136
TE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
tuguese capitalists prefer to invest their money in Hongkong, either on deposit with the Banks or in shares paying good dividends, rather than embark it in undertakings in this colony, where there is such uncertainty as to the burdens the Government may impose upon it. The propor tion of our income that in one shape or another we are compelled to pay to the Government is out of all reason. If a person lends money to another he has to pay a tax of five per cent. on the interest he receives. Wherever money passes taxes are imposed. The Leal Senado also imposes taxes without end, and everything under its charge seems to go from bad to worse.
CANTON NOTES.
FROM THE CHUNG NGÒI BẠN PO.” It is reported that the sickness of His Ex. cellency the Governor has speedily disappeared- All the officers, civil and military, of all grades of rank, visited His Excellency on the 29th ultimo to make enquiries.
A sad collision between two junks, one of which was being towed by a steam launch, occurred on the 29th ultimo at Kiangman. Owing to a strong current, the navigation was very difficult. A junk named Wo heong was just leaving the port for Chat-hum, when a junk coming in from Hongkong, and towed by a steam-launch, bumped up against her, causing serious damage. Two passengers be- longing to the Wo Cheong were instantly killed and eleven were severely injured. The families of the deceased are now asking the Hongkong junk for two thousand dollars as compensation, but no final decision has been arrived at.
On the 31st ultimo the Viceroy sent a civil and a military officer with three hundred soldiers to stop a fight which had broken out in a village in San-oi district. The fight is reported to have been very serious and great slaughter has taken place.
The fight which, as already reported, broke out between the Ta-tong and San-chnen villages, has not come to an end. On the 3rd instant two peasants belonging to the San-chuen village were killed by the villagers of Ta-tong while they were gathering flowers in a field. When this news became known, fire was again opened between the two villages. The Magistrate of Pun-u has asked the Sansz of the two villages to come to him to devise plans to put an end to the fight.
A gang of about one hundred robbers made an attack on a silk shop named Han-hing, in Sa-tau, on the 31st ultimo. As the place was strongly fortified and had a large police force, the robbers were unable to gain an entrance into the shop. The encounter lasted about an hour, but at last their powder and ammunition became exhausted and the robbers were forced to retreat. One of the robbers, who was seriously wounded and unable to run away, was captured. It was discovered that the captive was a very notorious robber and for his arrest a heavy reward had been offered by the Government.
HONGKONG.
The gambling scandal continues to be the chief subject of conversation, which now chiefly turns on what will be the result of the des- patches which are being sent by this week's mail to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. No more suspensions or arrests have taken place during the week and the public are wondering what the next sensational event will be.
The Hon. Treasurer of the Alice Memorial and Nethersole Hospitals begs to acknowledge with thanks the following donation to the funds of the Hospitals -Der A Wing, $3.
A gambling house at 44, Stanton Street was raided by P. S. Gillies on 5th August, the master and nine men being arrested. The master was fined $50 and the remainder $5 each. At 5 p.m. on 3rd August, a fire broke out in a cracker shop at Samshuipo, five houses being destroyed. None of the inmates were hurt, but Fireman McSwayd sustained slight injuries while climbing over a bamboo fence.
The body of an able seaman named Frank Beckett was found under the ferry wharf at Kowloon on 6th August by a man named Charles Evans, an armourer of H.M.S. Wivern. The deceased had been missing since Wednes day night.
There were 1,384 visitors to the City Hall Museum last week, of whom 116 were Europeans. The Museum was closed for repairs on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,
The annual encampment of the Hongkong Volunteer Corps at Stonecutter's Island wil commence about October 9th and every member is requested to do his utmost to attend the whole, or at least three days, of the period of encampment.
In the official Gazette of Manila of the 22nd July there is published a proclamation impos- ing nine days' quarantine on vessels from Amoy and Formosa, on account of the plague. Arrivals from Hongkong, as "a port notorionaly compromised," are still to be subjected to one day's observation.
An Indian was fined $25 at the Magistracy on 4th Aug. for assault. A fellow countryman of his had been away all day hearing the trial of Inspector Witchell and defendant asked him, Did you sign the depositions ?" and followed up this meaningless question by striking com- plainant on the side of the head.
41
Mr. E. A. Ram, Secretary of the Hongkong Cricket Club, has arranged for a cricket week to be held in Hongkong in November, the idea being to have interport games between Singapore and Hongkong, Shanghai and Hongkong, and Singapore and Shanghai. The Shanghai Club have accepted the invita tion and an answer is now awaited from Singa- pore,
cargo.
The Hongkong, Canton and Macao Steam- boat Company's Canton-Wachow steamers are, we learn, running very regularly with increas- ing passenger traffic but very little These vessels have been made more suitable for. the trade by taking the masts ont, fitting cabins on deck, putting in skylights, and in- creasing the ventilation generally, under the superintendence of Capt. Clarke.
Clean Japanese yen were at a premium of six per cent. on 5th August. On and after the 1st October next these coins will be exchangeable in Japan for the gold coins of the new currency, and in view of the decline in silver they are being eagerly bought up. The conversion will prove rather an expensive operation for Japan, unless silver should recover during the next two months, of which unfortunately there appears but little prospect.
The Secretary of the Punjom Mining Co., Limited, advises us that he has received the following telegram from Punjom giving the result of the July mill and cyanide clean up: The mill ran 30 days crushing 450 tons of ore yielding 185 ozs. smelted gold, 1,850 tons of headings crushed for a yield of 198 ozs., forty- five tons concentrates calcined yielding 45 ozs. of gold. The cyanide plant ran 26 days treat ing 630 of tailings for a yield 305 ozs. of bullion valued at £1 48. 3d. per oz.
Hon. H. E. Wodehouse held an inquest at the Magistracy on 5th Aug, on the body of a China- man who died in the Government Civil Hospital. He was admitted into the hospital from the Tung Wa Hospital on the 29th inst. suffering
from a self inflicted wound in the throat. On the 1st inst. he was lying in bed in No. 14 ward when he told the attendant that he saw the devil. In order to escape the evil one the poor fellow jumped cut of bed and leapt over the verandah. He died the following morning, death having resulted from internal hemorrhage. His Worship returned a verdict of suicide whilst temporarily insane.
At the Police Court. on 7th Aug. Mr. J. J. Francis, Q.C., applied to the Magistrate to re-consider his decision in the case of nearly fifty coolies who were sent to prison for being concerned in the attempted riot between two clubs. Mr. edge also appeared for three coolies. After 'some discussion his Worship said he would re-open the case and hear the evidence of Inspector Kemp. That officer stated that since the conviction of the coolies there had been no trouble and no signs of ill-feeling between the two clubs. His Worship said that the object of the sentences he imposed was to secure peace and to prevent the repetition of any disturbance, As the Inspector now said there was no danger of further disturbance his Worship thought he would be justified in reducing the sentences by binding over each man in one security of $25 to be of good behaviour for six weeks.
August 12, 1897.
to
On 9th Aug. another small steamer owned by Chinese took her first trip from Hongkong Wuchow. This with two which were put on the line on Saturday and two which were pre- viously running makes five Chinese owned steamers between Hougkong and the West. River Ports in addition to those starting from Canton. As these steamers take cargo which was formerly shipped by the Heungshan and transhipped into junks for Wnchow it does not look as if the opening of the West River is, for the present at least, to be an unmitigated benefit to the Steamboat Company.
The following returns of the average amount of Bank notes in circulation and of specie in reserve in Hongkong, during the month ended 31st July, 1897, as certified by the Managers of the respective Banks, are published:-
Banks.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, Hongkong and Shanghai Bank-
Average Specie in Amount. Reserve.
$2,233,855
ing Corporation, $5,051,558 National Bank of
China, Limited, $ 388,006
$1,200,000
$2,500,000
$ 205,000
Total... $7,673,419 $3,905,000 Information has been received at Singapore of a disastrous collision which occurred on the 30th July, just outside Batavis, between the Dutch mail steamer Speelman, of the De Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij and the Duguesclin, a French barque of 1,554 tons, Capt. Dejoice, bound from Cardiff to Hongkong. It appears the collision occurred between mid- night and one o'clock, just as the Speelman had left the Banka Straits. The captain was asleep in the chart room, and the second officer was on duty on the bridge. Without warning a flambeau suddenly flared alongside them, and a moment later the bowsprit of a sailing vessel, the name of which was not ascertained at the time, crashed into the steamer amidships. It smashed in the bulwarks, lemolished the chart room, and destroyed the steering wheel on the bridge, killing the captain, the two men at the wheel, another of the crew, and two passengers, while three others were wounded. The captain appears to have been killed by the falling tim. ber of the chart room. The second officer, thongh on the bridge, was uninjured. The line. The sailing vessel sheared off in the con- damage to the steamer was all above the water- fusion, but it was afterwards ascertained to be the Duguesclin, which left Cardiff on 2nd May and passed Anjer Head on the 24th July.
was
On Tuesday afternoon H.E. Major-General Wilsone, Black, C.B., entertained a large party to an interesting exhibition of torpedo and submarine mining work. Amongst those pre- sent were H.E. Sir William Robinson, His Honour Sir John Carrington, Hon. J. H Stewart Lockhart, Hon. W M. Goodman, Hon.. H. E. Wodehouse, Hon. W. Chatham, Hon. R. M. Ramsey, Hon. F. H. May, Hon. Ho Kai, Hon, T H. Whitehead, Hon, E. R. Belilios, Hon. J. J. Bell-Irving, and Hon. Wei A Yuk. Leaving the Commissariat Pier at four o'clock a pleasant run made in the Solent to Lyeemun. Here every. thing was in readiness and a Brenan tor pedo was discharged, which closely shaved a small target towed by the Solent and continued its course across the channel, then turned westward, and ran on in a large curve until its motive power was exhausted, when it was picked ap and towed home. The majority of those present had not had an opportunity of seeing torpedo work before and much astonishment was expressed at the accuracy with which the engine was directed from the shore and the perfect control it was under A submarine mine was then exploded. Ah immense column of water was thrown into the air and a small boat moored over the spot came down in. splinters, which were eagerly scrambled for by crowd of sampans which had been waiting in the neighbourhood for the opportunity of picking up a little firewood and a few fish stunned by the concussion, but there appeared to be no fish about, or at least none were seen from the steainer. The proceedings concluded with another torpedo ran, and the party then re- turned, a very pleasant and interesting after- noon having been enjoyed.
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