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THANKING MR. H. M. HILLIER"
The VICE-PRESIDENT proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. H. M. Hillier, of the Chinese Customs, for the valuable assistance reu- dered by him during the recent epidemio of plague. Mr. Hillier kept them informed of the progress of the plague in the villages on the mainland and algo furnished them with the districts and in some cases even the addresses from which plague patients who had slipped through the meshes of their net came.
The ACTING REGISTRAR-GENERAL seconded. Carried.
The Board then proceeded to consider the conservancy contract for 1898-1901.
THE BANK |NŪTE ISSUE,
The following Bill, which passed though its stages at the meeting of the Legislative Council on 25th July, is published in the Gazette :-
A Bill entitled an Ordinance to amend The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Ordinance Amendment Ordinance, 1882.
Be it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-
1-This Ordinance may be cited as The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Ordinances Amendment Ordinance, 1898.
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2-Ordinance No. 21 of 1882 is hereby amended in manner following, viz, by sub- stituting for section 13 the following section :- 13.-(1.) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2) of this section the total amount of the bills and notes of the Company payable to bearer on demand actually in circulation shall not at any time exceed the amount of the Capital of the Company actually paid up and there shall be kept by each establish- ment of the Company an amount of coin aud bullion equal to one-third at least of such of the said bills and notes as were issued from such establishment and are for the time being in circulation. (2.) Bills and notes of the Company payable to bearer on demand may be issued and be in actual circulation to an amount in excess of the Capital of the Company actually paid up: Provided that there shall be previously deposited and kept at the Head Office of the Company in Hongkong, to the satisfaction of the Colonial Secretary and the Colonial Treasurer, an amount of coin and bullion equal to the whole value of such excess issue, actually in circulation.
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3. This Ordinance shall continue in force for a period of one year from the coming into operation thereof.
REASONS AND OBJECTS..
This Ordinance enables the Bank to increase its Inote issue in order to alleviate the incon- venience experienced by the present inadequate supply. The provision requiring the deposit of
bullion equal in amount to any excess issue pro- vides ample security to holders of such notes.
W. MEIGH Goodman,
Attorney Generall
THE TRADE MARKS ORDINANCE. The following Memorandum by the Attorney. General was attached to the Trade Marks Ordinance, which was read a first time at the meeting of the Legislative Council on 25th July:
Since the Ordinance to provide for the Re- gistration of Trade Marks (No. 16 of 1873) was passed, a considerable development has occurred in the demand for registration not only in England but in Hongkong. The Merchandise Marks Ordinance, 1863, referred t in the Ordinance of 1873, has been replaced by The Merchandise Marks Ordinance, 1890. More over, The Patents, Designs, and Trade Mark Acts, 1883 and 1888, and the Rules thereunder have considerably modified the English practice, while the local Ordinance of 1873, as amended by Ordinance 20 of 1895, is very imperfect, and makes no provision for the classification of goods, the assignment and transmission of trade marks, the removal of trade marks after 14 years' registration in default of extended regis tration upon payment of an additional fee, and some other matters duly provided for in Eng- land.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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Patents are not granted in this colony, unless they have been previously granted in England, (seo Ordinance 2 of 1892), but, although a similar provision, requiring the registration of a trade mark in Eugland before registration in this colony, would prevent some abuses, such requirement is not fonsible in Hongkong, be- caused many applicants desire the registration, bere, of trade marks used only locally and many of such applicants are foreigners,
July 30, 1898.
of Hongkong appear to have been so thoroughly appreciated by the Council. I have the hon- our to be, Sir, your most obedient humble ser- vant,
J. CHAMBERLAIN,
The Officer Administering the Government
Hongkong.
RELATIVE PROŪRISS IN NORTH AND IN SOUTH CHINA.
(CONTRIBUTED]
That there is much greater progress in ad- mitting foreign innovations in North Chins than in the South is only too evident to anyone who has visited the country. Recent events have emphasised the fact.
It is the practice in this colony for the Co- lonial Secretary to refer every application to the Attorney-General, who used, until my appoint. ment, to receive a fee of $25 for his report. This fee was abolished some years ago, and, as the number of applications has greatly in- crease during the last few years, a considerable amount of gratuitous extra work has been This difference is particularly noticeable in thrown upon the Attorney-Ceneral, while the the matter of railway construction. Although task of the clerk in the Colonial Secretary's it is now some years since the laying down of office of searching the register to see whether rails was first inaugurated in the north and similar marks have been already registered, is quite a number of new lines are either now being daily increasing as the register grows in bulk.
laid or have received the Imperial sanction to At present, many marks are submitted for their construction as soon as possible, we do registration which are not trade marks, accord-
not find a single line faken in hand in the south. ing to the English definition, at all; and in the Why is it that there is this difference between absence, under the 1873 Ordinance, of any north and· south P Railways are not less
the Attorney General has en-
essential to the material development of one definition, deavoured to follow the English practice in
part of the country than the other and are not deciding whether a trade mark should be alfikely to prove less remunerative. Probably the lowed registration and has often been obliged to principal reason is the fact that the Peking apply for the "essential particulars" and a "dis- authorities realize that the great development claimer" of added matter. Questions, which are easily answered by the Comptroller in England aided by a competent staff, occasionally require much consideration by the Attorney-General in the colony who has, practically, no assistance
whatever, while the absence of any rules makes his task more difficult.
I have accordingly drafted a fresh Ordinance and a set of rules which will, I trust, prove of use to those interested in these matters. The alterations in the new Ordinance and the new rules are based on the English practice with some local modifications.
In England, applicatious for the registration of the same mark in different classes of goods are treated as separate and distinct applications, and I see no valid reason why a similar rule should not obtain here.
I am afraid that, owing to the absence of such rule, applications have occasionally been made to register trade marks in respect of goods as to which the marks never have been used, nor are likely to be used by the applicant forthwith. I suspect this has been done, occasionally, with a view to prevent others from using similar marks in respect of goods or classes of goods in which they deal, but which are really not dealt in by the applicants at all.
It is very necessary, too, that an applicant the mark he desires to have registered locally should state, to the best of his belief, whether has been registered previously in England. I should not be surprised to learn that, in the absence of such requirement, some few marks registered in A's name in England or marks closely resembling them have been registered in B's name in Hongkong, without A's knowledge
or consent.
All such practices should be discouraged, and I trust the new Ordinance and Rules will put matters on a more satisfactory basis.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE ON THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL'S FARE-
WELL TO SIR WILLIAM ROBINSON,
The following despatch by the Secretary of State respecting speeches delivored at the Legislative Council meeting on the 25th January, 1898, was laid before the Legislative Council on 25th July :
K-
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Downing Street,
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of thought and desire for more liberal methods of government which must arise with the intro- duction of railways had better be deferred in the outlying and more independent portions of the empire till they have consolidated their
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hold on the northern and central provinces, which are more easily controlled and less likely to rebel against the failing power of the present dynasty. Other reasons of course exist, such as the opposition of that section of the people termed the literati; a certain neglect of the fringes of the empire, which are likely to be lopped off by foreigu powers or to fall away of their own free will, finding the ties which bind them not only oppressive but weak and easily broken; and that world-wide habit of neglecting outlying stations in the attention absorbed by points nearer the coutre of authority.
A very noticeable example of the latter case is to be found even in that model institution the Im- perial Maritime Customs. Travellers who have occasion to visit the treaty ports will, if obser- vaut, be struck by the difference in the build- jugs which one expects to see as a prominent feature of every sea-port, viz., the Custom- house.
In Shanghai the really fine building which that eminently progressive institution, the site represents the I. M. Customs is well worthy of
the other hand, in the south, at Canton, a likewise being well and wisely selected. On dilapidated, inferior building hidden away in a dirty and secinded corner and fronted with accumulations of all manner of festering filth, is the place where the revenues of the southern capital are collected, the Imperial Post ad- ministered, and Government loans dealt with, Doubtless the building was well enough for the small revenue collected in the early days of its existence, but one would think the requirements of the port have quite outgrown such a paltry domicile for all these government offices. Were uo other site available for a customs-house one would not be surprised to find it poked away where it is, but such is not the case, for a perfect site, on Honam Point, commanding a view of back, front, and upper reaches of the river and easy of approach from all these points, likewise clear of all passenger boat traffic, steamer wharves, &c., which block approach and departure from the present Customs ex- amination shed, bas for years gone abegging,
There is an exception, however, as to no rail- ways having been sanctioned in South China, 7th March, 1898. for quite recently the French have obtained a Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the concession for the construction of a railway receipt of Sir William Robinson's despatch No. from Pakhoi to Nanningfa, with a view, firstly, 20 of the 26th of January, enclosing an extract to drawing off the trade of Yunnan, Kwangsi, from The Daily Press containing a report of the and part of Kwangtung from its natural course speeches delivered at a meeting of the Legisla- down the West River to Hongkong, and tive Council held on the 25th of that month. secondly, to advance the fact of a French rail-
read I have
of the report
the pro-
way existing in that locality as a reason, in due ceedings on this occasion with much interest, season, for advancing the frontier of Tonkin and am gratified to observe that the services beyond their new naval station at Kwanchau- rendered by Sir William Robinson to the Colonywan. The palpaple preparations of the French
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