The-Hong-Kong-Weekly-Press-1895-09-18 — Page 10

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THE BURNING OF THE

YACHIYO-MARU”-

66

Particulars of the burning of the steamer Yachiyo-maru (owned by Mr. Nagoshi Aisuke, of Osaka) in the Tsuruga harbour, which we reported briefly from a telegram, are now to hand. The steamer left Kobe on the 18th ult., with 1,500 cases of kerosine oil and some sugar and flour, bound to Tsuruga. She encountered a gale on the way and after put- ting into Sakai, Hoki province, for shelter, she arrived at her destination on 28th ult., where all her cargo was discharged. Eight hundred cases of Echigo petroleum and some rice were taken on board as return freight on the day of disaster, 29th ult., and while some more pil was being taken in an explosion with a tremendous report occurred in her hold and the vessel was soon enveloped in furious flames and dense clouds of black smoke. Seven men who hap- pened to be on board at the time, having no other means of escape, jumped overboard. They were picked up by boats in the vicinity, but all the other men, with the exception of one, were severely burned by the explosion and six men died soon afterwards. The fire, with the aid of the highly combustible fluid, spread all over the ship and burnt with a fearful force. The efforts of firemen who essayed to arrest the flames availed nothing. The captain's order to scattle the vessel also proved a failure. The fire which was started in the morning, continued till seven in the evening, when the vessel was burnt to the water's edge. The cause of the outbreak so far remains unknown-Japan

Gazette.

LOSS OF THE

SATSUMA!”

Shanghai, 11th September. Captain Swenson, master of the British barque Satsuma, arrived at Shanghai this morning from Chinghai, together with his officers and crew, his vessel having been totally wrecked on Friday last, the 6th inst., whilst the typhoon was raging. It appears that the Satsuma left Nagasaki on the 1st instant, and on the 5th September she was anchored off Gutzlaff when a strong typhoon was blowing, which had driven her south of her course, her destination being Shanghai. The typhoon t in so strong that the Satsuma was driven from her anchorage, and Captain Swenson then en- deavoured to make for shelter on the north of Chasan, between that island and a smaller one to the north of it. His efforts were unavail- ing, for the Satsuma was driven ashore on the coast of North Chusan on the morning of the 6th inst. soon after daylight and became a complete wreck, being simply smashed to pieces on the rocks by the force of wind and wave. The captain had, however, sufficient opportunity to rig up a life-saving apparatus by menus of a line from the vessel to the shore, by which all the officers and crew safely reached land. The islanders rendered every possibg assistance in rescuing the crew and providinel for their wants when they were landed. The crew, however, had no time to save anything, so hurried was their departure. The officers and crew left the island in a small junk kindly placed at their disposal, which took them to. Chinghai, where they were hospitably received by the harbour-master, and from thence they came on to Shanghai. The owners place every con- fidence in the captain, who did his best, but he was unable to do anything in face of the very severe weather, and it is feared his ship is not the only one lost, as another is missing. The owners and agents of the Satsuma are Messrs. Morris & Co. The ship had a cargo of coal, the charterers being a Chinese firm and it is not known whether the cargo is in- sured, but the ship was not. She carried the usual number of crew and officers, the former being Manila men, who are now lodged in the Sailors' Home. The Satsuma was a wooden barque of 380 tons, duly registered, and was built in 1869 by J. Crown of Sunderland. She was, however, a good vessel and in excellent condi- tion. Capt. Swenson had been in command we understand since 1885.-Mercury.

At Singapore on the 4th instant a European freman on the Glenfruin died from heat apoplexy.

THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND

an

were

TAXES ON OPIUM.

sold in the shops. Such an

до

answer

It is incidental to our false position in China that occasionally; until an explanation is afforded, we should seem to make unreasonable request of the Chinese Government. The recent proposition of the provincial authorities to raise an extra tax on imported opium is a case in point. In July last certain British Indian houses engaged in the opium business com- plained that the provincial authorities were seeking to raise additional revenue for Indian opium over and above the amount fixed by the Chefoo Convention. The Taotai, to whom the complaint was referred by the Consul, had answer ready which on the face of it seemed to do away with all cause of com- plaint. It was to the effect that the authori- ties did not seek to tax opium, but only to levy a licence fee on shops selling it, which was to be effected through the Opium Guild, and that therefore all opium would be equally affected, whether foreign or native, as both might be fairly supposed to disarm hostile The Municipal Council of the criticism. Foreign Settlements, for instance, taxes opium importer has complained shops, and of any interference with their rights under the Convention, and doubtless, did the Viceroy on opium shops, place such a licence fee there could be ipso facto little objection. But then comes the pith of the matter. Viceroy and the Opium Guild have, through the Foreign Customs, accurate accounts of foreign opium imported and of such native comes down from Szechuen in foreign ships. These two sources supply but a small amount of the opium consumed, the great bulk being carried in native craft or over- land, and never having been subjected to any official supervision whatever. Such drug is not sold in rocognised shops, but irregularly everywhere, and neither the Guild nor the authorities have the machinery to tax them. A regular tax would therefore mean favouring of native untaxed opium at the ex- pense of that regularly imported, and which has paid its proper dues; so that innocent as the suggestion seems, it would practically amount to levying another tax on the Indian drug Fortunately we have reason to believe that the difficulties in the way of the proposed tax have seemed sufficient to prevent its being per- severed in.--Mercury.

88

4

The

а

THE MAHOMMEDAN REBELLION IN NORTH-WEST CHINA,

The effects of the recent war with Japan have been most disastrous to the Chinese Government in a great many ways, but chiefly by the ex- posure of its utter corruptness and effeteness, not only to foreign observers but also to its own people, whom the Government would gladly have kept in their former state of ignorance, as the knowledge gained of the imbecility and dishonesty of their own officials has roused a considerable amount of discontent among

the masses of the Empire. A case in point is the insurrection in Huichow, Ch'aochow, and Chiayingchow, North Kuantung, which broke out last May at a spot scarcely four days' journey westward from Swatow, is gradually increasing in strength and numbers, and is also spreading towards the Fukien and Kiangsi provinces. But another, and at present more serious illustration of this discontent, is the Mahommedan rebellion now in active progress in Kansu and a portion of Shensi, which is of sufficient strength to successfully defy the combined territorial forces of the two provinces. Before dealing with this rebellion, however, it will be advisable to give a slight sketch of Mahommedanism in Northern China, showing the position of its followers as regards their Buddhist fellow-subjects and its standing at the present day, so far as our limited space will admit.

re-cong

[September 18, 1895.

of Kashgaria and a portion of Kuldja by the Imperial armies of China was completed in 1878 and for five years following the country was governed by martial law, nominally under the rule of the late Marquis Tso Tsung-tang, who obtained all the credit for the recovery of the country, being dignified by the title of " Conqueror of Kashgaria," though as the military administrator of the recently acquired territory he really never went farther west outside the Great Wall than the Mongol city of Hami-called Khan by Marco Polo which is fully nine hundred miles east of Kashgar the actual work of conquest having been effected by Liu Chin-tang. Prior to the Mahommedan rising, which took place in the sixties immediately after the suppression of the Taiping rebellion, the country had been governed by Manchus or Mongol Bannermen exclusively, precisely as was the case with Kokonor, Jêhol, Tarbagatai, etc., in which districts no Chinese were eligible for office of any kind.The extor- tions and corruption of these officials provoked the intense hatred of the Mahommedans, who rose against them, and in the conflict which ensued nearly the entire Buddhist population was slaughtered or made slaves by the rebels. When this rebellion was suppressed by Liu Chin-tang and tranquility was once more secured, the Manchas made an effort to oust Tso Tsung- tang and his lieutenant from the positions gained by their prowess, and petitioned the Throne to appoint Tartar officials as formerly to administer the district and to dismiss all Chinese.

-The

Emperor, however, wisely referred the question to Tso Tsung-tang, as the one best able to determine if such a change were desirable, and received in reply a memorial which has been characterised as a very gem of classical sarcasm, in which the Emperor was frankly informed that it was owing to the corrupt rule of the Tartar Bannermen that the rebellion had been provoked, which had resulted in the destruction of upwards of 120,000 Manchus and Chinese Buddhists, and that if his Majesty desired to lose Kashgaria once more the appointment of Manchu officials was the best way to bring it about, and that it would be impossible to reconquer a country so, lost, because the Chinese would refuse to shed their blood for the benefit of worthless Manchu offi- cials. Tso Tsung-tang went on to say that, after fifteen years' hard work to restore peace at the cost of much Chinese blood, he had no idea of surrendering the territory to those who were unable to hold it, and that the country must be governed by Chinese exactly like those parts of the Empire within the Great Wall.

In the meantime the Board of Reorganisa- tion had been busy surveying the country and defining the limits of the various sub- prefectures, departments, and districts of the new province, so that by 1884 all was ready for the exchange of the military administration for a civil one; the requisite number of civil officials were then appointed and on Liu Chin- tang was conferred the post of first Governor of the New Dominion or Hsinchiang. In this was included the sub-provinces of Kuldja and Tarbagatai, the stronghold of the Kalmucks and of Buddhism in Mongolia, to whose loyalty it was owing that the Mahommedan rebels failed in their attempted invasion of China proper by way of Northern Mongolia and the grass plateaux.

The Chinese Mahommedans, or Tunganis, of the New Dominion settled down quietly to agricultural pursuits when the civil government was firmly established. They are of fine phy- sique, but are very clannish, and find great enjoy. ment in recounting the glorious deeds of their ancestors, the legends about which have been care- fully handed down from generation to generation; and though the Tunganisare gradually diminish- ing in number they still form a very large and important section of the community, who would be peaceably inclined if left in full enjoyment of their religion and were not oppressed by their rulers. But in spite of all they meet with con- stant opposition from the Buddhists, whose hardly suppressed desire, apparently, is to ex- terminate the Mahommedans altogether. In intellect and personal accomplishments the

the equal and fre Tungani is quite quently the superior of the native Bud- dhist. Many Tunganis stand high in literary The rank and attainments and they have several

Chinese Mahommedanism has for long been so closely connected with the history of Central Asia, and particularly Chinese Turkestan, that one cannot well be separated from the other, and this connection has been of more special moment during the last thirty years.

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