Page
BRITISH POLICY AND CHINESE CORRUPTION.
(Daily Press, 5th January.) The Shanghai correspondent of The Times it has been placed on record as recently Eny's as August, 1897, in a despatch from - Lord SALISBURY to the Legation at Peking, the contents of which were duly communicated to those concerned, that Her Majesty's Go- vernment cannot support British mer- "chauts in claiming any privileges which
C
BURY
was
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
41
16
some
[January 6, 1900.
dent:" There can be no serious develop | The Europeans, too, though the matter under their immediate come ment either of China's exports or of any may not
have to suffer for it to "other of the country's numerous latent attention,
of extent in the increased rates. resources except as the result of the com
If В Bound plete reform or removal of the existing wages they have to pay. system of government with its thousands currency be one of the tests of a civilized "of hungry officials.” We believe the government the Hongkong Government, British Government is now convinced of we fear, must rank as only partially civi the correctness of that proposition.
lised. Would it not be well to appoint nuother Committee or Commission to in-
HONCKONG CURRENCY AND ITS quire into the whole subject of the currency,
DEFECTS.
reason
(Daily Press, 30th December.)
for the
recommendation.
It
including the question of the British versns the Mexican dollar, as well as that of the subsidiary coinage ?
MURDER OF A BRITISH MISSION- ARY IN SHANTUNG.
+2
HONGKONG SĂNIȚARY BOARD.
they have not enjoyed in the past," the letter of Lord ELGIN's treaty notwithstand- ing. The statement as it stands seems in- The currency of Hongkong is in a dis- credible, but the passage quoted might graceful condition, as almost every member not appear so strange if its context of the community knows from his own ex- had been given. What Lord SALIS-perience. Some time ago a Committee was
SHANGHAI, 3rd January: probably meant that Her appointed to consider whether it was feasible["SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DAILY PRESS.
or advisable to take action with a view to
"The Boxers (a Chinese fanatical organi Majesty's Government were not prepared to adopt any new reading of existing treaties in preventing the flooding of the colony with sation) murdered a British missionary named That Committee recom- Brooke, on Sunday, fifty miles south-west of order to enlarge the privileges merchants Chinese coins.
Chinanfu, Shautung. have hitherto enjoyed thereunder. The in- mended that no action should be taken in terpretation of trenties, like the interpreta- the matter, but failed to give their tion of statute law, is governed by the prece deuts of any previous rulings that may have taken place. Confusion would be in- troduced if this principle were departed from, and if Lord SALISBURY's declaration be read in this particular sense it will ap pear less extraordinary than if taken in the general sense suggested by The Times' cor· respondent. If new privileges are desired Lord SALISBURY might argue that it would be a more correct procedure to secure them by new agreements than by adopting new readings of old treaties, even though the old readings may be held to have been mistaken. The correspondent goes on to say that, under the conditions laid down, 'is manifestly unfair to blame either British * consuls or merchants as a class for the ex- isting situation, or to attribute it, in fact to anything else than to the misguided policy
56
"
K&
it
which has hitherto been followed in deal- ing with the Chinese Government, a policy already sufficiently condemned on all sides | "to afford the hope of better things to come." Probably no one is more convinced that the past policy of the British Government has been mistaken than Lord SALISBURY himself, the unfortunate results of past uistakes having been so forcibly brought home during his lordship's administration. Hence, we may assume that there is some justification for the hope of better things to
come,
1.
"C
**
:.
|
Police), the Hon. R. D. Ormsby (Director of Public Works), Dr. Clark (Medical Officer of Health). Dr. Hartigan, Major Brown, Mr. J. McKie, Mr. Chan A Fuk, Mr. Fung Wa Chuen, aud Mr. C. W. Duggan (Secretary).
WELCOMING THE NEW MEMBERS. The PRESIDENT-Before proceeding with the formal business of this meeting I wish to welcome the nominated and newly-elected members of the Board. I trust that our united efforts will conduce still further to the sanitary well-being of this colony.
has since been bruited that the renson
On Thursday afternoon the usual fortnightly which influenced the Committee was of a
meeting of the Hongkong Sanitary Board' was sordid character, namely, that Hongkong old. The President (Dr. J. M. Atkinson, Prin- derives a revenue from the export of Hong cipal Civil Medical Officer) occupied thechair, and kong coins to China, that to prohibit the there were also present the Vice-President (the import of Chinese coins would invite retalia-Hou. F. H. May, Captain Superintendent of tion on the part of China, and that the re- sult might be a loss to the revenue. That, we contend, is not the point of view from which the subject should be approached, for it is a cardinal principle of good government that revenue iught never to be raised by debase- ment of the currency, and to allow a country to become flooded with inferior coin of foreigu origin in order to make a profit thereby is tantamount to debasement.' But although the ground on which the Commit- tee is reported to have arrived at its recom. mendation may be an unsound one, the same r.sult might possibly have been at by another line of reason- arrived ing, namely, that however objectionable it may be on sentimental or patriotic
The SECRETARY announced that he had re- grounds that the colony should be mainly dependent on a Chinese mint for its sub-ceived a communication from the Colonial Sec- sidiary currency the coins are in fact notretary stating that the Acting Registrar of the Supreme Court had reported the election on the so inferior as they are sometimes represented 19th December of Dr. William Hartigan_and
Mr. James McKie as members of the Board. to be and they meet the public convenience.
THE OUTBREAK OF BERI-BERI. The questiou may be asked, indeed, how the
The following report, dated 26th December, colouy could get on without them, seeing that owing to official obstruction or indiffer- was submitted by Dr. Clark:- ence a sufficient supply of British coius can- not be obtained. At present, we understand, it is quite impossible to obtain British twenty. cent pieces, while there is an unlimited supply of Chinese coins of the same de nomination.
Better Chinese coins than none at all. But while the scarcity of British silver coins is made up for by the abundance of Chinese coins there is un- happily no such compensation in the case of copper coins.
Mr. CHAN A FUK-1 beg to thank you for my Chinese colleague, can assure you that what- your kind welcome, and at the same time I, and ever sanitary measures are taken for the bene- fit of the community shall have our cordial support.
THE RECENT ELECTION.
"I have the honour to submit the following report concerning the outbreak of beri-beri at the Blind Home and the Berlin Foundling House.
"It is stated that the Blind Home, a one- storey building on the Pokfulam road, which maintains about sixteen ohildren and is now closed, has had cases of beri-beri among the in- mates since July of this year, the first case to occur there being an infant who was admitted suffering from the disease. The only communi.
cation between this Home and the Berlin Found-
pean friend at Blind Home,
4
As The Times' correspondent says, the leading spirits at Peking "have not "failed to observe that commercial con- "cessions can be so worked as to yield a "minimum of benefit to the foreigners con- "cerned; the inland waters regulations, "which erstwhile delighted the British Commons, are a thinly-veiled jest; the "revised mining rules effectively preclude
Few Europeans, we im-ling House (which are under different manage- any idea of mining; preliminary railway "contracts can always be protracted indengine, have any idea of the hardship thement) was the daily visits of a European nurse finitely by subsequent negotiations; pro- scarcity of copper coins entails upon the employed at the Foundling House to a Euro- "nises made at Peking can be repudiated Chinese. The coins are at a premium of "in the provinces, and vice versa." The four per cent, and under these circumstances mistake made in the past has been in treat the shopkeepers and stall holders in the ing the Chinese Government as a civilised market object to give copper change, and organisation, conducting its business on prin- buyers cannot get copper coins with which ciples approxi nating to the ordinary stan to make their purchases. Thus if a person dard of honesty. Instead of that the Govern- buys an article valued at four cents, the ment represents simply a congeries of hungry nearest tender he can make is a five-cent officials, each anxious to line his pockets at silver piece, and as the seller declines to the public expense, and with no regard to give the change of one cent the buyer the obligations of equity or treaty. In in- has to make up his purchase tofive cents by ternal affairs the rapacity of the officals is buying another cent's worth of something only held in check by the tendency of the he nogihly does not want and can ill afford. people to rebel when the screw is turned too To our sleek officials with their high salaries tilitly, and in external affairs fear of the and exchange compensation this may appear gunboat is the only restraining influ-a trifling matter, but it is no trifling ence. To again quote The Times' correspon matter to the Chinese working classes,
This European nurse herself showed nop symptoms whatever of beri-beri, but the autho rities at the Foundling House are of opinion that she must in some manner have conveyed the to be attacked were twp who were being` (surgi- infection to the House, as the first two children cally) dressed by this nurse, one for an affectiou of the eyes and the other for some skin affec- tion. Within two or three days, however, of these two children showing symptoms of the disease no less than fifty to sixty others were
attacked.
"Up to December 7th the House contained age, and on this date sixty-nine sohool children, 102 children and girls up to 16 or 17 years of all of whom were suffering from beri-beri, were sent to Macao with six big girls (who wore fres from the disease) to assist in looking after them, thus leaving twenty-seven healthy children in
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.