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CORRESPONDENCE,
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
13 1 PAYMENT OF THE INDEMNITY
POSTPONED.
* 73 32
[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.]
THE CHINESE CUSTOMS AND THE NAVY LEAGUE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS.
DEAR SIR-I very much regret to note from your leading article of to-day that the letter from myself, as Secretary of the Hong- kong branch of the Navy League, to the Head Office with reference to the extension of the boundaries of this colony should have been liable to misinterpretation so far as the Chinese Customs revenue is concerned.
The following official telegram from Peking has been received at Shanghai:-"Owing to the financial embarrassments of the Central Govern- ment it has been found impossible to pay the Japanese Indennity this year as formally. agreed to between our respective countries Japan, on the other hand, to show her true friendship to China, has forborne from pressing for the Indemnity and a new agreement has been signed extending the payment of the said Indemnity for another five years."-N. C. Daily News.
CANTON NOTES.
"
[FROM THE CHUNG NGOI BAN TO. Rice being so dear, the directors of the various charitable institutions have raised subscriptions to the amount of over two hundred thousand taels I am entirely in accord with you when you and borrowed one hundred and fifty thousand taels Bay" The rectification of the frontier is from the Government Treasury to buy rice from required for defensive purposes, not for the Kwangsi Province and Chan Chuen, where the facilitation of smuggling, and my only diffi-grain is most abundant. At first rice was exposed culty consists in endeavouring to ascertain how for sale at the rate of a dollar for forty catties anything contained in the above letter could at various places in the city, under the charge have been supposed to constitute a plea in of lukongs, but as so many poor people crowded favour of the facilitation of smuggling.
together to buy it only the strong could avail themselves of it, the women and the weak being uuable to press through the crowd, and besides this some children whom their parents lost hold of during the struggle were kidnapped by cri- minals, while many people who lost their footing were badly injured by being trampled underfoot. The directors of the charitable institutions, see- ing the danger of this, have adopted another All that was intended was to point out that, plan. They now distribute tickets through from a political point of view, the mainten- the tipoas to poor families authorising them to ance and working of the Chinese Customs Ser-buy rice from the charitable institutions daily. vice here, as at present organized, is calculated to give rise to erroneous misconceptions in the Chinese mind and to entail loss of national prestige to us.
Any such plea would not only be absurdiy irrelevant to the question of the retification of our frontier for defensive purposes, but would also, as you justly remark, he calculated to prejudice the proposal in the eyes of the Chinese Government.'
Such an idea as repudiating the Chefoo Con- vention was not entertained for à moment.
The fact that the present system works as smoothly as it does speaks volumes for the tact and discretion of the Commissioners of Customs whom we have had here.
Apologizing for the length of this letter,-I am, dear sir, your faithfully,
HENRY E. POLLOCK.
18, Bank Buildings,
Hongkong, 21st March, 1898.
AN ENGLISH JOURNALIST
PELLED FROM SIAM.
EX-
A decree was issued by the Government of Siam on the 11th March requiring Mr. J. J. Lillie, editor and proprietor of the Siam Free Press, to leave the country within seven days from that date, and, in default of his doing so, ordering his expulsion. Acting under instruc- tions from the home Government, the British Minister has withdrawn British protection from Mr. Lillie, and the course adopted by the Siamese Government is said to have received the approval of the British Government in advance, and might have been taken some time ago, Mr. Lillie in his writings has been violently anti-Siamese, not only in bis own paper, but in telegrams and correspondence despatched to journals elsewhere. His expulsion was finally determined upon, it would appear from the statements of the other 'local papers, in conse- quence of his tendering a telegram for trans- mission stating that Siam had sent an armed force to suppress a rebellion in Battambang. The statement, it is alleged, is untrue, and was calculated to cause complications with France, the treaty with that Power prohibiting the I maintenance of any armed force by Siam in
Battambang.
Mr. Lillie will no doubt contest the legality of his expulsion and the withdrawal from him of British protection.
The Foochow Echo of the 12th March says:---- A tiger measuring 7 feet in length and weighing 210 lbs, was brought down from Kuliang last week and was sold for $80. It had been killed by one of the trap guns, Thena- tive hunters report having seen a very old tiger, nearly white with age they say. Although re- markably wily they hope to bag him before long.
Some days ago a plot was concocted by a gang of robbers to pirate a junk running be- tween Szkiu and Canton. About ten robbers. boarded the junk as passengers, but when the craft was on the voyage the master conceived a great suspicion that he had robbers on board as passengers, and he nailed up the hold in which they were, so that they could do nothing. When the junk was about an hour's sail from Canton, a long boat containing robbers rowed towards her. The junk at once fired on the boat, and the robbers, seeing that the opportunity was not favourable, quickly rowed away, two of them being wounded by bullets from the junk. The junk then proceeded on her voyage, and when she had nearly arrived at her destination a band of about a hundred robbers were seen standing on shore to meet her. The master of the junk, who was very careful all the way, at once directed bis course to another place, where the passen- gers were all landed.
Owing to no rain having fallen for so long a time, and fearing that the crops would be des- troyed, the Provincial Treasurer, the Provincial Judge, and the Grain Commissioner, seeing that the prayers for rain made by the local Magistrates have not been favourably replied to, have appointed a day to go to the temple of the gods of the sea to pray for rain themselves. first, then the higher officers, and the last of all It is a rule that the low officers are to pray
is the Viceroy.
On the 16th instant a gang of about eight robbers made an attack on the village of Chan. bin, in Namhoi district. They tied up all the lukongs and eleven houres were looted. The inhabitants of the village, knowing that the village was not safe, did not store any of their valuables there, so that the booty carried away by the robbers amounted to a very small sum.
HONGKONG.
No rain has fallen for a considerable period and as there is a great scarcity of rice in Kwang- tung the Chinese have been praying earnestly for a beavy downpour. Prince Henry of Prussia is likely to remain in the colony another ten days as his ship, the Deutschland, will not be ready for sea until the 5th April. He went to Swatow on Tuesday and returned yesterday morning, and in the afternoon he played in a polo match. The Criminal Sessions opened on the 18th inst., the most important case being one in which seven men were convicted of being concerned in an armed robbery. On Monday a student apothe-
[March 26, 1898.
cary at the Government Civil Hospital was com- mitted for trial on a charge of obtaining $170 from a Chinese doctor by false pretences. On Monday afternoon Sir Jolin Carrington (Chief Justice) delivered a most interesting address on the occasion of the presentation of prizes to the successful candidates in the London College of Music Examination. The inquests relating to the deaths of the secretary and manager of the New Club and the wardmaster at the Government Civil Hospital have been concluded. At a meeting of the Hongkong Odd. Volumes Society on Wednesday Commodore Holland read a most interesting paper on the Sun. The Sanitary Board held an important meeting on Thursday. During the week the shareholders- in the following companies met-China Fire Insurance Co., China and Manila Steamship Co., Green Island Cement Co., China Sugar Refining Co., Luzon Sugar Refining Co..
The appointment of Mr. C. W. Duggan as a Justice of the Peace is gazetted.
There were 2,928 visitors to the City Hall Museum last week, of whom 215 were Euro- peans.
The death rate last month was, for the British and Foreign community, civil population, 33.3, and for the Chinese community 22.
On Saturday afternoon HM.S. Centurion met the G. Company, King's Own Regiment, in the semi-final of the football challenge shield. The soldiers won by six goals to nothing.
The following telegram has been received by the Government: Saigon, 21st March, 1898. Secretary, Hongkong. Nine days' quarantine
CONSUL
on arrivals from Hongkong.
The first Gymkhana of the season will be held on Saturday, 16th April (weather per- mitting). The programme will shortly be out. It consists of six events, all races, including a steeplechase.
The following telegram has been received by the Government from H.B.M.'s Minister to Japan:-"Tokio, 17th March, 1898. Governor, Honkong. Medical inspection against arrivals from Hongkong and China ports." SATOW."
At a meeting of the Haiphong Sanitary Board it was decided that the nine days' quarantine on arrivals from Hongkong should be applied only to the passengers, who will be detained in the Lazarette, pratique being granted to the vessel and cargo.
The Hou. Treasurer of the Alice Memorial and Nethersole Hospitals begs to acknowledge with thanks the following donation to the funds of the Hospitals:-
Found in Hongkong Club, per
C. H. Grace Esq........
$5.00 Dr. U I Kai, the house surgeon of the Alice Memorial Hospital, died from plague on Thursday morning. The deceased gentleman was highly esteemed by all who knew him and sincere re- gret is felt at his sad death. He leaves a widow and five children. Dr. U I Kai was a christian and a member of St. Stephen's Church. He
received his medical training in the Government Civil Hospital and the College of Medicine for Chinese and was appointed house surgeon at the Alice Memorial Hospital last year.
M.A., and Rev. T. W. Pearce, the examiners A long report by the Rev. R. F. Cobbold;
appointed by the Governing Body of Queen's College, is published in Saturday's Gazette. The following boys are recommended for scholar- ships: Morrison Senior, C. H. Lee; Morrison Junior, Hung Hing Kam; Stewart, Lo Pau Fai; Bolilios Senior, C. H. Lee and C. B. Hay- ward; Belilios Junior, Wong Tak Kwong. The concluding paragraph of the report is as follows:
In the above remarks, we have tried to make a fair criticism of the work as it was presented to us, and if we have been obliged to censure some of the work we would not have it forgot- ten that there is much which we have praised. In almost all classes the work of many boys was distinctly satisfactory, and we are of opinion · that there has been a general improvement in most subjects during the past two years. We strongly recommend the increased study of the English language, and, as far as possible, under Believing that the large English masters. number of admissions during the past year has been chiefly due to an increasing desire on the part of the Chinose to receive an English edu- cation, we trust that the College will be fully able to meet this demand,
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