1940-02-17 — Page 9

Saturday, FEBRUARY 17, 1940.

"TELEGRAPH”.

A "polite" name given 'to, "this noisy, quarrelsome, discontented little island" of Hongkong during mid-Nineteenth Century was "the Hinge of Hell." At that time, the London newspapers clamoured for the appoint- ment of a Dictator to rule the Colony, a piece of whose early history is given below.

The various quarrels that broke out from time to time among the officials of Hongkong soon after it became a British Colony gradu- ally fomented in Eng- land until sharp refer- ence was made to them in the "Times" of March 15, 1850.

Hongkong was dealt with in very measured terms by the "Times".

"The sound of the name," said the article, "in our Parliamentary proceedings never bodes good to our national interests. It is always

connected with some fatai pestilence, some doubtful war, or some discreditable internal squabble; so rauch so that, in popular language, the name of this polay, quarrelsome, discontented and insalubrious little island may not inaptly be used as a cuphemous synonym for a place not mentionable to cara polite."

This probably accounts for the saying likening Hongkong to the hinge of an equally unmentionable place. If, indeed, Hong- kong were as bad as the above passage seems to in- dicate, there is more than a little justification for subsequent wish in the same article that the sen should take it back again.

ร

The wish of the "Times" for the appointment of some one in the nature of a Dictator would show that, oven at this time. people at home realised the necessity for stringent methods in dealing with the unfortunate state of affairs that marred the early history of the Colony,

To deal fully with.the various unarrels, jealousies, and intri- gues that were characteristic of eotoniul life in Hongkong would take more space than history of that nature deserves, but the repented attempts to remove different men from office. the suspensiona of others for charges on which they were never punished, and the general fallure to free the innocent from binme and to punish the guilty, left the affairs of Hong- kong in a state of chaor un- believable at the present time.

*

M M

-INCIDENTALLY, perusal of old papers dealing with the hi- tory of Hongkong tends to show that the journalism of fifty years ago was redder-blooded than is that of the present day. As an example of contem- poraneous invective the follow- ing from the "Morning Herald** (A Home paper) is certainly Interesting:

"It is annoying to see an umply headed, malevolent, lying political quack like old- drawing upon himself such notoriety. True, it unenvia- ble but it makes no difference to him; for being as unscrupul- ous a Louis Napoleon, and having about as much idea of propriety as Titus Ontes,

OUT

An Old View of Kowloon.

HONGKONG,

HINGE

OF HELL

There's

opinion is he would be at blins in a pillory so long as none of the bystanders threw anything bard at him."

The subject of this interest- ing comment was, at the Line, Governor of Hongkong.

The history of Hongkong might be divided into two parta quite easily when it had Kow- loon and when it had not. It

was in 1861, that Kowloon was handed over to the British with due form and ceremony, Salur day

afternoon, January 19. being the time and date.

The British representative journeyed to Kowloon, with- out the use of a ferry, landerf on the mud bank and beach

LEAVE! Leave! The And

word flew round. "Nine days and a free travelling warrant.' Leave, that glorious ...word.

that existed and met four Chinese mandarins. They handed the British a handful of earth wrapped up in paper. and Kowloon had been trans- ferred.

That handful of earth repre- sented about four square miles of land which has since been extended by the addition of the New Territories.

.

Of course, a Proclamation had to be read--the Chinese version being displayed on a placard the standard raised and a salvo of cannon fired. Kowloon was then an appan- age of England. -

Apparently. Kowloon was a separate colony for ht any rate a little while after the cession for the Captain Superintendent of Police was appointed Com- missioner of Kowloon. Later in the year, 'a proclamation in- ally incorporated Kowloon with Hongkong and put it in the political position that it occupies to-day.

Though there are residents who remember the peninsula as a piece of land with a muddly shore. Kowloon, shortly after its transfer to the Queen, must have had a goodly population of its own, as it was the site of a camp when Allied forces of French and English, engaged on an expedition to China, were quartered there for some time.

MAPILTUM

NAP

MEM

WEEK-END MAGAZINE

OF COURSE YOU KNOW. -BUT ARE YOU SURE?

LEARNING, which maketh a full man, also maketh good fun, if it is dished up in the right manner. Hence this column, whose aim is to entertain and amuse you-not to trap you. You will now fumble in your pocket, then furrow the brow, and, turning politely to your friend, beg the loan of a sharp pencil.

Then, still with furrows of determination darkening the brow, you will read the list of questions and jot down 25 ans- wers, scoring you a Possible-50 points. Or will you? But one thing is certain-you'll play fair.

Method of scoring is to take two points for each question answered Torrectly. Top score is 50, but 30- 40 is not so bact. Below 30 is not nu good.

--These three completely un- related things go by the one name, What is 117

Portion of the hifman body? a town in Central America; a punctuation mark. 2-Carbuncle is the name riven to an out-size in bolls. It is also the name ofi-m

An English garden flower; a river, in Asia Minor; dark red precious stone; an abrazive aub- stance used in engineering. 3.There's a entel in this one, so read very carefully. An accolade

18-

or

A decoration on donra windows; a ceremony used in conferring 11 knighthood; a bruce joining separate staves in

Rusic. 4-Two of these men are (1) Governor and (2) Prime Minister of Northern Ireland:-

Duke of Abercorn; Viscont Craigavon Dr. Hyde: Marquess of Londomierry: "Earl Winter-

ton.

5. In land operations, the pri mary use' of the armoured car is-

For amashing through barbed wire entanglements; - to break

the enemy's resistance; for re- connaissance work; for carrying brass-hats out of danger areas." 6.-Maby Europeans prefer to 'celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany rather than Christinas. Epiphany commemorates the:-

Flight into Egypt: Presento- tion in the Temple: Coming of the Magi Mussacre of the fu-

ent: Transfiguration, 7-Condor is the name of:--

A brain disease; a disinfec- tant; a French author of the 18th century; kind of vulture;

a b in France.

8. If you went looking for grieve, you would expect to find

Swimming in ALFA English riter; growing in a French marden; superintending s farm in Scotland; digging a grave.

9. When I was imbibing history, cr geography, or whatever it was at school, the Plains of Abraham were 'in:-

NAPO

THE LITTLE CORPORAL: "I wonder! Should I shave it?"

then

Arulia; Palestine; Irak; Po- land; Syria; Canada,

10-If you've read your Scrip- tures you'll know that two of these Books of the Bible begin with the words, "In the beginning":-

Jeremiah; St. Matthew; Reve- lution; Genesis; Romana; St. John.

11. Only one of these European kings is not a Knight of the Garter. Which Is Britain's highest Order of Chivalry. Who is UID odil MAN But?-

-Belgium: Bulgaria; Italy; Denmark; Greece; Norway; Steden.

12. Certain of these 19th cen- Lury churchmen breame Roman Catholtes. Which?

Keble; Manuing; Newman; Pusey.

13,--Osfy one of these means a nickname:-

words

souffle:

Sobriquet; sorites: soubrete; soupcon. 14These fellows have left few marks ois history, and, although they aren't so much in the picture to-day, only one of them is dead;-

Ex-Kaiser Wilhelm of Ger- many: ex-King Ferdinand of Hulgaria; Field-Marshal Mackensen; Lenin; Trotsky. 15-Wat are the meanlugs_ef: ANZA.C., B.E.F., U.S.S.R. 16. Six of these men were philo. sophers, the other a famous orator. Which?-

otי1

Plato; Aristotle: Epictetus; Epicurus: Zeno: Demosthenes; Socrates,

17 expect you have used the expression; "under the aegis of." without knowing that aegis means:

A blue sky a cloak making 1l wearer invisible; a shield; a roof; an umbrella. 18-Which of these four pro- found statements are correct?

Kakubows, can be seen uit night; there are more than 200 bones in the human body; a cut cannot see In complete darkness: Portuguese,is the language of Brazil.

19,-Queth Murgatroyd: " feeling poorly. I think I'll take sume calumet and go to bed." Said 1: "Serewy

Pain A

calumet is:-

A mall African desert ant- mal; part of flower; an Indian pence-pit a cotton fabric. 20-Copal is Targely used in the

manufacture of:~-~

Textiles; varnishes; confer- tionery; patent inedicines; pot-

ter

21-When the Nazis manufacture

a substitute

or synthetic product

they generally tabel :-

Lebensraum; Blitzkrieg: Er- salz, Drang nach Osten: Schrecklickelt.

22-Ginseng, is not the term-for- an aboriginal female quartet. It

15:-

A Chinese intoxicating drink;

a town in Outer Mongolia; a river in Manchuria; a medicinal root highly valued in Ching; a mountain in Korea.

23. The percentage of illiteracy is highest In:--

Inclia; Portugal:

Turkey:

Spain; Italy; Russia. 24-Osborne is remembered by historians as the home of:---

Disraeli: Scott:

Dickens;

Queen Victoria; King Edward

VIII.

25.The statue of Eros has been removed

from Piccadilly Circus, London, to an undisclosed place of safety, The Bille statue commem- orates:-

Charles H.; Nell Gwyn; Beau Brummell; Lord Shaftesbury; Queen Aune; Byron.

Answers on Page 8

No Place Like Home-

that long, long journey.

After the first rush of blood, excitement was kept in check. They tried to behave as strong, silent men and traditional sol- diers, but the journey added a beat of the heart for every mile.

For the fast

But time

and dream your way through the followed on lo sit before your fire and think, broken away from this earth and And then, at the highest peak,

ember fairyland.

And then, bit by bit, you look lips and became immortal, and deßance against return. hold of the threads again and were would be as fresh as ever when the is not afrald. and offers no target happy. Once more you had time last tles of those who die will have for retaliation and goes on.

10 the furthermost defiance died and you went back caches of space.

A swift word-you could not any Wor was as impossible, as in- credible, as far away from those a generation of writers, excuses for of the lips, a prayer, and it was Once more there were tales for more--a touch of the band, a brusti two slippers on the fender as ever. a dozen years of films, material for one, increasing in beauty with its

You thought and dreamed. Men who had been sick a

all war blew away who and what All these things the war would do.

Of at least one more "Journey's End," very passing seconds.

Which man's life would be ruined done you turned to the little mate

And when the dreaming was their beds and running corridors, in the compartments, by the distorted fame it gave to rlal joys of pre-war life. about with the spring of hats on, too, all on their toes as al Rupert Brooke to lie mouldering in pages of the books you loved, and he drives himself through misery,

greatcoats on, equipment adjusted, T. E. Lawrence? Who

O such weakness te man made: was the You fingered and turned the

on such slavery does he exist. A job remains to be finished and athletes. How great a part the start of a race.

some foreign field? Where was the your eyes wandered over those despair, death for the of their illnesses was psy-

Home was home to

"Saki" awaiting to be shattered to precious, wise words spoken-words country will honour him every

mme lalo speck of dust.

eternity? But wo-how

so precious, so incredibly wise that

with- chological their doctors

were we? Altered? Yes. Fm

And how, many new promises they were

British. forgotten would be made, now crimes com-made ward,

when afraid so.

mitted, new, virgin sheets filled

Another Great War? How for- Automatically our bodles moved with words in the name

They had to be forgotten or men lornly Oh, doctors, how little you

misplaced is the word know! A word is magic to to the actions, which were habit, war?, It was so futile, so endieas, their folly. Wisdom and war are the word is an outrage to the lives of this were so wise as to laugh and see "great." No wars are great or else but our minds observed In slight as all wars. drive away all those allments amusement. And sometimen

alike only in the first letter of, their which are lived and called great. names.

Pray God for a swift return to those

joys fleetingly re-tasted. Pray God for a speedy return to peace. Pray God that whatever they may call this war it shall not be the "Long War," and our cause will be the greater.

C. LAMPITT.

moment ago were out of stood about in the train: in the

few miles men it would blow to fame.

had not realised. ́ ́

Our

and leave your precious, mys- bodies forgot and our minds noticed terious drugs watery. Words that, too.

CONGS would link themselves to remain mightiest to lift men to You eat to tea and forgot to wash glory with the names of new the stars or condemn them. your hands. You wouldn't have heroes.

Freedom, Home. Two days time. Caught already, you nee, and with the stone in which they were Caught that .But the names could crumble away. Such long days, too. only a few weeks away from home, carved, while songs were carved in

MA done

that before.

men

And you saw those sights, breathed those swells, Lasted those little joys that made life and caused suck pain of longing in the dark stretches, quick, and within the breast rose So the days passed, and time was

HONGKONG TELEGRAPH-PAGE 7

Jel. 28151.

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