began, and ign the entirety of ses to the extreme western district, ʼn every way thế most suitable location both from its possession, the amplitude And its present comparatively unocou Sond ion? Tomky perhaps be thought that the point which I am now advancing in hot of much moment, for the reason that the carrying out of it would foot but little relief, where great relief is needed, but let me ask those who fancy this to ascertain from the quarters where such inform. ation in farivable, the true extent of the numbers vinhabiting the houses referred to, and, the numbers of houses that would thus vacated, and they may have cause to
their ideas. Very many reasons, an
them patent ones, could be advanced
this pre- sent suggestion; I will ut that of bring- ing the same up to a certain recognised sanitary level. In addition I would advocate the grant ing of certain further powers to Board, with such approval as aforesaid, to, ob tain the demolition and removal of any partis cular premises, or set of premises, the removal- of which appears necessary or desirable for the sake of the other premises in the sam neighTMTM bourhood; this, at first sight, may seem some what sweeping, bat 1 would intend to confin my meaning to the cases, which certainly exist where the removal of one or two, or a few, premise would, from their particular position. appreciably and materially enhance the healthi- ness of the other premises in the immediate surrounding. It is true that these suggestions would in all probability entail the question of compensation. That question, however, has been before, and must again, if necessary, bo met..
enables the
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
as is necessary to give the real relief that is required. Surely the stinting, sord, money. accumulating part that is being played by our Government in these present days cannot appeal to any serious mind that appreciates
May 19, 1900. tion whether the bulk of the ever increasing working population here can be induced to live anywhere than contrally, where moh living is by any means, however unhealthy, possible. Takefor instance the Eastern and Western ends of the
housing the
the existing necessities of the colony; it is eity, eespecially the latter, marge num- bat recently that the ery weighty-coming ber of premises suitable from whence it did-complaint was made working class have for a long time remained that our public works were being starved. | unoccupied for the reason that their situation But that is not all. Our public requirements is too remote from the centre of the possible of yet more pressing and urgent nature are occupaut's work. I believe it is necessary to being treated oven worse. It would seem that and the room as centrally as possible and I so long as thriving reports go home showing have ventured to indicate the possible means increased prosperity, greater income and less doing so. As Mr. Francis remarked, the Go-
vernment should step in in the present crisis- expenditure, the Imperial Government aska no more of its Administrators, and gives no heed | for so it is, or shortly will be-in some shape to the complaints, that must at times reach, or form, and, if that form is not to be an actual even thus far, of a short sighted policy, the remedial measure of its own, it shouldat least needs of a colony year by year increasing in extend (amongst other things) to the giving of the fullest encouragement to those who are to importance and call for consideration, and the allegation that the investment of our present take those measures for it.
I am, sir, faturas in Colonial requirements will conduce to the greater well-being of the oslony in the future.
In this connection it is indeed encouraging to Learn from the Secretary of State's depatch of the 16th February last that he fully concurs in at least a part of, the views expressed in the nemoranda forwarded from certain of the Un official members of Council, bát, at the same time, is unable to concur in the expenditure of the funds required for carrying out those views. The Colonial Government has a remedy that would very greatly meet the present wants, if it will but exercise it; let it announce that it is prepared to sell its lands freely, at reasonable and frugal prices; let it fix such upset prices and a nual rentals as will constitute an induce ment to private enterprise to come forward and carry but the building that is required; and, by all means, let it make special conditions ou
Yours obediently.
LEX.
TO THE EDI FOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS.
Sir,-That some one has blundered thers is not the slightest doubt. No. 2 District, men- tioned by your Correspondent "Lux," had been for a considerable time past overcrowded to such an extent that an increase of 50 per cent. in the rental failed to find a single floor vacant ; and adding insult to injury the Government have thought fit to cause the poor tenants of the whole of certain streets to remove in order to make room for disorderly houses or brothels. Where did the tenants of these atrests find room? Of course, in the already congested area of the same dis triot or a little further east. They were not in a position to occupy the tenements given up
(6.) The creation of more room in the city itself by the better regulation of the occupancy such sales, regulating the class of houses that by those who have taken up their houses, of various parts of it. To particularise. I mean by the removal of the very large number of disorderly houses which exist in our midst.
It may be said that this has been, or is being.
done. Trae it is that Government measures have been, and are being, adopted with the view of causing the removal of a large number of the inhabitants of such houses from the
8
more or less central possessions which they have lately occupied to certain districts in the western portion of the town; but it is, I sub- mit, not enough. There exist at the present time streets full of such bouses and numbers of other houses that are covertly of similar nature. I am aware that there are reasons adducible why some of these premises should be allowed to continue their existance in the eastern portion of the town, but we may be permitted to doubt the sufficiency of these reasons when opposed to them are the one gase of No. 2 Health district, in which recently certain streets have been given over for habitation as disorderly houses, necessitaing -since the occupiers of these houses will pay rents, that the orderly population cannot yield the former inhabitants "finding accomodation in other premises in the neighbourhood, and so increasing the overcrowding, with the result that this district was the first to be declared by the Sanitary; Board as infected with plagae,
and house-to-house visitation ordered.
(c) The encouragement of building opera- tions, especially of a certain class; and, in this connection, the sale and rental by Government at a reasonable rate of lands for that purpose The Acting Colonial Secretary has stated that the Governor, no doubt for good and sufficient reasons, will not support the formation of the Trust which has been proposed, which I assume,
· means that, in consequence, such a thing will not come into existence, and possibly the reasons twhich I have above suggested influenced His Excellency in coming to such a decision. Be that as it may, however, if Government is not, as spparently it is not, disposed to relieve the pre- sentoongestion by undertaking building to a con. siderable extent on its own account, it does behove it to assist by all the means in its powers such private enterprise as is obtainable in that dires- tion. Does it do so? The answer must be
distinctly "No"; consider for a moment the upset prices and Crown rentals that have been faxed to sale of Crown laud in recent years, is small minority of instances, possibly, within reason, but in a great majority of cases entirely prohibitive of the possibility of such building
may be erected and the class of occupants per mitted and also the rentals that may be charged. And, upon these terms, I venture to assert that the private enterprise to carry out all this would not be found wanting.
(a) My last suggestion is of a somewhat different nature to its predecessors and rather possibility of any similar, o. of the increase in made with a view to the prevention of the the existing, state of affairs as is now prevailing in regard to our sanitary economics. It is that our sanitary staff and its duties should be properly and efficiently remodle i and put upon such a basis as will enable it to carry out the
objects and aims of its existence in a thorough and enlightened manner. I say this with all das respect for the existing Board and staff, aud the work they do, and I would give all credit to the persoanel of that body. Bat more must be done. When men of the practical experience of Mr. May and Mr. Osborne, not to mention others, allege that the sanitary staff of the o logy is entirely insufficient and overtaxed, from the highest to the lowest, and that, in addition to the increase in it which they consider imperative, a somewhat liberal measure of municipal life should be ronght into existence, surely the bulk of the populace must feel that they are right, aud equally surely it is the duty of our overumeat to give them the attention they
deserve. It is difficult to credit that serious representations on such a subject made by a Governor who was really interested in the carrying out of what must be known to be the desires of the colony, and the due and liberal administration of its affairs, would meet with that cool reception from the Colonial Office which the Acting Colonial Secretary and His Excellency the General would seem to suggest, but if such were, in truth, the case. it serves to show the futility of our Officials telling us that nothing can be done without public opinion, when those who act through them accord that opinion such recep. tion.
Finally I will olose this with a few farther remarks. I do not believe that Mr. Pollock's suggestion that the Government should relieve the existing pressure by considerable operations on the model building plan outside the city limits feasible in this Colony. It is possible that it might do in the case of the hands requir- ed for the proposed Naval Yard works, given that the premises, and the means of transport to and fro, await the men on their influx here. But I venture to seriously ques
sa account of the high rental. Apart from the policy of sending these houses to this District (for pleasure-seekers on going along Praya East and Queen's Road West in the evening, are now and then greeted by painted faces), where will the Sanitary Board find room for those unfor tunate mortals who have to be cleared away from those tenements which come under the provisions of the new bye-laws that will come into effect on the 1st of June next, probibiting the existence of cubicles on ground and middle floor of certain buildings? How many poor souls will have to edge themselves in the far too overcrowded are: ? When the Naval Yard Extension commences operations, the state of this District can well be imagined-it will be another Taipingshan, to be sure.
Lauds in the western extremity of the town aggregate over a million of square feet, capable of holding hundreds of tenement houses and ara now lying waste. Enquiries have elicited the fact that it does not pay the landlords to put up buildings for the average class of our citizens, because building materials have gone up so high that rents expected from them would scarcely yield 7% on the outlay, not even in- cluding the cost of land. To do away with overcrowding, even to a small extent, it be hoves our (overnment to encourage landowners colony as many buildings as required, and to to put up at the western extremity of the send away wholesale all the existing disorderly houses at that end-Yours truly,
MISSIONARIES IN CHINA.
"
R.
"
TO THE EDITOR" OF THE DAILY PRESS,
Si-With reference to a letter which appeared recently in your paper under the above heading, the writer asks in what way the missionaries were responsible for the Tai Ping rebellion?
Whilst, of course, it would be
absurd to lay the charge wholly at their door. still it cannot be denied, as a matter of history, that their tenets and teachings had a great deal to do with it indirectly. One of the first
acts of Haug-sin Tauen. and of his early converts was to be baptised, and to put away all idɔls, and the Confucisa tablet out of their schools; and I suppose that not even the most ardant missionary or religious enthusiast of to day would contend that the teachings of mystical Christianity tend to strengthen the respect and veneration of the Chinese for the laws and customs of
their
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