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THE SEOUL-CHEMULPO RAILROAD.
The building of a railroad between Seoul and Chemulpo, says the Independent (Seoul), deserves more than passing notice. As we stated a few days ago, the contract has been definitely made and it is expected that the surveys will begin sometime during the coming summer. According to the terms of the contract the Government cedes to the company the land forming the route between the two points; the company builds and equips the road and has complete control for fifteen years. At that time the Government bas the option of buying the road from the company at a price to be agreed upon at that time by one representative from the Government and one from the company. If they cannot agree upon a price it shall be referred to an umpire chosen by them. If at that time the Government does not wish to buy, the road shall remain in the company's hands during a further period of ten years, when the Govern- ment shall again have the option of buying. At the expiration of each ten years the Gov- ernment has the option of buying.
These terms appear to us to be extremely advantageous for both parties. Here we have a place where a railroad is a necessity. It is no speculation. With two such termini, one the
capital of the country containing some 300,000 people, and the other the most flourishing port in the country and one whose importance is daily growing, we can readily believe that the
element of chance is well-nigh eliminated from the problem.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
C
BRITISH INVESTORS AND
JAPANESE SECURITIES.
There is no doubt that the Fiji Shinpo is correct when it alleges that considerable sums have been invested by British subjects in Japan- ese securities. It is not easy to find elsewhere an absolutely safe investment paying interest at the rate of five per cent., and did not the silver question stand in the way, many capitalists of Europe and America would become purchasers of Japanese public loan bonds. But however high the rate of interest may be, every one for tunate enough to have money in the Occident must hesitate to convert it into a metal bearing no fixed ratio to the gold unit. Of course that obstacle does not embarrass banking institutious or residents in the East, whose capital has already been converted into silver, and our Tokyo contemporary says that Japanese se- curities are largely held by British subjects in the Far East and in India. There has naturally been a desire on the part of the Japanese Govern- ment to discover the aggregate amount of the securities thus held, and investigations have been made by the Specie Bank as well as the Bank of Japan with that object. But since the bonds do not necessarily carry the name of their holders, there is at present no way of forming an accurate estimate. Since, however, arrange- ments are now in progress for paying the in- terest on bonds, not in Japan alone, but also in Shanghai, Singapore, Hongkong, and London, it is expected that means of information will soon be forthcoming.-Japan Mail.
PRINCE HENRI OF ORLEANS
THE OPENING OF THE
WIST RIV_R. ·
ON
Prince Henri of Orleans has been inter- viewed by a French paper with reference to the West River. We give below a translation of what he said
On the other hand, however, advantageous as may seem the contract for the company, there are other large considerations that may not be overlooked. The benefits that acerue to the people will more than counterbalance the seem- ing partiality. In the first place the work is to be done so far as possible by Korean work- men. Thousands of them will be employed. Not only in the work of construction, but after it is finished, Koreans will be largely employed in less responsible positions in connection with the road. In the next place the value of real estate all along the line will be greatly enhanced, and at the termini the rise in value will be very great. The Government should recoup itself for the expense of getting the site for a road-bed for the company by buying further in the vicinity of the termini and profiting by the rise in value. Then, again, the Government will save largely in cost of transporting revenue rice from Chemulpo to the capital and in trans-by cur Tonkin colony in consequence of the portation of troops.
One of the advantages of the present arrange- ment is that the road will be in the hands of people belonging to a power which under no conceivable circumstances could be suspected of ulterior motives of a political nature.
The road will always be worked in the interests of the Korean people.
We presume that the agreement stipulates that the road shall never be allowed to pass into the hands of any other company, syndicate, or power, but shall be controlled permanently by the present contracting syndicate until the Government wishes to purchase. This is implied in the stipulation that at the end of each ten years the Government shall have the option of buying. On the whole this is the most satisfactory con- tract of a similar character the Government ever made with a foreign firm. We congratu- late the Government, the company, and those who acted as instruments for the fair and impartial manner in which this contract was made.
TUGS ON THE POYANG LAKE. As was to be expected, the project of placing tug-boats on the Poyang Lake is meeting with strenuous opposition on the part of the boatpeople of the district. Their petitions against the tugs have been sent to the Governor of Kiangai, and they are furthermore unani. mously determined to boycott the tags should they commence to ply, and it remains to be seen whether the company and the gentry in terested will have sufficient pluck and influence to carry on and live down this prejudice against steam. The plaint of the boatpeople that the tugs will deprive them of their livelihood is as shortsighted as, and holds no more water than, that of the coach-drivers in England in olden days against railways.-Mer ury.
The fact of the opening of the Si-Kiang to international arbitration is in the natural order of things and ought to have been expected by us. As European civilisation penetrates amongst the upper classes it will inevitably happen that China will open, perhaps in the near future, and progressively, her interior provinces, as yet almost unknown, to the civilisa- tion and the trade of Europe. However, I believe that the fears which have been expressed
statement made by the English President of the Board of Trade are rather exaggerated. The Si-kiang is not, as it has been called, the great fluvial artery of Yunnan, which it does not traverse throughout its whole extent. Moreover, the river is far from being navig- Its course may able for its whole length. by divided into three parts as regards naviga- bility. The first, which is by far the shortest, is accessible to vessels of a moderate tonnage; the second cannot carry anything more than large Chinese junks; and in the third the shallowness of the water makes navigation im- possible to all but small junks, and even these have to stop far short of the source of the stream. Consequently it is impossible by the Si-kiang to reach Upper Yunnan, which is the richest and most populous part of the province.
On the other hand the railway for which France has obtained the concession will run from Tonkin right into the heart of Yunnan, to a point far beyond that at which the naviga. bility of the Si-kiang ceases. It will then not be difficult for us to turn to our profit the trade of this region, more especially as the transport of goods by rail can be effected at rates far more favourable than those for transport by water, which necessitates numerous transhipments, thus augmenting the cost. Transport will also be made more quickly by rail and with greater security.
Besides, there is nothing to prevent us, equally with England, profiting by the river trade, whereas English trade, if it wishes to use our railway, will be tributary to Toukin. In fine, for the reasons stated, I think we are wrong in alarming ourselves inordinately as to the con- sequences on the Tonkin trade of the free navi. gation of the Si-kiang. It would obviously have been preferable if China had delayed this concession to European civilisation until our railway into Yunnan had been running, but, I repeat, it was bound to come sooner or later.
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HONGKONG.
[May 13, 1896.
The total number of plague cases for the year now reaches 790 The disease has happily shown no signs of increasing, the daily average for the last week being about ten. The Sani- tary Board met on the 7th and a portion of British Kowloon, where a few cases have"óc- curred, was declared an infected area. The sentence on the German officers who were caught on Stonecutters' Island and sent to gol for three months was reduced to a fine of $100 by the Magistrate on Thursday las. On Friday Mr. Granville Sharp delivered a lecture on “Imperialism and the British Empire,” and on Saturday the first of the gymkhana meetings of the season was held at the Happy Valley and proved a great success. There was another in- cendiary fire on Saturday night. On Monday the Acting Chief Justice sent a fraudulent bank- rupt to gaol for three months with hard labour.
There were 2,111 visitors to the City Hall Museum last week, of whom 178 were Europeans. A regulation is published in the Gazette prohibiting the catching of butterflies in the cemetery.
The maximum temperature during April was 82.2, on the 14th, and the minimum 58.5, on the
2nd. The rainfall amounted to 2.1 inches.
The stamp revenue last month amounted to $18,766, being an increase of $311 on the amount collected in the same month of 1895.
An Order in Council is published in the Gazette with reference to the measurement of German ships; also an Order in Council with respect to ships' lights.
It is notified in the Gazette that Mr. Felipe S. Mesa has been provisionally recognised as Consul-General for Peru-in this colony pending the arrival of the Queen's exequatur.
The two masters of the rice shop at 48, Praya West, who were arrested on a charge of arson, were committed for trial on Thursday afternoon by Commander W. C. H. Hastings.
On the afternoon of the 6th May Mr. G. P. Lammert sold the Danish steamer Activ by The Activ is at pre- anction at his sales rooms. sent lying on Sad Point, about thirty miles west of Hoihow, Hainan, and she was sold with all her machinery, three steam winches, and one capstan. The bidding started at $500 and the highest bid was $1,500, at which price the vessel went to Mr. A. R. Marty.
A by-law made made under the Cattle Dis- eases, Slaughter-houses, and Markets Ordinances is published in the Gazette, in substitution for the previous one, referring to_the_wharves at which cattle may be landed. To the enumera- tion of the wharves the following is added —-
Or at any other wharf which shall have received the previous approval in writing of the Sanitary Board for that purpose."
On Monday afternoon Mr. J. L. Prosser, Government Surveyor, sold by auction a piece of Crown land situate in Kennedy Road on the east side of Union Church. The land contains 18,120 square feet, the annual rent is $132, and the upset price was 82.718. Captain Bathurst was the only bidder and the lot was knocked down to him for $2,738. A special condition of the sale was that only European dwellings can be
erected on the site.
There were 14 cases of plague on the 6th May, 8 on the 7th, 11 on the 8th 8 on the 9th, 12 on the 10th, and 10 on the 11th. A report is in circulation that a resident, finding himself deserted by all his servants; went into their quarters to see if he could dis- cover anything throwing light upon the cansé of their disappearance, and he there found the body of the cook's wife, death having taken place from plague three days previously. It would be well if householders made an occasional inspection of their servants' quarters.
At the Harbour Master's office on the 8th May four seamen named O. Neilsen, R. F. O'Kelly, Ó. Eriksen, and E. Heidenrich, of the British ship Formosa, were charged with continuous dis- obedience of orders. The prisoners are the
men
who complained to the Magistrate on Thursday that the master refused to give them advances in order to buy clothes and for this reason they would not work. It turned 'out yesterday that advances had been made, but the prisoners were not satisfied. They were each sent to gaol for seven days with hard labour. Mr. H. L. Dennys prosecuted.
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