The-Hong-Kong-Weekly-Press-1900-06-23 — Page 4

THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND

THE COLONY AND PUBLIC MORALS.

from

28 we

[June 23, 1900.

of arins. Not with a view to aggression in

tence of public women in our midst. It is any form, for British interests will be best

the woeful lack of control, however, which served by the maintenance intact, if that be

constitutes the scandal and the danger; and possible, of the Chinese Empire. But for

therein we are grievously at fault. As long (Daily Press, 19th June.) the defence of British trade and of the vast

are here directly governed from commercial and industrial interests which For many years, the condition of the cen- Downing Street, at the instigation of MES. have grown up on this side of the world, it is tral and busiest parts of our city was a GRUNDY and her shrill-shrieking sisterhood,

There was really not a necessary, absolutely necessary, that the grave scandal.

so long shall we unfortunately continue to Colony should be rendered impregnable to single street, leading directly from the up- suffer on this lamentable score. Our hands attack from outside, and capable, on an per levels to Queen's Road, down which one are tightly tied. This regrettable want of emergency such as has just occurred, of could pass, even during broad day, without regulation of vice has been the subject of sending an expeditionary column for the baving the eye offended with sights, and-if annual complaint for some years past, in protection of British subjects in Chinese a polyglot-the ear assailed with language the official report of MR. J. H. STEWART ports, without materially weakening the such as would not be possible in the fre- LOCKHART, the Registrar General and garrision. To do this it is essential, as we quented parts of any great city in Europe, Colonial Secretary. Mr. BREWIN, the In- have before pointed out, to maintain a gar- America, or the Colonies. Since the time spector of Schools, Dr. G. H. B. WRIGHT, rison here of not less than five to six thou- when compulsory examination of women be- the learned Head Master of Queen's College, sand troops, to station here at least one or longing to the unfortunate" class ceased, and MR. F. H. MAY, Captain Superinten- two vessels for harbour defence, and to have matters had been steadily going from bad to dent of Police, all bear concurrent testimony the forts armed with the best and latest worse. The control exercised was so slight, in their repeated denunciation of the same breech-loading guns. This is very far from that the state of the place had become a by- unsatisfactory state of affairs, because their the fact at present, so far, indeed, that the word. The city was a veritable moral different departments have, each and all, force recently despatched to the North had cesspool. Naval, Military, and Civil Medical been directly or indirectly affected thereby. no effective field guns, and there are none reports support our assertion. We have Ordinance No. 31, of 1899, The Women at present in the Colony equal to those much in our over-vaunted civilisation, of and Girls' Amendment Ordinance, gave to which even the Chinese could oppose to us. which we may justly be proud; but, in this the Registrar General and to the Captain In the matter of guns the Colony, like the respect at least, we lag far behind even the Superintendent of Police, powers which it was forces in South Africa, is disgracefully Chinese. It is not many years ago, since believed would largely counteract the evil behind the age, and the fact constitutes a

the whole of the houses of ill-fame that are above complained of. Early this year, act- serious indictment of the War Office Ad- patronised by Chinese were practically ing on certain of its provisions, notice of ministration. Now that the boundaries of located in a confined area between the Tung- removal was simultaneously given to the oc- the Colony have been so considerably en-

wa Hospital and our chief thoroughfare, the cupants of all the disreputable houses in the larged, the necessity for an increased gar- principal entrance to which, the central portions of the city. They were rison has become accentuated, for in time of Queen's Road, is known as the Tai Shui- directed to reside west of the Sailors Home trouble with the Chinese it is quite con- húng, (literally, the big drain or sewer, and the Pokfolum Road, and if going east- ceivable that an attempt might be made by which actually exists there); and a native wards, were told to go beyond the Naval either soldiers or banditti to cross the giving the order Tái Shui-háng, to a ricksha Yard. It was the summary eviction of the frontier and lay waste British territory. We or chair coolie, was at once taken to this drones from the social hive. There was have, as a matter of fact, no security that locality. During the past five or six years, naturally a great outcry raised: the measure bands of so-called Boxers may not be so-called sly brothels had increased, even to was so drastic, so thorough, and so unex. organised to invade the country and upset the casual observer, with an alarming rapi-pected. For several days, the lower sections British authority. It is surely better to dity. They cast aside their wonted rook of the city seemed to be engaged in nothing be in a position to forestall any attempt and were invading parts hitherto free of treme east and west, found their rent receipts like tendency to congregate in fixed places, but house-moving. Landlords, in the ex- of the kind. The argument that Hong- kong can never be a fortress of the char- their presence. They were to be found scat- suddenly doubled and trebled: they, of course, acter of Gibraltar or Malta is altogether tered about in all quarters, chiefly however offered no objection to the new order of foreign to the discussion. In some respects towards the heart of the city. But one things. Whole rows of houses, out at Ken- Hongkong is strategically even more im- street, and the numerous lanes and alleys nedy Town and its near vicinity, which had portant than the Mediterranean strong- branching immediately off it, seemed to have either been empty for years, or which had holds. Because it is further removed from an especial attraction for these social out- had tenants at nominal rentals, now let for Much hard- sight and knowledge of the European world casts: we allude to the lower end of Aber-altogether extravagant sums. is no reason why it should be neglected. Its deen Street, from its junction with Holly-ship was wrought on many inoffensive people, remoteness-it was until the acquisition of wood Road, to the West of the Alice Mem- but that was more or less unavoidable: on Weihaiwei the Ultima Thule of the Empire orial Hospital, down to Queen's Road. So the other hand, a vast amount of good was -is a patent argument in favour of its much was this the case, that it soon acquired effected. The middle of the city is now garrison being maintained at an efficient the nick-name of the San Shui-háng. practically free once again, and it is possible strength, for it cannot be reinforced in less Rents naturally went up to inordinate for a lady in her chair to come from any of than about three weeks even from India, heights, and respectable Chinese families the roads on the heights, down into our and during that period much might happen bitterly, but helplessly, complained of being main thoroughfare, to do her shopping, -sufficient, perhaps, to account for its ousted from dwellings they had occupied without the slightest fear of annoyance. The character of the It is a well-known fact that hundreds transference to another flag. It is high quietly for years.

underwent time now that the Imperial Government neighbourhood

complete of native 'girls' have returned to. Canton should give Hongkong the attention it metamorphosis. The high-pitched tootling or Macao. There are, however, unmistake deserves. A vital change has come over

of the native flageolet, the alternate scree- able signs in several districts that some of back to their former the political situation in China, and most ofching and droning of the sim-in, together them have come the great Powers of Europe are taking ade- with the irritating monotonous falsetto of haunts, have returned within the forbidden quate steps to safeguard their interests as male singers, could be heard till the small area. The full powers delegated to the represented by their share in the trade with hours, where once, save for the dreary cry Police authorities, by the Ordinance we this great Empire, and Great Britain with of a stray tandem pair of blind fortune-have already named, are quite adequate to her preponderating stake therein should not telling beggar-women slowly feeling their cope with such cases of trespass; and we lag behind. Nor should the British Govern- way past the lantern-lit doorways of the sincerely hope that they will be instantly ment fail to recognise the enormous advan- dim streets, or the weary drawn-out call of and effectively exercised wherever and when-

some belated tau-fu seller, all was compara-ever required. tage which the possession of such a naval and military base as Hongkong may be tively quiet after nine o'clock gun-fire. made confers. The juncture has now arrived We wish to be neither prudish nor prurient. for the recognition of this fact, and we trust Houses of ill-fame, licensed or tolerated, that such recognition will not take the shape blink the disquieting fact as we may, are of half measures and temporary reinforce-

a necessary adjunct of civilisation. The courtesan has been described by ST. AUGUS- ments. The necessity for an effective and

part of the permanent garrison cannot for a moment be TINE as needful, natural, and

LECKY disputed, and we trust the Government will, providential scheme of things. as in the case of the South African campaign, deems her the protectress of the virtue of her chaste sister; and somewhere or other, in his "History of European Morals," has an extremely eloquent passage, in which he asserts that our wives and daughters owe their immunity from assault, to the exis-

rise to the occasion.

Cholera is raging at Saigon. The percentage of deaths among the victims, according to the last estimate to hand, was 60.

When the railway is opened, as it will be in a very few months, to Korat, says the Bangkok Times, the goods traffic will not by any means be confined to paddy and cattle. Even the hill district will yield its quota of trade, for there are already four quarries opened near Klong Pai, and others are in prospect. The stone is a hard. fine-grained sandstone and is capable of taking on a very fine finish, and each quarry yields a different coloured stone. Stone of such quality is a new thing in Bangkok, and there is a pros pect of a considerable trade. It is said that there is a marble quarry also.