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spurto British rail way enterprise in Burmah, the Shan States, and south-w has been the Tonkin-Yunnan line
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND The Commodore points out that the patrol thence to Hai Kuan and Tali-fu; also from river cannot protect goods from Mitu to Yunnan-fa, via Chou Hsiong; and, robbery shore. On October 7th a des- from some point between Tali-fu and Yun patch miralty states that Lord SALISBURY would the option for the Company to choose any which they hope to capture the trade be glad to receive a report from the Com- route they please for the latter line. On provinces south-west of the mander-in-Chief on the China Station as to the 18th September, Lord SALISBURY tele British speculators, urged on by the state of affairs, Next follows the cor- graphed his consent to the application on Iadge that they would app respondence between our Chamber of Com- behalf of the Yunnan Company. On the richer side of the province of __ merce, the China Association, and Mr. Bax-11th October Mr. BAX-IRONSIDE replied that that beyond lay the far greater IRONSIDE, in which the latter expresses the Taungli Yamen had refused the applica- Szechuan, have striven bard the hope that, taken in connection with the tion, citing the Burmah Convention of 1897 let French energy anticipate them, argent representations to the Chinese Gov- Article XII, and denying that they had the Yunnan enthusiasts have now to prove vild in their schemes ernment, the measures adopted by Her made any definite promises at the interview is that they are not as Majesty's Government (ie. the patrol of the of the 11th April, 1898, beyond a verbal | as their critics have declared them and river) might eventually result in the sup- promise to the effect that they would be they can find the money to carry out there pression of piracy. A letter from Vice willing to discuss the question of the exten- schemes. The British Government has dis- Admiral SEYMOUR to the Admiralty, dated sion of the railway into China when it played a certain willingness to help them by August 31st, details the measures taken reached the frontier. Lord SALISBURY re-breaking down the stubborn attitude of the and points out that another vessel of plied on the 13th that the Chinese Govern- Taungli Yamen. If the iden is as feasible the Sandpiper class is required and that ment must be informed that Her Majesty's as it is far-seeing the Yunnan Company will a third vessel would have a good effect, Government could not admit their freedom | have deserved well of their country. but says that to police effectually the to reject the application, in view of the pro- North and West Rivers, relieving China mise of the Tsungli Yamen on the 11th, of her responsibilities in this respect, April, 1898. On the same day the secretary
(Daily Press, 1st May,) agos would take more vessels than were at his of the Yunsan Company wrote to the Foreign
Among the many inconveniences borne by command of a suitable type and that the Office, drawing attention to the refusal, ex- the Hongkong resident, apart from the ha- work could be done better and more cheaply pressing a hope of strenous support from the rassing conditions of climate, may be classed by fast steamboats, under control of Water Government, and pointing out that the Com- the inferior quality of butchers meat, that Police. The insufficiency of the patrol of pany was continuing for another season its forms part of his daily fare. So accustomed the Sandpiper, Tweed, and one torpedo-boat survey of the line from Burmah to Sze- has he become to the cocon-nut fibre of the is farther insisted on in another letter from chuan and the Yangteze; receiving a reply tissue and the saw-dust flavour of its meagre the Vice-Admiral to the Admiralty. On that the Legation at Peking had been in- juices that he accepts the want of quality in November 15th a telegram from H.E. Sir structed to support the claim. On the 21st the butchers' meat with stoical resignation, HENRY BLAKE was received at the Colonial of the month Mr. BAX-IRONSIDE telegraphed dines on make-believa mutton, puts every Office pointing out the intolerable state of to Lord SALISBURY that he had carried out thing down to the climate and never pauses the river and the helplessness of China, but his instructions and that the Taungli Yamen to ask whether such a condition of affairs suggesting that the Viceroy should still be held firmly to their position; the immediate can be remedied, and meat somewhat of the asked to co-operate. This suggestion was answer to which, from the Foreign Office, | flavour of butchers' meat in England approved. Already on the 9th of the month was that Her Majesty's Government adhered possibly be placed upon his table. But to their view and had no intention of aban- doning it. At this point the correspondence ceases, as far as the Blue Book is concerned. But there is sufficient to show that the Bri- tish Government at least did not look with an unfavourable aye on the Company's efforts.
Une Foreign Office to the Ad- | nan-fu, a line to the Yangtsze River, with the French have set their hearts
the Commander-in-Chief had been asked to forward the proposed scheme for a water police force equipped with fast steamers. On December 2nd a telegram was sent by Lord SALISBURY to Sir CLAUDE MAC DONALD directing him to urge that pressing orders be sent to the Viceroy of Canton to co-operate in the measures to stamp out piracy. With a paragraph in a letter from Vice Admiral SEYMOUR to the Admiralty, in which he mentions the continued patrol of the river by the Sandpiper, Tweed, and torpedo-boat No. 86, the Blue Book, so far as it deals with the West River question, closes. The correspondence is most instruc- tive and admirably illustrates the difficulty of dealing with questions of the highest im- portance when on one side there is Chinese passivity and on the other the apparatus of British official administration. We shall have an opportunity of discussing the result of this labour 'in, we hope, the not too dis- tant future when the proposed scheme above ́allnded to is laid before the public.
‘THE YUNNAN RAILWAY SCHEME.
Of the activity of the Yunnan Company there can be no doubt. Merely to read the few reports from their agents and surveyors, which are included in the Blue Book from which the above correspondence is taken, is sufficient to show this. They have persisted in their efforts in spite of the incredulity and discouragement with which their pro- jects have been and are still received by many competent critics. But they have trusted in the judgement of those whom they have employed to report on the country and have held to the opinion, for long con- sidered contrary to the facts of the case, that there is a possible route from Burmah to the heart of Yunnan and beyond. Many, probably a strong majority of those who know something of the country to be traversed, still have grave doubts as to the return to be expected from the railway being sufficient to justify the expenses required for making THERE are not wanting various indica-it. But if the Company is prepared to back tions that the question of the Yunnan Rail- way, otherwise more imposingly called the Burmah-Yangtze Railway, will in the near future occupy a considerable amount of at- tention from those interested in the securing of the trade of South-western China. It is worth while to look at the communications which passed on this subject between the various parties concerned, as set forth in the new Blue Book on the Affairs of China. It appears
in a telegram from the British Legation at Peking to Lord SALISBURY on the 16th September last that the Yunnan Company's agent applied for support in his application for a concession for a railway from the Burmah Railway terminus to Mitu ms Kunlong and the Namting Valley;
(Daily Press, 3rd May.)
' BUTCHERS' MEAT IN HONGKONG.
can
the Hongkong resident need not carry his memory back to the time when he sojourned in England or enjoyed a well-spent holiday there to be reminded of succulent juices; a trip to Shanghai and its gastric reminis cences will prove equally effective. The truth is that full-flavoured mutton is un- known in Hongkong, while in Shanghai it is all that the palate can desire. Whence this difference? We are aware that to ob tain the fullest and richest flavour of mut- ton the joint should be hung for some time, a course of procedure in Hongkong, certainly in the summer season, not permissible, but even in the cool season when the joint may, with watching, be hung for several days, the flavour and nutriment of the Hongkong mutton is far inferior to that of meat in the Northern port. And the cause
to our mind is not far to seek.
The importation of cattle and sheep, their slaughter and exposure of the meat for sale, are dealt with in "The Cattle Diseases, Slaughter Houses and Market Ordinance of 1887, and the Bye-laws enacted there- under. The Ordinance itself is a most ex- cellent one, and from the frequent Bye-laws made under this Ordinance it is perfectly clear that the Government is fully alive to its belief and the Government is ready to the necessity of endeavouring to furnish to aid it by exercising pressure on the Taung the residents of this colony good and whole- li Yamen-for to expect the Government some meat. Under the Bye-laws all cattle and to interest itself directly in the line is, sheep must be landed at certain wharves and specified hours, while sche- as The London and China Express pointed between certain out recently, likely to lead to waste of dule A section 3 of the Ordinance, reads as time-there is reason to trust that not very follows:-" All cattle and sheep imported "into the colony shall be forthwith inspected many years hence we may see a line run- ning to Yunnan-fu and thence into Sze-"and duly marked by an Inspector of Live- “stock, and any animal which he finds to chuan. A cheerful correspondent of an Indian paper the other day talked about "be diseased or which he may suspect to be **suffering from disease shall be placed in the approach of a "great world line from
Palestine, Persia, segregation and under observation at the Constantinopless via
"depôts set apart for the purpose at Ken- India, and Burmah to Hongkong." Thi
sphere of
nedy Town and Yaumati." Schedule: B of course is ascending dreams, but what dreams may not ultimately section 2 provides for the marking of cattle come true no one would care to say. The and sheep before slaughter and is in the
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