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ག ། རྒྱུས 2།
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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with this agreement on the main point thereof 1900, the Ichang Chungking road, which exist countless minor divergences of opinion, should have made the journey between the For instance, as to the location of new sites two towns a matter of twelve days (instead some advocate Kowloon, others West Point, of, as now, by junk, in winter of twenty- others insist that it is useless to expect people to five and in summer of sixty days) remains live away from the centre of the town where-to this day an attempt, mainly owing to the in their work lies; a correspondent writing inaction of the Hupeh Viceroy. The Sze- to this paper pointed to "the Eastern and chuan section, though devious as all Chinese Western ends of the city, especially the lat-roads, was a creditable piece of work and cost "ter, where a large number of premises suit- the provincial treasury a million taels. But "able for housing the working class have for it has been allowed to decay and the agricul- "a long time remained unoccupied for the turists are encroached on it everywhere. reason that their situation is too remote Thus," comments r. LITTLE, "the great "from the centre of the possible occupant's Szean high'say, "opened" with such a "work. Again, as to the provision of the fourth of tronpets and innumerable funds for such large options as would be deply-cupraven rock inscriptions in the involved by the proposed alterations, there highest literary Winli, is to-day dead, have been many suggestions The Sanitary
"after a short ten years' life and is Board's advocacy of a Trust Scheme was not now literally buried. Such is China! favourably received. Other schemes which Mr. LITTLE Lad a full experience of the have been suggested seem unpractic- badness of the roads, for he had the misfor- able. But sources of revenue are not lack-tune to meet with a week of wet cold ing, as the Sanitary Board has pointed out. weather in the second stage of his journey, We have been assured that if we are from Wanhien, on the Yangtze, to Chengtu, nnanimous in our demand for anything we
and he describes the path as frequently a cannot be prevented from getting it. We mere mound, of red clayey mud with loose cannot afford to be accused of apathy in a paving-stones embedded here and there. matter so vital to the welfare of the Colony or of not hacking up the Government when it is prepared to act. Will it be prepared to act with promptitude in this matter? If so, all concerned will have cause for congratulating themselves.
SZECHUAN REVISITED.
(Daily Press, 24th May.)
A series of interesting articles has been appearing in the North China Daily News on “Szechuan Revisited" by Mr. ARCHIBALD LITTLE.
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[May 26, 1900.
SUPREME COURT.
May 18th.
CRIMINAL SESSION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR SIR John Carring- ton, KT., C.M.G., (CHIEF JUSTICE).
ATTEMPTING TO BRIBE A DISTRICT WATCHMAN.
Ho Tak was changed with attempting to bribe a district watchman named Wang Fook by ofiering him 40 cents. He pleaded not guilty.
The jurors were Messrs. M. d'Espirito Santo Preira (foreman), E. Pereira, R. R. Robarts, Ellis Kelly, E. S. Joseph, J. H. Gubbins, and J. Benjamin.
This lack of roads makes porterage very expensive, of course, and hence, though fairly good bituminous coal can be mined a day's journey from Wanhien and can be sold at Fenshui at one cash per catty, the market price at Wanhien is five cash per catty! As to the mining of the coal ob- tained in the mountain ranges further along the road traversed by Mr. LITTLE from Wanhien to Chengtu, the whole description is worth quotation, but for considerations of space we refrain. However, it may be noted that there appears to be no actual Property in the mines and any one is free to start working them. The manner of working is primitive and the miners are often little better than slaves. The coal fetches at the pit's mouth 60 cash a catty, less than three shillings a ton. As the supply seems plenti- ful, the opening of the district should make a wonderful difference to the province. With regard to other industries, Mr. LITTLE notes the great recent increase in opium growing in the 600 miles between Ichang and Chengtu. The farmer, as he says, having through want of roads no market beyond his immediate neighbourhood, natur- ally favours a product so easy to transport and so readily saleable as opium. The effect of cheap opium on the inhabitants themselves is deplorable, but disreputable as they look they do not appear to be really poor. days' journey from Shunking is a salt dis- trict, where the salt is so plentiful that when prepared it costs about d. per lb.- 20 cash a catty. Of the other means of com- munication than roads now existing between Szechuan and the outside world, the river "In one res- Yangtze, Mr. LITTLE says:
pect the stretch of river 500 miles above
affords a Chungking.
marked "contrast to the 500 miles below Chung- king. In this stretch, although still a "rapid stream, the river follows the valleys "in a natural way and runs parallel with
The province has been gradually changing from the state in which previous travellers found it and in the near future the changes promise to be still more remarkable. Szechuan," says the writer, "no longer seems the remote country it was when I first "visited it seventeen years ago and, although the British sphere' is a pure chimera, yet the number of British interests in the province are rapidly increasing from day to day. The communication with Shanghai by steam, now shortly to become an accom- plished fact, is anxiously looked forward to "by foreigners and Chinese alike, and a great further development of the various "resources of this exceptional province must surely follow." The capital, Chengtu, is "beginning to acquire the life of a treaty port, dinner and tea-parties being the order of the day, Mr. LITTLE observes; while foreigners, both men and women, move about the streets not only unmolested, but even unnoticed. In Chengtu the traveller found, besides numerous missionaries, Mr. PRIT CHARD MORGAN's party, who were there m'connection with the mining concessions in the province, Mr. BIGHAM, of H. M. Lega- tion at Peking, and engineers and surveyors of the Yunnan Company. The Chinese officials were on very good terms with the missions, and altogether the foreigners were exceptionally well situated. The town itself, though most of the buildings are poor and low, is described as spacious and fresh for a Chinese town. Mr. LITTLE did not arrive at Chengtu entirely unmolested, however, for at Chacchiatu-built between two streams which lower down unite into the Tô River, tributary of the Yangtze he only escaped a riot by 'his men telling the inhabitants that he had come to build them a railway! The idea of the railway, indeed, seems to be po- pular in Szechuan. This is not to be won- dǝrǝd at when the state of the roads is taken intó considération. This grawe undertaling
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The Attorney-General (the Hon. W. Meigh Goodman) said that as the jury were aware there were district watchmen appointed for the differ- ent districts in this colony, a district watchman being equivalent to a constable. They were also aware that there was a gambling law in force in the colony. It seemed that on the 15th April, soon after one o'clock, a district watchman. caught some men gambling in the street. He took one of them into custody, and as he was taking the man to the Police Station the defen- dant came up and said, "It is Sunday. People have nothing to do, and they are playing. Let him go."
At the same time he offered the
district watchmen 40 cents. The gambler was convicted and the defendant was committed for trial for attempted bribery.
The district watchman gave evidence, and true that the defendant was offering the 40 cents in reply to the defendant he said it was not to the gambler to pay his debt and that he snatched it away. The defendant placed it in his hand.
In reply to the court witness said he could not say whether the defendant was one of the gamblers or not. There were between ten and twenty of them.
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Inspector Baker gave evidence -as transpired when the defendant was taken to the Police Station. When charged with offering a bribe the defendant said he had nothing to say.
Lo Hun, who was called as a witness by the defendant, said he was on the Praya, playing with some boys, when the district watchman came up and arrested him, accusing him of gambling. While he was in custody the defendent came up. He asked the defendant to repay him 40 cents which be owed him to enable him to pay the fine which would be im- posed upon him for gambling. When the defendant was offering him the 40 cents the district watchman seized hold of his hand, took the money from him, and arrested him.
In reply to the Attorney-General, witness said the defendant was not one of the boys he was
playing with. The defendant was standing by. They were both-cargo boat men and were stand- ing about waiting to hired.
The defendant said he owed the last witness the sum of 40 cents, and when he was arrested he asked him to repay him. When he was of- foring the man 40 cents the district watchman seized hold of him and took the money from him. He did not offer the 40 cents to the dis- trict watchman as a bribe. The district watch- man charged him with offering a bribe simply to make up a case. The accusation was a false one.
The defendent was found guilty and sentenced to three months' hard labour, his Lordship obser- ving that people like him must learn that public officers must not have bribes offered to them.
THROWING CORROSIVE ·FLUID.
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the stratification: hence there are no cross "reefs athwart the current, and though races
Chan Wing Pin was charged with (1) th row- "attended by whirlpools, dangerous to ill- "found craft, occur, it is not a vicious rivering corrosive fluid with intent to burn, (2) throwing corrosive find with intent to do as is the stretch below." And yet, as we grievous bodily harm. He pleaded not guilty. saw the other day, the Woodcock and Wood- The jury was the same as in the previous lark successfully surmounted the difficulties of the passage up to Chungking. There seems therefore every reason to hope that the maiden voyage of the Pioneer to Ichang, which was to begin yesterday, may be the first star of a regular usans of communica tion between the coast and a province" where must madoabelly great natural resources are only awaiting development,
The Attorney-General said the prisoner was a boy in the Hongkong Hotel. He was married, but seemed to have had some dealing with a girl named Seung Kam, who was a prostitute and lived at 143, Third Street. He kept her once for a month, so of course the girl would know. him perfectly well and could not mistake him for anyone else. When the prisoner & wife came to Hongkong this connection bat wean I
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