728930-1847-12-May-1847 — Page 2

VICTORIA

Bydney

Викароте

Abangasi

Merch 3 April April 19 April 10 Apirt 28

END OF CHINA

KONG GAZETTE.

DNESDAY, MAY 12, 1817.

hours of Dome Service in the COLD- on Samfayent & past 10 AM and & P. M. *Twiggs at past & PM

Victoria et April 1847.

VINCENT STFANTON,"

Colonial Chaplain.

Charsh at present are 11 A. M., and past &P. M.

Victoria ad May, 1817

THE FRIEND OF CHINA AND HONGKONG GAZETTE.

our arms leat it might cause as

Dong the Hosn m asonable expectat10.

mer

Chants will build bouses ant stö upon ground which he fears to have laid out for them. But why discuss the matter Sir John Davis must know that his late notrago has in every respect proved injurions to British interests, and that if it does not result in a national war,

it is only because China is represented by wise man, though England is represented by

scholar burning for martial glory, that is, provided he runs no personal risk.

WILY DOES NOT INDIA SUPPLY US

WITH COTTIN

From the Economist January 23) Scarcely a Week, nay, scarcely a day passes, that this question is not asked, or does not occur to the mind of avars one who is concerned, directly or in- th the manufactures and the commerce directly, with the

untry. The deficient. of this country.

A hand at present, together TIRES 26 2

have from America, and the

we

limited quay ve can reasonally expect to meet our exigencies become matters of grave consideration for what is to become of the thousands of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Scotch operatives, fenergies are to be idle for want of material, or the material become so high as to

hread? check the sale of our goods

The query we have taken for our motto has, we think, been answered in a pamphlet published by Major-General Briggs, as far back as 1839, consist

Again, adverting to the firmness of Indian colton, We find Mr George Thompson, in a lecture on this subject, given 1899, nt Manchester, expressing himself in th

the following words ---

cotton in this country.

"My excellent and scientific friend, Mr Clare, in forms me that cotton has been spun in this country, so fine, that it required 330 hranks of it to make one pound in weight, and as each bank measured 880 yards, a pound of cotton so spun would extend fas miles The diameter of this thread measured by & micrometer attached to a microscope, was found to be the four hundred and eightieth part of an inch. A single thread of fime cotton, how every spun by the fingers of the Hindoo in British India, when sured in the same way, was found to be, not the four hundred and eightieth part of an inch, but the one FROM the pertinacity with which our contem porary, the Official Organ," reiterates the bold

thousandth part of an inch in diameter; so that it required, at least, four such threads of hand-span but groundless assertion that Sir John Davis

British India cotton twisted together to make one was willing to consult the British merchants as

He also stated that a cer to the matters to be adjusted with Ching or his twelve page, read before the Royal Asiatic thread equal in thickness to the finest machine sput Society of Great Britain and Ireland, in the month recent visit to Canton and the impudent and of November of that year. We have already retain degree of moisture is required to be used in spin. reckless manner in which he gave the he to all ferred to the pamphlet in our No. 171 of December ning the frue threads by hand in India, and thai to who denied that the document drawn up at the last, but we are induced to give circulation to a larger this cause is to be attributed the different appearances Consulate, healed the Wishes and Views of portion of it that we otherwise should have done, of the threads as viewed with glass of high mag- NOTICE The boars of Pethe Worship in the Union the British Residents of Canton," was a bone because we understand there are serious thoughts of nifying power. The fibres of that which was spart file mstrument emanating from the British getting up cotton-growing companies for the sake by machinery and without moisture were easily die residents, some idea may be formed of Bir of rendering us, in some measure, more independent tinguished and seemed to touch each other only ire certain places; whilst the fibre of that spun by hand. John Davis's intense desire to implicate his than we now are of our transatlantic brethren.

It is to those enterprising merchants who talk of and with a little moisture, seemed to touch in almost if not in the outrage itself, at least countrymen, THE NOTITIA LINGUE SINICE OF PREMARE in the contemptible results. That inaccuracies growing cotton in India, to whom we especially at every part, thereby making a stronger thread with TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY J. G. BRIG, Uccasionally will creep into a paper, however

dreas ourselves; and if the details we are compelled the same quantity of cotton of much finer appeat- BAN-Dr. Bridgman's work will, we are in cautiously it is conducted, and however anxious

to furnish, in order to be useful. be somewhat heavy, auce, but not so even in thickness."

Thus much for the quality of the indigenous cot- formed, be valuable to those who purpose stu-

its manager may be to avoid them, is freely ad. yet they are such as no speculator in a project, who dying the language of China. It is the committed; but if imbued with a spirit of truth, the contemplates the diversion of the cotton trade of ton, which we may broadly designate as the colon

England from America to India, ought to hesitate of the old world. mon belief that Chinese is difficult to acquire; Editor will correct such erroneous statements,

to receive instruction upon it, ere he engages in so and this deters many from entering upon a

bour which would facilitate their future pros- certain that a repetition of them must prove have to ask are--

for even if influenced by no better feeling, it gigantic an undertaking. The questions he will pects in life, as a knowledge of the language injurious to the journal itself, and cannot must always be looked upon as a recommenda- materially benefit the cause it advocates, hion to candidates for engagements in the pub The Muit has dragged forward the name of he service. Davis and other authorities say the Chairman of the "Canton British Chamity ? that it is a mistake to suppose that Chinese is a ber of Commerce in a robst unwarrantable Aard language, as a sufficient number of words

manner; charging him with having drawn up, for all the ordinary purposes of intercourse is not the surreptitious list of" wishes and views in difficult task; though a critical acquaintance conjunction with Mr Macgregor. Had this with a tongue having fifty thousand distinct really been the case, it would not have af characters, not a combination of sounds, but of fected the merits of the question; for although symbols addressed to the sense, becomes the the Chairman is highly respected by the abour of years, and is seldom attained by Fo- Members, he has not been constituted their Feigners, or even by Chinese scholars.

lead

There are not a few young people in this quarter who have ample leisure for study; and we would recommend to their consideration the policy of acquiring Chinese-it may to their advancement in life; and it must, after few difficulties have been overcome, prove interesting and instructive, enlarging their views, and drawing them from the altarements of vice:

* Gutzlaff has furnished the Asiatic Society with some curious information regarding China, I really to be regretted that the Society per- mit soch hap-hazard, brazen-faced quackery to! be read at their meetings, without testing the date,

which he bases his resumptions. #рou

A short notice of Mr Gutzlaff's paper ap- pears in the Glasgow Herald, and will be found We will not take the among our extracts, trouble of unpressing upon our readers the atter absurdity of the document. A man who

will gravely assert, that in a city of 30,000 souls, there was only one unmarried woman, must be a charlatan of the first water; but it is from such sources that even men of erudition draw information regarding China and the Chinese.

representative, and out of the Chamber his actions, or his sentiments, are simply those of the individual, entirely disconnected with the incorporated body of which he is the head. Assuming as its premises that Mr Jardine was a party to the wishes and views," the Mail has built a theory of its own, rendering the body of British residents parties concerned. Had these premises been correct, the structure raised upon them would have been at the best a plausible delusion. But the foundation is sand, and the whole fabric falls to the grounil, leaving the cunning workmen who raised it prostrate among the ruins.

We have received & communication from

the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce which sets the question at rest; and we rejoice that the Chamber has taken this step, as how- ever ridiculous the "authoritative" stalerents of the Mail were to those who had the means of knowing their inaccuracy, there are, passi obly, some even in this community, where inclined to put faith in them, from the dauntless way in which they were marshalled boorb Like other misstatements in the the public. same journal, they were not expected to carry much conviction here; and in this reste the evil, that they will be disseminated (must industri- ously by the friends of Sir John Davis in quar- ters where their faithlessness cannot be known, and thus the fabrications will in a degree gain the object intended.

To the Editor

The population of Hongkong, according to Mr Gutzlaff, is 20,000; the consumption of opium, in value, $31,200 a month, or in quan- ity, forty chests at 8730. We are not aware that women and children are opium smokers, and the Chinese being nearly all married, and a prolific race,the census may be given this,→→ Gross among 20,000 Males

20,000

Females. Children (for each couple)

U

the FRIEND OF CHINA, Hongkong,

CANTON BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,

8th May, 1847. Sr,I have been directed by the Committee of 4,000

this Chamber to transmit to you, with the request that 4,000

your will have the goodness to publish in your next 12,000 isque of the Friend of Chiaa, the following "Copy of the Minutes of a Meeting of the Committee of the Canton British Chamber of Commerce, held on the 20,000 6th of this month."

COPY.

price?

First.-Can Jadia grow the quality of cotton re quired for our manufactories in England?

Secondly.Can she produce it in sufficient quan-

Thy.

Can it be supplied at a remunerative

To each of these points separately we shall direct dur attention This important question has every now and then been taken up by the government; and the aldia Company, in their capacity as merchants and rulers ofthe country, have been urged They have not entirely neglected the subject, and to use every effort to supply the English market.

hare had cotton farms established at different times

Of all the cottons of the new world that have been experimented with India, the most extensively tried, and perhaps the most successful, has been that de nominated Bourbon, and for many years brought into the market under the denomination of Madras. The plant is decided by botanists to be the barba deuris, or sea-island cottom It was first introduced into the island of Bourbon by the French, and, after being acclimated for some years in succession, it was introduced into Guzerat fu 1892, to the East India Company's experimental farin, along with same Egyptian, which did not thrive. A few bales of the produce, as also some bules of Surat, were sent to England together. The Court of Directors of the East India Company, dated 12th June, 1803, alluded to this invoice in these words --

The Bourbon sold for 2s 2d, and the indigenous colton at 15fd per Th." Of the latter they nuserve, that it was not so much inferior in quality to the other, as the difference in price would indicate, but it was not so well cleaned from seeds and extrane ous matter. This is only accounted for the Bourbon cotton was grown ander Europead super- vision, whereas the indigenous was taken as part of the revenue, and the gatherers and cleaners had no particular object in rendering it fit for sale.”

in different parts of India, during the last forty four years; but they have entirely failed in convincing the public that the cotton cultivation of the East, for the English market, would be either practicable or profitable. About a year ago they sent out orders to have 5,000 bales transmitted to England from each of the three Presidencies, but nothing more has been heard of the matter, and whether it comes or nor will by no means affect the object we have in view. The present farms were established by the East India Company in 1840, under the super intendence of American plaruars obtained for the purpose, and under the guidance and direction of scientific Europeans possessing local knowledve The public has yet to learn what has been the result, Six whole years have elapsed, and occasionally flattering paragraph has appeared pointing to bright prospects, but we have still no cotton, though speci- mens have been produced, which, as far as quality At the meeting of the Agricultural and Hor- goes, treed not he better. But we want the solution tenkumi Society of India, held at Calcutta, in of all three problems-Can such cotton be produced March, 1830, a highly interesting note was present- in sufficient quantities, and will it fetch a remune- ed by the late Mr Ewart, of this city, received by rating price? These are questions which govern him from his brother, who has been largely engaged ment farms will not solve. We must look to other in cotton spinning at Manchester, but is now resid Bources for this information, and we find it clearlying at Bombay The note states that Dr Born, at indicated in the work before us.

a

We shall now proceed to answer the three queries which have been propounded, as we have put them. First, then, Can lodia grow the quality of sulton we need for our manufactories in England! divenous cottons: that they all rate pretty nearly General Briggs says there are few varieties of io-

in quality, varying with the differences in the cir- curastances of culture; but the plant usually grown as an annual seems common throughout the East, and even in Italy, where we have seen it. One var riety, however, is spoken of as being confined to the province of Dacca, in Bengal, of a superior qua- lity, but on being tried out of that province it has failed, and the supercession of the Diaca muslins by those from England has rendered the raw material on the spot less valuable than formerly. The great bulk of the indigenous cotton varies little in quality, aid not much in price. This is owing mainly to the mode of gathering cleaning, and packing the cotton, in which processes difficulties present there

account, in some measure, for the East Indian cotton of this description always standing at a lower figure in the market than any other which te brought into it. We know some mill-owners who use the Surat cotton largely in their thread manufactories, and we have heard one declare that, if he could always se- epre plenty of Surat

The superintendent of the farm, however, disco- vered that the same land did not answer for the Bour best plants as for the indigenous. The latter pre- ferred a sterile sandy soil to the rich loam of some parts of Guzerat This discovery was not made tilf the East frila Corepany, finding the experiment not so advantageous as they expected,

1, directed the farm to be given up in 1816 We hear, however, of this cotton again in the following extract —

Kaira, has fly or sixty trees of Bourbon cotton, three years old, some of the produce of which was shown to Mr. Ewart; that gentleman pronounced it to be excellent cotton, quite equal to the best New Orleans cotton. The seed from which these trees found growing wild, but which were planted at are grown was taken from trees which Dr Burn

Kaira, fifteen years ago, by Mr Gifler. The seed does not seem deteriorated; it is black and smooth, not like the Italian seed, to which the cotton adheres so firmly. The reader, on referring to page 1, will recognise them to have been the remains of the go- vernment experimental farm, which was afterwards given up.

*At the subsequent meeting in May, flast month), the late Mr Ewart presented, for the museum of the society, two specimen panels of this cotton wool, which was pretty extolled. Ose parcel was freed of seed, the other contained the cotton as plucked from the tree. The cleaned cotton had been sepa rated from the seed at Bombay by the American and thereby injured the quality of the cotton in the market. The cotton was valued at Bombay at near- ly double the price of the common country kind.

I propagated four score plants (writes Mr. Ewart, of Bornbag), which I found in the hedge, and was near where Mr Gilder's experimental coftivation

This gives 4000 smokers (supposing every ale adult on the Island uses the drag) the ex-The Chairman brought to the notice of the Com pense to each smoker being within a triffe of

ace a statement published in the China Mail of selves which we find alluded to in the pamphlet, and saw-gin, which was found to have cut the staple, 88 a month, or about three times the average the 20th April last, of which the following is a of a months wages! This is really too ridiculepy

CANTON

We answer authoritatively that Mr Macgregor did not" (tell the Chairman of the Chamber of Com merce that Sir John Davis did not wish to see the merchants) but on the contrary gave the Chairs Vague rumours are circulated of the receipt man of the Chamber of Commerce to understand the of despatches from Peking approving of the

His Excellency would be very glad to receive any conduct of keying, and granting lam firll power suggestions from the body of merchants. But Mr to treat with foreigners as he thinks prudente was that the wante and view bad already Jardine may have considered that auperfluous, aware advisable. It would certainly be satisfac

embodied esa reports were confirmed, as Kev-

in a memorandum drawn up by the Consul and himsel for the Plenipotentiary's guid.

13 not, at man to force hostilities, but will deavour to prevent them

Be

How ALists Trave removed them Shroff Houses refuse

Tins does trot

ance

That H

The Chairman remarked that the abo statement. was most erroneo and stated that on no occasion, ether director

did Mr Macgregor gifs,

ld be wary glad gestions from the body of mer, on the mor of the

to a common

dence in the immediate to receive any

Tossed to the

4th of April

a cation which by dem

of merchants work

never ask for cotton wel cleaned, he would I had been conducted, and if it be Bourbon, it has be

other, he General Brigge har taken some pains to examine into our markel, which we The several properties of all the collons that come we cannot better explain than. by giving the following extracts from his work

Having submitted the several varieties of cotton" used in our manufactures, to the scrutiny of Mest Erasmus Wilson, he reported on ibom na folown— The forea, is breadth and thickness, according to these qualities may be arranged in the following order Sea Island and Surat thick and narrow Egyptian, Pernambuco, Bowed Georgia, and Tovey this and broad; New Orleans very thin and broad.

Examined with the naked ove, they appear to follow mch other in this order, reference to breadin-1 New Orleans, & Bored Georgis, 3) Egyptian Pernameaco. 5 Tago6. Surat,

The relative length of staple of these colens are more obviously expressed in the following dias

Pernambn BO ACE

come changed in some way, and is evidently well suited to be of value now. This is my opinion, after some seasons observation, and I intend to go on increasing it. It requires a dry sandy soil and no irrigation Water or manureswells it all to tester and brancher (vide p. 18) The bushes do best at four or five feet apart!

The reports on cotton extend to all the depen dencies of the Bengal Providency, and even to the Burmese empire. Colonel Borney, the British Re- sident to Ave, sent, in January, 1882, specimens of colton grown on the Irrawaddy, very closely re sembling the Pernambuco, of which Mr. Willas, of. the Gloucester All the fibre is lang fine,

Dear Calemin, reports, tha

000, well abated for their spin

te readily freed from the good strength, but Teasect from want of cotton wool wood, dont be marla from

about the price the

Mr Huggins, of the cotton rre

ULIRSI

+