1881-08-13 — Page 2

A. S. WATSON & Co. WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DRUGGISTS,

GENERAL CHEMISTS,

AND

Manufacturers of the following AERATED WATERS, viz : SODA, TONIC, SARSAPARILDA,

AND POTASII, LEMONADE, . GINGERADE, RASPBERRY ADE, AND PHOSPHORIC CHAMPAGNE.

Deliveries in Town and Harbour from

7 A.M. to 7 1.M.

SHIPS' MEDICINE CHESTS REFITTED, PASSENGER SHIPS SUPPLIED.

Prompt Attention given to Coast

Orders.

CANTON.

Foocnow.

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Laws.

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH-SATURDAY, AUGUST 13TH, 1881..

On the 27th March, 1879, Mr. Keswick forwarded a note in which he entirely disagreed with the opi- nions of his brother Commissioners, excepting in regard to abuses of a serious elameter, which he admitted, had undoubtedly occurred; but which, he sensibly remarked, seemed inevitable in working Acts which required the services of the lowest classes of Europeans and natives. Mr. Keswick made no recommenda- tions, apparently contented to allow matters to remain in statu quo, look- ing upon the defects of the Ordin- ance and the abuses connected with its proper working, as necessary evils.

Mosque Stroot to the Water Tanks above the Bonham Road, extensive repairs aro urgently needed.

We are informed by the agents, Messrs. Rassell & Co., that the Union

Line steamer Castello left Singapore for this port yesterday the 12th inst.

Admiralty he will be accompanied by Tho the fleet ander his commant. dock will be called the Edinburgh Dock.

A German steamor, the Vandalia, with a thousand emigrants on board,

has been met with disabled in the Atlantic. The Government bas des- patched the Seahorse in search of her, and the Gorman Admiralty intends to send the Falcke to assist in the search.

We hear that the British barque Lota, which was in company with the Annie S. Hall during the typhoon of the 16th alto., and about whose safety grave fears had been ontertained, has The Britannic, one of the White Star Lino of Atlanie Mail steamers inward beon spoken. The news require cou-

bound from New York, with mails and firmation.

passengers, has gone ashore off Kilmore, inside the Saltces Rocks, on the coast of Wexford, aud is not expected to be got off.

The Band of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers played in the Public Gardens yesterday afternoon, before a large audience. The programme selected by Band-Sergeant Hassard was an unusually attractive one, and apparent ly gave great satisfaction.

The Brush Electric Light Company

Union and Maddison-squares, New erecting two poles, 150 feet high, in York, both of which are to have on the top six lights of six thousand candle powder cach, as an experiment in

The Deutsche Dampfshiff's Rhederei

Marine Lot No. 1 Belcher's Bay, com- prising the property known as Sands' Slip, purchased by the Hongkong and lighting the city from above. Three Whampoa Dock Company, Limited, similar poles are to bo put up in the from the executors of the late Mr. Glower part of Coutral park, U. Sands, has just been sold through & Parsed broker for the sum of $90,000. This property, with an area of 230,634 square foot, is a very valuable one, and has apparently been sold much under its value. The Patent Slip will, wo understand, be removed to Kowloon

Dock.

It has been unofficially announced that His Excellency the Governor bas

appointed Mr. B. &. Belilios to a scat

in the Legislative Council, subject to Her Majesty's approval, wice the Hon. J. M. Price, absont on leave. It will

(German Steamship Company) appears to be doing very well. Its shares are quoted to day 163, being even higher than the formerly so much favoured Kosmos line. As regards the traffic of the Deutsche Dampfshiff's Rhederei its steamers have been advertised as follows:-Cassandra to leave July 30, Feronia September 15, Lydia Oct. 20, Electra Nov. 25, and Massalia (first

voyage) on Dec. 30.-1. & C. Express

The Rev. John Cumming, D. D., F..S.E. whose death, we announced yesterday, was born in Aberdeenshire on Nov. 10th 1310. He came to Lon- Boarddon in 1888, and officiated in the

Medical examinations of which is much to be commended, Chinese women are not approved of, prefer their own especial duties in as such examinations wound the fine the detection of the various other susceptibilities of these ladies, and branches of crime to the peculiar and expose them to the ridicule and con- disagreeable details attached to the tempt of their countrymen. The business of a brothel inspector, we quasi-official recognition of houses of are at a loss to discover why these ill fame implied by granting them particular men, should be spoken of licenses is considered a very objec with such studied disparagement. tionable system, as it imposes res- Again the reference to the Chinese pousibilities on the, Government women objecting to the medical offi- which it cannot adequately fulfil. As cer's examination on the score of de- all these conclusions are unfavorable licacy, and because it exposes them to the existing brothel system, the to ridicule and contempt, is rather a Commissioners' personal convictions refreshing picce of innocence to come would have led them to recommend from an old lawyer like Mr. Hayllar. its entire abolition and the repeal of It has been proved by practical de- the Ordinance; however as the high monstration that the licensing of Naval and Military authorities, to houses of ill-fame in this colony is an whom the papers were submitted, absolute necessity, and it behoves arrived at conclusions which did not the Government to initiate some coincide with those of Mr. T. C. system which will enable it to ade- HONGKONG DISPENSARY.

Hayllar and Dr. Eitel, the recommen-quately undertake the responsibilities HONGKONG.

dation was simply limited to the attached to this duty. SHANGILAL PHARMACY,

What has been the practical re- extent that all prosecutions against SHANGHAL

the keepers and inmates of unlicen-sult of the immense amount of labor CANTON DISPENSARY,

sed brothers be abandoned. It was gone through by this celebrated further recommended that licenses Commission! Has anything been THE DISPENSARY,

should be strictly limited to houses done? The Ordinances have not been for the accomodation of foreigners, repealed, and we believe that we are and that prosecutions against women correct in stating that the business for offences, which need not be of the Registrar-General's depart ment is managed exactly as it was detailed, should be abandoned al-

before, with the single exception that together.

informers are no longer employed, and prosecutions of keepers of un- licensed houses have ceased. This is surely a paltry return for such an expenditure of money, time, ink, and paper, indicate.l in the publication of that expensive and expansive volume which details the manifold labours of the Commission! A walk through our streets at night time will soon convince unbelievers that unlicensed houses have increased fifty fold during

Scotch Church, in Crown Court, Drury the past two years, with the inevit-

Lane, until within the past year or two able results of increasing infection,

when both bodily and mental afflictions and filling our streets with the very worst class of women. This is not

necessitated his retirement. Dr. Cum- what was expected from the Com-

ming has long been distinguished on mission. If the Registrar-General's

the platform for his decided and un- department wants re-organising, let

tiring opposition to the doctrines of tained a high reputation as a preacher, stops be at once taken to have it placed

the Roman Catholic Church; and at- and profound Hebrew scholar. It is in working order, so that the Ordinan ces may be fairly and properly carried

howevor as a writer on Scriptural pro- out. If the present Inspectors are

phecies that he is best known through- not fit for their work, let others be

out the world. Dr. Cumming's books on appointed who can be trusted, and at

these subjects had a wide circulation, and created a deep impression. We have seen it suggested that the wide- a salary which will place them out- side of the fear of being corrupted.

spread feeling of hostility to Russia The Earl of Home died suddenly on

may have been intensified by tho Give these officers a proper status in the Goverment service, and do not the 4th instant, at Hirsal, near Cold- eloquence with which the doctor in- stream. The late earl, who was in bissisted on the identity of the Russian encourage or permit other officers

$3rd year, was formerly Under Secre-

Czar with the Antichrist. The sensation. to speak of them in terms of con-

Illicit tary of State for Foreign Affairs, and produced by his startling assertions tempt and disparagement.

found on his interpretation of Scrip- prostitution in Hongkong has behind hold other positions nuder Conser-

tural prophecies diminished as time comme such a crying evil that the vative Governments. The title, with

went on and the predictions were not Government must sooner or later that of Baron Donglas, which dates

back as far as 1473, now devolves upon verified, but his writings still com- take steps to bring it within reason- able bunds, and we hope that his lordship's oldest son, Lord Douglas.manded a good deal of attention, and were widely circulated. Among his Mr. Russell, who probably knows

best known works are his "Apocalyp more about the matters we have been

tic Sketches," " Daily Life," "Voice of the Night," "The Destiny of Na. tions," and "The Seventh Vial." As a preacher he was specially compli- mented, and thanked by Her Majesty in 1872, when he preached before her at Dunrobin Castle, the subject of his sermon on that occasion being "Com- munion between Heaven and Earth.” Dr. Cumming was a great favorite with the Duchess of Sutherland, Her Grace regularly attending the old fashioned church in Crown Court every Sunday morning when in town. The learned. Doctor was a member of the Established Church, and invariably

THE

Hongkong Telegraph.

HONGKONG, 13 August; 1881.

In December 1878 Mr. Hayllar and Dr. Eitel, Mr. Keswick having tem- porarily left the colony, sent in a comprehensive report on the evidence brought before them which occupies

53

The first meeting of the Commis- sioners appointed to inquire into the working of the Contagious Discases

Although we have carefully read Ordinances of 1857 and 1867, was and re-read the whole of the evi- held on the 24th November 1877, donce laid before the Commissioners, when the whole of the members were (a most tedious and nowholesome task be it confessed) and devoted a present, and Mr. T. C. Hayllar was elected chairman. After discussing good deal of time to studying the preliminarics, and arranging the conclusious arrived at, and the sug- scope and plan of the enquiry, the gestions offered by Mr. T. C. Hayllar, legitimate business of the meeting and Dr. Eitel, we are rather at a commenced with the examination of loss to understand on what tangible Mr. Cecil Clementi Smith, the Re- grounds those gentlemen based the gistrar General and Colonial Trea-Utopian changes they would have surer of the colony. The detailed liked to propose. That the system of labors of the Commissioners, lasting carrying out the Ordinance has been fora period of about eighteen months, impregnated with abuses of a doubt have been published in a special ful character was self-evident, by volume by the Government, and form the necessity for a Commission a most revolting record of prurient of Inquiry. It seems a bold as- filthiness, surpassing anything we sertion to say that the spread of have ever read..

infection has not been to some extent checked, or prevented by the operation of the Brothel Laws, and is contrary we think to the weight of evidence produced. Nor can it be maintained on reliable evidence that pages of closely printed foolscap. it is to licensed, rather than to unre- The opinions of these two members gistered houses that the source of of the Commission may be briefly sum- this evil must be looked for. It will marised as follows:-Prosecutions be conceded that laws, no matter of conducted under the Ordinances of how objectionable character they 1857 and 1867 were admitted to have may be, must have some officers to been attended with serious scandals carry them out; so that the Com- and abuses; and the system of em- missioners remarks about the em- ploying informers in the detection of ployment of Inspectors and Inter- illicit prostitation was emphatically preters being a frequent source of condemned, as it had proved quite corruption, without suggesting any ineffectual in suppressing either un- adequate substitute for these objec- licensed houses, or unregistered pros- tionable functionaries, can hardly be titutes. The Brothel Laws, it was considered of much, if of any, mate- contended, had neither checked nor rial consequence to the subject. So modified the spread of disease, and long as the Ordinance exists we must rather to licensed-than to un-have-men-to-look-after its working, registered houses was to be at- and we really cannot see that be- tributed the usual source of infec- cause men happen to be called In- tion. Houses for the sole use of spectors or Interpreters of the Medi- Chinese had not been in any ap cal department, why they should be preciable way benefited by Govern less honest, or more open to corrup- ment supervision, and such places tion than if they were designated by should never have been made sources any other title, or belonged to any of revenue. The employment of other branch of the service. It is to Inspectors and Interpreters had fre- be presumed that the officers of the quently been the source of abuse and Medical department are as passing corruption, as the work they have to honest as othor servants of the Gov- perform is so demoralising; and some crnment or they would hardly be body is highly praised for not per- retained in the public service; and. mitting the general body of the police because the Inspectors of Police, to assist in carrying out the Brothel doubtless out of an esprit de corps

་

referring to than any officer in the colony, will commence action in a new sphere, with instructions to use every legitimate means to carry out the provisions of the Ordinances to their fullest extent.

LOCAL AND GENERAL. The French gunboat Adonis left this morning for Saigon.

The departure of the Occidental" & Oriental Company's steamship Gaelic has been postponed until Wednesday next the 17th instant.

We note the return to this colony, per mail steamer Oxus, of Colonel Pap-. illon, R., who has been on a tour of inspection-in-the-Straits Settlements.

Mr. W. Reiners, Russian Consul at this port, visited Commodore Von Blane, of the Gorman corvette Stosch, yesterday, and received the usual salute on leaving.

|

be remembered that Ilis Excellency alluded to the advisability of having a gentleman intimately associated with our Indian trade at the Council nearly two years ago.

We note the arrival from the Tyne of the Darlington, a new steamer for Messrs Siemsson & Co.'s China Coast trade. She is a strongly built, vessel of 1,292 tous burthen, with all recent improvements in shipbuilding, and specially adaptod for the requirements of the coast trade. The Darlington is owned by Mossrs. W. Milbarn & Sons, London, and has for her commander Captair James Hogg, woll known in Hongkong for many years as captain of the Chinklang.

Mr. William Inmun, the proprietor and manager of the well-known Inman line of American steamers, died on the 3rd instant, at his residence, Upton Manor, near Birkenhead, at the age of 56. He had boen ill for several months, having suffered from dropsy. At one tine Mr. Inman hold a commission as captain of the Cheshire Volunteers: He was also a magistrato for that county. It is, however, as one of the rot pioneers of the celebrated Ame rican line of steamers from Liverpool

that he will be best known.

Her ladyship

Ledy Medhurst.-On the 30th ult. the remains of Lady, Medhurst were interred in Froyle churchyard, Ilamp-opposód the principles and policy of shire. The deceased lady was the wife the promoters of the great Secession of Sir Walter Medhurst, late H.M. movement in 1813, which led to the Consul at Shanghai, and second establishment of the Free Kirk. Dr. Froyle House. The remains wero many subjects, and his great egotism daughter of H. Burningham, Esq, of Cumming's pronounced bigotry on taken from Brighton, where Early prevented him from ever becoming Medhurst died and interred in the fagenerally popular, but wo, who for mily vault. Sir Walter Modhurst was any years listened to his ministra

tions and enjoyed the pleasure of his. among the mourners. was forty-five years of age. We feel personal acquaintance, can bear toști- sure this announcement will be receiv mony to his kindly heart and true ed with regret by many friends in piety, while his rare accomplishments as a profound thinkor and scholar have given him a world wide. reputation. Mr. Donald Curvic, M. P., having Dr, Cumming was a great authority on at the request of the Twith Commis-boes, his lectures on those industrious soners invited the Duke of Edinburgh little animals orenting quite a sensa- to open tho now docks at Leith on the tion throughout England about fifteon, 26th instant, his Royal Highness has years ago. Wo would direct the attention of thotolographed from Cronstadt accepting the invitation, and stating that with Surveyor-Genoral's Department to the condition of Robinson Road. From the permission of the Lords of the

The stuntship Africa came out of Kowloon dock this morning, her place being taken by the stoner Norden. The stormor Ilainan has gone on the Patent Slip at Bolcher's Bay.

China,

The barrister businosa must, judging from the following, be very much over-