. The factories have undertaken in return to see that every penny of the subsidy goes to the growers.\n\nThey have undertaken that they will pay no dividend and make no provision for depreciation while they are in receipt of this subsidy. Not only have the factories made this sacrifice in order to keep the industry going - because most certainly the industry could not have been kept going unless some such step had been taken - but the growers themselves have also had to meet a very heavy reduction in price. Whereas last year they were receiving 52s. 4d. for beets containing 17 per cent. sugar content, next year they are to receive only 43s. Whereas last year they received 46s. for beets containing 15 per cent. sugar content, this year they are only to receive 38s.\n\nLet me make it quite clear that this Bill does not in any sense raise the general question of whether the beet sugar industry should or should not be assisted. That was settled some years ago - I think in 1925 when the original Bill was introduced. We are simply discussing now whether an industry that was set up by Act of Parliament, and on the development of which this country has already spent vast sums, should be allowed to go under because of one particular year in which this disastrous fall in prices coincided with an equally large fall in the subsidy. At any rate, if any noble Lord is anxious to raise the general principle, I would point out that this proposal of ours only suggests an increase.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-532-3 Mui Tsai system 4-12-1930 - 9-11-1931.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 529112, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-532-4 Mui Tsai system- resolution and correspondence with private individuals 27-10-1930 - 24-6-1931", "page_number": 115, "title": "CO129-532-4 Mui Tsai system- resolution and correspondence with private individuals 27-10-1930 - 24-6-1931", "content_text": "# TRAFFIC IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN.\n\n## COMMISSION ARRIVES IN HONG KONG.\n\nThe commission of enquiry into the traffic in women and children in the East arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday. Any person or organisation wishing to meet the commission is requested to communicate with the Secretary, Mr. W. von Schmieden at the Peninsula Hotel.\n\nInternational collaboration in the combat against the traffic in women and children has only been in existence for about 30 years. On several occasions the Assembly of the League of Nations has expressed the hope that it would be possible to extend the enquiries to countries where no enquiry had yet taken place. In pursuance of this recommendation the Secretary-General of the League communicated with Governments in the Near, Middle and Far East and asked whether they would be prepared to accept and co-operate in an enquiry of this nature, it being understood that enquiries would be strictly confined to the international aspect of the question.\n\nChina, France, Great Britain, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Siam and the United States stated that they were prepared to authorise such an enquiry in their territories.\n\n### Personnel of Commission.\n\nThe League of Nations has entrusted this enquiry in the countries of the East to a travelling commission of three members. They are:- Mr. Bascom Johnson, American, Chairman; Dr. Alma Sundquist, Swedish; and Mr. Karol Pindor, Polish. Mr. Bascom Johnson carried out the previous enquiry in Europe and America; Madame Sundquist is a well-known physician who has specially interested herself in women's social questions in her own country; and Mr. Pindor is a diplomat who has spent 25 years of his life in various Asiatic countries.\n\nIn each of the countries to be visited the Government has appointed an official representative who will receive the commission and act as the channel through which all official information will be obtained.\n\nThe commission arrived in the East at the end of October where it intends to spend 18 months visiting the various countries and conducting its enquiry. On its return to Geneva the commission will draw up a report for submission to the League of Nations giving the results of its enquiry.\n\n## ARSON TRIAL AT SESSIONS.\n\n### FATHER AND SON AMONG THE ACCUSED.\n\n#### ALLEGED CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD.\n\nAllegations of an attempt to set fire to a building in order to defraud insurance companies were made when the trial opened at the Criminal Sessions on Monday of three men, including a father and his son.\n\nThe trial was before the Acting Chief Justice (Mr. Justice Wood) and a jury comprising Messrs. J. L. McPherson (foreman), S. Gidley, James Sloan, F. Wilkin-son, H. J. Howard, Louis Kai Hing and Ip Fook Ling.\n\nMr. Somerset Fitzroy, appearing for the Crown, stated that the premises had been preserved exactly as found, with festoons of shavings and palm leaves, spread out for the purpose of burning the place down. In outlining the case for the Crown, Mr. Fitzroy said that three persons, of whom the second accused was one, interviewed the owner of the premises on July 8 and they took the whole house. As soon as they took possession they set to work to prepare for the fire. A staircase on the ground floor was pulled down and altered. Cubicles and cooklofts were erected on the premises.\n\nThey obtained insurance on the premises and stock-in-trade with two companies to the value of $31,000 - the larger part of which was the stock-in-trade, which consisted of Chinese medicines.\n\n### Petrol and Palm Leaves.\n\nCounsel went on to say that the accused secured other premises at 63, Connaught Road West, first accused taking it over, and described other incidents which he said went to show that the new place was to be used as a \"bolt hole\" when No. 77 burnt down. Fifteen bales of palm leaves, petrol and kerosene distributed about the place in jars were found. Counsel also exhibited some samples of the palm leaves and a camp bed burnt at one end.\n\nDescribing what took place about midnight, Mr. Fitzroy said that a policeman rushed to the house on hearing a whistle blown by a man in the street. The policeman succeeded in smothering the flames with a blanket which he found on the camp bed. While this was going on the third accused was seen in the street with account books under his arm in company with another man. They were chased, but only the accused was caught.\n\nThe plan failed because there was a gap left in the chain of inflammable material, and the quick action of the policeman also frustrated it. Further, the alarm was sounded before the place was well alight. Counsel explained that the Superintendent of the Fire Brigade had expressed the opinion that in a matter of a few minutes the premises would have been a seething mass of flames and adjoining houses would have been in serious danger.\n\n### Identification Difficulty.\n\nThe owner of the premises, who was called as a witness, said that three men called on him to rent the house. After a close look at the prisoners, witness said that he thought the second accused was one of the men.\n\nCross-examined by Mr. Jenkin, witness said that he attended an identification parade, but he could not recognise the second accused on that occasion.\n\nAt the second day's hearing, a witness named Leung Luk Tsun was subjected to a lengthy cross-examination on the subject of an alleged conversation which he stated took place between him and the first defendant.\n\n| Witness Statement | Cross-examination |\n| --- | --- |\n| Witness said that they met at a restaurant next to the Wing On Company on August 25 or 26, when the defendant asked him about the rules of insurance in Hong Kong. | Mr. Jenkin: What light did you think you could throw on the path of justice ?—I wanted to assist in the arrest of the defendant, not because he owed me $500, but because of the $2,500 owing to my friend on the promissory note of which I was a witness, and I was being blamed for defendant's default. |\n| He replied that the rules were about the same in every case and that defendant could get them by applying to the companies. Later, the defendant asked if the commission of arson was a very serious crime. Witness replied that it would mean ten years' imprisonment. | Counsel reminded the witness that when he gave evidence in the Police Court he stated that the conversation about arson took place on September 20. Asked to explain why he should now say that the conversation took place on August 25 or 26, witness said that a mistake was made in the Police Court in writing down the date which he gave according to the Chinese calendar. |\n| Witness concluded his evidence by saying that he had come forward as a voluntary witness, adding that first defendant owes him money. | The insurance was effected on September 5 and I put it to you that it is impossible for the defendant to ask you on September 20 about the methods of insurance?- No, the conversation took place in August as I could not find the defendant after September 1 on which date I was to get the $500. |\n\nWitness said that he came to know defendant in connection with a small ship known as the Wah San which was sold to the defendant. The purchase price was $7,500 in cash and $2,250 in addition, for which a promissory note was issued in favour of the seller, who was a friend of witness. It was agreed that defendant should pay witness $500 after completing the deal at the end of August. The money was payable on September 1, but witness had not yet been paid. Witness had a writ issued on September 7 or 8, but the defendant could not be found.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-532-4 Mui Tsai system- resolution and correspondence with private individuals 27-10-1930 - 24-6-1931.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 534047, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932", "page_number": 65, "title": "CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932", "content_text": "Chapter VII.\n\nTransition from Servile Labour to Free-wage Labour and Independent Production:\n\nA. Survey of the Situation\n\nB. Suggestions.\n\nChapter VIII.\n\nSummary and General Suggestions\n\nAPPENDICES:\n\nA. List of Documents supplied or transmitted by Governments since the Signature of the 1926 Slavery Convention\n\nPage 21\n\nB. List of Documents communicated by Governments to the Secretariat of the League of Nations in reply to the Circular Letter from the Secretary-General, dated October 21st, 1931 (document C.L.272.1931.VI).\n\nPage 26\n\nC. Note, dated August 24th, 1932, from Lord Lugard, containing Recent Information concerning Abyssinia.\n\nPage 79\n\nI. LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL.\n\n[Translation.]\n\nGeneva, August 30th, 1932.\n\nThe Committee of Experts on Slavery constituted under the Council resolutions of September 29th, 1931, and January 28th, 1932, met at Geneva in two sessions, the first from May 4th to 11th, and the second from August 22nd to 30th, 1932.\n\nThe Committee was composed as follows:\n\nM. ANGOULVANT, Honorary Governor-General of the Colonies, former Governor of French West Africa, former Governor of French Equatorial Africa;\n\nMme. DE CASTRO E ALMEIDA, Government delegate to the International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation (author of works on educational and humanitarian subjects);\n\nM. GOHR, Honorary Secretary-General of the Belgian Ministry of Colonies, ex-President of the Temporary Slavery Commission;\n\nM. J. LÓPEZ OLIVAN, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former Director-General of Morocco and the Colonies, Madrid;\n\nLord LUGARD, member of the Permanent Mandates Commission, former Governor-General of Nigeria, former Member of the Temporary Slavery Commission;\n\nM. NEYTZELL DE WILDE, Ex-President of the Legislative Assembly of the Netherlands Indies, at present head of the Department for League of Nations Affairs and for Juridical Questions at the Ministry of Colonies, The Hague;\n\nM. ZEDDA, former Secretary-General attached to the Government of Eritrea (after serving the whole of his career in the Italian colonies);\n\nReplaced at the second session of the Committee by:\n\nM. Ercole VELLANI, Head of the Research and Propaganda Department at the Ministry of Colonies, Rome,\n\nObserver:\n\nMr. PHELAN, Chief of the Diplomatic Division at the International Labour Office.\n\nThe Committee appointed as its officers Lord Lugard and the undersigned. On the proposal of Lord Lugard, seconded by M. Angoulvant, I was elected Chairman. Lord Lugard accepted the Vice-Chairmanship of the Committee.\n\nIn deference to the wishes of my colleagues, I also agreed to prepare the draft report to the Council.\n\nIn fulfilment of the first task enjoined upon me by the members of the Committee, I beg to convey to the Council their sincere thanks for the confidence which the Council has placed in them and the honour which it has done them in calling upon them to serve on the Committee of Experts and which they highly appreciate.\n\nBy the Assembly resolution of September 25th, 1931, the Committee of Experts was instructed \"to examine the material upon slavery which has been supplied or transmitted by Governments since the signature of the Convention of 1926. This Committee will submit to the Council suggestions with a view to recommending to the next Assembly the measures of assistance which the League of Nations could render to those countries which have agreed to abolish slavery and which request such assistance.”\n\nIn a resolution of September 29th, 1931, the Council defined the task of the Committee of Experts as follows:\n\n(1) \"The Committee should examine the documents submitted to it and report to what extent in the light of these documents the Slavery Convention of 1926 has been successful in putting an end to slavery and what obstacles, if any, exist to further progress in this direction.\n\n(2) The Committee should further consider and report by what methods assistance can be rendered to those States which have expressed a desire to receive it for the purpose of suppressing slavery within their territory.\n\n(3) Finally the Committee should state whether any modification of the existing machinery of the League would be desirable with this object.\"\n\nThe Committee was instructed not to consider the question of compulsory or forced labour.\n\nS.d.N. 1.405 (F.) 1.175 (A.) 9/92, Imp. Kundig.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 534048, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932", "page_number": 66, "title": "CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932", "content_text": "4\n\nTo these questions the Council, by its resolution of January 28th, 1932, added another— namely, the measures which the Committee might suggest to induce States which have not yet done so to ratify the Convention or to accede thereto.\n\n*\n\nThough the programme assigned to the Committee of Experts was thus defined, and clearly defined, the Council left the Committee to determine its own methods of work.\n\nIn this connection, the Committee of Experts first considered whether it was entitled to make use of documents sent to it direct by private persons or associations.\n\nInterpreting the Council resolution of September 29th, 1931, in the light of the Assembly resolution of September 25th of the same year, the Committee concluded that it was only intended to examine documents supplied or transmitted by Governments.\n\nThey comprise:\n\n(1) The documents referred to in the Assembly resolution of September 25th, 1931, and which the Council, in its resolution of January 28th, 1932, requested the Secretary-General to transmit or communicate to the Committee of Experts. They appear in the list attached to the report (Appendix A).\n\n(2) The replies of Governments to the circular letters of November 1st, 1929, November 7th, 1930, and October 21st, 1931,1 communicating to Governments the resolutions adopted by the Assembly at its tenth, eleventh and twelfth sessions, and inviting Governments to supply the Secretariat, not only with the documents referred to in Article 7 of the 1926 Convention, but also with any information which these Governments might be able to furnish as to the present position in regard to slavery and even such particulars, obtained from private sources, as they might see fit to communicate or to transmit concerning, not only their own territory, but also the general position at the present time in the matter of slavery. The replies have been enumerated in the list forming Appendix B to the report.\n\n**\n\nIt remained for the Committee to decide the extent to which it might reasonably utilise information derived from documents supplied or transmitted by Governments. Should it not endeavour to ensure that if such information referred to another State it should be previously submitted to that State? Was it authorised in the course of its work to hear the evidence of persons or representatives of organisations whose information had been transmitted by a Government to the Council?\n\nOn these points, the Committee decided to adhere, whenever occasion arose, to the procedure adopted by the Temporary Slavery Commission of 1924 and 1925, a procedure which was approved by the Council in its resolution of August 29th, 1924, and by the Assembly in its resolution of September 22nd of the same year.\n\nMoreover, the report submitted to the Council on September 29th, 1931, included the suggestion that the Committee should bear in mind the procedure followed in 1924 by the Temporary Slavery Commission.\n\nConsequently the Committee decided:\n\n(1) That its meetings would not be public;\n\n(2) That it might hear such additional explanations as it might judge necessary or useful from persons or the representatives of organisations whose written communications had been received through a Government;\n\n(3) That, if the documentary material supplied or transmitted by a Government mentioned facts which were alleged to have occurred or to exist in the territory of another Government, and if the latter had not admitted the truth of such allegations, it would be advisable, before taking cognisance thereof, to request the Council to communicate the information to the Government under whose administration the facts were said to have occurred or to exist.\n\nApart from the few hours necessary for the solution of these preliminary questions, the Committee devoted the thirteen plenary meetings of its May session to a discussion of all the questions referred to it by the Council.\n\nAfter ascertaining that the Committee of the Council set up to examine conditions in Liberia was also dealing with slavery questions arising in that country, this Committee decided that it need not give any attention to Liberia,\n\n*\n\n*\n\nIn accordance with decision No. 2 above, the Committee heard Lord Noel Buxton and Mr. Harris, the joint representatives of the \"Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society\" of London, who offered to furnish explanations on the reports which were received on April 8th,\n\n1 Documents C.L.292.VI, C.L.296.1930.VI, C.L.172.1931.VI.\n\n5\n\n1932, and were, on May 2nd, 1932, addressed by that Association to the Council, through the British Government.\n\nE3\n\nThe Committee did not have occasion to resort to the procedure laid down in No. 3 above. Though the documents transmitted by one Government referred to facts alleged to have taken place, or to exist, in the territory of other Governments, the Committee has expressed no opinion upon the accuracy of the statements made. It has presented them as having the character of mere allegations, and, in the most serious cases, has taken care to cite the evidence adduced in denial of them.\n\n***\n\nAs the preparation of the draft report to be sent to the Council required a fairly considerable amount of time, and as the other members of the Committee had to be given an opportunity to examine it before discussing it, the Committee adjourned until August 22nd, 1932, for the final revision of the report. Moreover, the Council itself had, as is shown by the Minutes of its meeting on January 28th last, contemplated the necessity of the Committee's holding two sessions.\n\nAt its second session, which was held from August 22nd to 30th, 1932, and which comprised sixteen meetings, the Committee, after discussing the draft report, adopted it in its final form.\n\nI have the honour to transmit the report to you herewith.\n\n*\n\n**\n\nIn drafting its report, the Committee has followed the method adopted during the course of its discussions. The report begins with an account of the present position in regard to slavery, dealing in turn with the various aspects of slavery as defined in the Temporary Commission's report of July 25th, 1925, with the omission, as stated, of public or private compulsory labour, and the situation in Liberia. The particular advantage of this method is that it facilitates a comparison between the situation in 1924 and that existing at present.\n\nThe report therefore deals successively with the following questions:\n\nChapter I. - Status and Legal Status of Slavery (paragraphs 1 to 15).\n\nII. - Slave-raiding and Similar Acts (paragraphs 16 to 24).\n\nIII. - Slave Trade (paragraphs 25 to 42).\n\nIV. - Slave-dealing (including Transfer by Exchange, Sale, Gift, Inheritance or Occasional Sale of Persons previously Free) (paragraphs 43 to 47).\n\nV. - Practices Restrictive of the Liberty of the Person (paragraphs 48 to 58).\n\nVI. - Domestic or Predial Slavery (Serfdom) (paragraphs 52 to 63).\n\nVII. - Transition from Servile or Compulsory Labour to Free-wage Labour and Independent Production (paragraphs 64 to 67).\n\nLike the 1925 report, each of the chapters of the present report concludes with suggestions as to the manner in which the particular aspect of slavery referred to can best be combated. The Committee attaches special importance to those which relate to slave-raiding (paragraphs 23 and 24) and to the slave trade, especially when carried on by sea (paragraphs 34 to 42).\n\nE\n\nThe report concludes with a Chapter VIII, headed \"Summary and General Suggestions\". After a brief summary of the preceding chapters, Chapter VIII sets forth in turn the answers to the questions which the Council put to the Committee.\n\nTo the first question namely, to what extent the 1926 Convention has been successful in putting an end to slavery, and what obstacles exist to fresh progress in this direction—the Committee was of opinion that, whilst reflecting a considerable improvement, the documents supplied had not enabled it to give a definite reply (see paragraph 69).\n\nOn the second question—namely, by what methods assistance can be rendered to those States which have expressed a desire to receive it for the purpose of suppressing slavery within their territory—the Committee noted that only Liberia had asked for League assistance. As, however, the special Council Committee already mentioned had been instructed to study questions concerning that country, the Committee of Experts felt that it should refrain from any suggestions with regard to that country (see paragraph 70).\n\nThe third question is whether any modification of the existing machinery of the League would be desirable.\n\nThe Committee is of opinion:\n\n(1) That a special Bureau should be instructed to receive and endeavour to supplement the documentary material as well as to prepare for action to be taken upon it. It has expressed the desire that the information to be furnished by Governments under Article 7 of the 1926 Convention should be supplemented by reports to the Council giving an account of the slavery position in their territories and, where appropriate, of the measures which are being taken to deal with it, the results obtained, and the obstacles in the way of further progress.\n\n(2) That a small permanent Commission would be exceedingly useful, not only to take action upon the documentary material collected by the Bureau referred to in paragraph (1)\n\nDocument A.19.1925.VI.\n\n80", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 534057, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932", "page_number": 75, "title": "CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932", "content_text": "CHAPTER VIII.\n\nSUMMARY AND GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.\n\n68. To sum up, with the exception of Liberia, with which the Committee did not feel called upon to deal, it would appear from the material supplied to the Committee of Experts and the discussions which took place in the Committee:\n\n(a) That slave-raiding in the old form of vast organised operations such as still existed only thirty years ago in Africa has completely disappeared under the combined efforts of the European Colonial Powers, which have effectively occupied to their extreme boundaries the African territories placed under their authority, although at intervals, especially on the frontiers of certain possessions or of States such as Abyssinia, in districts where the authority of the Central Government does not yet make itself sufficiently felt, there still occur individual or collective acts aimed at the capture of free men in order to keep them as slaves or dispose of them subsequently. The number of such acts is declining from year to year, and they are tending to disappear, being moreover severely punished by Abyssinian law (death penalty). A closer and more active liaison between the Powers concerned will no doubt finally put an end to such practices.\n\n(b) That the chief object of these captures is to supply the slave markets which still exist in certain Arab States on the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and that the first objective of the League of Nations must be to secure the abolition of the slave trade by means of the moral pressure which can be exerted on these States by the Powers that have concluded either treaties of protection and control or treaties of friendship and commerce with them. Meanwhile, seeing that slaves are embarked along the whole of the west coast of the Red Sea, supervision by the Powers, including Egypt, which exercise authority over these areas must be maintained and, if possible, intensified on a more uniform basis than at present.\n\n(c) That there are still a few States, chiefly the Moslem States of Arabia, which have not yet abolished slavery either in law or in fact, and that the League of Nations should exert influence upon them in order to induce them to do so either immediately or gradually; in any case, such States should not be received into the League of Nations, should they express a desire for admittance, until they have accepted obligations identical with those entered into by Abyssinia in 1923, and European Powers, in concluding treaties with these States, should endeavour to secure the insertion of a clause aiming at the same object.\n\n(d) That there is one Christian State, Abyssinia, which has not yet completely abolished slavery in law or in fact; but that, in conformity with its obligations, it has enacted successive measures aiming, on the one hand, at preventing the enslavement of persons who are at present free and, on the other hand, by increasing liberations, at gradually diminishing the number of those who are still slaves without creating the political, economic or social disturbances in the country which are to be apprehended; and that the League of Nations should keep in touch with the progress made and should see that it does not slow down but is, on the contrary, accelerated as much as possible.\n\n(e) That, even in countries which have abolished slavery in the ordinary sense of the term, there still exist in Africa certain kinds of social status in which men are not in enjoyment of full civil freedom, but which are in no sense inhuman, and which in certain ways (assistance to the sick and infirm) even present advantages. A social status of this kind cannot equitably be assimilated to slavery in the usual sense of the term without running the risk of giving to the civilised world an incorrect and unfair impression of what may still remain of this ancient evil. These kinds of social status have been abolished in law in the territories under the authority of the colonial Powers and are gradually disappearing in fact under the influence of various factors. According to the French, Italian and Portuguese experts, such kinds of social status do not come under the definition of slavery as laid down in the 1926 Convention. According to the Belgian, British, Spanish and Netherlands experts, these kinds of social status do come within that definition, if they involve the exercise by the master of any of the attributes of the right of property.\n\nLastly, there still seem to exist practices incompatible with human liberty in certain districts of Africa and Asia, and even America. They take numerous forms not always easy to define and vary from country to country; they must be prohibited by law, pending their abolition by custom. Among these practices are the pawning of debtors, peonage, simulated adoption of children, etc.\n\n69. Is the description of the situation given in the present report accurate? Is it complete? Far from being able to reply in the affirmative, the Committee of Experts feels convinced that both these questions call for a negative answer. In point of fact, as the Committee has repeatedly stated in the course of the foregoing chapters, and in connection with the special points dealt with in those chapters, the material which has been supplied to it is inadequate. That applies even to countries which have ratified the 1926 Slavery Convention. No doubt Article 7 of that Convention obliges them to communicate to the other contracting parties and to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations any laws and regulations which they may enact with a view to the application of the provisions of the Convention, but even if all the parties to that Convention which exercise authority over oversea territories had supplied the documents mentioned, the latter would still be insufficient to permit of an exact picture of the facts.\n\nIn his communications of November 1st, 1929, November 7th, 1930, and October 21st, 1931, the Secretary-General of the League, in pursuance of the resolutions adopted by the Assembly at its tenth, eleventh and twelfth sessions, invited the Governments to transmit to the Secretariat, not only the documents provided for in Article 7 of the 1926 Convention, but also such information as they were in a position to furnish as to the present situation of slavery, and even information from private sources which they thought fit to communicate, either relating to their own territories or to the general position of slavery.\n\nHowever, while certain Governments—such as those of Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan—supplied information, and while certain of these reports furnished valuable data, many Governments have not acceded to the desire expressed by the Assembly of the League. The Committee would have found of very great value other sources of information, such as the reports of diplomatic and consular agents on the situation regarding slavery in countries to which they are appointed if slavery still exists in these countries, or, again, communications sent to associations concerned with the question.\n\nFurther, it would have been necessary for the Committee to dispose of the means and the time required for classifying these different documents and checking the statements contained in such information from various sources as it would have decided to investigate.\n\nThe Committee is not therefore in a position to give a definite or precise reply to the first question put to it under the terms of reference—namely, the extent to which the 1926 Convention has been successful in putting an end to slavery and what obstacles exist to further progress in that direction.\n\nThe suggestions submitted by the Committee at the end of each chapter of the present report setting forth the facts can thus also be only of relative value.\n\n70. The second question which the Council asked the Committee was by what methods assistance could be rendered to States desirous of receiving it with the object of putting an end to slavery within their territory.\n\nOn this point, the Committee finds some difficulty in giving an answer, since, except in the case of Liberia, with which the Committee did not feel called upon to deal, owing to the existence of a special committee of the Council to study all the questions which concern that country, no State had expressed a desire for assistance. It is possible to imagine political assistance, pecuniary assistance, technical assistance, moral assistance and a type of assistance which, while possible in the case of one State, would not be suitable or even conceivable for others. At the same time, among the suggestions to be found at the conclusion of the foregoing chapters of the present report, the Committee has contemplated the possibility of the collaboration of certain States or of the League of Nations in the measures adopted by another State to combat slavery, and it has also suggested the utility of a measure which, while directing the attention of public opinion in all civilised nations to the existence of slavery in this or that country, should give evidence of their anxiety that slavery should disappear.\n\n71. The Council has also asked the Committee to report whether, with the object of hastening the disappearance of slavery, any modifications of the existing machinery of the League would be desirable and, if so, what they should be.\n\nTo begin with, the Committee is of opinion that the Powers parties to the Convention are not sufficiently in a position to determine how far the other contracting parties comply with the obligation entered into by them to combat slavery.\n\nAs stated in paragraph 69 of the present report, it would be well if, in addition to the documents mentioned in Article 7 of the Convention, the contracting parties in whose territory slavery or analogous forms of servitude still exist would enter into an undertaking to forward to the League Secretariat a report describing the situation in regard to slavery in their territories, the administrative measures, if any, taken to abolish it, the results obtained and any obstacles to further progress.\n\nIt would at all events be desirable that they should consent to forward such a report to the League Council should the latter ask them to do so.\n\n72. The Committee considers also that it is essential to attach to the services of the Secretariat a Bureau, whose duty it would be:\n\n(a) To receive, in addition to the documents mentioned in Article 7 of the 1926 Convention, the reports from Governments referred to above and possibly any information supplied by diplomatic and consular agents concerning slavery which Governments might be disposed to forward to the League;\n\n(b) To seek out and collect any other information relating to slavery published in the newspapers, periodicals or any other publications;\n\n(c) To classify such documents according to a methodical system.\n\nIt may be asked whether these measures would be adequate for the purpose in view. In any case, if the League of Nations felt that it required enlightenment from experts on the subject, the Committee thinks that it would not be sufficient to consult from time to time a Committee working under the same conditions as the 1924 Temporary Commission or the present Committee. Apart from the inadequacy of the material, the present Committee was obliged to take cognisance suddenly and in haste of the material collected; most of the members had not been associated with the Temporary Commission's work in 1924, so that they were unable to make...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-539-4 Mui Tsai system 28-6-1932 - 28-11-1932.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 536627, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-542-5 Volunteer Ordinance- 1933 26-5-1933 - 9-11-1933", "page_number": 17, "title": "CO129-542-5 Volunteer Ordinance- 1933 26-5-1933 - 9-11-1933", "content_text": "# \n## Commission \n4. The officers of the corps shall be British subjects and shall be commissioned by the Governor; and no such commission shall be deemed vacated by death or retirement from office of the Governor by whom the same was issued.\n\n## Right of volunteer to quit corps on certain conditions\n5.-(1) Subject as hereinafter mentioned, any volunteer may, except on actual military service, quit the corps on complying with the following conditions:-\n(a) giving to the Commandant fourteen days notice in writing of his intention to quit the corps;\n(b) delivering up in good order (fair wear and tear only excepted) all arms, clothing, and appointments, being public property or property of the corps, issued to him; and\n(c) paying all money due or becoming due by him under this Ordinance or under any regulations made thereunder or under the rules of the corps, either before or at the time or by reason of his quitting it;\nand thereupon he shall be struck out of the muster roll of the corps by the Commandant.\n\n(2) If any volunteer gives such notice and the Commandant refuses to strike him out of the muster roll, and the volunteer considers himself aggrieved thereby, the volunteer may appeal to a magistrate, who shall hear and determine the appeal, and may, for the purposes thereof, administer oaths and examine any person as a witness, and, if it appears to the magistrate that the arms, clothing, and appointments issued to the volunteer, being public property or property of his corps, have been delivered up in good order (fair wear and tear only excepted), or that he has paid or is ready to pay sufficient compensation for any damages that such articles may have sustained, and that all moneys due or becoming due by him under this Ordinance or under any regulations made thereunder or under the rules of the corps, either before or at the time of or by reason of his quitting it, have been paid, the magistrate may order the Commandant forthwith to strike such volunteer out of the muster roll of the corps, and such determination shall be binding on all persons.\n\n(3) Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, every volunteer, other than a member of an auxiliary unit, shall be deemed to have engaged himself to serve for a period of at least three years from the date of his first admission to the corps, and if he quits, or is discharged from, the corps before the expiration of the first year of the said period he shall pay to the Commandant the sum of sixty dollars, if after the expiration of the first year and before the expiration of the second year the sum of forty dollars, and if after the expiration of the second year and before the expiration of the third year the sum of twenty dollars: Provided that no such sum shall be payable by a volunteer who, in the opinion of the Commandant, bona fide intends to leave the Colony forthwith for a period of at least one year, or who quits his corps for any other cause which the Commandant may consider reasonable and bona fide: Provided also that nothing in this sub-section shall relieve any volunteer from the obligation to comply with the provisions of sub-section (1) if he wishes to quit the corps.\n\n## Volunteers to be under command of officers of regular forces\n6. Whenever any volunteers are on actual military service, or are undergoing drill, exercise or inspection together with His Majesty's regular forces, or are voluntarily doing duty together with such forces, they and their officers shall, subject to any regulations made under this Ordinance, be under the command of the officers of His Majesty's regular forces, so, nevertheless, that the volunteers shall, when the circumstances of the service admit, be led by their own officers under such command.\n\n## Annual inspection of corps\n7. An annual inspection of the corps shall be held by a general or field officer of His Majesty's army.\n\n## Disbanding of corps\n8. The Governor may disband or discontinue the services of the corps or any part thereof whenever it may seem to him expedient to do so.\n\n## Courts of inquiry\n9. The General Officer Commanding the Troops with the approval of the Governor, may at any time assemble a court of inquiry comprised of officers of the corps to inquire into any matter relative to the corps or to any officer of the corps or volunteer, and to record the facts and circumstances ascertained on such inquiry, and, if so required, to report on the same for the information of the General Officer Commanding the Troops.\n\n## Regulations\n10.-(1) The General Officer Commanding the Troops may, with the approval of the Governor after consultation with the Commandant, make regulations respecting the constitution, general government, discipline and training of the corps, and in particular respecting\n| Item | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| (a) | conditions of efficiency; |\n| (b) | appointment, promotion and rank of officers; and |\n| (c) | assembling and proceedings of courts of inquiry. |\n\n(2) The regulations contained in the First Schedule shall be deemed to have been made under this Ordinance and shall continue in force except in so far as they may be rescinded or amended or added to by regulations made under this Ordinance, or by any other Ordinance.\n\n## PART II. ACTUAL MILITARY SERVICE\n## Calling out for actual military service in case of national emergency, invasion, or serious local disturbance\n11. (1) In case of great national or local emergency, or in case of actual or apprehended invasion of or attack on the Colony, or in case of serious local disturbance, or in case it may be desirable to take precautions against the possibility of serious local disturbance, the Governor may, by proclamation, call out the corps or any portion thereof for actual military service.\n\n(2) Every officer of the corps and volunteer so called out shall be bound to assemble at such place as may be directed by the Governor, and to perform such service as may be required under the orders of the General Officer Commanding the Troops.\n\n(3) Every such officer and volunteer so called out shall, for the purposes of this Ordinance, be deemed to be on actual military service. If any such officer or volunteer, not being incapacitated by infirmity for service, refuses or neglects so to assemble, he shall be deemed a deserter.\n\n(4) The period of such service shall continue so long as the Governor may consider necessary, and shall end only by order of the Governor.\n\n3 \n18", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-542-5 Volunteer Ordinance- 1933 26-5-1933 - 9-11-1933.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 537308, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-543-4 Piracy- Case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong and others 10-2-1933 - 2-3-1934", "page_number": 22, "title": "CO129-543-4 Piracy- Case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong and others 10-2-1933 - 2-3-1934", "content_text": "## \n22 \n\nsome gunnes upon the said Rutcliffe warren and his company; \nof wch shotts the said Ratcliffe warren, John Bellson, and \nWilliam Dawson died; and so they find that the said Tho. \nCornwaleys & his company did lawfully & in their owne \nnecessary defence kill the said Ratcliff warren, John Bellson \nand William Dawson; and doe acquit the said Thomas Cornwaleys \n& his company of the death of the said Ratcliff warren, John \nBellson and William Dawson \n\nand they further find that the said Ratcliff Warren, \nand his company did discharge their gunnes against the said \nThomas Cornwaleys and his company and did kill the said \nWilliam Ashmore being one of the company of the said Thomas \nCornwaleys; as felons, pyrates, and murtherers. \n\nX \n\n**Acts of Assembly** the 15th March 1637 between the houres of 9 and 10 in the \nmorning \n\nAssembled. (names) \n\nX \n\nX \n\nThen was read the first time 1. bill confirming \nthe sentence against Thomas Smith. \n\n**Acts of Assembly** on 16th March 1637 betweene the houres of 8 and 9 in the morning \n\nX \n\nX \n\nAssembled (names) \n\nthen was read the second time \nthe Act \nX \nX \n| Bill | Description | Status |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| confirming the sentence | agt. Tho. Smith | |\n| for fees | | |\n| for paymt. of forfeitures | | |\n\n**Acts of Assembly** 17th March 1637 between the houres of 8 and 9 in the \nmorning \n\nAssembled (names) \n\nthen was read the third time the Bill confirming the sentence agst. Thomas Smith. passed \nfor fees, passed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-543-4 Piracy- Case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong and others 10-2-1933 - 2-3-1934.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 537554, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-544-13 British Empire Fair- reports- etc. 10-8-1933 - 8-11-1933", "page_number": 38, "title": "CO129-544-13 British Empire Fair- reports- etc. 10-8-1933 - 8-11-1933", "content_text": "18 \n\norganisers were gambling at long odds with the weather. The \nbest date needs careful consideration, \nfor holding the Fair before one-third of the \nEuropean population goes on leave, leaving merchants' offices shorthanded, \nIf held in November, when the weather in Hong Kong is good, \nsummer holidays in England may interfere with the organisation \nof exhibits. Another objection is that the work of the Organisers \nwould then fall to be done in the hot weather of August, September \nand October. A fixture in February would overcome this difficulty \nand perhaps suit United Kingdom suppliers better, and the Fair \nmight be combined with the Chinese New Year Fair. To hold a Fair \nin hot weather is very trying to exhibitors and the public.\n\nThe first Fair lasted barely two days, and voluntary \nhelpers found it quite sufficiently trying to be on duty for that \nperiod. However, it was felt that from the point of view of \nsuppliers, the Fair ought to last longer and it was therefore \ndecided to continue from Wednesday, the 24th, to Saturday, the \n27th. But the New Territories Section and the Flower Exhibition, \nin which the voluntary helpers were engaged, shut down at the end \nof the second day.\n\nThe division of the Fair into so many different parts of \nthe Peninsula Hotel building, and the location of a large section \nin two marquees, open on all sides to public access (to comply with \nFire Brigade requirements) made it impossible to regulate admission \nin any way. From an early hour on the 24th the curious throng began \nto assemble, and by the time the opening ceremony was over it \nwas difficult to walk about the building. The chairs vacated by \nthose who took part in the opening Ceremony were quickly occupied \nby unwashed coolies who seemed to find it the height of life's \nambition to be seated for once in a comfortable chair. They were \ncontent", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-544-13 British Empire Fair- reports- etc. 10-8-1933 - 8-11-1933.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 544672, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-547-8 Piracy- case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong 22-3-1934 - 14-12-1934", "page_number": 60, "title": "CO129-547-8 Piracy- case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong 22-3-1934 - 14-12-1934", "content_text": "# No. 3.\n\n## Extract from the Archives of Maryland, 14th-17th March, 1637.\n\n### Trial of Thomas Smith for piracy - continued.\n\nThe judgement affirmed, and approved by special consent by word of mouth.\n\nCapt. Cornwaleys, Cutbert ffenwick, X'pofer Thomas, Sergt. vaughan, Zachary mottershead, William Lewis, Isaac Edwards, Reinold fleete, Thomas morris, Anthony Cotton, John nevill, James Cauther, Edward fleete, Francis rabnett, Thomas francklin, Robert percy, Richard Loe.\n\nand his company and did kill the said William Ashmore being one of the company of the said Thomas Cornwaleys; as felons, pyrates, and murthers.\n\n## Acts of Assembly the 15th March 1637 betweene the houres of 9 and 10 in the morning Assembled.\n\n(names)\n\n### Trial of Thomas Smith for piracy - continued.\n\nThen did the prisoner demand his clergy; but it was answered by the President that clergy could not be allowed in this crime, and if it might, yet now it was demanded too late after judgement.\n\nThen departed out of the house Capt. Cornwaleys, Cutbert ffenwick, William Lewis, John nevill, Anthony Cotton, Edward ffleete, and Cyprian Throughgood.\n\nThen was the house moved by the Attorney to enquire of the death of William Ashmore, Ratcliffe Warren, John Bellson, & William dawson.\n\nand the house having heard the evidence of Cyprian Throughgood, John nevill, Cutbert ffenwick, & Edward ffleete did find that the said Ratcliffe warren, John Bellson, William dawson with divers others did assault the vessells of Capt. Thomas Cornwaleys & his company feloniously and as pyrates & robbers to take the said vessells; and did discharge divers peices charged with bulletts & shott against the said Thomas Cornwaleys & his company; whereupon & after such assault made the said Thomas Cornwaleys and his company in defence of themselves & safegard of their lives not being able to flie further from them after warning given to the assailants to desist from assaulting them at their owne perill, did discharge some gunnes upon the said Ratcliffe warren and his company; of wch shotts the said Ratcliff warren, John Bellson, and William dawson died; and so they find that the said Tho. Cornwaleys & his company did lawfully & in their owne necessary defence kill the said Ratcliff warren, John Bellson, and William dawson; and doe acquit the said Thomas Cornwaleys & his company of the death of the said Ratcliff warren, John Bellson, and William dawson.\n\nand they further find that the said Rateliff Warren, and his company did discharge their gunnes against the said Thomas Cornwaleys.\n\n## Acts of Assembly on 16th March 1637 betweene the houres of 8 and 9 in the morning Assembled.\n\n(names)\n\nThen was read the first time 1. bill confirming the sentence against Thomas Smith.\n\nThen was read the second time the Acts confirming the sentence agt. Tho. Smith.\n\n## Acts of Assembly 17th March 1637 betweene the houres of 8 and 9 in the morning Assembled.\n\n(names)\n\nthen was read the third time the Bill confirming the sentence agst. Thomas Smith. passed for fees. passed.\n\nPage 60\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-547-8 Piracy- case of Rex v. Chung Tam Kwong 22-3-1934 - 14-12-1934.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 549687, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-555-2 Estimates 1936 30-8-1935 - 29-1-1937", "page_number": 96, "title": "CO129-555-2 Estimates 1936 30-8-1935 - 29-1-1937", "content_text": "Budget Debates\n\nNow, reverting to the direct subject of the Budget, I put forward for Your Excellency's consideration a suggestion relating to the discussion of the annual Estimates in Council. Hitherto, with one or two exceptions, the practice has been to pass the second and third readings of the Appropriation Bill at one sitting. The debate on the Budget is an occasion of great importance to the community. Speeches are made by almost every individual member, and the points raised by them are numerous and varied. It is well-nigh impossible, even though advance-copies of the unofficial members' speeches are furnished to the Government a day or two beforehand, for all the criticisms and suggestions to be given adequate consideration.\n\nFurthermore, no opportunity whatsoever is afforded the public to formulate and express their views on the points raised before they are disposed of for good or ill. It is a recognised rule of good administration everywhere to ascertain the trend of public opinion upon debatable issues before proceeding to action. I would therefore make the suggestion that in future a separate date, say a week later, may be set aside for the third reading.\n\nKOWLOON'S NEEDS\n\nOpium Control in the Colony\n\nSOCIAL SERVICES\n\nThe Hon. Mr. J. P. Braga spoke as follows:-Your Excellency,-Two statements in the Colonial Secretary's Budget Speech appear to me to conflict; they call for some explanation. The first is that \"on the instructions of the Secretary of State six more opium shops would be opened.\" There are at present seven such shops. The Colonial Treasurer disputes the wisdom of this step. He asserts that the opium monopoly still declines and estimates for 1936 are perhaps optimistically placed at $300,000. It is regrettable that the Colony is going to increase the number of its opium shops.\n\nIt is a decision that, in the opinion of many, is indefensible on any grounds whatsoever. The proposal to broaden this successful experiment, which has passed its experimental stage, is one that is commendable both from the point of view of economy and the absorption of local men for employment. To my sorrow, I can observe the growing tendency of local unemployment, and it behoves those in authority, whose duty it is effectively to check this undesirable growth, to adopt remedial measures for its prevention.\n\nA Personal Note\n\nI apologise for having spoken so long; but as this is my last appearance in this Honourable Council, I trust that you, Sir, and my honourable colleagues will be indulgent. It is to me a striking co-incidence that my last utterance in this assembly should be on the Budget, an instrument which has been almost my constant concern since 1903.\n\nFor thirteen years in the Colonial Secretary's Office, it was my duty to assist in the preparation of the Estimates; even after my resignation from the Government Service, I still performed this duty for the Government for a year during the War, in 1916, to be precise; and from 1923 until now, the Budget has ever occupied my close attention, as a \"member in opposition.\" So, as it is thirty-two years since I first directed my mind to the annual Estimates, it is perhaps fitting that my last word here should be of them.\n\nCongratulations and Thanks\n\nMay I, in conclusion, associate myself with the Honourable Senior Unofficial member in his expression of congratulations and thanks to all those responsible for the production of the Budget before us—to Sir Thomas Southorn and Mr. D. W. Tratman, to the Hon. Colonial Treasurer and the Hon. Director of Public Works, and to Mr. A. W. G. H. Grantham, to whom I also offer sincere felicitations on his well-merited promotion.\n\nIt is a matter of great regret to all of us that illness overtook Sir Thomas Southorn and Mr. Tratman just on the completion of their arduous labour on the Estimates. I offer them my deepest sympathy, and wish them a speedy and complete recovery. I desire also to congratulate Your Excellency on your lucid and comprehensive presentation of the Budget, and on the statesmanlike commentary which accompanied your exposition. The Colony is fortunate that, at a time when it is deprived of the able guidance of both the senior officials in the civil administration, the temporary control of its affairs should rest in such capable hands. (Applause.)\n\nShumchun Amusements\n\nThe Colonial Secretary refers to the Treasurer's lucid memorandum to explain the decrease in railway receipts. One of the reasons given for this decrease is a reduction in \"the passenger traffic to Shumchun.\" I do not regard the diminution of the Shumchun traffic with any regret or misgiving. Frankly, I would say that the stimulation of that traffic is unwise as it is undesirable.\n\nA telegram from Geneva, dated the 6th September, 1935, informs the Far Eastern world that the League Council paid a tribute to the Chinese Government in the matter of opium suppression, and expressed the hope that it would finally rid China of the drug evil. On the ground of expediency alone, the Colony should, to my mind, forego an item of revenue for the great beneficial results which the extinguishment of the opium monopoly would bring about in the Colony.\n\nHongkong has acted in the past at the behest of the League of Nations on the question of one of its features of the social evil, and it may well now forestall the indicated \"necessity of tightening up regulations\" with regard to opium. Support is lent to this suggestion by the Colonial Secretary's remark that \"this question must carry out its international obligations as regards opium.\"\n\nSocial Services\n\nUp to this stage, I have dealt with a few of the more salient features, as they appear to me, of the Colonial Secretary's statement that invite comments. I now approach more familiar home ground. They deal with questions affecting citizens.\n\nThe wisdom of refraining from reducing expenditure for social services will commend itself to most. An important aspect of the question of these services has, I am afraid, never been emphasised in the past. Unstinted praise and credit cannot fairly be withheld from the various religious associations, irrespective of their denominations, for establishing institutions for philanthropic work and maintaining large staffs for whose services the Colonial contributions represent a very small part of the capital involved, part of which is from abroad, in the erection of buildings and the upkeep of the special personnel who form such an important item amongst our import-ant assets.\n\nKowloon Seafront\n\nThe re-laying of the untidy open space by the Railway fence along Chatham Road involves a very slight expenditure for which the site will offer to residents in the vicinity and to visitors to the Colony. To take in hand one section is praiseworthy in itself. This partial improvement has become very noticeable. Kowloon residents will appreciate prosecution of the work to include the entire strip of land as soon as any savings can be made in the expenditure of the Public Works Department.\n\nThere is all to commend the beautifying of open spaces on the Peninsula. On aesthetic grounds, it is highly desirable, and, added to that recommendation, in the absence of public parks, improvements called for in the interests of public convenience and necessity. Let us hope that it will not be long before the finances of the Colony will permit of a public bandstand on this magnificent ground by the sea where music can be discoursed of an evening in the warm summer time.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-555-2 Estimates 1936 30-8-1935 - 29-1-1937.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 551984, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-558-6 Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps- application by German residents to enlist 11-10-1935 - 12-6-1936", "page_number": 32, "title": "CO129-558-6 Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps- application by German residents to enlist 11-10-1935 - 12-6-1936", "content_text": "## Additional penalty for failure of member of Air Arm to fulfil obligations as to efficiency\n\n16A. Every member of the Air Arm who in the opinion of the Commandant fails without reasonable excuse to complete the requirements of efficiency in any year shall also pay to the Commandant such sum, not exceeding five hundred dollars, as shall represent, in the opinion of the Commandant, the cost to the Government of his training during that year.\n\n## New section 26A inserted in Ordinance No. 10 of 1933\n\n5. The Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended by the insertion of the following new section after section 26:\n\n### Conditions of medical treatment where wounds, injury or illness are incurred on duty\n\n26A. If any officer of the corps or volunteer receives any wound or other injury whilst on duty, or suffers from illness or disability directly incurred in the execution of duty, he shall be entitled to treatment in a Government Hospital on terms similar to those granted to Government officers.\n\n## Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, s. 3, 11, 15 and 16\n\n6. The Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is also amended—\n| Clause | Amendment |\n| --- | --- |\n| (i) | in section 3 (1) by the substitution of the word \"volunteer\" for the words \"member thereof\"; |\n| (ii) | in section 11 (5) by the insertion of the words \"of the corps\" after the word \"officer\"; |\n| (iii) | in the proviso to section 15 (1) (iv) by the substitution of the words \"assembly of the corps\" for the words \"assembly of his corps\"; and |\n| (iv) | in section 16 (5) by the substitution of the word \"volunteer\" for the words \"member of the corps\", \"member of the volunteer corps\" and \"member\" respectively. |\n\n## Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, First Schedule, Regulation 9\n\n7. Regulation 9 in the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended—\n| Clause | Amendment |\n| --- | --- |\n| (i) | by the substitution of the words \"ten shillings\" for the words \"twenty shillings\" in sub-section (1); and |\n| (ii) | by the substitution of \"five shillings\" for \"ten shillings\" in sub-section (2). |\n\n## Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, First Schedule First Appendix\n\n8. The First Appendix to the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended—\n| Clause | Amendment |\n| --- | --- |\n| (i) | by the substitution of \"4, 5, 6, 6A, 7 and 8\" for \"4, 5 and 6\" in the first line of paragraph 3. |\n| (i) | by the substitution of \"paragraphs 3 and 4\" for \"paragraph 3\" in the third line of paragraph 5. |\n| (iii) | by the insertion of the following new paragraph after paragraph 6:— |\n### 6A. Training for Air Arm\n(1) Every officer and volunteer of the Air Arm shall undergo the following training annually:-\n- Annual inspection.\n- A minimum of six hours flying per quarter.\n- A course of lectures.\n(2) The Camp for this unit will be optional.\n\n## Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, First Schedule Second Appendix\n\n9. The Second Appendix to the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended by the addition at the end thereof of the following paragraph :-\n### Articles issued on loan to Officers of the Air Arm\n- 1 Suit overalls\n- 1 Flying helmet\n- 1 Pair goggles\n- 1 Pair earphones\n- 1 Flying training manual\n\n## Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, First Schedule Third Appendix\n\n10. The Third Appendix to the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended by the addition of the following paragraph at the end thereof:-\n### Articles issued on loan to Members of the Air Arm\n- 1 Suit overalls\n- 1 Flying helmet\n- 1 Pair goggles\n- 1 Pair earphones\n- 1 Flying training manual.\n\n## Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, First Schedule Fourth Appendix\n\n11. The Fourth Appendix to the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended by the addition of the following paragraph at the end thereof :—\n### 9 Return of flying hours. 1st of each month.\n\nPassed the Legislative Council of Hong Kong this 5th day of December, 1935.\n\n**H. R. BUTTERS**, \nDeputy Clerk of Councils.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-558-6 Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps- application by German residents to enlist 11-10-1935 - 12-6-1936.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 551988, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-558-6 Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps- application by German residents to enlist 11-10-1935 - 12-6-1936", "page_number": 36, "title": "CO129-558-6 Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps- application by German residents to enlist 11-10-1935 - 12-6-1936", "content_text": "# LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.\n\n## Draft Bill.\n\nNo. S. 311.-The following Bill is published for general information:\n\n### Short title.\n\nAmendment of Corps Units in Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, First Schedule r. 3 (1).\n\n### Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, s. 5.\n\n### New section 16A inserted (C.S.O. 499/20).\n\n## A BILL\n\n**INTITULED**\n\n[No. 8-26.9.35.-5.]\n\nAn Ordinance to amend the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933.\n\nBE it enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:---\n\n1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Volunteer Amendment Ordinance, 1935.\n\n2. The list of Corps Units in regulation 3 (1) in the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended-\nby the substitution of \"(m) Air Arm.\" for \"(m) Flying Section.\"\n\n3. Section 5 of the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended-\n(i) by the insertion of the words \"of the Air Arm or\" after the word \"member\" in the second line of sub-section (3).\n(ii) by the addition of the following sub-section :-—\n\n(4) Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained every member of the Air Arm shall be deemed to have engaged himself to serve in that unit for a period of four years from the date of his admission to that unit, and should he continue therein then for a further period or periods of four years at a time, and if he without the permission of the Commandant ceases so to serve he shall, if called upon so to do, pay to the Commandant such sum, not exceeding five hundred dollars, as shall represent, in the opinion of the Commandant, the cost to the Government of his training during the then current period of four years.\n\n4. The Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended by the insertion of the following new section after section 16:—\n\n### Additional penalty for failure of member of Air Arm to fulfil obligations as to efficiency.\n\n16A. Every member of the Air Arm who in the opinion of the Commandant fails without reasonable excuse to complete the requirements of efficiency in any year shall also pay to the Commandant such sum, not exceeding five hundred dollars, as shall represent, in the opinion of the Commandant, the cost to the Government of his training during that year.\n\n5. The Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended by the insertion of the following new section after section 26:—\n\n### New section 26A inserted in Ordinance No. 10 of 1933.\n\n### Conditions of medical treatment for wounds, illness are incurred on duty.\n\n26A. If any officer of the corps or volunteer receives any wound or other injury whilst on duty, or suffers from illness or disability directly incurred in the execution of duty, where he shall be entitled to treatment in a Government Hospital on terms similar to those granted to Government officers.\n\n6. The Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is also amended (i) in section 3 (1) by the substitution of the word \"volunteer\" for the words \"member thereof'';\n(ii) in section 11 (5) by the insertion of the words \"of the corps\" after the word \"officer\";\n(iii) in the proviso to section 15 (1) (iv) by the substitution of the words \"assembly of the corps\" for the words \"assembly of his corps\"; and\n(iv) in section 16 (5) by the substitution of the word \"volunteer\" for the words \"member of the corps\", \"member of the volunteer corps\" and \"member\" respectively.\n\n### Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, ss. 3, 11, 15 and 16.\n\n7. Regulation 9 in the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended-\n(i) by the substitution of the words \"ten shillings\" for the words \"twenty shillings\" in sub-section (1); and\n(ii) by the substitution of \"five shillings\" for \"ten shillings\" in sub-section (2).\n\n### Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, First Schedule, Regulation 9.\n\n8. The First Appendix to the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended-\n(i) by the substitution of \"4, 5, 6, 6A, 7 and 8\" for \"4, 5 and 6\" in the first line of paragraph 3.\n(ii) by the substitution of \"paragraphs 3 and 4\" for \"paragraph 3\" in the third line of paragraph 5.\n(iii) by the insertion of the following new paragraph after paragraph 6 :-\n\n6A. (1) Every officer and volunteer of the Air Arm shall undergo the following training annually:—\n| Training | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| (a) | Annual inspection. |\n| (b) | A minimum of six hours flying per quarter. |\n| (c) | A course of lectures. |\n\n(2) The Camp for this unit will be optional.\n\n9. The Second Appendix to the First Schedule to the Volunteer Ordinance, 1933, is amended by the addition at the end thereof of the following paragraph:-\n\n### Amendment of Ordinance No. 10 of 1933, First Schedule Second Appendix.\n\nOfficers of the Air Arm are issued with the following articles on loan:-\n| Item | Description |\n| --- | --- |\n| 1 | Suit overalls |\n| 1 | Flying helmet |\n| 1 Pair | goggles |\n| 1 Pair | earphones |\n| 1 | Flying training manual |", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-558-6 Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps- application by German residents to enlist 11-10-1935 - 12-6-1936.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 557604, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938", "page_number": 42, "title": "CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938", "content_text": "२५\n\n42\n\nmedical teaching of the University. So far no detailed estimate of the cost of the Institute has been made, but manifestly the project will involve substantial capital expenditure and substantial recurring charges.\n\n13. Resolutions XIII and XIV outline the views of the University on the relations that should exist between the Civil Medical Department of Government and the University.\n\nResolution XV indicates how the University proposes to deal with the consulting practice allowed to clinical professors, a fruitful source of local discontents hitherto.\n\nResolutions XVI and XVII indicate means whereby the University and the Government Education Department might work together with common advantage.\n\n14. Paragraph 89 of the University (1987) Committee's report referred to conditions on which study leave had been given. This matter was dealt with separately at a Council meeting held on February 11th, 1938, when short rules governing the grant of study leave were approved.\n\n15. Two related matters arising out of the report were considered and the judgments of the Council and the Court are contained in resolutions XXIV and XXVI. In the first it was resolved that it was unnecessary to attempt a definition of the powers of the Vice-Chancellor, in the second, that it was unnecessary to restrict the freedom of the Senate to discuss matters touching the interest of the University. These resolutions arose out of the comments in the report on the state of discipline in the University. Another resolution arising out of the same series of considerations is in resolution XXVII which lays down the constitution of the committee that hereafter will deal with complaints of breaches of discipline levelled at senior members of the University staff. The purpose of this resolution was to change a procedure whereby, at present, disciplinary charges can be discussed in a mixed assembly, the Court, consisting of nearly seventy members.\n\n16. Attention may perhaps be called to resolution XVIII. This arises in part from a belief accepted by the Council and the Court that hitherto the University has tended excessively to stress the practical and technological quality of its course and has failed sufficiently to emphasize the value of a University as an instrument of civilization in a commercial community. The Vice-Chancellor has on several occasions addressed the members of the Court on this and on cognate matters.\n\n17. The remaining resolutions of the Council and the Court are self-explanatory.\n\n18. No specific reference is made in the Court Minutes to certain important matters of the University (1937) Committee's report, but generally the reason for the omissions are clear. For instance, paragraph 64 of the report comments on the organization of the Department of Education within the Faculty of Arts and recommends the abolition of the Professorship of Education. Both in the University and outside, there has long been dissatisfaction with the work done by the University in the training of teachers. For this reason, in my speech of Congregation on January 7th, 1938, I announced my intention to appoint the committee to which reference is made in an earlier paragraph of this despatch. As the University was adequately represented on this Committee and as the Committee was to report directly to the Governor, I understand that the Council was content to abstain from passing any resolution on this issue. The Committee, as has been already stated, did not accept the conclusion of the University Committee (1937) Report but, on the contrary, has advocated a wide extension of the training of teachers for Anglo-Chinese and Chinese schools in which, it is contended, co-operation between the University and the Government Education Department will increase the responsibility and the volume of work to be done by the University Department of Education.\n\n\"\n\n19. I invite particular attention to the Court's resolution No. III. This resolution was moved in the Council by the Honourable Mr. M. K. Lo and was passed unanimously. The Council and the Court deliberately abstained from expressing opinions on any resolution of the Senate which did not call for specific action by the Council or the Court. In effect, this meant that the Council gave its attention in the main to the Senate's resolutions calling for action and these resolutions were taken in conjunction with motions proposed by the Vice-Chancellor which in almost every case dealt with the same issues. The chief exception to this is in the resolution now under consideration in which the Council (a) repudiated criticism of committee's procedure made by the Senate and (b) asserted its view that comments interpreted as derogatory of the professional status of members of the University staff had been read in a sense not intended by the committee. The members of the committee, who were all present at the Council meeting, supported this motion which was accepted on behalf of his colleagues by Professor Ride, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. The resolution has had the effect of removing the sense of grievance under which a number of the members of the staff have suffered. It is significant that, at the Court meeting, dissent from the resolutions of the Council was expressed by only a minority of the senior members of the University staff. The same group dissented from the proposal to limit the area of engineering teaching and from the contingent proposal touching the future of the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics. Among the rest, I gather, the resentments expressed against the report when it was first published are no longer heard, and in general, the senior members of the staff, with four exceptions, have actively supported the proposed changes. This disregards the opinion of two men absent on leave, one of whom would have supported, the other probably would have opposed.\n\n20. It may, I think, be safely claimed that the reforms advocated by the Court, which are derived almost entirely from the able and penetrating report of Mr. N. L. Smith's Committee (1937), go far towards the right adjustment of the University's aims and methods. Interdependent as many of them are, I trust that they will succeed in obtaining your complete concurrence.\n\n21. I am aware of the suggestions which were made in 1937 that an independent academic commission should be invited to study the problems now in question. Sir Andrew Caldecott in his Congregational Address of 4th of January, 1937, mentioned such a possibility and the Questions and Answers in Parliament on the date 26th of May, 1937, which accompanied your note of 3rd of June, 1937, were also concerned with this.\n\nI have no hesitation in advising you that the conclusions now reported render it unnecessary for such a proposal to be further considered at the present time and I trust that that view will have your concurrence.\n\n22. I should take this opportunity of paying a tribute to Mr. D. J. Sloss who, from the moment of his arrival as Vice-Chancellor at the very end of October, 1937, has worked whole-heartedly towards finding solutions for the many and difficult problems which the Report in question raised. That a conclusion should have been reached on the various issues raised which is practically unanimous is due very largely to his energy, tact, and personality.\n\nI have the honour to be, Sir,\n\nYour most obedient, humble servant,\n\nG. A. S. NORTHCOTE,\n\nGovernor.\n\n43", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 557652, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938", "page_number": 90, "title": "CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938", "content_text": "102\n\n(vi) Resolution XII (ii) advocates the establishment of an Institute of Preventive Medicine to remedy the most conspicuous weakness of the medical teaching of the University. So far no detailed estimate of the cost of the Institute has been made, but manifestly the project will involve substantial capital expenditure and substantial recurring charges.\n\n13. Resolutions XIII and XIV outline the views of the University on the relations that should exist between the Civil Medical Department of Government and the University.\n\nResolution XV indicates how the University proposes to deal with the consulting practice allowed to clinical professors, a fruitful source of local discontents hitherto.\n\nResolutions XVI and XVII indicate means whereby the University and the Government Education Department might work together with common advantage.\n\n14. Paragraph 89 of the University (1937) Committee's report referred to conditions on which study leave had been given. This matter was dealt with separately at a Council meeting held on February 11th, 1938, when short rules governing the grant of study leave were approved.\n\n15. Two related matters arising out of the report were considered, and the judgments of the Council and the Court are contained in resolutions XXIV and XXVI. In the first, it was resolved that it was unnecessary to attempt a definition of the powers of the Vice-Chancellor; in the second, that it was unnecessary to restrict the freedom of the Senate to discuss matters touching the interest of the University. These resolutions arose out of comments in the report on the state of discipline in the University. Another resolution arising out of the same series of considerations is in resolution XXVII, which lays down the constitution of the committee that hereafter will deal with complaints of breaches of discipline levelled at senior members of the University staff. The purpose of this resolution was to change a procedure whereby, at present, disciplinary charges can be discussed in a mixed assembly, the Court, consisting of nearly seventy members.\n\n16. Attention may perhaps be called to resolution XVIII. This arises in part from a belief accepted by the Council and the Court that hitherto the University has tended excessively to stress the practical and technological quality of its course and has failed sufficiently to emphasize the value of a University as an instrument of civilization in a commercial community. The Vice-Chancellor has on several occasions addressed the members of the Court on this and on cognate matters.\n\n17. The remaining resolutions of the Council and the Court are self-explanatory.\n\n18. No specific reference is made in the Court Minutes to certain important matters of the University (1937) Committee's report, but generally the reason for the omissions is clear. For instance, paragraph 64 of the report comments on the organization of the Department of Education within the Faculty of Arts and recommends the abolition of the Professorship of Education. Both in the University and outside, there has long been dissatisfaction with the work done by the University in the training of teachers. For this reason, in my speech at Congregation on January 7th, 1938, I announced my intention to appoint a committee to which reference is made in an earlier paragraph of this despatch. As the University was adequately represented on this Committee, and as the Committee was to report directly to the Governor, I understand that the Council was content to abstain from passing any resolution on this issue. The Committee, as has been already stated, did not accept the conclusion of the University Committee (1937) Report but, on the contrary, has\n\nThe\n\n4\n\nPage 90\n\nPage 91", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 557711, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938", "page_number": 149, "title": "CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938", "content_text": "766×5\n\n14.\n\n8\n\nParagraph 89 of the University (1937) Ordinance referred to conditions on which study leave had been given. This matter was dealt with separately at a Council meeting held on February 11th, 1938, when short rules governing the grant of study leave were approved.\n\n15.\n\nTwo related matters arising out of the report were considered, and the judgments of the Council and the Court are contained in resolutions XXIV and XXVI. In the first, it was resolved that it was unnecessary to attempt a definition of the powers of the Vice-Chancellor; in the second, that it was unnecessary to restrict the freedom of the Senate to discuss matters touching the interest of the University. These resolutions arose out of comments in the report on the state of discipline in the University. Another resolution arising out of the same series of considerations is in resolution XXVII, which lays down the constitution of the committee that hereafter will deal with complaints of breaches of discipline levelled at senior members of the University staff. The purpose of this resolution was to change a procedure whereby, at present, disciplinary charges can be discussed in a mixed assembly, the Court, consisting of nearly seventy members.\n\n16.\n\nAttention may perhaps be called to resolution XVIII. This arises in part from a belief accepted by the Council and the Court that hitherto the University has tended excessively to stress the practical and technological quality of its courses and has failed over", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-567-12 Hong Kong University 24-1-1938 - 24-1-1938.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 561434, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-571-15 Sino-Japanese War- manufacture and import of aircraft to China 18-1-1938 - 5-1-1939", "page_number": 136, "title": "CO129-571-15 Sino-Japanese War- manufacture and import of aircraft to China 18-1-1938 - 5-1-1939", "content_text": "136 \n\n\"to the counter-measures which Japan might take against \n\n\"assembled aircraft as soon as they left British \n\n\"territory \n\nThe upshot must be that any aircraft \n\n'reaching Hong Kong in parts and destined for China will \n\n\"have to be forwarded in unassembled condition by such \n\n'means of transport as may be available.\" \n\n5. It is clear from the Cabinet decision and the wording of the telegram which was laid before the Cabinet at the time when it made its decision that in each case where the words \"British territory\" were used, Hong Kong territory was meant. Thus it is not accurate to say that the Cabinet have forbidden the export of assembled aircraft from any British territory. The second enquiry which the Colonial Office desired should be made of the Cabinet therefore does not arise. \n\n6. As regards the question whether the Cabinet decision to prohibit the export of completed aircraft to China and Japan from Hong Kong is to be regarded as equally applicable to the new project under consideration for the establishment by private interests of a factory for the assembly and eventually the manufacture of aircraft, and as precluding, while hostilities last, the export of completed aircraft to either of the belligerents, the only inherent difference between the suggestion on which the Cabinet decision was made and the present one is that in the first case the assembly plant was to be controlled and run by the Chinese Government, and in this case it is to be controlled and run by an Anglo-American group. The difference between the then situation and that now obtaining is that Japan is now considered less likely to declare war on China (such", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-571-15 Sino-Japanese War- manufacture and import of aircraft to China 18-1-1938 - 5-1-1939.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 563277, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-574-13 British capital for China- Prime Minister's statement 5-11-1938 - 5-11-1938", "page_number": 37, "title": "CO129-574-13 British capital for China- Prime Minister's statement 5-11-1938 - 5-11-1938", "content_text": "# International Situation\n\n## HOUSE OF COMMONS\n\n[Mr. Muff.]\n\nUnless our Foreign Office is to be subject in every particular to the whims and desires of the German Government, I think we are sufficiently strong yet to be in the position of telling the Germans where they get off, instead of being told by them where we get off. We should be able to tell the Germans that they have no right to criticise our treatment of our minorities as long as their own concentration camps are so plentiful.\n\nThe Prime Minister has invented a new policy which he calls appeasement. For the life of me I could not give the dictionary definition of appeasement without looking it up, but I can give the House the Yorkshire definition. There is one interpretation of appeasement in the Old Testament. There is the appeasement which consists of throwing burnt offerings to Moloch or some other god in order to make him look more benevolently upon those who are paying him their worship. But there is another meaning of the word which we have in Yorkshire. If a child is a nuisance, and if you give the child a dummy tit, or distract the child and send him out to the pictures or give him sweets—we call that appeasement. Is that the policy of His Majesty's Government? Is it their policy to sacrifice Czechoslovakia and similar places as burnt offerings to this new god or is it their policy to try to appease the German Government by offerings in the way of some form of sweets or plasters in order to try temporarily to close the mouth of that government?\n\nWe cannot hope for much success if we continue such a policy as that, but I am hopeful about the Prime Minister's reference to the last act of Munich, although I hope that the curtain is only going up and not going down upon that last act. I hope that the Prime Minister and the Government are continuing now the policy of trying to bring peace, as he said, in our time and, as some of us hope, for all time. We have, however, an uneasy suspicion that the Government are doing no such thing. We have had no satisfactory reply this afternoon from the Government to show that they are doing anything at all to meet the situation. Their attitude on the Colonial question reminds one of the darky parson in Virginia who said, \"Brethren, we will look this difficulty in the face and pass on to the next question.\" That is exactly what has happened this afternoon as regards the question of colonies.\n\nAbout a year ago some 55 Members of this House were in Germany. A few Labour Members were among them and were looked upon as prize rabbits. The 'gauleiter' of the various districts which we visited were very nice to us and could speak English to us. We were in Berlin and we were in Munich and I had the honour of staying in the same hotel as the Prime Minister. I do not know whether I had the same bed or not, but that again is by the way. On that occasion we were asked, \"What about colonies?\" I said, \"My personal opinion about colonies is that your ally, the other member of the axis, Signor Mussolini—who was there in the Berlin Stadium, I suppose, in order to impress us—has not made our position in Palestine any easier either by his propaganda or by subsidising the Arabs against us.\" I pointed the moral that we could never agree to give up even mandated territories, if those territories were to be manned and armed and fortified. I pointed to the treaty which we made after the War between ourselves and the United States as a result of which some 3,000 miles, I believe, of frontier was left without a gun or a fort or a gunboat. If we could have such a peace as that with the Germans, everybody would be ready for it and some of us got the impression in Germany that the ordinary, decent people there wanted peace as much as we did.\n\nI remember a festival to which the Prime Minister was invited but which he could not attend. Some of us went to that festival. It was the October festival and 10,000 or 11,000 people were gathered in a huge hall. I forget what it is called, but it has something to do with lager beer. We mixed with the folk there, many of whom could speak English, and I could feel the friendliness of those Bavarian folk, just as much as we felt it when we paid our visit to Berchtesgaden and danced with the local Bavarian lasses. I want this country to draw upon that spirit of good will, because I believe that that is the only way to find the true solution of our present difficulties. Whether you call it moral rearmament or by any other name, there will have to be a completely different approach to the question from that which has been adopted ever since the present Chancellor of the Exchequer was at the Foreign Office.\n\nIn the old days, whether we call them good or bad, there was continuity of policy in foreign affairs, and I wish that it was not possible to make party capital out of foreign affairs. I wish we could have some considered, united policy to which all parties in the State could agree. I hope there will be such a policy in the future, but it will mean a change of heart for many of us, and it will mean a change of heart also for those on the Continent. If any words of mine could reach across the water I would emphasise what every back bencher here knows. In our constituencies we are seven for sixpence as it might be said. We are not like Front Bench Olympians such as the right hon. Gentlemen whom I see before me. Our constituents do not leave us alone. They leave us in no doubt about what they are thinking. They tell us, and tell us pretty straight, and if we try to put on any airs and graces we quickly have to come off our perches. I wish that the people across the water could understand that nothing but good will is felt towards them by the ordinary decent men and women of this country. If they could realise that fact, if the governments of those countries, totalitarian or whatever else we call them, could realise that and assemble not at the horseshoe table invented by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Carnarvon Boroughs (Mr. Lloyd George) but at a round table, to talk sense and common sense, gumption then there would be a chance of peace, at any rate in our time.\n\n6.56 p.m.\n\n## Mr. Vyvyan Adams\n\nIt is interesting to hear from the hon. Member for East Hull (Mr. Muff) that he, fortified I have no doubt by a great deal of \"moral rearmament,\" strenuously deprecated the opinions of those whom he expects to vote for him for the first time at the next general election. Truly there is no limit to political honesty. I am glad that the hon. Member mentioned the Germans' treatment of those who have fallen under their control in Sudetenland, but I wonder whether the hon. Member is really surprised at it. Has the German treatment of minorities at home been no indication of the evil which animates the contemporary German Government?\n\nI have waited, Sir, for seven months to catch your eye in a Debate on Foreign Affairs. I have at last had the good fortune so to do, but I am not going to abuse my good fortune. I intend to be down in my seat before the minute hand of that clock has passed through a right angle. I helped to have that clock put there with a definite purpose in view, namely, to discourage my hon. Friends from making long speeches; and I do not intend myself to set a bad example. But I have to recall, with some bitterness, that in my last speech here on the international situation in March, I made two pleas. The first was for speedier rearmament and the second was for a specific pledge of Czechoslovakian integrity. With all humility I think I can claim to have been wise before the event.\n\nI repeat what was said in the Debate on the foreign situation three or four weeks ago, that you cannot limit the Government's responsibility to the last two months. The Prime Minister has access to great knowledge—more knowledge perhaps than anybody else in this House—but, if I may say so, he seemed this afternoon to have forgotten in what a profoundly serious situation the country is to-day. In seeking to explain our unreadiness the other day, he observed that our programme of rearmament was a five-year programme. What is this country or any other country to infer from that statement? Does it mean that Germany is to be allowed to do anything she likes until we are fully rearmed in 1941? Again, the right hon. Gentleman defined the use of our armaments and I observe that as the months pass, the declared possible use of our armaments becomes narrower and narrower. He said to-day that they were merely to protect our Empire and to strengthen our diplomatic power. I observe a very remarkable and original omission. There was no indication at all from the Prime Minister of what would happen if a friend of ours, to whom we are committed, were attacked. How, for example, does France stand to-day? Everybody knows that France is an early victim on Hitler's list. I should like to know whether in these new circumstances the Government are prepared to defend her if she is attacked.\n\nI am glad that Parliament is in Session. I believe that, if we had been sitting through September, the Government...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-574-13 British capital for China- Prime Minister's statement 5-11-1938 - 5-11-1938.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 566820, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-579-3 Sino-Japanese War- shipping 30-10-1938 - 23-12-1939", "page_number": 68, "title": "CO129-579-3 Sino-Japanese War- shipping 30-10-1938 - 23-12-1939", "content_text": "SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST\n\n27th July, 1939.\n\n68\n\nCannot be Enforced\n\nMr. Cheshire in his recent work on Private International Law, p. 197 writes \"It is axiomatic that Law cannot enforce a contract that is illegal by its proper law in England. The dearth of authority for this proposition is not surprising, for few would be bold enough to sue on a contract that is prohibited by the legal system to which it properly belongs.\"\n\nIn The Torni (1932) p. 78 at 88 Greer L.J. in considering the judgments in the Court of Appeal in In re Missouri Steamship Co. (Ch. D. 321) said: \"I regard the decision as meaning that if, in the country where the contract was made, the contract was illegal—not merely void and unenforceable but illegal—then the courts in this country would recognise the illegality and act in accordance with the law of the country where the contract was made.\"\n\nMr. Cheshire puts it thus: \"It has been suggested that a contract which is illegal by the law of the country where it is made cannot be enforced in England.\n\n\"Bold and sweeping statements of this nature are seldom tenable in Private International Law. This particular one, at any rate, derives little confirmation from the decisions usually cited in its favour, since they were concerned with cases in which the lex loci contractus was also the proper law. The casual place of completion cannot as a rule raise legal effects.\n\n\"It is academic and impracticable to suggest that a contract must be regarded as a nullity everywhere merely because it happens to have been made in a country by the law of which it is illegal. But what is true is that if that country is something more than the 'locus contractus,' if, for instance, one of the parties is resident there, or if the subject matter of a contract of sale is situated there, then, even though the law of that country is not the proper law, nevertheless any imperative provision by which it prohibits and illegalises the contract will be recognised by the English Courts.\"\n\nThree Arguments\n\nMr. Sheldon has submitted three interesting arguments in opposition to the making of the order prayed.\n\nFirstly, he contends, the fact that the local branch of the Company is precluded by existing circumstances from carrying on business in the Colony is not in itself a ground for making a winding-up order, and he relies on the case of In re Middlesborough Assembly Rooms Co. (1879) 14 Ch.D. 104.\n\nIn that case, a company formed for building and letting assembly rooms resolved, owing to trade depression, to suspend work for more than a year. A shareholder presented a petition for winding-up. He was supported by one-eighth in value of the shareholders, whereas the petition was opposed by four-fifths in value.\n\nIn these circumstances, the Court of Appeal held that a winding-up order ought not to be made.\n\nSecondly, he argues, the Supreme Court of China has made an order which is entirely nugatory. The only assets within the jurisdiction of that court are fourteen ships based on Chefoo or Dairen, and, notwithstanding the order of the court, these ships are still trading. This court will not make a useless or ineffective decree (Ferguson vs. Wilson L.R. 2 Chancery Appeals p.77).\n\nTwo Fallacies\n\nThat argument is based on two fallacies.\n\nIn the first place, the company has within the jurisdiction of this court substantial assets, and it has not been suggested that any order which I make will not be immediately effective so far as these assets are concerned.\n\nIn the second place, the fact that certain foreign nationals are in contempt of an order of a competent court is no reason why I should disregard that order or fail to treat it with proper respect. The case of de Jager vs. A.G. for Natal (1907) Appeal Cases 326 is direct authority for the proposition that the company in Chefoo is still subject to the jurisdiction of the Chinese courts.\n\nAs Lord Loreburn there said in delivering the judgment of the Judicial Committee: \"The protection of a State does not cease merely because the State forces, for strategical or other reasons, are temporarily withdrawn, so that the enemy for the time exercises the rights of an army in occupation. On the contrary, when such territory reverts to the control of its rightful sovereign, wrongs done during the foreign occupation are cognisable by the ordinary courts.\"\n\nIn the third place, he maintains the contributories are the best judges as to whether there is any danger to the local assets of the company. Their considered view is shown by the fact that whereas the petition is presented by contributories holding 1,500 shares, it is opposed by 50,000 in value, and it is a familiar and settled principle that a court will not interfere with a domestic forum.\n\nIt is perhaps not surprising that the majority of the contributories resident either in the province of Shantung, which is in Japanese occupation, or in Dairen in Manchukuo, should desire to trade with the enemy. It may, for aught I know, be a profitable undertaking: it is in any event more profitable than having the company's ships laid up in harbour or forcibly seized by the Japanese forces.\n\nHigh Treason\n\nIt is clear, however, from Mr. T. F. Lo's affidavit that these activities of the company are, by Chinese law, illegal, in fact treasonable, and I have not been referred to any authority for the proposition that, in order to meet the wishes of a majority of shareholders, I should connive at and, in fact, facilitate high treason by subjects of a friendly power.\n\nMr. D'Almada, who followed Mr. Sheldon, has advanced another argument. Assuming every argument put forward by Mr. Potter, Mr. D'Almada submits that the true remedy is not a winding-up order but an injunction to restrain the local branch from doing illegal acts.\n\nIn my opinion, that case is easily distinguishable. It was a petition for the winding-up of an English Company, whereas here I have to consider a petition for the winding-up of the local branch of a foreign company which has already been wound up by order of a competent court. I know of no authority for keeping alive a branch where the parent trunk is in process of dissolution.\n\nIt seems to me to disregard two facts, firstly, that the company has been wound up in China and that we are concerned here only with a branch, and, secondly, that, having no representatives here except a Japanese corporation whose contract of agency is illegal by the laws of China, there is no one on whom an injunction could be served.\n\nHaving come to the conclusion which I have already reached on Mr. Potter's first ground, it is not strictly necessary for me to state my views on the second and third grounds, but in case, on appeal, the Full Court holds that the first ground falls, it will obviate the necessity for a rehearing de novo if I record that, in my judgment, the petition is one which should be granted on all the three grounds advanced.\n\nThere will be an order for the winding-up of the branch of the company within the jurisdiction of this Court. There will be liberty to appeal, and the costs of the petitioners will be paid from the local assets of the company.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-579-3 Sino-Japanese War- shipping 30-10-1938 - 23-12-1939.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 567740, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-580-4 Proposed aircraft factories in Hong Kong 21-12-1938 - 2-1-1940", "page_number": 55, "title": "CO129-580-4 Proposed aircraft factories in Hong Kong 21-12-1938 - 2-1-1940", "content_text": "DODWELL AND COMPANY LIMITED.\n\nBranches:\n\nHONG KONG\n\nCANTON FOOCHOW\n\nSHANGHAI & HANKOW CHINA\n\nYOKOHAMA · KOBE TOKIO & NAGOYA · JAPAN\n\nCOLOMBO CEYLON\n\nNEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO\n\nLOS ANGELES\n\n& SEATTLE · U ·S A VANCOUVER · B.C\n\nBARRY & DODWELL LTD CHUNG KING\" CHINA\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\nHead Office\n\n24 ST MARY AXE LONDON EC3\n\nTelegrams:\n\n\"CELTICISM STOCK LONDON.\n\nTelephone NOS\n\nAVENUE 8614\n\n3 MAR 1939\n\nCodes Used:\n\nSCOTT'S CODE 10TH EDITION (BENTLEY'S SECTION)\n\nA. B. C. CODE 6TH EDITION BENTLEY'S COMPLETE PHRASE CODE BENTLEY'S SECOND PHRASE CODE\n\nACME CODE\n\nUNIVERSAL TRADE CODE\n\nBIRCHWOOD CODE BOE CODE\n\nLOMBARD CODE (CODE SERVICES)\n\nC. O. REDY B.. 3.\n\nCALPAC CODE PRIVATE CODES\n\nMarch, 1939.\n\nH.R.Cowell, Esq., C.M.G.,\n\nThe Colonial Office,\n\nDowning Street,\n\nS.W.\n\nDear Sir,\n\nPursuant to my letter of 23rd February, I have received information to the effect that certain other parties have applied to the Hongkong Government for permission to erect an aeroplane factory and assemble machines on Hongkong territory.\n\nWhen discussing the project with Mr. G. E. J. Gent on 18th November last I mentioned the possibility of such an occurrence and submitted that the original sponsors of the idea should be given preference in any licence granted, provided they were able to comply with the conditions that might be imposed.\n\nYours faithfully,\n\nG.M.D./MET.\n\nVice-Chairman.\n\nDODWELL & COMPANY LIMITED.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-580-4 Proposed aircraft factories in Hong Kong 21-12-1938 - 2-1-1940.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 567745, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-580-4 Proposed aircraft factories in Hong Kong 21-12-1938 - 2-1-1940", "page_number": 60, "title": "CO129-580-4 Proposed aircraft factories in Hong Kong 21-12-1938 - 2-1-1940", "content_text": "YOKOHAM\n\n18\n\n160\n\nDODWELL AND COMPANY LIMITED.\n\nBranches:\n\nHONG KONG\n\nCANTON · FOOCHOW · SHAI & HANKOW CHINA\n\nKOBE TOKIO & NAGOYA JAPAN\n\nCOLOMBO CEYLON\n\nNEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO\n\nLOS ANGELES & SEATTLE · U ·S A VANCOUVER · B.C\n\nBARRY & DODWELL LTD\n\nCHUNGKING CHINA\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\nHead Office\n\n24 ST MARY AXE LONDON EC3\n\nTelegrams: \"CELTICISM STOCK LONDON.\"\n\nTelephone Nos: AVENUE 5861 (4 LINES)\n\n27 FEB 1939\n\nH.R. Cowell, Esq., C.M.G.,\n\nThe Colonial Office,\n\nDowning Street,\n\nLONDON, S.W.\n\nE.C. 3.\n\nCodes Used:\n\nSCOTT'S CODE 10TH EDITION (BENTLEY'S SECTION)\n\nA. B. C. CODE 6TH EDITION\n\nBENTLEY'S COMPLETE PHRASE CODE\n\nBENTLEY'S SECOND PHRASE CODE\n\nACME CODE\n\nUNIVERSAL TRADE CODE\n\nBIRCHWOOD CODE\n\nBOE CODE\n\nLOMBARD CODE (CODE SERVICES)\n\nCALPAC CODE\n\nPRIVATE CODES\n\n23rd February, 1939.\n\nDear Sir,\n\nIn confirmation of my telephone call last week, the 14th, may I put briefly on record my understanding of the situation regarding the proposal to erect an Aeroplane Factory at Hongkong.\n\nThe project was originally put forward some time in 1937, when Mr. W.D. Pawley and our Senior, Mr. Stanley H. Dodwell, had some unofficial conversations with certain members of the Government and Air Force officials on this side, but it was not till early in 1938 that H.E. The Governor of Hongkong addressed his first despatches to The Colonial Office on the subject.\n\nIt appears to have been assumed that the main, or sole, object of establishing a factory in Hongkong territory was in order to supply the Chinese Government with military aircraft. This however was by no means the idea of those who were prepared to sponsor and finance the scheme. The demand for aircraft, not only in this country but in the Dominions also, was (and still is, I understand) in excess of available sources of supply. The sponsors satisfied themselves that they would be in a position to:-\n\n(a) Raise the requisite capital.\n\n(b) Acquire a suitable site with the permission of the Hongkong Government.\n\n(c) Obtain the machinery, tools and jigs necessary for the assembly and construction of certain well-known types of American aircraft, if not ...\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-580-4 Proposed aircraft factories in Hong Kong 21-12-1938 - 2-1-1940.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 570706, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-585-3 Sino-Japanese conflict- shipping 17-1-1940 - 13-11-1940", "page_number": 34, "title": "CO129-585-3 Sino-Japanese conflict- shipping 17-1-1940 - 13-11-1940", "content_text": "34\n\nmerely because it happens to have been made in a country by the law of which it is illegal. But what is true is that if that country is something more than the locus contractus, if for instance one of the parties is resident there, or if the subject matter of a contract of sale is situated there, 'then, even though the law of that country is not the proper law, nevertheless any imperative provision by which it prohibits and illegalises the contract will be recognised by the English Courts.'\n\nThe\n\nMr. Sheldon has submitted three interesting arguments in opposition to the making of the order prayed. Firstly, he contends, the fact that the local branch of the company is precluded by existing circumstances from carrying on business in the Colony is not itself a ground for making a winding-up order, and he relies on the case of In re Middlesborough Assembly Rooms Co (1879) 14 Ch.D.104. In that case a company formed for building and letting assembly rooms resolved, owing to trade depression, to suspend work, and did so suspend work for more than a year. A shareholder presented a petition for winding-up. He was supported by one-eighth in value of the shareholders whereas the petition was opposed by four-fifths in value. In these circumstances the Court of Appeal held that a winding-up order ought not to be made. In my opinion that case is easily distinguishable. It was a petition for the winding-up of an English Company whereas here I have to consider a petition for the winding-up of the local branch of a foreign company which has already been wound up by order of a competent Court. I know of no authority for keeping alive a branch where the parent trunk is in process of dissolution. Secondly, he argues, the Supreme Court of China has made an order which is entirely nugatory. Only assets within the jurisdiction of that Court are fourteen ships based on Chefoo or Dairen, and notwithstanding the order of the Court these ships are still trading. This Court will not make a useless or ineffective decree (Ferguson vs. Wilson L. R. 2 Chancery Appeals p.77) That argument is based on two fallacies. In the first place the company has within the jurisdiction of this Court substantial assets and it has not been suggested that any order which I make will not be immediately effective so far as these assets are concerned. In the second place the fact that certain foreign nationals are in contempt of an order or fail to treat it with proper respect. The case of De Jager vs. A.G. for Natal (1907) Appeal Cases 326 is direct authority for the proposition that the company in Chefoo is still subject to the jurisdiction of the Chinese Courts. As Lord Loreburn there said in delivering the judgment of the Judicial Committee 'The protection of a State does not cease merely because the State forces, for strategic or other reasons, are temporarily so that the enemy for the time exercises the rights of an army in occupation. On the contrary, when such territory reverts to the control of its rightful sovereign wrongs done during the foreign occupation are cognisable by the ordinary Courts'.\n\nwithdrawn,\n\nIn the third place, he maintains the contributories are the best judges as to whether there is any danger to the local assets of the company. Their considered view is shown by the fact that whereas the petition is presented by contributories holding 1500 shares it is opposed by 50,000 in value, and it is a familiar and settled principle that a court will not interfere with a domestic forum. It is perhaps not surprising that the majority of the contributories, resident either in the province of Shantung, which is in Japanese occupation or in Dairen in Manchukuo should desire to trade with the enemy. It may, for\n\n/aught", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-585-3 Sino-Japanese conflict- shipping 17-1-1940 - 13-11-1940.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 575984, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-590-25 Accounts of events leading up to surrender and subsequent treatment of prisoners- etc 23-4-1942 - 28-9-1943", "page_number": 137, "title": "CO129-590-25 Accounts of events leading up to surrender and subsequent treatment of prisoners- etc 23-4-1942 - 28-9-1943", "content_text": "56\n\nFollowing the discussion at or after the meeting of October 14 as to the desirability of placing aboard the Awatea as many vehicles as possible, Brigadier Macklin had certain discussions with Brigadier Lawson as to settling the types and quantities of the vehicles to be placed aboard, pending the determination by Colonel Spearing as to the amount of space available. Brigadier Macklin kept constantly in touch with Colonel Spearing following October 14, but it was not until October 18 that Brigadier Macklin was advised by Colonel Spearing that possibly from 10,000 cubic feet to 12,000 cubic feet would be available on the Awatea for vehicles.\n\nOn receipt of this information, Brigadier Macklin settled with Brigadier Lawson a tentative list of vehicles to go and gave to Major James this list over the telephone, stating that there was a possibility that the above amount of space would be available and that further word would come from himself or Colonel Spearing. Major James constantly, between October 14 and 18, kept in touch with Colonel Spearing to ascertain if the vehicles had been released by the Transport Controller, as some were already on the cars and demurrage charges were in prospect. Colonel Spearing was to advise Major James as soon as he got a second boat. Major James left instructions for his assistant, Lieut. Findley, to expect this further word and then to communicate with Mr. Connor. On October 20, Lieut. Findlay heard from Brigadier Macklin himself with a final list. It was, therefore, not until the 20th that Major James, or his assistant, was given the necessary information as to the particular vehicles to be loaded. Before Major James had left his office on the 18th, he had ascertained from the manufacturers the contents of the loaded cars and their car numbers, so that on receiving further word, as indicated by Brigadier Macklin, he, or Lieut. Findlay, would be in a position to specify particular cars. There was thus the greatest attention to these details on the part of Major James.\n\nOn hearing from Brigadier Macklin, Lieut. Findlay immediately spoke to Mr. Connor, giving him the list of vehicles and informing him that there was some 12,000 cubic feet of free space and that it was urgent that the twenty vehicles be released and forwarded. Not having heard from Mr. Connor as to what he had done, Lieut. Findlay reported to Brigadier Macklin on October 21st. Up to this time the latter had not been told, or did not appreciate, that the shipment of mechanical transport had been held up at all. He says that he thought they were on their way to Vancouver. On learning the facts from Lieut. Findlay, he then called Colonel Spearing, who informed him that so far as the twenty vehicles were concerned there was no embargo and that they were on their way to Vancouver. At Colonel Spearing's suggestion, Brigadier Macklin called Mr. Connor and confirmed this. Colonel Spearing had called Mr. Connor on the 20th advising him of the estimated free space. Mr. Connor, in advising Brigadier Macklin that these vehicles were on their way, had told him that, while it was the intention to load as many of the twenty as possible on the Awatea, the military authorities would have to deal with any priority that might arise in case all could not be loaded. Brigadier Macklin undertook to take care of the question of priority. He did so by acquainting both the commander of the force (Brigadier Lawson) and the staff captain (Captain Bush) with the situation and handed to both of them, on October 22nd, before they left Ottawa, a memorandum setting out these facts. From that time forward no one at National Defence Headquarters did anything further in connection with these twenty vehicles. This was left in the hands of the Transport Controller.\n\nIt is clear on the evidence that the amount of free space in the Awatea was at this time merely an estimate. In a cable sent by Brigadier Macklin on October 20 to the British commander at Hong Kong, it is stated:\n\nBecause of cargo limitations of transport Awatea only very limited M.T., probably twelve to eighteen vehicles, can be shipped with troops. Remainder must be shipped another vessel concerning which no information available.\n\n57\n\nColonel Spearing did not know the shape of the space and the number of boxes which might fit into the space had to be estimated. Colonel Spearing gave evidence that as early as October 10 he had come to the conclusion that the mechanical transport required by the battalions could not be carried on the ship with the troops, but that he did nothing about it until the 14th, because of his idea that the troops were not taking any vehicles. It was on that day he made his estimate as to what free space there would be for vehicles. On the 16th he received confirmation from the navy as to the total cargo capacity of the ship, and it was on the 18th, as already mentioned, before Brigadier Macklin, as the result of his conferences with Colonel Spearing and Brigadier Lawson, was able to prepare his first tentative list, which has already been referred to.\n\nReturning to Mr. Connor, he on October 20, having heard from Lieutenant Findlay and Colonel Spearing, before releasing the twenty vehicles telegraphed to the ship's agent, Mr. P. B. Cooke, at Vancouver, to check as to whether or not the space said to be available was so in fact. The reply he received did not answer his question, but Mr. Connor decided to let the vehicles go anyway. He accordingly telephoned the manufacturers with instructions to ship and issued the necessary permits. The following day Mr. Connor telegraphed Mr. Cooke, advising him the twenty vehicles had been shipped and giving him a description of the quantities, types and weight, advising him that the numbers of the cars containing these vehicles would follow.\n\nThese cars were sent by manifest freight, which is the speediest freight service. Unless sent by special train, there was no faster means of forwarding this shipment. The evidence is that, had these cars left Toronto (which is the assembly point for this traffic) at 8.00 A.M. on the 21st, they should have arrived in Vancouver by 9.00 P.M. on October 27, one-half hour before the Awatea actually sailed. Mr. Connor ordered the cars out from Oshawa and Windsor respectively, on the afternoon of the 20th. The three cars from Oshawa left Toronto at 8.00 A.M. on October 21, but the one car from Windsor did not arrive at Toronto in time and, consequently, did not leave until 8.00 A.M. on the 22nd. The three cars reached Vancouver on the morning of the 28th, some nine hours behind schedule. They lost time between Moose Jaw and Vancouver, owing to large numbers of freight trains moving east and extra passenger trains going west. The fourth car developed a hot box at Winnipeg, where it lost a complete day, arriving in Vancouver on October 29.\n\nDuring the progress of these cars across the country, Mr. Connor kept in touch with the railways and impressed upon them the urgency of the shipment. On October 25 it became apparent to him that the cars would not arrive in time, although he emphasizes that neither he nor Mr. Lockwood were informed of the sailing date, but only of the loading dates, namely, the 24th, 25th and 26th. From Mr. Connor's letter to Mr. Cooke, written October 21st, it is apparent that he was never sure that these vehicles would arrive in time and that he was doubtful as to whether in fact there would be found to be any free space in the ship suitable for loading these heavy boxes of vehicles. On October 21, Mr. Connor had learned from the British shipping authorities in Montreal that another ship would likely be available in Vancouver for loading on October 28 and he thereupon issued permits and instructed the motor companies to forward the whole balance of the 212 vehicles that day. The second ship was definitely confirmed to Mr. Connor on the following day.\n\nIn Vancouver, in addition to Mr. Cooke, Mr. Clendenning, representative there of the British Ministry of War Transport, knew that the twenty vehicles were en route. Also Lieutenant Winter, who was assisting Lieutenant Colonel Henderson, Inspector of Ordnance Services at Vancouver, in superintending the loading, was advised on October 25 and 26 by the railway agent at Vancouver as to the progress of the four cars.\n\n164", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-590-25 Accounts of events leading up to surrender and subsequent treatment of prisoners- etc 23-4-1942 - 28-9-1943.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 578417, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-591-8 Policy directives 10-3-1944 - 17-8-1944", "page_number": 126, "title": "CO129-591-8 Policy directives 10-3-1944 - 17-8-1944", "content_text": "125\n\n2. The Police Directive is perhaps as good an example to take as any. Here the first paragraph very briefly gives the pre-war \"set-up\"; and the second specifies the other duties which will, on first re-occupation, come within the scope of the Commissioner of Police. The remainder suggests a few reforms on the old system.\n\n3.\n\nNow if, as you say, these Directives are to look no farther forward than \"the military period under a non-British Commander\" it would hardly be proper (taking the same Police example) to talk of language study, conditions of service, infiltration of non-Europeans etc. The longer view seems to me to accord with Chapter 2 of the printed Military Manual, C.A., which, even though it covers liberated Allied territories rather than re-conquered British possessions, we tend to treat as our Bible.\n\n\"Stability tempered by flexibility While operations are actually in progress emergency measures alone... but a regular organization as soon as possible. Control through existing or re-established civil authorities.\"\n\n5. The emergency measures are specified under fourteen heads, ranging from care and control of refugees to the prevention of looting and the clearance of debris, in paragraph 17 of Chapter 4 of the same. But as soon as that stage is passed there will surely be the need for some sort of legislative assembly (if only to legalise the collection of taxes see Chapter 23 paragraph 9 of the said Manual). And if, under the terms of the Charter, every Police Constable is to derive his authority from the Crown I cannot altogether see the absurdity of expanding this to the Letters Patent and their Councils even with a non-British Commander in charge. But it is all very difficult.\n\n6. Your proposed apportionment of individual Directives accords almost exactly with what I had already in mind. May I leave this over until the major problems raised above are settled?\n\n24th March, 1944", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-591-8 Policy directives 10-3-1944 - 17-8-1944.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 582494, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-595-8 United Nations Relief Rehabilitations Administration Supplies 10-5-1946 - 1-1-1947", "page_number": 29, "title": "CO129-595-8 United Nations Relief Rehabilitations Administration Supplies 10-5-1946 - 1-1-1947", "content_text": "**UNRRA as an Organisation**\n\nUNRRA as an organisation has the privileges \n\nin Part I \n\n9 \n\nand foreign legislatures second \n\nto the Schedule to the \n\n**Diplomatic Privileges (Extension) Act** and that such \n\nenclosed Order-in-Council, this granting protection for \n\nthe Administration and its proper \n\nCopy \n\nlegislation should be guided by Article 1 of the attached United Nations Assembly resolution of 13th February, 1946 \n\n(copy attached), which lays down the general principles \n\n4/20 \n\n23. \n\nfor according privileges and immunities. \n\nI should be grateful for your comments on these \n\nrecommendations. \n\n(21) \n\n**SECRET**\n\nThe Order in Council goes further and grants certain immunities to the U.N.R.R.A. personnel specified \n\nin paragraph of my telegram No.850, \n\nand you will have doubt \n\nWhether there privileges immunities think \n\nWhether \n\nConsider such legislation is \n\nin be included in the \n\nHave kindly although they \n\nCanadian privileges have not, in this case \n\nbeen requested. \n\nPage 5", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-595-8 United Nations Relief Rehabilitations Administration Supplies 10-5-1946 - 1-1-1947.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 } ]