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the deceased was very steady and quiet. He did not seem to have any friends in Hongkong. There was nothing of any value found among the dec:ased's effects in this room. The hotel boy who attended to the deceased said -the deceased went out of the hotel at about seven o'clock on the morning of the 14th May. He re- turned about nine o'clock and went out again. He did not come back. The next day he saw the dead body of the deceased at the Mortuary. The deceased was very quiet when in the Hotel. There was nothing unusual in his habits. He used to have drinks in his room, and had seen him the worse for liquor. He was sober when he went out on the morning of the 14th May
He had seen him the worse for liquor three or four days before.
Inspector Macnab gave evidence as to the removal and search of the body of the deceased. The revolver which was found near the deceased was loaded in five chambers and one chamber had been recently fired. The pocket book produced was found in the man's inside breast pocket. It contained a large number of papers-receipt, passports, and a pawn-ticket relating to a gold watch and chain. No coin of any description was found upon the deceased. The empty revolver case was found attached to the band of the deceased's trousers. He searched the de- ceased's room at the hotel the next day and found the letter produced. He also found in a box a belt containing cartridges, corresponding with the bullets in the revolver.
A verdict to the effect that the deceased com- mitted suicide by shooting himself was returned.
POSTMASTER GENERAL'S
REPORT.
The report of the Acting Postmaster General for 1899 has been published. We make the following extracts :--
Approximate statistics of International and Local Correspondence received and despatched during the year, which is based on the statistics taken in October, give the following results:-
INTERNATIONAL.
Received. 1898. 1899. 1898. 1899.
Despatched-
Ordinary letters 1,156,930 1,646,200 1,224,070 1,444,660 Post cards
44,670 65,020 44,950 89,510 Newspapers and
other articles 1,207,000 1,609,570 472,160 781,090 Registered articles 228,720 209,450 113,570 166,160
LOCAL. Received. 1898. 1899
Ordinary letters 189,620 253,620
Post cards Newspapers and
Despatched. 1898. 1899.
81,130 103,550
2,470
1,750
1,010 1,150
other articles 10,260 13,030 48,590 74,650 Registered articies 9,750 5,690 19,690 8,100 Compared with the previous year it will be seen that there was an increase under each head in both International and Local Correspondence. I may mention that included in the total under the head Local-Received-there were 199,520 letters, etc.. posted and delivered in Hongkong, as against 140,690 în 1898.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Parcel Post transactions included in the total | 26,866 Parcels aeceived there were 2,215 Parcels insureded, and in the total 22, 488 Parcels des- patched, 4,002 Parcals insured.
A Statement of the number of Bags, Packets, Parcel Boxes and Loose Letter Boxes received and despatched shows the respectable total of 64,496 Bags, 3,633 Packets, 3,066 Parcel Boxes, and 2,290 Loose Letter Boxes, handled at this office.
|
Revenue and Expenditure.-There was a slight increase under certain heads of revenue, but owing to the large decreases under that of Postage Stamps and Profit on Exchange, the total revenue received was less by $19,270.63. I am glad, however, to point out that on the Expenditure side there was a decrease of $3,658.76. The net balance to credit of the Hongkong Post Office on the year's transactions amounted to $80,006.60.
orders issued and paid in Hongkong and Shang
Money Order Business.-The total amount of
hai was $633,397.72 while in 1898 it amounted to $527,413.00. The sale of Imperial and Local Postal Orders exceeded that of 1898-the former by $1,000 and the latter by $300.
During the year another attempt was made to carry out the results of the Conference held at this office in 1897, on the subject of partial postal union of China with Hongkong. After much correspondence between the Postmaster General and the Postal Authorities at Peking, and it had been submitted to London with a view to the preparation of the necessary Con- ventions, I regret to say that owing to this Ad- ministration having been unable to accede to certain concessions subsequently proposed, this matter fell through.
The usual number of complaints regarding the alleged loss, delay or missending of unregis- tered letters were frequently made, but in many cases the Office was without blame, and looking to the circumstances surrounding the Hongkong Post Office, I do not think they were exceptional. On the other hand. I regret to have to refer to the complaints regarding the loss of Registered Letters and Insured Parcels, and which, unfort- unately, was in many cases only too well proved. After a very searching examination of all the books kept in the Registration Department. it was discovered that no less than 83 Registered Letters and Parcles could not be traced. In many of these csses, however, no complaints had or have been made, and in some instances it was found that letters had been twice given receipts for or that, owning to some error subsequently dis- covered, the letter had been returned to the senders but the receipt never cancelled. In one instance the guilt in connection with an Insured Parcel for India was brought home to a clerk who had joined the Registration Branch on the 2nd May and resigned on the 3rd June on the ground of the insufficiency of the salary. He, on convic- tion, was sentenced to six months' hard labour, and had he not died before the expiration of his sentence, there were one or two other cases that he would have been charged with. The daily check since introduced will avoid any similar occurrence in the future.
CANTON.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Canton, 7th June. THE SQUEEZE SYSTEM RECEIVES A BLOW.
In the official yamen it has been the invariable practice from time immemorial to sell the posts of secretaries, writers, ushers, and runners, to the highest offer, and the money so realised has By direction of the Postmaster General of the gone into the pocket of the mandarins The United Kingdom, special statistics were taken of person who has bought any of these posts is the weight of mails despatched by British Con-expected to make money ten times as much tract Packets from London and Hongkong dur- ing the first 28 days of May; the result is ap- pended (Table C). The total weight being-Lon. don-Letters 725 lbs. 14 ozs., Post Cards 1 lb. 10 ozs., Other Articles 10.086 lbs. and Hong. kong-Letters 576 lbs. 6 ozs., Post Carde 1 lb. 7 OZS.,
Other Articles 1,015 lbs. 11 ozs. Sale of Stamps-The total amount received was $216,721.45, which was $16,404.32 less than the previous year. This falling off was due, not to any decrease in the volume of correspon- dence, for there was a large increase, but undoubtedly, and as was anticipated, to the adoption of the 1d. Postage rate on letters to the United Kingdom and the majority of the British Colonies. I have every reason to be- lieve, however, that in the near future the still further increased correspondence will consider-good and efficacious for debility and other dis- ably reduce this loss if it does not entirely re- move it.
during the year as what he has paid. So no doubt it is a very lucrative employment. To give himself a larger scope, a instance, will put a substitute in the office to runner for work for him, and the substitute, paying also for the acting appointment, will squeeze those who have anything to do with the yamen, while he himself will go about to levy blackmail on gambling establishments, houses of ill-fame, and boats, &c. Against those refusing to pay this he would trump up a case and have them arrested, put in prison, and tortured until the money is paid. As an instance of this the following case may be quoted. "Chan Lee Chai" is a well known druggist shop in Canton. The proprietor thereof had made millions of dollars by the sale of pills, which were said to be very
eases. As he was getting old, and having made money enough, he wanted to retire, and trans-
June 16, 1900.
ferred his business to a man Pun Yü-shin, resor ving some interest in it for the maintenance of his poor relatives. Pun is of a respectable family, possessing an honorary title of mandarin by purchase, and is also doing very well. It so happened that one of the relatives of the late Chan Lee Chai had trouble with Pun on account of some money matter, and at the instigation of the yamen runners summoned him before the Pun Yü Magistrate. Then the yamen runners, Tam Kwan, Totai, and Chan Ching, took with them 30 or more men of the same character as themselves, went into Pun's house, brought him into the Police office of the him. Pun, refusing to pay the runners, who yamen, and tried to exact blackmail from
insulted him, tore off his long coat, and other wise illtreated him. They did their best to place every obstacle in his way, so that he could not make known his case to the magis- trate. As Pun is a man of imfluence and of some means he managed to appeal to the Higher Court of the prefect She Tai Chuan, who had the runners brought up and tried, and in pas. sing sentence the prefect censured them severe- ly, and stigmatized them as the worst class of men that prey upon the vitals of their follow beings. Order have been sent to all the offici als and gentry of the districts under his juris- diction to take note and be informed that if any such case ever comes to their coginzance they are not to hesitate to report it to him.
CONCERNING DRAGON BOATS. There are two kinds of Dragon Boats. That with a figurehead of dragon at the bow is called a male dragon, and that with a moon carved at its bow is a female dragon: male joss riding on male dragon, and female joss on female dragon. The boat is built of hard wood, costing from three to four hundred dollars each. In every village there is a dragon boat society belonging to a particular joss-house. Immediately after the festival the dragon boat is intered in the mud, and is termed the sleeping dragon till next year, when it will be dug up again for the races; it is then called a swimming dragon. Besides these there are many different names for dragons, such as gold dragon, silver dragon, yellow dragon, green dragon, black dragon, flying dra- gon, hidden dragon, fiery dragon, water dragon, China is denominated dragon, his face is the and short-tailed dragon, &c. The Emperor of dragon-countenance, his head the dragon-head, his robe the dragon-robe, and his throne the dragon-seat. On the 3rd or 4th day of the feast most of the dragon boats paired to Wong Chuk-kee, their rendezvous somewhere at the southern part of Canton, where there is a joss-house, to worship* the mother-dragon; while contesting in their races for prizes or for fame they quar- relled and fought a pitched battle with stones, mud, and revolvers, many of the dragon-boat- men returning with broken heads and wound- ed limbs. On the 30th ult.. the dragon. boat of the Pankew village came into collision with that of the Lip Tak village, which brought on a fight amongst the men, two being drowned and several wounded. Every year the Chinese authorities have issued notifications prohibiting the dragon-boat races, but this is merely a dead letter to which no atten. tion is paid.
re-
ARREST OF LAO HOK-8HUN'S ASSAILANT. The intended assasin of Lao Hok-shun, one of the directors of the Commercial Bureau, has been arrested by the Inspector of Police of the Sai Kwan district at the Kiang Tung steamer He is quite a young man of about 20, and is no wharf on the day of the dragon-boats' festival.
torture will be used to extort confession as to doubt a hired assasin; so at the trial severe who else is concerned in the attempt. Hok-shun has completely recovered under the Lao
treatment of a foreign doctor, but is advised for Shanghai again. not to go out. Probably he will leave Canton
LIGHTNING FATALITIES AT CANTON.. During the last fortnight Canton has been visited by thunder storms and rains almost every day. On the 22nd May at noon a boat- woman at Fatshan was killed by lightning; on the 24th a farmer's wife, while working at the Shin Hing with a child in her arms, was struck dead, the child being unhurt; on the 29th again three men in a milk shop, Tai Cheon at Fatshan, were struck, two being killed and one saved by a cotton quilt being over him; also on
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