March 11, 1899.]
14
Yesterday morning the Harbour Police ar rested four or five men belonging to the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service who came into Portuguese waters to capture a junk which had some rice on board, the export of rice from Chins being prohibited. The men are now enjoying free board and lodging in the gaol.
The Lisbon Government having expressed a desire that all the Portuguese colonies should be represented at the Paris Exhibition a com- mittee has been formed here under the pre-ing is estimated to value £27 sterling." sidency of the Chief Justice and including several Chinese members to make arrangements for the representation of Macao,
D'Are's Marionettes have taken out a licence to give performances here for a month. The Bijou Theatre is to be erected on the Re- olamation ground at Tapsiac.
CANTON NOTES.
"
[FROM THE CHUNG NGOI BAN PO It is reported that the newly appointed Tar- tar General of Kwangtung has left Peking for
Canton, where he is expected to arrive at the end of next month.
Governor Luk Chuen-lam has given instruc- tions to the Magistrates of Nam-hoi and Pun- ya districts that they are not to detain people
connected with the cases brought before them whether the prosecutor or the prosecuted, ex- cept in cases of emergency. The order is warmly appreciated by all the Chinese, for the detention of people in the yamens pending the investigation of the cases concerned afforded chances to the yamen people to make their squeezes and it is a fact that the Chinese are willing to stand any amount of suffering rather than present themselves before the mandarins to be maltreated and squeezed by the yamen people, who do not receive any wages from the mandarins and simply watch for chances of squeezing. People ordered to be detained by the Magistrate in the yamen are kept under the oustody of the yamen people, who look them up in exceedingly dirty rooms, worse than a dirty water closet giving them no food and no bedding until their friends and relatives come forward to amply bribe: the custodians. Sometimes a person is detained in the yamen for many years although the case may be only a minor one, if there is no influential Sansz to stand bail, which bail is re- It presented by influence and not by money. is not uncommon for the Chiuese to successfully bribe the yanien runners not to take them be fore the Mgistrate, if a warrant is issued for their arrest.
The party of engineers and experts of the Canton-Hankow Railway Syndicate have com- pleted their survey up to Kupong, in Puyu district, and are buying land from the owners holding title deeds.
A school for European teaching has been established inside the Kwong-Ah College by Viceroy Tan. An examination was held the other day to select boys. Over six hundred boys attended the examination and sixty were
selected.
HONGKONG,
H.M.S. Powerful left for Manila on 7th March' H.M.S. Bonaventure left on 6th March for Shanghai.
The Austrain cruiser Kasierin Elisabeth arrived on the 9th March from Singapore.
There were 2,623 visitors to the City Hall Museum last week, of whom 163 were Europeans. A Scotch concert under the patronage of the St. Andrew's Society is announced for the 25th March.
Mr. A. M. Marshall, of the P. & O. Company, left on Saturday by the Coromandel to take charge of the Singapore agency.
The return of the cases of communicable disease notified as occurring in the colony last week is as follows:- Bubonic plague 5 cases, 5 deaths; diphtheria, 1 case; "enteric fever, 1 case, 1 death; smallpox, 2 cases, 1 death.
Mr. J. G. Spooner, chief excise officer, appeared at the Magistracy on the 8th March on behalf of the opium farmer, who was charged with having an uncertificated master on board the steam launch Wing Kwai. A fine of $25 was imposed.
We are informed by Messrs. John D. Hum. phreys and Son, General Managers Oliver,
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. Freehold Mines, Limited, that they have re- ceived the following telegram from the Mines:
Mill ran 24 days crushing 590 tons of stone for a yield of 294 ozs, of retorted gold."
The Secretary of the Punjom Mining Co., Limited, advises us that he has received the following telegram from the mines, giving the result of the February clean up :-"The mill ran 27 days, crushing 2,750 tons, yielding 173 ozs, of smelted gold. The gold won by cyanid- The Rev. Father Vigano, who has been long resident in Hongkong, is returning to Italy, for reasons of health, and will travel by the Italian cruiser Marco Polo as chaplain. The Rev. Father is a well-known and popular member of Hongkong Society and his departure and its cause will be regretted by a large circle. At a meeting of the Football Shield Com- mittee held on Friday, after hearing the evidence of the referee as to repeated and dan- gerous fouling in a Shield tie on 27th February last, it was resolved in accordance with rule 16 of the Competition to suspend Private Bevan of A Company of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers till the end of November next, and in accordance with the above-quoted rule any Association. Club, or player, playing with or against Private Bevan shall also be dealt with in such manner
as the Committee shall think fit.
At the Magistracy on the 7th March a Chinawoman was charged with infringing the exclusive right of the Postmaster-General by attempting to convey letters from Hongkong to Canton. P. S. Ritchie was on duty on the Canton wharf when he saw defendant go on to the steamer carrying a bundle. Being sus- picious of the contents, he examined them and found that they were letters. On the woman being taken to the Central Police Station she was found to have quite a number of letters concealed about her person. She was convey fined $100, or two months. ing about 500 letters altogether. She was
At the Magistracy on the 8th March a coolie was charged with stealing clothes from No. 8, Tai Wo Street, on Tuesday night. Several petty thefts have been committed in the locality recently, and seeing defendant loitering about Tai Wo Street P.C. Kerr became suspicious and kept him in view, he watching from one end of the street and P.C. Terrett from the other. After a time defendant was seen to get a bamboo pole, with which he reached some clothing from the verandah of No. 8. The
constables then seized him and took him to the Police Station. Defendant, who had been pre- riously convicted, was sentenced to three months'
hard labour.
on
209
was not
be required to carry lights "from the date that bioyoles, tricycles, and carriages will of this notice," that is, from the 1st March, although the notice is only published
the known before that date that the Governor had
it 4th March and
with regard to the carrying of lights by private even sanctioned the Ordinance. The provision chairs is ridiculous and can have been designed only in thoughtlessness or with the view of caus- the weight of the official hand. In one of the ing annoyance and letting the community feel cholera epidemics on the Continent some years the frontier of one of the countries where ago a train load of disinfectants that arrived at precautionary measures were enforced was carefully disinfected by the authorities. The requirement that private ohairs should of the electric light and Welsbach burners is carry twinkling little lamps in the full glare
not less absurd. The Governor came to us
with a reputation for strong common sense, and the delay in notifying his assent to the Vehicles Ordinance, which was passed by the Legislative Council on the 8th February, led to the belief that His Excellency was about to justify his reputation by causing the Ordinance to be amended. It is to be regretted that he has not` done so.
At the Magistracy on 8th March before Mr. T. Sercombe Smith, Chan Po, a house boy at Murray Barracks, was charged with being a rogue and vagabond and with being found in a room at Murray Barracks occupied by Captain C. E. Bancroft, of the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Tsoi Chan, boy to Captain McMahon, who lives - at Murray Barracks, said :—At half past eight on Tuesday night I went upstairs to my mas- ter's room, and seeing defendant coming out I: asked him why he had been in. He did not say anything but ran away. I followed and stopped him on the stairs. I again asked him why he come out of the officer's room and he replied,
the sergeant. Captain McMahon was at mess "I went to get a key." I took bim down to
Defendant used to be employed by the officers' mess as a washer-up. He was discharged yesterday afternoon. He was never Captain McMahon's servant. He was not allowed to go to the second floor into the officers'
Welch Fusiliers, said:- rooms.-Henry Yates, Mess Sergeant, Royal Defendant was a general coolie in the mess. No part of his duties took him into the officers' rooms. He was under notice to leave, and was to go out of Barracks to-day. About half-past eight last night I heard a noise. I went out of the mess room to see what it was, and met the last witness in charge of defeüdant.-Chan Shui, a. boy in the officers' mess of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, said :—I am boy to Captain Bancroft. At half-past eight last night I went upstairs to my master's room. I lit. a candle and found a gold chain on the floor of the verandah and 40 cents in ten cent pieces. The chain was my master's. My master's room is next to Captain McMahon's.-Defendant:-I went up- stairs to get a pot. The pot was broken and belonged to the mess. I had placed it in the bath-room. The last witness said I stole the gold chain, but no chain was found.—He was sentenced to three months' hard labour.
COMMERCIAL,
During the last few days reports have been in circulation to the effect that the Military Authorities were negotiating for the purchase of the Peak Hotel and that the transaction was practically closed. On enquiry we learn that matters have not gone quite so far as that, no formal negotiations having as yet been opened, but from the existence of the rumour it may be inferred that there is something in the air. In view of the popular dissatisfac- tion caused by the transfer of the Mount Austin Hotel to the military it is to be assumed that the public would desire to preserve the Peak Hotel, and if so it might be prudent to take steps to that effect while there is yet time, for if the matter is deferred it may, as in the case of the Mount Austin, be closed suddenly without giving time to float a Company to take over the property. We understand that both the Peak Hotel and Craigieburn are now paying handsomely. The proprietors are naturally not influenced by sentimental considerations and are prepared either to continue to run the establish- ments on their present basis or to sell to the Mil- itary or to the public if offers are received that Hankow and Shanghai...12.230,663 make it worth their while to sell. Should the Foochow
.12,545,346 pre-
688,318 sent reports prove to have no foundation in fact, | Amoy.....
6,149,722 it may nevertheless be taken for granted that if it Canton the Peak Hotel is allowed to continue in private ownership the Military authorities will sooner or later make a bid for it, and possibly also for Craigieburn.
The Governor's assent to the Vehicles Or-
dinanes is notified in the Gasette, and a further notification intimates that the provisions with respect to the carrying of lights will be enforced in respect of jinrickshas, chairs, trucks, and trollies from the lat May next, and
TEA.
CANTON, 2nd March,.-The market is closed, and there is nothing further to be shipped,
EXPORT OF TEA FROM CHINA TO UNITED KINGDOM AND CONTINENT.
1898-90
1897-98 lbs.
Ils. 15,009,727
******
12,160,708
685,651 6,889,288
30,614,049 33,836,374
EXPORT. OF TEA FROM CHINA TO. UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
1898-99
lbs.. .............................................. 16,621,647 15 036,418 Foochow ............................................................. 7,297,418
Shanghai.........
1897.98.
lbs. 20,836,000 15,861,506
7,126,264
38,956,372 48,523,770
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