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A sale of Crown land (Kowloon Inland Lot No. 798) took place on 19th June. The lot, which is situated at Yaumati,, north of the Police Station, consists of 4,725 square feet. It was purchased by a Chinaman for 83,775, The upset price was $3,308; annual rent $70;, term 75 years.
Dredging has recently been carried on in the neighbourhood of the Bowrington pier and launches can now get alongside at all states of the tide. This is a great convenience, which is especially felt when on the occasion of funerals at Happy Valley the body is conveyed by water. Before the dredging was under- taken there was frequently great difficulty in landing.
Complaints are frequently heard of the ob struction caused on Praya East, between Ship Street and No. 2 Police Station, by the crowds of coolies that loiter about the thoroughfare. The subject is one that might with advantage receive attentiou from the Police. When the coolies are at work, carrying coal or other cargo, there is nothing to be said, as they are then making a legitimate use of the roadway, to which they have as much right as any one else. But the chief obstruction does not come from working coolies, but from men who are hanging about waiting for employment or sim- ply "loafing." In the early morning the men congregate at this point, just as the dockers congregate around the dock gates in towns at home. Those who secure engagements at once proceed to work and the remainder loiter about for longer or shorter periods, or if the weather is favourable, perhaps for the whole day. In the evening, after working hours, there is another great congregation, the men who have been at work and those who have been idle again foregathering to exchange the gossip of the day. Persons driving or riding are in consequence grealty incommoded and obstructed, ladies riding bicycles being not infrequently compelled to dismount. It has been suggested to us that the coolies when waiting for employ- ment should be required to make use of Albany Street on the other side streets, or the water side of the Praya opposite Tsing Kai Lane, where there is a projection into the harbour outside the roadway, and that the thoroughfare should be kept clear by the police inviting oiterers to "more on."
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From the published minutes of the Com- mittee of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce it will be seen that this journal has been held by that body to have been guilty of a breach of the law by the premature publication of a telegram in which the Chamber possessed for a certain period proprietory rights. It may be mentioned that the telegram in question was that announcing the death of the late Mr. Gladstone. In the correspondence that ensued it was maintained on our part that there had been no breach of the agreement which we understood to exist between the Chamber and ourselves under which we are permitted to publish the telegrams. The Chamber does not appear to have recognised the validity of our interpretation of that agree- mont. We should have thought, however. that the Chamber, as a public body actuated by public spirit, instead of wishing to stand on its strict legal rights and conceal for a specified time the news of such an event as Mr. Glad- stone's death, would have taken steps to at once make it public. We quite recognise the right of the Chamber to protect its pro- perty, for if all the telegrams wore pub lished immediately upon their receipt there would naturally be no private subscribers to the service; but every rule has its exceptions. Even private firms and individuals when they receive telegrams on subjects of general in- terest not infrequently make them public. The illness of Mr. Gladstone had been followed with intense and sympathetic interest through out the Empire, by political opponents as wel as friends, and for the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce to stand on its strict legal rights in reference to the telegraphic news of the great statesman's death strikes us as paltry and quite unworthy of the traditions of that body. The public has to pay half the cost of the telegrams, that being the Government's contribution to the service, and in exceptional cases we think the Chamber may fairly be expected to waive its strict legal rights in favour of the public interest.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The following notification appears in the Gazette:-With reference to Government noti- fication No. 170 of the 14th April last, it is hereby notified that Her Majesty the Queen has been pleased to approve the re-appointment of the Honourable Emanuel Raphael Belilios, C.M.G., to be an un-official member of the Legislative Council, therein provisionally notified.
Messrs Carlowitz & Co., agents for the Ham- burg-America Line, inform us that they have received a letter from the Directors of the H.A.L. saying that the steamers the company bought of the Kingsin Line will be rechristened as follows:-
Wally. Cares
Hertha
Gerda Erato
Kriemhild
to
Silesia
31
Eueria
Sibiria
Sarnia
31
Serbia Savoia
"
Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co. have been appointed Agents in Hongkong, China, and Japan for the United States & China-Japan Steamship Line. This line, which at present includes the following steamers :- Indrapura, Indravelli, Indralema, and Indra (owned by Mr. T. B. Royden, of Liverpool) and the Pisa, Andalusia, and Crefeld will run regularly every fortnight between the United States and the Far East, calling at Red Sea ports, Colombo, Penang, and Singe- pore. The steamers are all magnificent, full. powered vessels of from 4,000 to 6,000 tons register, and will afford further facilities with the United States, whose trade with the Far East is rapidly developing.
Referring to the nurses' memorial the Hong- kong correspondent of the N. C. Daily News writes:-I do not know what form the memorial is likely to take, but would suggest either a lofty granite obelisk or a stained window in St. John's Cathedral. The former, if placed in a conspicu ous position, would perhaps be the most suitable, for it would then be seen of all men, especially the Chinese, who should and probably will sub- scribe towards it. Possibly a site might be found for an obelisk on the Praya Reclamation. It should be a fine polished shaft with a carved base, and an inscription, in English on one side and in Chinese on the other, setting forth the manner in which these fearless and self-sacri- ficing Englishwomen met their death upon the path of duty. Their story will add fresh point to the poet's lines-
Not once or twice in our rough Island story The path of duty was the way to glory.
I think that is how the lines run, but have no time to verify my quotation.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The P. & O. steamer Hydaspes has been sold to Messrs. Wheelock & Co. of Shanghai.- Mercury.
The French flagship Bayard, with Admiral de la Bedollière on board, has arrived at Foochow.
The native laundrymen of Shanghai notify an increase in their charges, the alleged reason being a strike of their hands for more wages, and the high prices ruling for rent, charcoal, and rice.
The flag of the German steamer Taiyik is now being changed to the Russian, the vessel having been sold to a Russian firm. Capt. Bollman, formerly of the Vladimir, takes com- mand.—China Gazcite.
The American Government is reported to have entered into negotiations for the purchase of the fine fleet of the Northern Pacific Steamship
Company for use as transports in the war. Shanghai Daily Press.
The N.Y.K. steamer Sakura-maru was to leave Yokkaichi on the 12th June for China direct with yarn manufactured by the Mie Cotton Spinning Company. This is the third direct steamer from that port since it was opened as a special port for foreign trade.
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The Military Governor of Shengking has ob- jected to the route proposed for the Russian- Manchurian railway on the ground that it will pass too close to one of the Imperial sepulchres; but it is said the Russians pay no heed to the Governor's representations and are gaily pro- ceeding with the line as laid down on the maps, regardless of the claims of Imperial fengshui China Gazette.
(June 25, 1898,
During the week ended May 18th, British dollars were transferred from the Bombay Mint to the Custom House for export to the value of 3,072,000 rupees.
In the U.S. Consular Court at Nagasaki, before Mr. Harris, U.S. Consul, John Kelly has been convicted of the murder of a sailor named Gannon, and sentenced to death. A petition for the commutation of the sentence is being prepared.
The ammunition that arrived at Shangbai some time ago for the Artillery company's 9 pounders has to be returned to Hongkong as it does not fit the guns. Why such carelessness on the part of the Ordnance department?— Shanghai Daily Press.
The railway station at Woosung is com- pleted, having in its general aspects a close re- semblance to the erection at the Shanghai end. Rails have been laid and for a considerable distance inland the telegraph lines along the railway can be seen.-China Gazette.
At the U. S. Consular Court at Shanghai on the 14th June John McKurdy, chief officer of the Hawaiian ship Foong Suey, was charged with assaulting one of the crew named Malcolm McLeod and biting a piece out of his right ear. Defendant was fined $20 gold and sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment, and was also ordered to pay the hospital expenses of the injured man, not exceeding $10 gold.
The Bangkok Times of the 11th June says:--- The death has just occurred of Mr. Clamp, overseer of the Hinlap section of the Korat Railway. He was being carried on a trolly down the line when an engine approached. He tried to save bimself by jumping off the trolly, but it was too late; he was struck by the engine and killed on the spot. The body was brought down to Bangkok yesterday.
The following insurance offices are interested in the fire at Messrs. Averill's tea factory at Kobe-the New Zealand, yen 13,000; Imperial, yen 10.000; South British, yen 23,000; Lion, yen 12,000; Northern, yen 10,000; Prussian National, yen 10,000; China Fire, yen 20,000; Law Union and Crown, yen 5,000; and Royal, yen 20,000. There were 2,475 piculs of tea in the godown all destroyed.
A Tokyo telegram of the 11th June trans- lated by the Kebe Chronicle says:-Mr. Bevis, the manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank at Yokohama, entertained last night at dinner at the Oriental Hotel Marquis Ito, Count Inouye, Baron Iwasaki, the President of the Bank of Japan, and a few other gentle- men, when a conversation took place on econ. omic subjects. Sir E. Satow, the British Minister, was also present.
The N. C. Daily News of the 14th inst. says: -Reuter's agent here has been requested to communicate to the Press the fact that he has received a telegram from Colombo announcing that Mr. Frossell is leaving that port in the Ballaarat, and that the failure of Mr. E.-T. Hooley does not affect the Hooley-Jameson Syndicate, Limited. This message was sent via Bhamo, Yunnan, Chungking, and the Yangtze valley telegraph line, and leaving Colombo on Sunday afternoon, 12th, was received here yes- terday morning, 13th.
We hear that a movement is on foot among some of the enlightened young Chinese and their Japanese friends to promote a visit to the Emperor of China by the Emperor of Japan. It is hoped that if this can be accom- plished, it will result in a pro-Asiatic alliance for the conservation of the integrity of China and Japan, and that the Emperor of Japan may be able to persuade his brother at Peking to come out of his Palace and see something of the outside world, a consummation devoutly to be wished.-N. C. Daily News.
An urgent telegram asking for help was received on the 14th instant by the Chinkiang authorities from Yangchow on the ground that a mob of several thousand roughs were threaten- ing to attack the missionaries of the latter city, and the local yamêns also if the officials took the part of the missionaries and protected them. Fortunately, Admiral Huang, Commander-in- Chief of the Yangtsze, happened to be at Chin- kiang when the telegram arrived and H.E. at once went across the Yangtsze with a brigade of troops to overawe the rioters. Apparently the arrival of the troops quieted the ardour of the mob, for no disturbances have been reported so` far.-N. C. Daily News,
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