June 23, 1900.]
THE TRANSVAAL WAR FUND.
The Mansion House. London, April 3rd. 1900.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
OCCASIONAL NOTES.
H. E. the Acting Governor has courteously The Food Supply Commission has been in sent to us for publication a copy of the follow-dustriously taking voluntary evidence of the ing letter from the Lord Mayor of London to rise in the price of food stuffs and though their the Governor of Hongkong :-
report is not likely to proy of much utility it will be read with a great deal of interest. Un- less the colony is placed, under, say martial law, i.e. the will of the administrator, it is really not casy to see how anyone is going to impose a fixed price for food stuffs, especially when we de pend for our supply on the caprices of the foreign producers. Who is going to prevent the Cantonese farmers from selling their pota- tos at so much a picul extra, or the cattle- dealers from putting up the price of oxen, if they so desire?
Sir, I have to-day received through the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation the final instalment of £7,309 11s. 8d. of the subscriptions raised among the community at Hongkong for the Transvaal War Fund, making with the first a total of £14.809 11s. 8d. I shall be grateful to Your Excellency if you will kindly take an opportunity of conveying to the donors my sincere and cordial thanks and of assuring them that their manifestation of their sympathy to the sufferers by the War has been greatly appreciated in this country.-I have, etc.,
ALFRED J. NEWTON, Lord Mayor. His Excellency Sir H. A. BLAKE, G.C.M.G.,
Governor of Hongkong.
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Now an important factor in the increased price of provisions, perhaps after all the most important and this is a tip for the Commissioners who may have overlooked it— is that it is not the local consumption so much as outside consumption that has increased the price of food. For instance they are feeding in the Philippines a hungry campaigning army of 60,000 Americans, and the rations of an American soldier are somewhat different to
HONGKONG volunteeR CORPS. | those of his predecessor, the Spaniard. It is
KOWLOON DETACHMENT.
64
The fourth competition for the Gillies Cup took place on the Association Range. The
best scores were:-
Names. Sergeant Rutter Gunner Stewart Gunner Rattey Gunner Baldwin Gunner Lapsley..... Bomb. Deas
H'cap. Total
96
200 400 500. lyds, yds. yds.
28 32 31 5 30 33 32
31 34 25
95 90
27 34 28
89 86
**2888
33 27 24 2 28 24 20 14 86
"C" MACHINE GUN COMPANY.
The monthly picnic of "C" Machine Gun Company, H.K.V.C., took place on the 17th inst. when splendid weather was enjoyed. The party was accompanied by Major Chapman; F.B., and Lieutenants Stewart and Underwood. The launch left Murray Pier at 11.45 and sailed to Cap- suimun. Tiffin was enjoyed on board and Stone Cutter's Island was reached between 2 and 3 o'clock. On the way to Stone Cutter's In- structor Rorke gave an interesting lecture on gun mechanism, which was highly appreciated. The usual shoot took place at Stone Cutter's, the conditions being seven shots at each of the 200 and 500 yards ranges, Bisley scoring. The light was favourable for good scoring. The fol- lowing are a few of the best scores:—
* Sergt. Smillie
quite true that the American commissariat wisely get most of their meat and vegetables from Australia and tinned provisions from America-but they do not get it all. This is Hongkong's misfortune. So that if our Com- missioners who are doubtless by now authori. ties on the market price of turnips and beans, and can give the average housewife a few points do not pooh-pooh this idea they may, with the enthusiasm characteristic of local Commissions, enquire and be satisfied. Only recently there was a dearth of potatoes in the Philippines in fact the American army, I am informed, went without potatoes for a week. Telegrams were flying up and down the China coast for potatoes, with little avail, and those Chinese who had stocks, like Joseph with his corn, held on till prices went up and then made a good thing out of it.
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Not only does this apply to potato-consuming Americans, but also to Russians. It is well known that the Russians, even at Vladivostock, get all their fresh food from North China, princi- pally Chefoo, but with the tremendous increase in garrisons. it may become a question as to whether the China ports can continue to supply this part of the Far East. Certainly the increased demand will mean increased prices, and if this Boxer rebellion is going to spread and the celestial grower of vegetables is going to drop the hoe
the up spear the prospect of a reduction in the cost of living is very remote.
to take 200. 500. H'cap. Total.
25 26
5
56
Gunner Shoolbred
24 20
11
55
* Sergt. Stewart
23 19
12
54
* Gunner C. Lee...
23 18
12
53
Gunner McCorquodale. 21
24
7
52
Bomb Gloyn...
24 17
11
52
Gunner Galbraith
18
18 14
50
Bomb. Baillie
23 16 10
49
Gunner J. Lee
22 14
13
49
7
45
Gunner S. Gidley
20 18 *Previous Spoon Winners.
4668888;
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So much for the food supply; but that is not alone the cause that makes dollar-spending a cheerful duty in Hongkong. The average in: dividual can submit to a monthly extortion of a few cents by our mutual friend the compra- dore, but it is the jump of 100 per cent in the rent that makes one collapse. This is a matter that a Special Commission could deal with, and at least two members of the Legislative Council, who are flourishing landlords, might be induced, as the representatives of a submissive and long suffering people, to give evidence on rents and their periodical increase. Their evidence would be so valuable - the situation, too, would be so interesting.
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The Chinese villagers through whose country the Paotingfa refugees passed seem in some cases to have been well-disposed to the foreigners, but were too afraid of the Boxers to give any assistance. In an account of the flight publish- ed in L'Echo de Chine it is related that on the The departure of troops from Hongkong to third day of the journey, about 3 o'clock, a assist in crushing the Boxer rebellion от village was reached when a fair was proceeding, smashing the Manchu dynasty, whatever it and the natives regarded the Belgians more may ultimately turn out to be, raises a very with curiosity than with enmity. When the important point. That is, the question of the Boxers came up with us again." continues the equipment of our force. If the Hongkong men narrative, "the multitude of carts which we had are only going to do battle with Boxers all well seen disappeared as if by magic. Whether the and good-a Martini-Henry rifle is an ex- owners feared the rebels threats or were unwill-cellent match for a Chinese jingal, and a ing to take part in any action against us, we do not know. The Boxers were constantly trying to get us attacked by the villagers, who remain- ed neutral. Exasperated, they recommenced the pursuit. Again we had recourse to our arms. Several Boxers were mortally wounded. We could judge the feelings of the crowd, for the fall of an enemy was greeted with ironical hurrahs by the villagers.'
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R. M. L. 7 pounder battery may not be un- fairly equipped against a Chinese battery of brass muzzle-loading cannon. Therefore against the invulnerable Boxers the force should do very well indeed.
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But are the combined forces going to meet Boxers, or Boxers and Imperial soldiers com- bined? Are they prepared for eventuali-
499
ties ? Judging from the latest report, General Nieh's men have joined the rebels and in that case very different men from murderous rowdies or fanatical peasants will have to be dealt with. The Transvaal War has taught the British how under-equipped we were compared with our adversaries when we first took the field. If the Hongkong force has to meet the Imperial foreign-drilled troops the same fatal mistake will have been repeated.
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To put a battery of 7 pdr. muzzle-loading can- non against the numerous magnificent Krupp- field batteries with which, the Chinese Imperial: foreign-drilled troops are armed would be sui- cidal. Then the Chinese infantry are armed with the latest pattern Mauser magazine rifle against the Martinis of our Indians. The writer · has seen the Chinese foreign-drilled troops in the last war and in a recent rebellion-small though it was, and they did excellent work. The constant drilling by Continental Instructors › of picked men that form the foreign-drilled brigades, since the Chino-Japanese war, have produced an army that, even in numbers alone will more than prove a match for the present much too small body of allied troops. There- fore it behoves those in command to see that our men are not altogether outclassed in equipment, and any initial mistakes should promptly be verified. It is to be hoped that after all the Boxers will prove the only adversaries.
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[Since the above was written we learn that Captain Scott will mount four naval 12 pdrs.- ED.]
REVIEW.
OBSERVER.
Village Life in China. By ARTHUR H. SMITH, D.D. Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, Edin- burgh & London.
44
WE have received from Messrs. Kelly & Walsh a copy of Dr. A. H. Smith's Village Life 'in China. The author of Chinese Characteristics has succeeded in the difficult task of producing a second book on Chinese life no less interest- ing and instructive than his first. Whatever helps to a better understanding of Chinese. people," he says, "is an aid to a comprehension of the Chinese problem." Such an aid Dr. Smith's volume most undoubtedly is, and though it may not be possible to agree with all his conclusions the value of his facts and sug gestions is incalculable: The picture he draws of life in the innumerable villages of China is for the most part a depressing one as viewed from without by foreign eyes. To watch this life intimately is, as Dr. Smith explains, a task of almost unsurmountable difficulty. tr wish to comprehend the Chinese," he says, must take the roof from their homes, in order.
This no to learn what is going on within. foreigner can do. But he can imitate the Chinese who apply a wet finger to a paper window, so that when the digit is withdrawn there remains a tiny hole through which an observant eye may see at least something."
"If we
We.
Dr. Smith has much to say of the almost in- describable squalor, dirt, and discomfort of the great mass of villagers' homes; of the construc tion of the houses, the utter lack of shelter from the sun, for the most part, outside; the smoky, ill-ventilated atmosphere, the swarming animal life and the collection of articles of every des- eription inside; the so-called roads, miserably inadequate to start with, and becoming by a steady process of evolution canals; the ferries, constructed apparently with the view of causing the greatest possible inconvenience and expense: to travellers; and all the thousand and ong minor trials with which the Chinese villager puts up. With the chapters which the author devotes to village education we reach one of the most interesting parts of the book. As he ex- plains, the prominent place given to education in China renders the Chinese village school an object of more than common interest, for in their schools by far the majority of the educa- ted men of the empire receive their first instruc-, tion. And yet, "thoughtful Chinese teachers, familiar with the capacity of their pupils, estimate that the most intelligent among them cannot be expected to understand a hundredth part of what they have memorised,
The
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