September 26, 1895.]
TIENTSIN.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
9th September. Li's final disappearance from the scene of twenty years' labour has so far attracted little
There
or no attention. The Chinese officials in this province are at sixes and sevens as to the exact meaning of the long deferred move. The ma- jority hold that he is once and for all shelved, but others stoutly hold he has gone to cut cer- tain Gordian knots in the capital which are quite beyond the prowess of anybody else. There is no doubt that the sungli Yamen folk intensely desired to be quit of Mr. Hiyashi and his supplementary treaty, and that they tried to get him down here out of the way by appointing Li and Wong Wen Shou as their negotiators. The Jap was, however, too deter- mined to deal with the Central authority, and every attempt to dislodge him failed. This withdrew the only motive for retaining Li here. His nominal office is now a Secretary of State. Wang Wen Shou took over the seals of office a fortnight ago and is gaining good opinion all round for his moderation and caution. is no talk of a clean sweep, and he has in- timated his determination to make none till he has personally seen into everything. He has asked the foreign employeés in Li's various institutions to suggest improvements. His one new departure is the unexpected scheme for a Tientsin University. This is really to be a polytechnic and a preparatory school, but as it is under American auspices, they have clapped the big name on to it. Your ex-Hongkong Ng Choy and a Cantonese named Ts'ai Chao-chi are the two native directors, while Mr. C. D. Tenney is the foreign President. The students will be drafted from Hongkong, Shanghai, and Tientsin at first, and special attention will be given to the various branches of engineering science. On dit, high class experts are coming from America, and it is assumed here that a strong American tone will be given to the whole institution.·
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
ing up to Mongolia to choose their own horse- flesh and are taking with them a waler mare, in the hope of finding some Mongol breeder who will be willing to try a new strain of blood. If I remember correctly the Chinese Times several times commended this policy (and the cognate one of importing sires) to the leviathan pro- Prietors in Shanghai. Mr. Taylor's spirited attempt is attracting much attention among our old sports.
The river is improving and steamers now reach the bund. The weather is suggestive of cham- pagne.
MISCELLANEOUS.
At Foochow on the 8th inst. two hundred houses were burnt down on the island between From the N. C. Daily News we learn that owing to anticipated disturbances at Wuchang all the foreign ladies and children there had gone over to Hankow before the 12th instant,
At Kobe, on the 11th inst., as the N.Y.K. chartered steamer Azamor was going to her berth she collided with the stern of the steamer Donau, cutting into the latter's tatfrail with her stem. The damage done was comparatively slight.
While the Lyeemoon was discharging cart- ridges into lighters in the powder limits at Shanghai on the 18th inst. a case dropped and there was an explosion, a number of the cart- ridges going off, but fortunately nobody was hurt.
It would appear, says the Peking and Tientsin Times, that acting on the reports of Wang Wên-shao, fourteen Li-ites, holding more or less Incrative positions in Chibli, have been dis- missed, their system of book keeping being defective.
$6
The boom in land and houses in Shanghai continues, says the N. C. Daily News. The Judge's Bungalow" has been sold for Tls. 18,000; the Agra Bank's property on the Carter Road, including the houses built by the late Mr. Benjamin, for Tis 50,000; and the Agra Bank's property on the Kiukiang and Szechuen Roads for Tls. 65,000.
M
the
T
Mr. Tenney was the very successful tutor of Li's children in English, and has for some years run an English school for well-to-do Chinese lads. He is quite au fait with
and Chinese manners
alr officials and very conversant with the language. The rocks ahead are- (1) no careers for the students; (2) no power to confer degrees and thus give official status; (3) too ambitious a beginning; (4) the absence of a free hand to the foreign directorate. Sheng Taotai has come out as a strong sup- porter of the scheme and, with the Viceroy Wang, is to supply the sinews of war.
Consul S. P. Read of this port is appointed to preside over the American Commission for the investigation of the Chêngtu riots. Mr. Read was formerly in Russell's at Canton and is fairly well known in Hongkong. He has been a most energetic Consul during his two years' residence in Tientsin, and is a persona grata alike to the Department and the Minister in Peking.
Choler has vanished with the heat. The Chinese are publishing panic figures as to its awful mortality. These statistics are worthless, but there is ample evidence that the epidemic almost touched plague level.
Give the Devil his due and say one good word for the Hoo braves. When some 600 or 700 riddled soldiers were sent here to be cured and operated on, the men showed almost a horror at entering the French hospital. But a day or two's experience of the Sisters' goodness and skill soon converted them. When cured they were discharged plump, well clad, and with a Government douceur (this is quite true!) The other day they returned with two memorial tablets and with very hearty expressions of gratitude hung them up at the hospital gates."
Hongkong sports will be glad to hear that griffins are both abundant and promising The dealers have recovered confidence that their mobs will not be confiscated by unscrupulous officials under the plausible pretext of the coun- try's necessity. Similarly the enormous stocks of wool warehoused between Kalgan and Ning- sia are being liberated and are now coming forward in bulk. Re horses your readers may be interested to know that Lieutenants Taylor and Buzzard of Hongkong are here. They are go-
mea.
that situates.
1701 Nosnos p
and afforu.
order for the Bros., of Oldham, is
fi
Swa
haf
the following announcemen..
Our Shanghai morni
Kustenfahre Gesellschaft of Ha Dampfachiffs Gesellschaft amalgamated and commencing with nex. all the steamers of the two companies on China coast will be under the agency of Messrs. Siemssen & Co. The steamers of the first named ompany are the Lyemdon, Peiyang, and Nanyang, and of the latter Chuson, Hainan, Swatow, China, and Picciola.
C
The China Gazette says:--We have good rea- son to believe that Li Hung-chang and Sheng Taotai are endeavouring to unload their shares in the Chinese Telegraph Administration upon their innocent fellow countrymen, and that the dodge of paying an extra dividend this year is only to bamboozle the unsuspecting natives, The most profitable part of the entire line, that the war, and seeing what has occurred it is connecting with Russia, is wholly destroyed by questionable whether it will ever be the property of the Chinese Telegraph Administration again,
There are
at present some six or seven of the Canton gunboat squadron laid up in the back reach. They are tied together in pairs, perhaps with a view to economy, so that one caretaker can look after two vessels, or perhaps for mutual protection to prevent the river thieves borrowing one for a cruise or an exploring expedition, or with which to start a new republic. Strange to say, the best vessel of the fleet, the Armstrong alphabetical boat with the forty ton gun, is one of the lot, au imitation of her, of Chinese build, being seemingly considered more worthy of retention for service although built of wood and leaking like a basket, with timbers more or less rotten.
241.
The Viceroy Chang is said to be about to start a military academy in Nanking upon the Tientsin model. There will be a European officer, and his assistants will be ten graduates of the Tientsin Academy and three or four foreign officers. The land for the new academy has been bought and the foundations will be laid in a fortnight. As it is intended to com- mence the school as soon as possible, a number of old Government buildings will be utilised at once for the purpose, more than a hundred candidates having already had their names enrolled on the Academy books.-N. C. Daily News.
COMMERCIAL.
TEA.
CANTON, 24th September.-Macao Congoas.- The fortnight's settlements only amount to 1,400 boxes at Tls. 11/15 per picul, prices ruling in favour of buyers. The only feature to note is the continued remarkable scarcity of leaf of all kinds. Scented Capers.--A quiet business only has been passing, there being no general demand. The fortnight's settlements are reported at 12,000 boxes at Tls. 8/21 pèr picul, making a total of 212,000 boxes, against 180,000 boxes up to the same time last year. Prices shew no change, and the market may be quoted steady. Fine Teas, however, being in good supply, may perhaps be obtainable at a shade lower. For the Total Export for the Season we must reduce our estimate to 5 mils., and it is quite passible that even this moderate figure may not be touched.
SHANGHAI, 20th September.-(From Messre. Welch, Lewis & Co.'s circular).-Black Tea.The market has continued quiet, and common whole- leaf Tea has declined to Taels 11 a picul. A con- siderable portion of the settlements are for ship- went to America,
The following settlements are reported :+ Ningchow 3,633 -chts, at Tls. 14 to 19 aliqul,
Holow Kutoan Telang Ooham Oopack
971 301
"
400
4,070
..1,156
Total 10.534 1-chest Stock.- 246 half
he
pickings. It is
33
13 to 16 16 to
22
to 1225
11
to 16
12 to 14
"1
of the crop with any degree of as well informed natives do not put the probable inorease in Country Teas at less than 30,000 half-chests.
Settlements reported since 6th instant:
4-chits.
a picul. .13,990 at Tls. 18.00 to 29.75
Pingsney Moyune
Tienkai
Fychow Local Packed
12,297
20.00 to 88.00
11,929
16.50 to 45.00
3,342
14.00 to 21.75
3,814
14.50 to 29.75
45,372 .chts.
Total. Total settlements from opening of the market to date :- Pingsuey ...140,512 -chts. against 113,53) j-chts.
48,968
53,252 Moyune
37,847 Tienkai
13,740 Fychow Local P'ked. 16,953
34,994
22
9,879 12,214
Total......238,020 }.chts. Total 223,873 4-chts. Total arrivals to date are:-315,195 half-chests, against. 263,962 half-chests to same date last year.
SILK.
CANTON, 24th September. The fifth crop yield is estimated at 7/8,000 bales of Tsatlees As far as can be judged from and Filatures. arrivals up to date, the quality of the silk is satisfactory. Tastlees---No business is reported
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