October 7, 1899.]
THE "HOUSING OF THE PEOPLE" QUESTION IN HONGKONG.
C
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS.
Sir. I shall be glad if the following remarks can be placed in your columus. The question of the Housing of the People" is of great. importance and all contributions to the ques- tion are more or less valuable
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1st. The Royal Naval Dockyard. -Owing to the extension of the Dockyard in the heart of a crowded city many of the working class population have been turned out of their houses, notably those in Fletcher Street. The Admi. ralty should be called upon to provide housing for their workmen to replace the dwellings taken over. And houses are specially needed for the European forenen and their families employed in the RN. Dock yard. Mr. Gillies has housed his Eurai stuff at the Kowloon Docks: the. Admiralty shoul·l follow suit. The Admiralty are no doubt aware that no house property in London can be taken down for any purpose without the provision of suitable buil- dings to house the displaced people.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE SHANTUNG RAILWAY.
PRINCE HENRY CUTS THE FIRST SOD.
We translate the following from the Ostasia. tische Lloyd :-
wel.
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Russian representativo. This object, now gen- erally known, is to obtain a naval base in the Gulf of Siam, as a coaling station when the Trans-Siberian Railway is completed. The Russian Consul-General cares little for the interests of France. He is in Siam for the purpose of getting a port, and he is trying to obtain it by making use of the influence of the French Republic. To please the Sia- mese and for the object stated the Russiau representative was very willing to play the role of intermediary between the two negotiating parties France and Siam. The prestige of France in the valley of the Menam is not his principal concern.
H.R.H. Prince Henry of Prussia, who has been staying at the newly opened Prinz Heinrich a visit to the town of Kiaochau. To Tapotan Hotel at Teintau, on the 23rd September paid the journey was made in a steam-launch. Here he was received by Mr. Hildebrand, the chief engineer of the railway, and the journey to Kiaochau was completed on horseback. In at. tendance upon the Prince were Rear Admiral Fritze, Staff Surgeon Lerobe, Personliche Adjn-
"Dur Authorities have lacked insight in this tant Captain von Witzleben, Captain-Lienten- matter. The Governor-General and the Quai ants Hintze and von Trotha, and the Secr- d'Orsay appear to me to have been once more etary J. Wilda. Upon the arrival of the jockeyed by Chulalongkorn regarding that cavalcade at the gate of Kiaochau at half. portion of Siam which is within the sphere of past twelve, His Royal Highness was
French influence and the natural complement coued in specially friendly style by the Magis. of Indo China. Mr. Doumer went to Siam trate of the town. After a short rest at under the auspices-I had almost said the tute- Mr. Hildebrand's house the Prince and his age of the Russian Consul-General. No one snite went to the site selected for the rail. told him exactly what was to be done, hence his way station, some ten minutes' journey outside insistance upon making a treaty that would have the north wall. Here were assembled the oficials been disastrous to France. This new treaty of the Railway Administration and the prin- between Siam and France, if it had been accept- cipal Chinese officials in a marquee which haded on the basis already published, would have given great satisfaction to the Siamese, for it would have put an end to French influence in a very short time, to the profit of England, All the Annamites, Laotians, and Cambodians to whom. France promised protution under the treaty of 1893 would have been immediately incorporated in the Siamese army and navy, and it would not have been long before the English Protectorate was established. For you now know the true bearing of the engage- ments into which the Government of King Chulalongkorn has entered. The trenty made Russia would have bad ber coaling station. What a fine stroke!
2.-The Coffin Mill at East Point. When the whole of the spindles are at work in this important mill many Chinese work people will have to find accommodation close to their work. This will lead to overcrowd-been erected by the Magistrate. Mr. Hildebrand ing in Wanchai,, and the question arises, how far the proprietors of the mill should take steps towards the housing of their work people. The crowding in of the people will raise the rents, the higher rents will dewand higher wa.es, in the end the housing of the working folk affects the total cost of running the mill. Why not build workm-u's quarters?
3. The Kowloon Gudown Company.—This Company does more towards the housing of its Chinese operatives than any civil organization in Hongkong, and the experience gained by Mr. Osborne and his able assistant Captain Brown must be of much advantage in any future question of the housing of the people,
5.- -The Sunitary Staff-The question of providing house room for the Sanitary Kispec- tors and also for the Chines working staff is repidly coming to the front. It is essential that these offcials ba given honse-room, or constant rise in wages will be necessary Fecured good men. Reat is eating up all profits in Hongkoug.
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6.-The Kowloon Dick Company -This well- to-do company houses its European staff. would repay all expenditure if accommodation was also provi bed for the Chinese workers. not us rents rise in Kowloon-as they cer tainly must-the increased wages of the workers will be confiscated to swell the unearned in- orement of some landlord living in England and taking no hood whatever of the duties of landlords.
7-Municipal Lodging Houser. This ques tion, well to the front in England, and daily being recognized as a duty, will also need to be considered in Hongkong. These places pay their i way and are really an investment.
8.-Rent Courts.-Looming in the distance, and certain to come within the
range of practical politics. is the formation of a Rent Court presided over by the Puisue Judge with two assessors and with right of appeal to the Chief Justice. This court can on application by the tenant ho asked to fix a fair rent, which the court, after hearing counsel, will have to do, It is hopeless to attempt to deal fully with over- crowding while the main cause of overcrowding, viz., high rent, remaius undealt with.
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9.-Exorbitant Broti el Reuts.-A lacit. ugree ment that all brothels are to be kept as far as possible to the Kennedytown end of the town will also greatly lower rents. There is investment in Hongkong so good as a really good house of ill fame, and none that tends more in the end towards overcrowding. The Yoshiwara system of Japanese towns, which turns the demi monde into a suburb of the city, has much to sy for it In this city no brothel should be allowed eist of the Sailors' Home,-Yourɛ.
HOUSING OF THE PEOPLE, Hongkong, 2nd October. $99.
We hear that the Governor's residence at the Peak (Mountain Lodge) is to be an excep. tionally handsome house. Messrs. Palmer and Turner are the architects.
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made a short speech in which he referred to the great gratification the Railway Company deri- ved from the warm interest His Royal Highness took in the wor, which was the first great German undertaking of the kind in the East. and requested the Prince to turn the first sod
As he took the spade the Prince said
and which industrious hands will carry out To this work wLich human skill has designed
may God give his blessing. May this work redound to the honour of the German empire. may it spread German culture and German in terests, may it promote good relations between the German and the Chinese empires. These are my wishes which these sods attend.
Thereupon the Prince cut three sods, the first of which he threw in the direction of Wei- shien, the second towards the sea at Tapatur. and the third in the direction of Tsintan, the German fulcrum. From Kiaochan work will be prosecuted in these three directions simul- taneously.
The Prince's suite followed suit, every member turning three sods, and then came the civil aud military mandarins, and lastly the railway off. cials. The Prince theu returned to Mr. Hilde. braud's house, where luncheon was served, the Chinese officials also being present. Mr. Hilde brand proposed three cheers for His Majesty
the Kaiser.
RUSSIAN AND FRENCH DESIGNS IN SIAM.
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RUSSIA WANTS A COALING STATION,
FRANOE LOOKS A SKANCE,
We translate the following from the Courrier d'Haiphong-
We have already published two articles on Siamese affairs by our collaborator Cb. Lemire, who has made a speciality of these interesting questions. M. Lemire has treated, as he ander. stood it and according to the information he had at hand, the assistance rendered to France iu Siam by our ally Russia.
on
It is necessary to enlighten public opinion this Siamese question. It must not be forgotten that Russia is in Siam for her own interest that she desires above everything a port, coaling station in the Gulf of Siam and, and that instead of assisting as she makes use of us to accomplish her own ends.
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That in my opinion is one of the interest- ing aspects of the Sismese question. It is necessary, as they say, to keep one's weather eye open and not to forget that the secret agreement recently signed between Russia and Siam-which is independent of the pub- lished t eaty was not made for the gratifica- tion of our country nor with the object of extending French influence in the Valley of the
Menam.'
Our correspondent in this interesting com. munication has, it seems to us, lifted one of the veils which obscure the Siamese question, so complicated and difficult for the uninformed. We hope that his warning will be noted and taken hold of in high places.
LAUNCH OF A NEW YANGTSZE STEAMER AT SHANGHAI.
THE YEASEL REFUSES TO MOVE AT THE
FIRST TRIAL.
Shanghai, 22nd September. Quite a number of ladies and gentlemen assembled yesterday afternoon on board of the tug Samson which was provided by Messrs, S. C. Farnham and Co. to convey visitors to the Has that assistance been as disinterested as launching of Messrs. Aruhold, Karberg and has been fondly supposed? We have often asked Company's steamer Suitai from their Cosino- ourselves this question, but in the absence of politan Dock. The party left the Band at precise information have been unable to answer
half past two and arrived at the yard shortly it. To clear up this point of Indo-Chinese before 3 o'clock where a large number of people, politics we have consulted one of our friends who including the Captian and officers of the German occupies a prominant position in the diplomatic oruiser Gefion were already gathered. Madame world of the Far East, We must be allowed Knappe, the wife of Dr. W. Knappe, Acting to keep his name private, but we can vouch Consul-General for Germany, was immediate- for his being well placed to obtain exact inforly escorted up the platform, followed by a mation. This is the letter he has addressed to ns:--
Monsieur le Directuor-You are right in strongly recommending that the Siamese question should not be allowed to drop out of sight as in 1893 and again in 896. You know, no doubt, that the Doumer mission was arranged by the Russian Consul-General in Siam in concert with the Siamese Government. You are also acquainted, I hope, with the object of the
few of the leading German citizens and their wives, to perform the christening, and with bottle in hand she awaited the sliding of the Suitai into the Hnangpu. Below, the men under the superintendence of the dock carpeuter were busy knocking away the chocks, and when the vessel should have slid not a move- ment was noticeable. This being an ordinary occurrence no comment was passed. Screw jacks were quickly applied to the ways to create the
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