480
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
A COMMON CURRENCY FOR THE FAR EAST.
be met.
| June 26, 1895.
circulate, and had the actual facts not been published those rumours would no doubt the injury to the trade of the colony have grown, as rumours generally do, and
is now, while the disquietude caused in would have been probably not less than it
greater. Either concealing the true state of the colony itself would have been much affairs or openly stating it appears to be at- tended with some evil, but all things con- sidered the latter course appears to us to be the better one. As a matter of general" principle, nowhere and under no circum- with regard to the public health. While stances ought any secrecy to be observed
tained in neighbouring ports, however, it may absurd quarantine regulations are main- be argued with some show of reason that it is a mistake to blazon abroad every sporadic case of contagious disease that may occur. In that view we would be disposed as a general rule to concur, but the present case is excep tional. The plague of last year directed to Hongkong the attention of the whole world," and had the rumour gone abroad, without authentic statistics, that plague had again broken out in the colony, it would have been rencies of Japan and the British and French generally supposed that the state of things possessions of the Far East were made in-this year was much the same as last. The terchangeable, by an agreement similar to publication of the official statistics appears that which exists between the states of the on the whole, therefore, to be a protection Latin Union, and if China and the Philip rather than an injury to the colony. It is pines joined in the agreement so much the unfortunate if our Spanish and French
ten cases are admitted probably a hundred ticity of the statistics and to suppose that if have occurred. Such a suspicion could only be suggested by the knowledge of what they themselves would do under like circumstances. It is difficult to suggest how the suspicion could be met, but we cannot suppose it would be disposed of by suppressing the
but we would recall to mind BACON's famous dictum on the mariner's compass, gun- powder, and printing. "No empire," says
The question of the currency has recently the sage,
sect, or star seems to have exer- "cised greater power or influence over human bers of Commerce at Saigon, Hauoi, and been under the consideration of the Cham- "affairs than these mechanical inventions." This may give a cold douche to the moralisting French possessions, which rely largely Haiphong. Like ourselves, the neighbour- and a shock to the followers of CARLYLE,
on the Mexican dollar, have been suffering but steady vision will tend only to confirm from a scarcity of the circulating medium, the great Verulam's view. JAMES WATT and the Government has asked the various added a fourth "invention;" his application Chambers of Commerce to express their of steam to fabrication and its subsequent views as to how the crisis might best subjection to the purposes of land and sea travel have completely changed the des- and of Saigon do not appear to be iden
The circumstances of Tonkin tinies of the British race, and reacted on tical, the Japanese yen the world at large. Facility of manufacture the latter but not in the former. All the circulating in and travel brought in its train sequences Chambers are agreed, however, that the which no man could ever have foreseen. standard coins, whatever they may be, should Time honoured prejudices, methods, and be equivalent to and interchangeable with laws disappeared as if by magic the moment those of Hongkong. This appears to be men began to mix freely and to know
а very sensible suggestion and if any each other. Our whole systems of education, official proposition to that effect should be commerce, law, government, and colonization made by the French Government it is to be were in turn examined, found wanting, and hoped it will receive favourable consideration reformed. When oue reflects that in one and that it may be found possible to adopt single reign, Victoria, New Zealand, Queens-it. Trade would be facilitated if the car land, the Dominion of Canada, Hongkong, and the China trade have been created; that the Indian Empire has been consoli dated, the African extended, Ireland pro- foundly changed, the army and navy com- pletely reconstructed; that the ancient con- stitution of the country has been modified better. So far as Hongkong is concerned | neighbours are inclined to doubt the authen-
scheme. As it is we have a foreign coin, we can conceive of no objection to the the Mexican dollar as our standard, and this is to continue even after the introduc- tion of the new British dollar, which is to circulate concurrently with it. We might as well have Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese coins as the Mexican,
value and all equally reliable. The Japanese yen is already legal tender in the Straits Settlements, though not in Hongkong. Any sentimental preference there may be for the Queen's head on our coins would carry small weight as against the great practical convenience of one common currency for the whole of the Far East, and the slight profit to be made by the Indian mints on the coinage of the British dollar, should that profit be at all endangered, is a trifle not worth considera- tion. Under such an agreement, however, the chances are that the circulation of the British dollar would be increased rather than diminished. It is doubtful whether Japan would be willing to sanction the circulation of any but her national coins in her own territory, and China and the Philippines are for the present entirely put of the question. We see no good reason, however, why France and England should not enter into an agreement for the concur rent circulation of their respective standard coins in the territories of each other, and other states might join the Union hereafter,
would probably be accepted and would make the matter still worse.
*
AFFAIRS IN SOUTH FORMOSA.
FROM A CORRESPONDENT.]
TAINANFOO, 17th June. Affairs here assumed such a serious aspect of Thursday afternoon, the 13th inst, owing to the threatening attitude of the Black Flags, that Captain Winsloe, of H.M.S. Spartan, decided to send to Hongkong for assistance. Accord- ingly arrangements were made to despatch the steamer Wenchow, in port at the time, to Amoy with telegrams for the Commodore, and she left morning. on Friday evening, returning here on Sunday All feel under great obligation to Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, for allowing the Wenchow to proceed, On Sunday morning the strain was much intensified by a demand from the rebels that the British guard should be with- drawn. Without more assistance it is doubtful
out of all recognition; one is lost as to the limits of the modern conditions of life. These changes, vital as they are, are but a fraction of the sum total of national activity. Science, in the doctrines of the conservation of energy and evolution, both primarily English triumphs, has seen the greatest discoveries since the time of NEW- TON. A literature second to that of the provided they were all of the same intrinsic statistics altogether, for in that case rumour Elizabethan age in poetry alone has given quite another bias to the national mind and conscience. A fabulous commerce has been created and an aggregate of wealth such as the world has never seen has been amassed. Crime has been lessened, education spread, diseases formerly fatal rendered innocuous, domestic comfort and the amenities of life both increased in quantity and refined in quality. Even poverty, that greatest curse of social life, is now being attacked and the question of the better distribution of wealth has assumed the paramount place in public attention. Our loyalty is not so blind as to cajole us into the belief that her Majesty has been the cause of this progress. It will, however, be historically associated with her name, and in a manner she is not to be personally disassociated from it. The purity and splendour of her court, her tact, her intolerance of intrigue, her personal ex- ample and womanly sympathy, her steady patronage of everything tending to social improvement, have had boundless influence on our public and social life. It is to the Queen's personal merits largely due that the British Empire still exhibits the most astounding of political paradoxes-an ardent democracy and an ancient throne. During her long reign she has seen nearly A correspondent, whose letter will be every government in the world convulsed found in another column, takes exception to with revolution and has also witnessed many the publication of plague statistics in the a throne entirely submerged in political press, on account of the injury caused to the cyclone. Her own has been unique in escap-trade of the colony by the neighbouring ing storm and stress and is at this moment Spanish and French ports bringing into more secure in the good will and esteem of force their quarantine regulations as a con- her people than ever it was when streng-sequence of the publication of these particu- thened by absolutism and supported by the sanctity of religion. Her Majesty is bappily yet bale and vigorous: we heartily hope she will be spared a goodly few years to see the greater consummation of a reign as illus trious as it has been long, as honourable to herself as it has been beneficial to her Em- pire and subjects.
THE PUBLICATION OF PLAGUE STATISTICS.
lars. We can well understand the feeling of those who are directly affected by these absurd regulations, but on the whole we are in- clined to think that more harm would be done by a policy of secrecy than by one of openness, As soon as it became known that plague had again made its appearance in the colony alarmist rumours began to
if the fifty cdd men in the settlement could have beld their own against an organised attack, and
the situation became very grave. To the satis- faction of everyone H.M.S. Rainbow appeared ou the horizon coming at full speed, and she dropped anchor at 3 p.m..just forty-five hours from the time the Wenchow left this for Amoy, which speaks well for all concerned in this work of relief. Great excitement prevailed when it was reported that the forts were clearing for action, and that the Rainbow and Spartan were both ready to reply if attacked. Mr. Harst, H.M. Consul, promptly interviewed an officer in charge of a detachment of Black Flags, who said that the Rainbow was a Japanese and that they were determined to fire. On receiving a guarantee from the Consul that such was not the case, a messenger was des- patched to the fort with instructions to stay pro- ceedings. General Liu was then notified that the marines could not be withdrawn and that further reinforcements would be landed. Just before dark, in order to avoid too much display. 60 marines were landed under the command of Captains Shubrik and Brabazon, and 25 blue jackets under the command of Lieut. Grouse. It was feared that resistance would be offered, but all were safely landed on the bund by eight
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