404
I shall hardly be overstepping my duty by con- tributing something further towards the elucidalion of this important question.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
16
November 11, 1899.
HAI SEITLEMENT.
IMPORTANT SEIZURE.
which when completed will, I hope, represent | A LEKIN STATION IN THE SHANG- different shades of religions opinion, and indeed different religious Churches. As was stated The letter of the 4th inst. under which stood in my communication of the 3rd inst. difference the signature of "Institute," need not nor de. of creed will be rigidly excluded. The home is tain me. because your leader of the 6th has not intended to be a seed-plot for any particular stated quite clearly one insuperable objectiou religion" but a place where all will fin a therato, or to be more accurate, to the sugges- warm welcome, good food and temperance tion contained therein. G block must be vacat-drinks, and healthy games. ed by the 30th of November. Whatever there- I may add that there will be a meeting in fore may be the merits or demerits of that build- the Wesleyan Military Church, Wanchai, on ing, in posse, need not be discussed here at Thursday evening, the 18th inst., to discuss length. It may, however, be remarked that ways and means, when all who desire informa- some months' trial have, I venture to think, tion will there and then be supplied there with proved that it is not vary popular with those and will be heartily welcomed. for whom it was prepared. I believe that the Committee of the present Institute con- template moving into a room or rooms over shop in Queen's Road Central. But those most familiar with all the facts know, or perhaps I should say, believe, that this step is not satisfactory, that it has little to re- commend it, and is contemplated only because it is Hobson's choice. Five months' trial in Duddell Street, during the present year, clearly indicate what the result of taking hired pre- mises must be.
In your leader, sir, you have referred to the present Royal Naval Seamen's Club, and you have further informed us that General Gus- coigne intends to transform G block into a Soldiers' Club. That the General in taking this step has the welfare of the soldiers undor his command at heart I am convinced. His attitude towards the present Institute, as I happen to know, has been mest generous. More- over, it may frankly be conceded that such clubs have their place, and that they offer a trysting place for men where they will not be exposed to many of the temptations by which they are surrounded in the drinking houses of Queen's Road. But surely it cannot be main tained, assuming the existence of these clubs, that "The Soldiers' and Sailors' Home proposed by Mr. Bone does not seem to be an argent necessity." Indeed, you add, or, at least, imply, that there is yet room for such a place. This statement seems too obvious to need support. These clubs afford no suitable accomodation for those in Her Majesty's services who are testolalers and who, as you truly say, sir, are "generally speaking good conduct men and seldoin get into trouble." There are consider- able numbers of men who have accepted total abstinence principles, who, when on shore or out of barracks, are yet unprovided for, but for
11
whom it is our duty to ore. My short experi- ence of the Army and Royal Navy has led me to hold most of the men I meat in high esteem, and not least those whose nee is I am advocating. Bat it must be remembered that such "good conduct men do not stand where they stand to-day without an effort, and sometimes utterly fall. They need a helping hand. Therefore every one conversant with the facts will yet, I venture to think, earnestly contend that such a Home is a pressing need in Hongkong.
|
As I before clearly stated, technically the building will be under the direction of the Wes leyan Army aud Navy Committee, which is not unnatural, seeing they have given £1,000 to- wards the object. Practically it will be under a committee of management, to be appointed or elected here, comprising, I hope, members of different churches, who are interested in the wel- fare of the Army and Royal Navy. I should like to see evangelical work carried on along the line now obtaining in the present Insti- tute. In fact, when completed the new Home will take its place.-Faithfully yours,
C. BONE.
Hongkong, 7th November, 1899.
"
"
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS.
DEAR MR. EDITOR,-I read with great in- terest the correspondence and the leader in your valuable paper re a Soldiers aud Sailors' Institute for Hongkong, and now bag the pri- vilege of a small space for passing a remark or two from my (a soldier's) point of view. In the first place, is a Home required in Hongkong? I say yes, as a great many men who wish to lead a life of morality and sobriety find it very often an uphill task, as one cannot find the social life in ill-lighted barrack-rooms and the libraries, etc. in barracks for seven days in the week that the heart yearns for, and when one leaves barracks the host of well-lighted and musical drinking dens and brothels at every other corner that one meets do not, as a rule, strengthen the man in his fight against evil,
In the second place, I should say the use of intoxicants ought to be rigidly tabooed, as the drink is responsible, directly or indirectly, for uine-tenths of the "crime" in the army, and i find, as a rule, that one glass leads to many.
I should say that such a Home as the Rev. Mr. Boue contemplates building would be a great boon to Soldiers and Sailors, and why
not civilians, who could rub shoulders with Tommy and find him not so dark as sometimes painted. A Home such as this would cause many a man to leave the Army at the expira tion of his period of service better in body, mind, and, above all, soul, and prepared to enter the lists of life in a civil capacity.
Thanking you, sir. in anticipation.-I am,
Fours, etc.
- Hongkong, 8th November, 1899.
+ A.
A RISING IN KWELCHOWJ The N. C. Daily News publishes the following special telegram dated Changking, 30th Octo- ber-
A revolt has broken out in Jenhugihsien, Kweichow. The magistrate has been murder- ad, and the situation is considered serious.
GREAT FIRE AT VLADIVOSTOCK.
Shanghai. 30th October. Seizure of extreme importance to welfare and good government of the Foreign Settlement was made by the Municipal Police early yes- terday afternoon, when Übief Inspector Ho- ward, at the head of posse of Police, seized a regularly equipped lekin station on North Soochow Road, near Chekiang Road Bridge, and arrested the mandarin in charge. The full machinery for the levy of lekin upon all raw cot- tou coming from up-country to Shanghai was seized, including proclamations, written su- thorities, chops, receipt forms, books, etc. Fully twen'y clerks were at work at the lekin office at the time while three steam-launches and a sampan flying the lekin officer's flag were moored in the Soochow Creek in front of the office, but as the Municipal Police have no control ever that waterway, which is under' the charge of the I.M. Customs River Police, the flating paraphernalia of the concern could not be seized.
The case came on for hearing in the Mixed Court to-day before the Magistrate and Mr. 8. F. Mayers British Assessor; Chief Inspector Howard conducting the case for the Police. The prisoner, who had been released on bail in $1,000, cash, did not deny the charge, and it was shown that he had paid the higher provincial authorities the large sum of 79,000 tiao a year for the monopoly of collecting the lekin in, this office and was given a proclamation in his favour by Nieh, Provincial Treasurer, and had also written authority of the Shanghai Tantai. The man's predecessor had ɖnly paid 70,000 liao, and the present incumcent had got the post as the result of the visit of Empress-Dowager's Extor- tiouer, Kang Yi, to Shanghai. The office had only been open a week when the Police get wind of its operations and closed it up as above. stated, but the books seized showed that even in this brief period a very large sum of money had
been collected.
Iuspector Howard pointed out to the Court the extreme gravity of the case and the bare- faced infringement of the Treaties which the the establishment of the "squeeze station in- volved as well as its serious consequences to the prosperity and trade of Shanghai. The Assessor quite agreed with this view and commended the action of the Police in making the seizure. A great mass of Chinese documents relating to the office, with translatious in English, was-pút in evidence, but the documents have not been
all translated, and after some discussion it was arranged that all the papers seized and the buil money should be held by the Police pending the settlement of the question between the Consular Body and the Chinese authorities. The office, which is now in the hands of Police is to be closed meanwhile,—China Gazette.
RIOT BY RAILWAY WORKERS AT NEWCHWANG,
:
Ishould now, perhaps, state, though originally I had no intention of so doing, that I strenn- ously niged the desirability of such an Institute as your correspondent of the 4th inst. suggests, though not in G block. For months I deferred the notion now taken, and on two different occasions urged the Committee of the Institute to accept a resolution by which we should pledge ourselves to build a suitable place within the next eighteen months. Of course, as is ob- vious, I could not guarantee that the Wesleyan Army and Navy Committee in London would make a grant of £1,000 for such a home. What I did promise was that I would place before them the facts, appeal for a grant, and I have no doubt they would have freely offered assistance. This pr position of mine found, I am sorry to say, no support. No alternative therefore was left those of us who bear on our hearts the burden of the necessity ⠀ of sách a home as is now proposed, but to at- tempt to carry through the scheme ourselves, which when completed—and it surely will be completed in time--will afford a comfortable and an attractive place for the serious and sober, both of the Army and Royal Navy, and, At the meeting of the Directors of The I may add, if they will avail themselves of it.
Shanghai Pulp and Paper Co, Limited, held all the British subjects who form the Hong on the 3rd inst. at the office of The American kong Police Force.
Trading Co., the General Agents, the shares committes of management, when the time | were allotted to all subscribers and the Com. of their treatmant to the Newchwang Taotai,
will of course be selected and elected,
News has been received of a large fire at Vladivostock on the 17th ulto., which occasioned much damage. Seven houses in all were totally destroyed, among them being the Golden Hora Hotel, the principal hotel in the town. The damage is said to amount to more than one hundred thousand yen, which is, however, covered by insurance in St. Petersburg offices. Two persons are reported to have lost their lives during the fire.-China Gazette.
pany duly floated.
A Newchwang despatch from Chinese sources states that the Russian Railway authorities have had a hard time of it recently in keeping their Chinese workmen within their quarters after work; to prevent the plague being brought within the lines. On the 22nd instant there was a regular riot amongst the labourers, who, apon being prohibited from leaving their quar- ters, went on strike. They were then told that they would forfeit their last two months' pay if they persisted in striking, whereupon there was a regular rush for the Russian Consulate to demand the pay owing them. The Russian Consul refusing on the same grounds, the men became riotous and the Cossick guards-only a few in number-were called out and a volley was fired over the rioters' heads to make the mob diaperse. On this the latter became so mutinons and matters looked so threaten- ing that the Cossacks are reported to have flang away their arms and abandoned the Consulate. The mob was just debating whether to set fire to the building or not when some Chinese- speaking foreigners from the Customs came on the scene as peace-makers, and showed the wrong, as they rioters that they were in the w should have gone in the first place to complain
who was bound to take up their case. Further
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