376
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
June 2, 1900.
THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION. | Filipino people. The Military Government to Night Passes was repealed, but with a of the United States with its many atten- reservation empowering the Governor to (Daily Press, 1st June.)
dant impossibilities of reform, crude and direct the issue of Night Passes whenever The American Commission, which leaves amateur modes of administration, is capable he should deem it necessary. This act of Hongkong to-day for the Philippines, is com- of vast relief under a Civil régime, however leniency has been highly appreciated by the posed of gentlemen of high scholastic attain- destitute it may be of the highest material Chinese population, ments, legal knowledge and experience. If of officials on its inception. The natural crown, as recently exemplified by their whose loyalty to the erudite professors and judicial lawyers, desire of the Filipinos to share in the ad- munificent gift to the Widows and Orphans sustained with the world's written experience ministration of their own country is a factor War Fund, is beyond all praise. England's in the science of Colonial and Asiatic Govern- that the Commissioners would do well to success as a Colonial power in winning over ment, can possibly solve the problem of giv-regard with respect and by a just discrimina- the goodwill of the native races under her ing the greatest conceivable happiness and tion to encourage. For under fair treatment rule is largely due to her humanity and to liberty to a subject people by wise laws and we are convinced the leaders of Filipino the equal treatment of all without distinction regulations, the Commission sent by Presi- opinion may be of the utmost utility to the of race. There is much room for improve- dent MCKINLEY seem to possess all the United-States Government in administering ment in the Philippines, and if Judge TAFT elements that make for success. But al- the country so recently come into their and his learned colleagues will put into though the Commission may be, and are, possession. But to govern a people like the practice those principles of liberty of which endowed with high sentiments with respect Filipinos of Luzon, some possessing fair he has spoken so much we have very little to their mission and the responsibility attainments and others a veneer of civiliza- doubt that the American Commission will attaching to their efforts, it is too much tion, yet all intensely patriotic, it is essential come successfully through their ordeal, and to expect in the present disorganised and for the well-being of the people that the advance the cause of civilization and pros- elementary stage of government now exist United States officials should be gentlemen perity in the remoter parts of the world. ing in the Philippines, with no reserves of of high attainments and in. their public experienced men versed in Colonial Govern- character above reproach. To obtain such ment to fall back upon or to take into
a supply is beyond the possibilities of counsel, that the Commissioners, however nominated selection, and doubtless the Com- richly endowed, however noble in sentiment, missioners will in due course turn their however anxious to ameliorate the existing minds to the consideration of how the higher state of things or however vigorous, capable, branches of the British Colonial Service or eager for work, can make any rapid are recruited, and advocate a similar service, progress.
for the Philippines.
The Commissioners enter upon a task Another point to which the attention of which from its very responsible nature, the Commissioners must be directed is the must be slow of growth and almost inper- pass system now prevailing in the Islands: ceptible, to the lay mind, in its advance to Under the Spanish Government every adult a higher civilization and a better régime. male Filipino was obliged to be registered The establishment of a Civil Government and paid a registration fee varying from $10 in the Philippines, with its labyrinthine to $100, according to the circumstances of administrative machinery, out of the re- the native. This really acted as a poll tax, sources at present to hand, is one that will but it was not so much against the tax itself require every effort of the Commissioners, that the Filipinos protested as against the and in its first inception will doubtless fall necessity of being registered and always short of what the Commissioners desire. carrying about an objectionable paper of Assuming, as an hypothesis, that it is the identification. The Filipinos were not intention of the United States of America treated as honest men worthy to breathe in the first instance to govern the Philip God's air in peace, but as a criminated and pines as a Crown Colony and to continue criminating class. Thus arose the unpopu- thus until the Filipinos have proved their larity of Spain. Under the Military Govern- loyalty to the Union and shown themselves ment of the United States the excessive worthy of a higher state of government, registration fee has been reduced and a fee of the Commissioners will be confronted with 20 cents imposed instead, but the Filipinos a lack of suitable men to carry out their are still obliged to carry the abhorrent reforms. In a word, they will experience registration paper ond consider themselves the want of a good Colonial Civil Service degraded in the eyes of the civilized world. which places in the hands of Colonial It is very questionable whether this zeal Governors instruments of the highest for registration is productive of any good attainments, ready and capable of carrying or serves the purpose for which it was out the wishes of the executive and legis- intended, viz.. to furnish a certificate of lative bodies, such men as from their own respectability. Lawless characters will take knowledge and experience are often the good care to provide themselves with this fulcrum to initiate a law or suggest a new mark of respectability in case of emergencies, and wise regulation. We do not pretend either by theft or otherwise, and probably to say that the Commissioners, for a time, perfectly honest people may suffer" in their cannot do without these well-trained officials, stead. The only circumstances under which but we do. affirm that they are handi- a certificate of personality for natives is at capped in the task before them. The whole all necessary are the cases which have initiative effort is thrown on their own occasionally occurred in the history of this shoulders, they receive no suggestions from Colony. When armed robberies become their immediate trained subordinates, which prevalent, when riot or tumult is in the air, they certainly would if it were a Britic! it becomes necessary for the legislature to Commission, and they have to create, crassist the Police in maintaining good order receive from the parental government a class of officials of unknown quality, apti- tude and experience to administer their behests. But while we consider the difficul- ties before the Commissioners to be great, and, as we have endeavoured to show, greater in comparison than the difficulties that would naturally surround a similar British Commission, the situation is not without hope nor without a fair prospect of much amelioration. The conditions prevailing in the Philippines at the present time are such that a tactful and all-resourceful administra- tor may
obtain a wide-world and historical │« reputation. The galling rule of Spain is still deeply seated in the memory of the
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and government, and the regulations of the Hongkong Government with respect to Night Passes seem to meet all necessary requirements. The Chinese Regulation Ordinance of this Colony No. 13 of 1888, Section 30, in reference to Night Passes reads as follows: No Chinese, without reasonable excuse, the proof of which shall be upon him, shall be at large within the City of Victoria, between 9 p.m. and sunrise or between such hours of the night as may "from time to time be fixed by an order of "the Governor in Council without a valid pass under this Ordinance. This section "is applicable to women as well as to men." On the 5th June, 1897, the order with respect
THE VICTORIA DIAMOND JUBI- LEE MEMORIAL.
(Daily Press, 30th May.) The report on the state of affairs in connec- tion with the Victoria Diamond Jubilee Mem- orial, for the publication of which we are indebted to the Executive Committee, is none the less welcome for the anxiety which has been caused by the long delay in obtaining sanction for the scheme a delay for which, as far as the Road at least is concerned, the Committee, it need hardly be said, are in no way responsible. At last both parts of the proposed memorial seem to be started fairly on their way toward realisation. The first section of the scheme indeed, that relat- ing to the Victoria Hospital and Nursing Institute, was in a hopeful state last August, and the difficulties which prevented the actual commencement of work were, the report states, the large amount of building going on in the colony and the consequent rise in prices. But now a contract has been entered into for the erection of the Hospital on Barker Road, a site which has met with general approval. The work of preparing this site has actually been commenced, and all will echo the hope of the Committee that a successful conclusion awaits this part of the scheme. The proposed Nursing Insti- tute, however, cannot be set on foot immediately, owing to the same rise in prices which delayed the beginning of work on the Hospital, and the Committee has to wait for the Government's answer to the request for permission to erect this wing of the Hos- pital, to be paid for out of the colony's re- venues with the addition of the balance from the Hospital Fund, which is estimated at some $1,700.
The subscribers have awaited with no little anxiety the Secretary of State's deci- sion in the matter of the Jubilee Road. The original scheme provided for the construction of a sea-level road between Kennedytown and Aberdeen, the Government to continue this road round the island. The military au- thorities, however, objected to the scheme on strategic grounds, as imperilling the defence of the island. Moreover the Director of Public Works in his report for 1898 expressed him- self strongly in favour of the prior construc- tion of the section of the between Shaukiwan and Aberdeen, leaving the section round Mount Davis for future consideration. The general feeling of the Committee, how- ever, was that they were bound by the terms of the original resolution under which the subscriptions were in the first place collected; and, although to a certain extent the public enthusiasm for the scheme grew less with the prospect of a permanent plague hospital at Kennedytown, this view prevailed, and
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