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CORRESPONDENCE,
were
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[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the
#opinions expressed by our correspondents.]
ANOTHER ASSAULT ON LADIES.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS."
DEAR SIE-I do not know whether you have received any information in regard to the above or not, but as I happen to be intimately acquainted with the ladies concerned I am able to give you the exact particulars of the occurrence. Last evening, at about 7.30, two European ladies, who
their way to the Hongkong Hotel, where they reside, were passing through the verandah under Beaconsfield Arcade, which is opposite the City Hall, when they were assaulted by a. Chinese ruffian, who violently knocked one of them dowu and made off with her pocket-book The other lady ran after the man, and the last she saw of him he was making tracks over the Parade Ground. It appears that there were several Chinese about, but none of them made the slightest attempt to help in any way. The cries of the ladies brought several soldiers to the spot, but by that time pursuit was useless. An Indian constable came dawd- ling along at the usual gait, but of course too late. This constable was on his beat by the Hongkong Bank, so he could not have used great hurry to get to the spot, the distance between which and the Bank cannot be more than fifty yards.
Now, Bir, the above facts are sufficient in themselves to open our eyes to this growing danger. When an attack like this can take place in our busiest thouroughfare, and at such an hour, it is time the community bestirred itself, as the Police seem to be powerless in the matter. There is no doubt that the fact that the scoundrels who committed the last two assaults have not been run to earth has made the ruffian class bolder in their villainous work, I would suggest that an indignation public meeting be called, calling upon the Govern- ment to do its duty, and that in the meantime we be allowed to carry firearms to protect ourselves. It is to be hoped we are not going to have the Taipohu rabble right in our midst.
Yours faithfully.
Hongkong, 22nd May, 1899.
REVIEWS.
RESIDENT.
THE HONKOGNG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The Garden of Swords. By MAX PEMBERTON
London: Cassell & Co., Limited 1899. MR. PEMBERTON's tale opens at Strasbourg on the eve of the Franco-German war, while the storm was lowering, but before it had broken. Edmond Lefort, an officer of the Lancers, marries Beatrix Hamilton, an English girl born of a French mother, and the couple go for their honeymoon to a chalet in the Vosges. While the honeymoon is still in its early days the storm breaks. Lefort receives telegraphic instructions to report himself, and soon the tide of battle is in flood around what was erstwhile the lovers' nest in the mountains, and the young bride is a witness of its excitement and horror. On “the blood-red day of Worth," in which her husband was engaged, she creeps, attended by a neighbour, the old Chevalier Picard, to a point from which she can watch the progress of the battle, which holds her fas einated. "She feared to look, yet dare not turn her eyes away and as the ambulance passed close by her, with a wounded gunner, his breast open and bleeding, she thought, "If they should carry her lover as that brave fellow was being carried!" At last came "the death ride," the gallant but futile charge of the cavalry, who had been held in reserve until the end. We congratulate Mr. Pemberton on the artistic vigour of his descriptions, which present to the_imagination the scenes of deadly strife almost as clearly as though the reader had seen them for himself.
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Lefort is not killed in the charge, but falls stunned and is taken prisoner. Meanwhile his wife, with the assistance of friends, finds her way back to Strasbourg. Then follows the horror of the siege, with its wasted heroism on the part of the defenders. Lefort having given hia parole, he, too, finds his way back to the
doomed city to rejoin his bride. The foil to Lefort is Brandon, an Englishman by birth but a German by naturalisation, who had been engaged in business in Strasbourg, but on the outbreak of the war joined the German regi| ment in which he held a commission. He was a friend and an undeclared lover of Ben- trix, was present at her wedding, and in the dark days that followed rendered her valu- able and unselfish services, with the result
of exciting, her husband's jealousy. The tale itself is a strong one, full of human interest, but the chief feature is its setting, which will not fail to leave a strong and durable impression on the mind of the reader capable of appreciating nervous and effective word painting.
Knaves of Diamonds. Being Tales of Mine and By GEORGE GRIFFITH. London:
Veld,
who can look baok
[May 27, 1899.
meetings between neighbouring villages, when native merriment reigns supreme. The beauti- fal fruit is then brought to the capital, Saigon, in enormous baskets, and on the quay the fruiterers bargain against each other about the price."
After giving botanical details, the article goes on to say that the fruit is cultivated now in the districts of Giadinh, Bienhoa, and Thau- danmot. The first two trees brought from Penang were planted in the parish of Laithion and are believed to be still in existence. Itțis there that the finest plantations are still to be found.
The mangosteen crop is of great value to the districts where the fruit is grown and the cul- tivation is sensibly extending year by year. The fruit is sent to all the provinces of Cochin- China and large quantities are shipped to Ton- kin.
to
George Bell and Sons. 1899. THIS is a sories of tales of the South African The inhabitants of France are acquainted diamond fields, chiefly concerned with the smug with most tropical fruits, thank to the nearness gling of and illicit dealings in the stones. of Algeria and the African colonies, Coconuts, There are," Mr. Griffith tells us in his proface. pineapples, and even the mango, owing to their "not a few who have found fortune in keeping qualities and the progress of refrigerat- South Africa, and certain honours there ing appliances, easily reach the southern and elsewhere,
to markets. The mangosteen, however, has anxious moments, big with fate, which made all not yet been regularly introduced, owing the difference to them between the broadoloth its spoiling so rapidly, its extreme of the millionaire magnate and the arrow- period of preservation not exceeding fifteef marked canvas of the convict 1.3).B. (illicit days. However, some attempts have been diamond buyer.) Nay. more, as some of the made to send it to France, and the short time stories which follow hereafter will truthfully now occupied by the voyage of the mail boats tell, the doings of one fatal moment have more has allowed of some ten per cent, being saved. than once decided which of two men was to Thus a few palates have had the opportunity wear the broadcloth and which the canvas.' of testing this fruit, which many in the Far The tales cannot lay claim to any very high East esteem even above the mango. order of literary merit, but they supply enter- taining reading for spare quarters-of-an-hour and are of interest as giving us pictures of a phase of life which will be unfamiliar to most readers.
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There is a curious misprint on the cover. The secondary title as given on the title page, and evidently the correct one, is "Tales of mine and veld," but on the cover the printer has made it "Tales of mine and gold," which is meaningless, because it is with diamonds, not with gold, that the tales are concerned. Per. haps the printer who had charge of the cover did not know what "Veld" maent, and, the word being printed on the title page in "fancy type, could not quite make it out, and so made a shot at "gold." The error has apparently escaped detection even in the rublishers' office.
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Lean's Royal Navy List. No. 86. April, 1899.
London: Witherby & Co.
It is said that in the early days of the French occupation of Cochin-China several naval officers who had been invited to the table of the Emperor Napoleon III. were unceasing in their praise of the delicious mangosteen, at that time unknown in Europe. The curiosity of Her Majesty the Empress Eugenie was aroused, and, wishing to taste for herself
famous
of product Cochin-China, this
admiral she requested an
to accomplish the impossible and to procure for her at least a dozen mangosteens, Great efforts were made, the ice-room of a man-of-war taking troops home was appropriated to the purpose, and out of several thousands of the selected fruit a hundred arrived in good condition. For two days the theme of conversation at the Imperial table was the delicacy of the mangosteen, which was called on that occasion, in deference to Her Majesty, the Empress's fruit.
The rind of the mangosteen contains a num- THIS work, which enjoys the support of the Ad- ber of elements which, according to competent miralty and is an invaluable work of reference, authorities, might be utilised in the industries. has now completed the twenty-first year of its exis-
The cultivation of the fruit is highly re- tence. It contains records of the war and meri-munerative and the writer of the artiole er- torious services of the Officers of the Royal Navy presses the opinion that it might be greatly (only to be found in this work), and of the Royal improved. Marines and Royal Naval Reserve; also the details of civil appointments held by Officers in the retired lists, so that the career of old friends may be traced after their retirement from active service. In the list of ships are found recorded the victories of famous battle ships bearing the same name, forming an interesting and unique record of the war services of the ships. It is a it to the attention of Navy Leaguers who wish very comprehensive work, and we would commend to keep themselves posted as regards the personnel of the Navy.
THE MANGOSTEEN. The Courrier de Saigon has an interesting article on the mangosteen, the crop of which is this year super-excellent. The fruit, a native of the Straits of Malacca, is said to have been introduced into Cochin-China q y Monseigneur d'Adran about the end of the last century and it is now largely cultivated.
"The beautiful plantations, characteristi- cally oriental în appearance, that the traveller sees on the river banks in the district of Than- daumot present at this season," says the article, "a most pleasing aspect, tempting to the brush of a painter. Under the bushy trees, trimmed into regular pyramids, are seen groups of Annamite girls busily collecting the dark red fruit, that falls by thousands, into their bamboo baskets. The gathering of the crop in most interesting, bringing about each year,
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THE ACCIDENT TO THE "BENLAWERS.”
Nagasiki, 18th May, The Benlawers on her departure from this port on Friday last carried away one passenger only, Dr. von Noppen, an American professor from the University of Chicago, who is return- ing home from from India, where he had been sent by the U.8. Government to investigate and report on the bubonic plague. The doctor returned here on Tuesday evening from the Benlawers and has kindly furnished us with the following brief particulars of the accident. On Friday evening last the Benlawess left the harbour at about half-past five, and proceeded on her journey, nothing untoward happening until the vessel had been to sea for three hours. At halfpast eight Dr. Noppen and the chief engineer were talking together in the saloon, when a terrific or
crash occurred, which destroyed everything of a fragile nature in the room. The doctor at once went on deck, thinking that a collision had taken place, but he was informed by the pilot that the vessel had gone ashore on the place known as the Fakushi, rock. At the time of the accident Captain Webster was absent from the bridge, he having gone below temporarily. An examination of the vessel showed that she was hanging on the ree ships, with deep water fore and aft,
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