*
THIBET
If our Shanghai morning contemporary is informed, Thibet is shortly to lose ependence.. Up to the present great: northern tributary of the nipire has been practically self
gove
CHINT ÖVERLINE TRADE KEPORTA
MR. LOWDER ON FEMALE VIRTUE,"more to their
IN THE FOREIGN COMMUNITIES.
OF THE FAR EAST. IF A
Mrs.
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Mr. LOWDER, in his speech in defence of CAREW, uttered an atrocious libel on female sex in general, and especially
great deal of
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119
Office
the Gore
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would be monstr "to claim 8 - monopoly "for people that they can do mu
themselves. But that is
and the Hongkong *** assisting in the work and report speaks truly, to share in der, its anticipations running as hig as a hundred thousand dollars per ann The question whether the Post Office thould be made a source of revenue may be debat able, but if a revenue be derived it is tat least to be expected that an efficient service should be provided. But under the Chineso postal scheme the service is worse than was and rates have been increased.
QUINJEKTOSI OLA JANET
LIGHT DUES. A
now being agitated, the fact may be recalled. In connection with the subject of light dues
that at a meeting of the Legislative Council B. JOHNSON moved that " In the opinion of held on the 5th March, 1884, the Hon. F.
"this Council the light dues levied on "
shipping in any one year should not exceed “in amount the estimated expenses of main- The following amendment was moved
taining the lighthouses during the year." behalf of the Government, namely,... Thị
ing with a Chinese Resident to watch he ladies of the foreign communities the Chinese Government i Imperial interests The Resident has
Far Fast. Having imputed levity to been either a Manchu or Mongolian the whole sex he went on to say that "if of runk, who has troubled himself little about "Mrs. CAREW allowed, herself to give to the internal administration, simply content "Mr. DICKINSON a greater degree of en- himself with looking after the external "couragement than was strictly prudent she relations of the country of the Dalai Lama." did no more than hundreds of women have It is now proposed to alter this in a great "done before her; are doing at this very measure by appointing a Governor, Trea- day, and continuing to do from day to surer, Judge, Taotais, and other officials,
day; and will do and continue to do, i
in who will take in hand the administration of "spite of what moralists may preach to the local affairs and convert the State contrary, But are they to be thought into a province of China, just as was "capable, on that account, of the atrocity done by the provinces of Manchuria
charged against the prisoner? If so, it is and more recently in Chinese Turkes-
a fortunate thing that the number of hus- tan, since the retrocession of Kúldja by "bands living in the East who are in the Russia. Thibet has an army on paper of "habit of dosing themselves with arsenic, some 60,000 men, and some of these doughty "or other poisons, is comparatively small.” warriore who, it will be remembered, ad- The implication is that large numbers of vanced into Sikkim a few years ago to repel European ladies in the Far East are disloyal the supposed British advance, and had to to their husbands and engaged in dishonour- be taught a lesson may perhaps rebel able intrigues with other men.
This very against the proposed arrangement. There gratuitous aspersion is wholly unwarranted * would, however, be little chance of success by anything in the general tone of local ful resistance by the lamas (for the soldiers society. As Mr. WILKINSON put it in are merely fighting priests) since they are his reply while the standard of pro wholly without discipline, and, what is even priety among us foreigners in the East worse, are armed with obsolete weapons, "differs in no degree from that to which which would be useless against the rifles" we have been trained in our youth at furnished to Chinese Imperial troops, which if not always supplied proper cartridges are at least modern weapons Moreover, the Thibetans will doubtless be told, what is said to be, the fact, that the change of Government is necessary to protect the country against British aggression. If this were true, it would be a ridiculous reason, about equiva- lent to the action of the ostrich in thrusting his head into the sand to hide himself from the hunter, and could not avert the an- ticipated disaster. But, as a matter of fact, Great Britain does not desire more territory, and has already declined to assume some new and apparently profitable responsibili- ties. She is not likely therefore to covet the bleak highlands and plateaux of Thi- bet, which would certainly not pay the cost of administration, merely for the sake of widening the boundaries of her Indian Empire The Indian Government are naturally anxious to promote trade with Thibet as with other surrounding countries, but they have
con- this templated the idea of bringing remote country into the list of their tributaries. On the contrary, they have even continued to permit the yearly tribute
never
CC
home we have become accustomed to so 富感 with
much greater freedom of social intercourse "here that much that would suggest im "propriety at home passes here without " bringing any such suggestion." Even this seems to us to go too, far, for we fail to see even a suggestion, of sexual impropriety in the usual. forms of social intercourse in the Far East. Every community naturally develops social customs of its own, but variety in that respect does not necessarily. imply a variation in the standard of morality or, in so far as it may do so, we would contend that the standard is the highest in those communities where the greatest liberty is allowed to women. No doubt a certain amount of what Mr. LoWDER terms sexual obliquity is to be found in all societies and in all ranks and stations, but the ladies of the foreign communities of the Far East are certainly not as a class characterised by any special obliqueness. In uttering such a libel it seems to us that Mr. LowDER exceeded even the latitude that may be properly claimed by counsel pleading for the life of his client.
ing missions to proceed from Nepaul Peking, although that country is regarded as vassal state to the British Raj. Presumably the attempts made by British xplorers from time to time to reach Lhassa, and opence up this last of the Hermit Kingdoms to trade and civilization, have feed the most erroneous belief that on is coveted by Great Britain. Ministers are apparently too credit us with anything but celish considerations, and disclaimers are
ong persons who always think the
at the Tourane coal committed suicide nga dynamite edless to say death were not“ many
Carpentier had shown signs
derangeme
THE CHINESE POSTAL SERVICE.
?
"this matter be referred to the Finance « correspondence may be considered and "Committee in order that the whole of the
"looked into 'carefully. This amendment was accepted by Mr. JOHNSON and carried nem, con. If the Finance Committee ever reported on the subject the production of useful. We have ourselves been unable to the report at the present juncture would be trace any such report, however, and are of opinion that the matter was pigeon-holed and lost sight of, but a search of the Govern- The present Colonial Secretary, was at that ment archives would set this point at rest. time Acting Clerk of Councils and may have some recollection of the subject.
THE PHILIPPINE REBELLION
Senor Navarro, the Spanish Consul, court sously informs us that he has received the following telegram:
the
Manila, 14th February. His Excellency the Governor-General Philippines leaves to-day to personally assume command, as General-in-Chief, of the military operations in the province of Cavite, app
HONGKONG SANITARY BOARD.
A meeting of the Sanitary Board was held at the offices on t
the 11th inst. Hon F4A. Cooper (Director of Public Worki) presided, and there were also present Hon. F. H&M (Colonial Surgeon), Dr. Clark2 (Médical Offe (Captain Superintendent of Police), Dr. A of Health), Mr. N. J. Ede, and Mr. H. McCa (Secretary) de usage
MINUTES
It does not seem likely from present ap- pearances that Sir ROBERT HART will earn for himself the reputation of a Chinese ROWLAND HILL by his institution of an Imperial Postal Fervice. Instead of giving The minutes of the previous-me increased facilities at reduced rates the effect read and confirmed.
PLAGU AT BOMBAY of the new system is in the contrary direc tion, the new service being more unsatis- the 6th to the 19th January 1,058 A státément from Bombay showed t factory than that formerly supplied by the pri- bubonic plague had bocurred in Bomboy vate postal agencies while the rates charged resulting in 807 deaths. ** are higher. Its chief purpose, indeed, seems to be that of raising revenue. The system is in its infancy as yet and what it mays de- velop into remains to be seen, but it would menced with reform instead of retrogression. have been more encouraging if it had com- In the Hongkong Legislative Council some years ago the late Hop A LISTER, then Postmaster General, made the following remarks:-"The Chinese can collect their ing qua -" letters more to their liking, forward them | against vessels arriving
BARS MORTALITY STA
The mortalit
of 16 per 1,000 6th inst., against 17. ing week of last and as compared with 81:10 for
TAS Go
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