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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The reply that the International Conven- tion did not intend to make the use of the
ployment of British capital unless adequate | have been passed on to the British Post protection is guaranteed? The present ruler | Office, as the International Bureau takes of Siam is a tolerably well-intentioned man, cognisance only of communications from the but the government is autocratie and we Governments who are parties to the Con- have no guarantee that CHULALONGKORN'S vention, and the matter is how therefore in successors may not pursue a course which the hands of the Postmaster-General- in will call for the intervention of the Powers London. as inevitably as the course of events in Egypt called for it. Taking the most hopeful view of the matter we can hardly anticipate that the Siamese Government will advance in the principles of civilisation at a sufficiently rapid rate, without considerable pressure, to keep pace with the requirements arising from the commercial and industrial development of the country that will follow the extensive employment of foreign capital. The new agreement may perhaps keep matters quiet for a quarter of a century or so, but sooner or later it seems inevitable that it will lead to bickering between France and England, which will end probably in the partition between the two Powers of so much as then remains of Siam.
THE OFFICIAL VOCABULARY OF TELEGRAPH CODE WORDS.
Official Vocabulary obligatory as regards extra-European countries would afford no satisfaction, because, if we understand the position aright, there would be nothing to prevent the Cable Companies adopting it by a regulation of their own, as they naturally would do, because it would be a great con- venience to them, although a great incon- venience to the public. It is incumbent, therefore, on the Chambers of Commerce in the Far East to support as far as they can the European Chambers in their opposition to the adoption of the Official Vocabulary. The Singapore Chamber communicated its correspondence on the subject to the Shang- hai Chamber, which strongly supported the representations made, and presumably the Hongkong Chamber has done the same, but as the committee of the latter body, very. inadvisedly, maintains a veil oftecrecy over its. The Official Vocabulary of Code Words, proceedings we are left in ignorance of what compiled by the Berne International Tele- it has done or is doing except in so far as graph Office in accordance with the pro-information can occasiorally be gathered visions of the regulations adopted by the from correspondence published by the Paris International Telegraph Convention, Shanghai Chamber. The Singapore Cham- has been received with general condemnaber points out that the Official Vocabulary tion. Its inadequacy and other defects would, in practice, limit the commercial were ably set out in a couple of articles codes of the colony to 214,000 words, which appeared in the Chamber of Commerce whereas some of those already in use Journal last year. The second of these necessitate the application of over 338,000 articles concluded as follows:- "We have words, so that the scope of the Berne said nothing of the communications which Vocabulary would be quite inadequate for have been received from colonial and requirements as found necessary in practice. "other extra-European bodies protesting But the diminished number of words is not against the introduction of the Official the only objection, for in the articles in the Vocabulary. The question as regards Chamber of Commerce Journal to which "extra-European countries is not que of reference has already been made it is shown "immediate concern. The use of the Official that there are a number of words in the
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Official Vocabulary every one of which is the actual telegraphic equivalent of another word or is transmitted by identical signals. A list of these is given, also another list of words every one of which differs from another word by only one signal, cither a dot or a dash, the accidental omission or the transmutation into the other of that one signal turning the word into another word which in a code would bear a different mean- ing. There is a further list of words differing from others by one letter only, while names of common articles, days and months, coins and measures, numbers, places and districts, and firms are introduced, all of which are unsuitable for code purposes. The intro- duction of the code as it stands would there-
Vocabulary is optional for these countries and we may safely assume that no attempt "will be made to impose it upon them until the question is settled in so far as Europe "is concerned and until a fair trial has been given to the official publication through out Europe. We may mention, however, that some influential Continental Chambers "which have approved of the principle of "the Vocabulary for Europe are entirely opposed to its extension for extra-Euro- pean purposes." Unfortunately the danger of the Official Vocabulary being imposed upon extra-European countries, at all events in the Far East, is not so remote as our London contemporary imagines. The deci- sions of the International Telegraph Con- vention, as we understand, are bind-fore be disastrous. ing only upon state lines, but there The general burden of the complaints is nothing to prevent the Cable Con in England is to impress the necessity panies themselves making similar regu- of objecting to any Vocabulary what lations for themselves, and, where there is a monopoly or combination, such regulations would in effect be as binding on the public as if they possessed the force of law. Some months ago the Eastern Extension, Austra lasia, and China Telegraph Co., Limited, intimated that the use of the Official Voca- bulary would probably become obligatory on itsystem shortly after the next International Telegraph Conference, which is to be held this year. A very able rcinonstrance against that course being adopted was addressed by the Singapore Chamber of Commerce to the Interational Telegraph Bureau at Berge, in which the hardship and inconvenience that would be entailed by the compulsory use of the Official Vocabulary were conclusively shown. This representation appears to
ever and of asking for the unconditional withdrawal of the official publication, instead of limiting the representation to seeking the postponement of its application until satisfactory revision. On this point the Chamber of Commerce Journal says:- "The general opinion on the Continent has "been ascertained through the Continentil | 'Chambers of Commerce and it was dis covered early that that opinion was emphatically in favour of the principle of an Official Vocabulary, although the bodies with which communication took place were quite prepared to give their support and to make representations to their respective Governments with the view of securing the postponement of the date of "application and the thorough revision of
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[February 27, 1896.
We consider
"the Vocabulary. "that we cannot, under the circumstances, "ask more than revision with any hope of
co-operation from European Governments, "without whose help this country would be, in all probability, out-voted at the Con- ference of 1896. The unsatisfactoriness of the experiment may, apart from outside criticism, discredit to a considerable extent the idea of the advisability of an Official "Vocabulary. Another point to which the "attention of the Conference should be called is the unfairness of the ten-letter limit for code words, which was fixed by the St. Petersburg Convention of 1874 and has "been in force ever since. Such common English words as 'irresponsible,' etc., are thereby excluded.
The Interna- "tional Conference might not be willing to
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revert to the seven-syllable limit. of the "Rofuc Convention of 1869, but it might at "least extend the limit to eleven letters, which would permit of the use of a great many Spanish words which could be em- ployed to advantage and would make it "casier to find words less liable to be mis- taken for one another on account of their 'similarity. We are probably not far wrong in presuming that the Berne Office themselves, after their unfortunate ex- perience, would be among the first to give "their support to such a proposition." The extension of the letter limit would in itself be a great boon, and we commend the point to the attention of the Chambers of Commerce as one to be urged in connection with the
request for the revision of the Official Vocabulary. When the Vocabulary is adopted for European countries we may take it for granted that it will not be long before its use is made obligatory in the Far East, not by direct resolution of the International Convention, but by the regulations of the Cable Com- panies themselves. It is important to us, therefore, that the Vocabulary should be made as full and as free from defects as
propor-
possible. As this is an international matter we would suggest that the co-operation of the Manila and the Saigon, Hanoi, and Haiphong Chambers of Commerce be invited, for those places are tionately as much interested as Hongkong and the Treaty Ports of China and Japan, and it is possible the representations they might make might have some influence in determining the policy to be pursued by their respective Governments at the ap proaching Convention. The matter is not one that can be settled by England alone.
A RECREATION GROUND IN
DANGER.
The industrial development of Hongkong has not proceeded at the same pace as that of Shanghai, but it is nevertheless making substantial progress. The purchase of land at North Point for oil tanks is the latest step and is suggestive of the transfor mation that may be expected to take place along that charming seaside drive, the Shau- kiwan Road, during the next few years. At East Point we have the China Sugar Refinery, at Quarry Bay the Taikoo Sugar Refinery, now midway between the two we are to have oil tanks, with casing works, and there are besides one or two minor in- dustries in the same neighbourhood. It is in this part of the colony that some of the best sites for manufactories are to be found and it is probable that within a comparatively brief period along the whole stretch of roadway as far as Quarry Bay we will see extensive-re- clamations made to obtain deep water frontage and factories of various descriptions
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