THE QUEEN'S REIGN.
THE HONKGONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
that might take place to the southward and also as a place on which our fleet could fall back in the event of the fortune of war going against us at the beginning and Hongkong falling into the hands of the enemy; but Hongkong is in finitely the more important place from a naval point of view and a dock here would be many times more useful than one at Singapore.
[September 24, 1896.
reference to On the other objection is i there is no real the matter at all that if war did unfo Government would ver docks into their own ternative they could insist eigners leaving the Board when the occasion arose. However this may be, the
the Like the
(23rd September.) Her Majesty Queen VICTORIA has now reigned longer than any previous British Sovereign. She ascended the throne on the 20th June, 1837, and yesterday her reign equalled in length that of GEORGE III., namely, fifty-nine years and ninety-seven days, allowing for the fact that the Queen has counted fifteen leap years, while in the reign of George III. the 29th February was only counted thirteen times. Some desire | Hongkong having been recognised as neces- tical point for the shareholders to consider
.
Additional docking accommodation in
is that an objection 18 entertained, in ta quarter from which valuable business may be expected, and that unless the objection is removed the business may possibly be otherwise provided for.
was expressed in England to celebrate the sary it is unfortunate that the project should occasion by national rejoicings, but it was
have broken down on a question of terms Her Majesty's wish that no celebration of between the Admiralty and the Dock Com- the kind should take place until she had pany. It is still possible that the accom- completed the full term of sixty years, which modation may be provided by the Admiralty
A very easy way out of the difficulty will be in June next. The day is one, how-constructing a dock of its own; indeed the
itself without depriving the ever, on which congratulations may appro- Admiralty will have to take that course presents priately be tendered to Her Majesty, to-
sooner or later if an agreement cannot Company of the services of the Ger be arrived at, but it would involve man members of the Board of Direc gether with sincere wishes that Her
considerable extra expense to the na- tion or hurting any one's feelings. Under already long reign may continue for many tion both for original cost and annual existing arrangements the members of the years to come. The reign of Queen VICTO-
upkeep, the work could not be more Board succeed to the office of Chairman in RIA has been not only the longest in our satisfactorily done than by the Dock annual rotation, not by election, and the office national history, but also the most glorious. In the extension of the Empire, the deve- Company,, and the Company if it lost the therefore carries with it no special -honour men-of-war would lose a valuable branch of nor any token that the holder for the time lopment of trade and commerce, the progress its business. From every point of view, being possesses the confidence of the share- achieved in science and art (with the possible therefore, it is desirable that an agreement holders in any greater degree than his fel- exception of literature), and the improve- should be arrived at if possible and that if lows. Consequently it would be no great not of ment of the material well being of the people, the present reign will stand out in the Company has made a mistake by asking self-denial for the directors to surrender their history above all previous ones. Her
too much before it should reopen negotia- claim to succeed to the chair and make way Majesty's personal influence in Her exalted tions by making another offer. Perhaps for a Managing Director who should also be position has been exercised always for good has refused a good bargain; on the other pany.
the directors might say that the Admiralty the permanent Chairman of the Com- and she possesses the affections of Her
hand people who ought to know something subjects to a degree that few sovereigns about the subject say the terms demanded have equalled and none could exceed. With British subjects the prayer
"God
by the Company were unreasonable, quite impossible in fact. The shareholders have save the Queen" is no idle form.
not been taken into the directors' confidence in the matter, and therefore cannot satisfy themselves by reference to any authentic statement of the case, for none is available; but we believe there is some feeling that matters should not be allowed to rest exactly where they are,
THE DOCK COMPANY AND THE ·
ADMIRALTY DOCK.
At the recent meeting of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company it was stated that the negotiations with the Government It is reported that over and above the for the construction of a new dock at Kow- purely financial questions between the Board loon had been broken off, the Company's and the Admiralty there was another consi- proposals having been declined by the deration which, though it may not have been Admiralty. Various reports are in circula- openly avowed, weighed somewhat with the tion as to the rock on which the negotiations Admiralty, and that is that the Company split. Another dock is undoubtedly required, is not under purely British control. Mr. both for naval reasons and for the Com- A. P. MACEWEN stated some little time ago pany's own business, and under these that a British Admiral had spoken to him circumstances it would seem that there about having to communicate with the ought not to have been much difficulty in Chairman of the Dock Company, finding arriving at an agreement that would have that he was not a British subject, and feel- been mutually advantageous. An attempting dissatisfied with such a position of affairs. is now being made to work up an agitation in favour of the construction of an Admiralty dock at Singapore. That it might be a very good thing to have such a dock there we have no wish to dispute, but it certainly could not take the place of a dock in Hong kong. If Great Britain is ever involved in a great naval war the scene of
the conflict in the Far East will lie to
the north of Hougkong, not to the south, and the docking accommodation should be as near as possible to the point at which it is required. To have to send ships to Singa- pore to be docked while hostilities were in progress would be a disastrous waste of time and power, and under certain circumstances it might be impossible to send them at all. If Chusan were a British colony, as it ought to be, it might be contended that it would be desirable to provide docking accommo- dation there rather than to increase the existing accommodation at Hongkong, but Chusan not being available Hongkong is the port which our navy must look upon as their repairing centre and coaling station in the event of war. Singapore would be useful in support of any minor operations
This is a semi-political question which we may discuss without fear of wounding the susceptibilities of our fellow colonists of German nationality, because they are men of business and common sense, and they know very well that if the German Government wished to establish a naval dock in a German colony and thought the best means of doing so was by agreement with a public company the idea of an Englishman or any other foreigner being the Chairman of the com- pany, and therefore the channel of com- munication with the German Government, would not be entertained for a moment. In the same way the British Naval authorities have, if not an insuperable objection, at least a disinclination, to conduct their business in an English colony through a foreigner. It is urged that the proposed new dock is re- quired in view of warlike contingencies and that in such contingencies incon- venience and even danger might arise from the fact of the Chairman of the Company not being a British subject. In a minor degree the same objection would lie against having foreigners on the Board at all, but the chief objection is with
Many great enterprises at home are run on those lines, and in almost all of them, whether the gentleman at the head of affairs be called Chairman or Managing Director, the office is in practice a permanent one, though the form of annual election may have to be gone through. Suc- cession to the chair by rotation is open to objection on its merits as a general principle, and in the case of our local Dock Company is open to special objection. The Company owes its success almost entirely to Mr. DAVID GILLIES, the Chief Manager, and if he were appointed Managing Director and Chairman it would not only afford satisfaction to the general body of share- holders but would also meet the objections said to be entertained by the Admiralty to the present government of the Company.
much
RESTRICTION OF CHINESE IM-
MIGRATION IN CANADA,
The progress of LI HUNG-CHANG through America has not been quite such a record of adulation and feting as was the case in Europe. No doubt there was some desire for contracts among manufacturers in the United States, but there is no organization in the Great Republic through which a semi-barbarous Eastern magnate can be fêted and fussed. In New York alone does there appear to have been anything like an effort made to do the veteran mandarin special honour, and there, we are informed by Reuter, he was accorded a grand reception.
That was on the 20th ult and on the 7th inst. it was announced that His Excellency had arrived at Toronto en route for Vancouver. On the 10th idear it is telegraphed that Li HỤNG CHANG has made anxious inquiries about the mooted proposal to increase the pll taxo on Chinese in Canada from $50 to $500 The Chinese Government have always pro- fessed to be strongly averse to emigration from China to foreign countries, and there is still an unrepealed law on the book prohibiting emigration... of fact this law has been a dead least four decades, and was prob strictly enforced. But it served the
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