April 23, 1898.)
"in Central Asia and France in Madagascar. "In each of these cases we had been promised an open door,' but in each case "the door had been slammed in our face. "The same, he was afraid, would occur in "the case of China. It seemed to him to be a safer policy for this country We to create an open door of its own. had gone out of our way to proclaim "But his own idea was that a division of "that we sought no acquisition of territory.
"China on a fair and equitable basis was "far better than the policy of the open We had, of course, no right to say "that other Powers should be prevented "from acquiring territory in China, seeing
"
"door.'
"that we had ourselves taken forcible
possession of land in all parts of the world, "but what we had a right to do was to "insist that we should have a similar right
to seize part of China for ourselves."
*C
KWANGCHAUWAN AND THE TRADE OF SOUTH CHINA.
The lease of Kwangchauwan to France is confirmed, and the lessees will doubtless enter into possession forthwith. The port has been acquired primarily as a coaling station, but will presumably be opened to trade, in which case it is calculated to exercise a considerable influence ou the west coast traffic from Hongkong and Macao. There is a considerable trade car- ried on by junks with Chikhom and other places in the Kochow and Laichow districts, which will probably now be transferred to steamers running from Hongkong to Kwong- chauwan, which place will form a
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE RÉPORT.
315
views. For all practical purposes, therefore what was stated by Dr. STEDMAN at the, meeting on Saturday may be held to be conclusive. Mr. FRANCIS also made an im- portant statement, namely, that the Hon. F. H. MAY, Captain Superintendent of Police, the only witness hitherto examined orally by the Commission, had nothing to com- 'plain of either as to the conduct of the "quantity or quality of the liquors sold, and keepers of public houses generally, or the
44
"I
毒面
If
DELETERIO: S LIQUORS. The campaign against the cheap liquors sold in this colony seems likely to collapse owing to the discovery that the liquors in question have been greatly maligned and that their cheapness and consequent large consumption, not their deleterious quality, is the origin of the havoc wrought by them understood that the cheap whisky, gin, amongst our soldiers and sailors. It was
or brandy retailed in the grog shops con- "in fact said there was no reason to com- fusel oil in great quantities. Dr. STEDMAN, sisted largely of raw potato spirit containing
'plain of drunkenness in the colony." Still that more suprising was the statement Saturday that Mr. BROWNE; the Govern- in their replies to written interrogatories however, told the meeting of Justices on
the naval and military medical officers ment Analyst, had informed him that he "had no serious complaint against the could not by analysis detect any deleterious sold in the colony, and that they were cheap been generally supposed that naval and quality of the liquors supplied to the men. principles in the cheap whiskies and gins
They had nothing to suggest." It bas because they were not natural spirits, but military officers felt very strongly on the manufactured spirits, and, so far as he could tell, they were manufactured with more or
subject, and it is a fact that not very long less pure proof spirit with small proportions where the conditions are much the same as ago the troops on parade in Singapore, of whisky or gin to give them a flavour, in Hongkong, were officially warned of the and that they contained less fusel oil and far danger they incurred by the consumption of less furfuraldehyde than some more expensive the liquor ordinarily sold in the grog shops. liquors. Unless taken in excess liquors such It may be that the alarm that has existed as those described could not be held to be injurious, except in
on this point has resulted from misappre- so far, as alcoholic liquors iu general may be held to be in-hension of the true facts of the case, or it jurious. The matter is entirely one of of the innocuous character described by Dr. may be that while some cheap liquors are analysis, and the result of the analysis STEDMAN on the authority of Mr. BROWNE, being as stated by Dr. STEDMAN there there are others of a more harmful char- appears to be nothing more to be done, acter which have not unless some means could be devised of Analyst's observation. It will be an ad- come under the disminishing the quantity consumed by vantage, however, to have the report of the increasing the price ሀተ by prohibiting alto- spirits. Mr. BROWNE, however, according would suggest that when the report is pub- con-gether the import of cheap manufactured Commission on the evidence before it, after they have heard Mr. BROWNE, and we to Dr. STEDMAN, did not let his investiga-lished the answers of the naval and military tion rest with scientific analysis, but went
medical officers should be given in full in on to put the effects of the liquors to the test by consuming them
an appendix. at his own table. While entertaining the greatest respect for Mr. BROWNE's professional qualifications as an analyst, we do not think his opinion as to the effects of the liquors as tested by In commenting upon Reuter's recent in- his own consumption can be of any value.terview with Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON the To judge of this it would be necessary to Daily Mail says:-" Moreover, as Sir know what quantity he consumed and in WILLIAM opportunely reminds us, even what proportion he diluted it. Half a "the open door will not guarantee England wine glass full in a tumbler of soda water the trade of China. The Government would not afford a test of the intoxi-
cannot do everything. The traders for "whom it is working must pull themselves together. At present even our own pre- serve in Hongkong is falling into German hands; and Englishmen generally may be "excused if they ask whether it is worth "while incurring very much for traders "who seem so helpless before their com petitors." Sir WILLIAM, it will be re- membered, said that in the matter of trade Englishmen must wake up if they mean to hold their own. German com- "mercial influence is exteuding there. Almost all the best residences are occupied by Gernians, and their trade is certainly further increasing. This is partly due to the fact that while British merchants do "not keep pace with the times, and limit "themselves to supplying the old articles "of trade, the German traders have realised "the necessities of the case and will supply
venient distributing centre, and with the improved transport facilities the trade may be expected to show a large and rapid in- crease, to the advantage of this colony but to the disadvantage of Macao, which will be left out in the cold. A large proportion of the existing trade is in the hands of Macao merchants, who import foreign goods from Hongkong and re-export them to Kochow, Chikhom, and other places in the neighbourhood of Kwongchauwau, With the establishment of direct steam
munication between Hongkong and Kwong- chauwan the trade conducted via Macao will inevitably languish.
com-
The Ng River, which discharges at Kwong-cating power of any particular liquor. If chauwan, has several important tributaries, and small steamers or launches will 110 doubt be shortly lying upon those water- ways, promoting trade in a naturally wealthy district. It is not unlikely, also, that the French, when once they are in stalled at Kwongchauwan, will begin to agitate for a railway connecting that place with some point on-the West River above the rapids, which would increase the trade
on the
upper waters of that stream. In the construction of such a line there would, we believe, be comparatively few engineering difficulties to be overcome and the line would command an amount of traffic that would ensure its success as a commercial enterprise. While all this would, for the time being at all events, be good for the trade of Hongkong, it would not be agreeable to British interests that our trade with the districts in question should be entirely subject to French influence, with the possibility of the imposition of a hostile tariff at some future period. To meet this the Chinese should be urged to themselves construct, or to permit a foreign company to construct, lines of railway from Pakhoi and Canton to Nauning.
The appointment of Commander Hastings to be Acting Police Magistrate and Coroner is gazetted.
Mr. BROWNE would on one day see how many bo'sun's nips of cheap whisky it took to make him drunk and allow some friend to describe the characteristics of the intoxication, and then on another day repeat the experiment with one of the reputable and favourite brands of whisky, we would have material for a comparison that would be of practical utility. Raw spirits not only produce intoxication more rapidly than mature spirits, but the intoxication partakes of the nature of frenzy, under the influence of which the sufferer is frequently incited to the commission of crimes of violence. It would be rather hard on Mr. BROWNE to ask hum to conduct in his own person such a practical experiment as we have described, but as a scientific man we think he will recognise the justice of our doubts as to the value of the very mild experiments he has made at his own table.
The result of the meeting of Justices ou Saturday was that the Commission was re- quested to take the evidence of the Govern- meut Analyst and report to a future meet- ing. There can, however, be little doubt as tothe accuracy of the report given by Dr. STEDMAN of the Aualyst's views, for one scientific man would not be likely to derive a false impression of another scientific man's views expressed in conversation or to convey a false impression in repeating thuse
t
(6
EXI
14
WHY GERMANS SUCCEED IN BUSINESS.
<
anything that is wanted, from a lucifer "match to an elephant or even a menagerie.” There is not much exaggeration in these remarks. Take away the naval, military, civil service, and legal elements and the British community would make but a poor showing against the German. The employés of the Sugar Refineries, the Docks, and var- ious professions, trades, and industries more or less directly connected with shipping give the British community a numerical prepon- derance, but the bulk of the "merchant's
11 business pure and simple rests with our
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