# EUROPEAN WORKING CLASS IN 19TH CENTURY
101
At 5 A.M. he awakes with a soft punkah breeze fanning him. 5.15. Cup of cocoa and a biscuit brought to his bedside by a coolie. 5.30. The barber coolie shaves him, still in bed. 6. Bathing parade. 7.30. Breakfast, of which 1/2 lb. of beef-steak forms an invariable component. 8 to 11. Nothing whatever to do, and plenty to help him to do it—the everlasting coolies perform nearly all the cooking, sweeping, and cleaning up in barracks. 11. A short spell of school and theoretical instruction in gunnery. After dinner, unanimous repose on bamboo matting, as being cooler than a mattress. 5 P.M. One hour's easy gun-drill. 6 to 10. Sally forth to chaff the Chinese folk, try a trifle of 'samshu',* and practically ascertain that this potent rice spirit will prostrate with splitting headache the seasoned old soaker to whom a tumbler of brandy would be but as a glass of water. In fact, during the hot weather, he merely mounts guard, and is available for emergencies; in the cool season, he is of course made to rub up his drill. His idle life is not a happy one, destitute as it is to him of interest and active amusements, and in a very short time he becomes listless, depressed, and pulled down, contrasting painfully with his newly landed, fresh-looking comrades... I have known it asserted that no efforts of a commanding officer can keep European troops permanently stationed at Hong Kong in a state of military efficiency.23
The problem of drunkenness worried the naval, military, and civilian authorities in Hong Kong throughout the nineteenth century. In 1898, a commission to investigate the problem was set up because, as the preamble to the report states, there was a strong opinion in some quarters that deleterious liquors were being sold in the Colony, which were doing a great deal of mischief to soldiers and sailors.24 The commissioners discovered that although soldiers and sailors often drank samshu, a cheaper brew than Western spirits, the problem was not a simple one of 'deleterious liquors' incapacitating troops and naval ratings but rather that of excessive imbibing of all types of spirits, both Western and Chinese.
In 1898, there were 23 licensed public houses and bars in Victoria alone; 47 storekeepers were licensed to sell alcohol; and numerous Chinese shopkeepers sold samshu. A part of Upper Lascar
* See Couling Encyclopaedia Sinica, 1967 reprint of the original edition of 1917, p. 497.
EUROPEAN WORKING CLASS IN 19TH CENTURY
101
At 5 A.M. he awakes with a soft punkah breeze fanning him. 5.15. Cup of cocoa and a biscuit brought to his bedside by a coolie 5.30. The barber coolie shaves him, still in bed. 6. Bathing parade. 7.30. Breakfast, of which 1/2 lb. of beef-steak forms an invariable component. 8 to 11. Nothing whatever to do, and plenty to help him to do it the everlasting coolies perform nearly all the cooking, sweeping, and cleaning up in barracks. 11. A short spell of school and theoretical instruction in gunnery. After dinner unanimous repose on bamboo matting, as being cooler than a mattress. 5 P.M. One hour's easy gun- drill. 6 to 10. Sally forth to chaff the Chinese folk, try a trifle of 'samshu',* and practically ascertain that this potent rice spirit will prostrate with splitting headache the seasoned old soaker to whom a tumbler of brandy would be but as a glass of water. In fact during the hot weather he merely mounts guard, and is available for emergencies; in the cool season he is of course made to rub up his drill. His idle life is not a happy one, destitute as it is to him of interest and active amusements, and in a very short time he becomes listless, depressed and pulled down, contrasting painfully with his newly landed, fresh-look- ing comrades... I have known it asserted that no efforts of a commanding officer can keep European troops permanently stationed at Hong Kong in a state of military efficiency.23
The problem of drunkenness worried the naval, military and civilian authorities in Hong Kong throughout the nineteenth cen- tury. In 1898 a commission to investigate the problem was set up because, as the preamble to the report states, there was a strong opinion in some quarters that deleterious liquors were being sold in the Colony, which were doing a great deal of mischief to soldiers and sailors',24 The commissioners discovered that although soldiers and sailors often drank samshu, a cheaper brew than Western spirits, the problem was not a simple one of 'deleterious liquors' incapacitating troops and naval ratings but rather that of excessive imbibing of all types of spirits, both Western and Chinese.
In 1898 there were 23 licensed public houses and bars in Vic- toria alone; 47 storekeepers were licensed to sell alcohol; and nu- merous Chinese shopkeepers sold samshu. A part of Upper Lascar
* See Couling Encyclopaedia Sinica, 1967 reprint of the original edition of 1917, p. 497.
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