February 19, 1896.]
HONGKONG,
The week has been remarkable for the
heavy rains which have fallen, but notwith- standing the wet weather the Chinese New Year was hailed with as many deafening crackers as ever. On Thursday there was a general holiday, and in consequence of the noisy celebrations, a sleepless night for most Europeans. The Sanitary Board met on Fri- day, and on Saturday the half yearly meeting of shareholders in the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was held. In the evening Signorina Belinfante gave a concert in aid of the Edgar Relief Fund. On Monday three Russian officers were convicted of trespassing in the field works of the Dock forts and being in possession of sketching material. 'The annual meeting of shareholders in the Hong. kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godoru Company. Limited. was held, and in the evening the Masonic Ball was held at the City Hall.
There were 2,07 visitors to the City Hall Museum last week, of whom 124 were Europeaus. The Austrian cruiser Aurora, which recently left for Europe, will be replaced on the Far East station by the Saida, which is dne next month.
The steamer King Sang, Captain Hay, the latest addition to the fleet of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Co., arrived here from Aber- deen on the lûth February.
At the Police Court on the 13th February the compradore of a shop in Jubilee Street was fined $25 for selling intoxicating liquors with out a licence. A quantity of beer, stout, and spirits seized at the shop by Detective Ser- geant McIver was ordered to be confiscated.
The Hon. Treasurer of the Edgar Relief Fund begs to acknowledge with thanks the following donation:--
U. S. Lodge No. 1341 ș. Brought forward
Total up to date
$ 50
1,067
$1,117
A conversazione was held in the Union Church on Friday evening in connection with the Hongkong Christian Endeavour Society. The church, which had been tastefully de- corated, was well filled, notwithstanding the wet weather, and a most enjoyable evening was spent. A very good programme had been arranged, and each of the miscellaneous con- tributions was most warmly appreciated. while the short addresses were very appropriate to the occasion.
так
A smoking concert was given on Friday night at the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders of Hongkong. The room packed by members and friends, and the even- ing's entertainment was thoroughly enjoyable, the programme being not only lengthy but, what is of more importance, exceptionally high class, and from start to finish the enthusiasm of the audience was unbounded. Dr. Meadows sang four songs in fine style, and he created such a furore that keen dis- appointment was expressed when the Chairman, Mr. G. Fenwick, announced that Dr. Meadows could not respond to another encore as he was obliged to leave early. The other contributions, sentimental and comic, created a most favourable impression, and everyone was sorry when the enemy Time demanded the winding up of the concert with "Auld Lang Syne" and a hearty
vote of thanks to the Chairman.
The Taikoo Sugar Refinery employées gave a most enjoyable and successful entertainment on the 12th February. There was a large assembly. Dancing commenced at 9 p.m., and was kept up with undiminished energy till well into the small hours. The dances were judi- ciously interspersed with songs, which were ex- ceedingly well rendered by the following gentle. men-Messrs. J. Shelton, Budge, Currie, Hamilton, Kirkpatrick, and C. T. Robinson, the singing of the latter being irresistibly comic. An agreeable feature of the entr[r ment was a cornet solo by Mr. Budg, lost chord," for which he was most deservedly encored, when he gave The song which reached my heart." Mr. Budge was most ably accompanied by Mr. Tyndale Lee, who also accompanied the songs throughout the evening most admirably. The dance music was excep. tionably well played by Messrs. Farr and White, piano and violin.
zx
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
PEKING AND TIENTSIN.
The river keeps quite open at Takn and the Bar, and opposite The Farm the river has not yet frozen over this season.
1
155
left Huaian by boat for Kiangyin, where his official residence is, to spend the Chinese holi- days.
Some time ago your correspondent visited the city of Funing, 50 miles east of Huaian, in esting himself on behalf of the promoters of a the Grand Canal and the sea.
It is reported that Mr. von Braudt is inter- the much-neglected region of Kiangsu between A new magis- proposed German store to be started at Peking. trate had just arrived, but was waiting several At the opening of the river a Belgian Consul days to take over the seals of office until a is to be appointed to Tientsin. It is reported lucky day" should come, much to the disgust recently an engineer in the employ of the Vice-The news has lately come, that after a little that the gentleman to occupy the post was of the old magistrate who was anxious to leave. roy Chang Tsi-tung.
more than one month's tenure of office, the Peking. All the Russians and French have his post. The Chinese are joking about the There is a split in the Foreign Club at magistrate has been degraded, and retired from resigned. This step has no political significance.value of "lucky days" and about how much The reason is said to be that the members bad trouble the good man was at to secure one to the bad taste not to elect any of them as office enter on his brief career of honour.
|
bearers.
We are informed that Monsieur le Conte du ment as Consul General at Shanghai on the Chaylard leaves Tientsin to take up his appoint-
Peking Legation, will take the position of opening of the river
Monsieur Ledue, of the French Consul at Tientsin.
The merchants here complain of dull business, and of the rapid fluctuation in the value of the dollar went down rapidly from 950 cash to 860, Mexican dollar. Within the last month the.
again below 900 cash. A good many shops for then rose again to 920, and now has gone down
several days would not take the dollar at all. We hear that foreigners are occasionally One who has his little worldly all in Mexicans waylaid outside the settlement at night by Chi-feels like asking the question which the embar- nese footpads with a view to robbery. This is rassed member of the Honse asked in the middle dicates a need for some sort of police protection that bloated capitalist, the missionary,—whose surely a new departure for Tientsin, and in- of his speech, Where am I at?" Indeed for those living outside of Municipal limits.
life in the opinion of sone imaginative writers is but a synonym for opulence and luxury-will find it very hard to make both ends meet, if the festive Mexican continues to coquette with the Daily News correspondent. cash market as it has been doing lately.-N. C.
cession.
On the 14th January a daring attempt was Oil Company of New York in the extra con- made to break into the godown of the Standard
taken advantage of the snowstorm to start cut- It appears that the miscreants had ting a hole through the brick wall. There were, it appears, some nine or ten men engaged in watchmen, the others making good their escape the business, two only being caught by the
over the high wall.—Peking and Tientsin Times.
|
TSINGKIANGPU.
1st February.
For the past month the regular examinations for the B.A. (Si'utsai) degree, both literary and military, have been held at Huaianfu, ten miles below this city on the Grand Canal, and both this city and Huaian have been full of eager candidates for honours. It is estimated that there were 6,000 to 7,000 competitors for the literary degree from the six heien in this pre- fecture, and about 5,000 military candidates, making with their attendants and friends a crowd of 25,000 or more visitors. Of course this means a harvest for the shopkeepers. The examinations were not without the usual exciting incidents belonging to such events. There was the same old story re- peated of attempted frauds, of incompetent uspirants hiring clever knaves to enter the lists and write their essays for them. At least one such case occurred. Another case was that of a greedy licentiate coming to grief in trying to blackmail, or rather squeeze, some under- graduates. According to law the scholars are divided into laoyiu and siaoyiu, graduates and undergraduates. The graduates, beside being required to stand examination to show that they are keeping up their studies and are still worthy of their degrees, also act as sponsors for undergraduates who must be identified and guaranteed by some graduate of standing. A ling sun from this city had agreed to guarantee several young men from this hsien, but at the last moment he demanded a high price for his services-300 strings of cash. The students being unable to raise the money were in danger of losing their chance of graduation. So they invited the laoyiu to a tes-shop to discuss the matter over a fragrant bowl-to chiangli. In a twinkling twenty or more brawny country youths had grappled the greedy offender, his fur coat and robe were torn in shreds, his cap with the button was gone, and minus even shoes and sock, she made his way to the prefect's yamên to complain of the treatment he had received. The "loss of face from his blackened eyes and scratches and his tata red toggery was simply awful! The prefect;ing doubtless that he had been sufficienty punished already, missed him with a caution, and refused to allow his as- sailants to stand their examinations as a warning to the other students. Yesterday, the list being up, and his work all done, the Literary Chancellor
THE RUSSO-CHINESE BANK.
!
The St. Petersburg correspondent of The Times, telegraphing on 16th January, states:- Before the end of the present week the first general meeting will be held here of the new Russo-Chinese Bank. Although a Russo-Chi- nese bank, it is French capital again that pre- dominates. I am informed on good authority that no less than five-eighths of the. foundation capital of 6,000.000 roubles in gold, or about a million sterling, has been taken up by the French bankers in Paris, and ouly three-eighths of it by the Russian banks in St. Petersburg. It is the same Franco-Russian syndicate that effected the issue of the recent Chinese loan guaranteed by the Russian Government at a net profit on the transaction of f.13,000,000.
One of the features of the concern that 'attracts general notice for various reasons, is the selection of Prince Esper Outhtomsky, one of the founders, as president of the administration. Prince Oukhtomsky, to whose hostile writings on English policy in the East I have often had occasion to refer, appears at the opening of the Russian New Year in the new and double capacity of a bank president for the direction of extensive financial and commercial operations in China, and publisher and editor of a news- paper which begins a new lease of life under its old title of the St. Petersburg Viedomosti. In its first leader of the New Year Prince Oukht- omsky declares that he is at the head of a group of Russians who preserve unfaltering faith in Russia's universal historical mission, which, according to them, is "to hold up Russia as an example to all the world of a Christian State where Christ's teachings of truth and love are not only outwardly professed, but inwardly practised and realised."
MR. CURZON ON THE FAR EAST,
The Hon. G. N. Curzon, Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Sir Henry Fowler were the principal guests on 15th January at the annual banquet of the Wolverhampton Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Curzon, referring to the present crisis, said that during the anxions time with which the Government and the Foreign Office in particular were confronted it was a most cheering consolation to know that they had bound them the support and confidence of a loyal. and united people. It was to the mercantile argosies rather than to the celads of the world that he looked for the future peace of the world. In the course of his remarks he said :—
}
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.