December 8, 1900.]
other refuse-destructors wanted and they might | be landed into very heavy expense. He believed that that was the difficulty. He thought that instead of passing the resolution of the Medical Officer of Health it would be a good thing to appoint a sub-committee of the Board to go into the question de novo and ascer tain, supposing the refuse-destructors were a success, how many refuse-destructors would be required and what would be the total expense. It was possible they would find that they did not want as many destructors as some people thought. He was in favour of a refuse destructor. He thought their present system was a slovenly one-carrying the refuse out to sea and letting some of it drop over the side of the boat into the harbour.
He
Dr. CLARK having obtained the permission of the President to explain, said that this question of experiment had been raised before.. had previously pointed out that the only reason why it was necessary to experiment was that it was absolutely necessary in every city to ascer- tain how many cells were required to destroy the refuse of the city. That, of course, was be- cause of the varied character of the refuse. In England there was a large quantity of cinders; in India the refuse was totally different than the refuse in this city. Personally he did not see any use in appointing a committee to in- vestigate the question. They had an excellent report on the question by Mr. Crook, the late Surveyor, who recommended six cells to be created at Kennedytown, and where they had discovered what proportion of the refuse of the city these six cells would consume, they would be in a position to-day how many more cells would be required-the total number required would probably be 10 but they might only require 8 and on the other hand they might need 12 or even 14. In any case no Committee of investigation could do any good until the question of the combustibility of our city refuse is decided by actual experience.
Mr. OSBORNE, in seconding, said that he thought two destructors at the most would be all which would be required.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
ing week was 40.2, against 17.0 for the corres ponding week last year.
DEATHS IN MACAO.
· 45i.
from Peking, no doubt to make fresh arrange- ments in regard to the command of the ex- pedition, when the news of Count York's death T
The deaths in Macao for the week ended | reached him. The news of this sad event will Nov. 18th numbered 47, and for the following probably be circulated over China as a great week 43.
victory for the Chinese, and some unfortunate wretch's head will be sent to the Empress Dowager as being that of the German com. mander.
This was all the business.
THE CRISIS IN CHINA.
3
LOCAL MOVEMENTS. The British transport Urlana arrived on the 30th ult. from Taku.
The British cruiser Isis arrived on the 30th ult. from Amoy.
The surveying ship Waterwitch arrived from Taipo on the 30th ult.
left on the let inst. for Calcutta and the hospi- The British transports India and Pentakota tal-ship Maine for Bombay.
On the 3rd inst. the British transports Lal- from Taku and pooraand Wardha arrived Weihaiwei respectively.
The U.S. despatch vessel Zafiro left on the Srd inst. for Manila.
On the 4th inst. the British transport Lalpoora left for Calcutta and the hospital ship Gwalior for Bombay.
The French gunboat Comète left on the 4th inst. for Canton.
The British transport Itaura arrived on the 5th inst. from Shanghai.
The British transport Wardha left on the 5th inst. for Bombay.
The French cruiser Descartes left for Foo-
chow.
The U.S. transport Grant left on the 6th inst.
The British transport City of Cambridge returned on the 6th inst. from Shanghai.
The German battleship Weissenburg arrived from Woosung.
The U. S. transport Scindia reached Hong- kong on the 6th from Cavite and went into
dock.
THE KALGAN EXPEDITION.
The PRESIDENT said that before putting this matter to the Board he might say that this The following remarks from the leading arti- matter had been before the Public Works Com-cle in the N.-C. Daily News of the 3rd instant throws some light on the incomplete and rather mysterious telegram last week about a serious reverse to the German expedition to Kalgan
mittee more than once. In defence of the un-
official members he must say that they were not responsible alone for throwing it out. chairman of the Public Works Committee was
He as
very uncertain indeed with regard to those refuse destructors. They had been a success in some places and a failure in others. They had col- lected an enormous mass of correspondence on the subject from India, Singapore, and else- where, and this was waiting to go before the Public Works Committee again when he got a reply from Bombay. With regard to what seemed to be the most useful and economical destructor to put up as an experiment he must say that Mr. Cook's proposal seemed to him to be a very costly experiment indeed. Mr. Crook proposed that they should spend $60,000 to put a destructor at Kennedytown which would only deal with one-third of the refuse the City. He did not mean to say it would cost three times that amount to deal with the whole of the refuse of the city, but Mr. Crook himself told the Public Works Committee that it would cost double that sum to deal with the total refuse of the
city. He thought it would be a good thing to dump the refuse on to the barren territory on the other side of the harbour.
Dr. CLARK said that in view of the Presi- dent's explanation he was prepared to withdraw his resolution. He merely wanted to ventilate the subject in view of the urgency of the ques- tion of the disposal of the carcases of animale that die of disease or accident almost daily at Kennedytown.
The motion was accordingly withdrawn.
LIMEWASHING.
Dr. HARTIGAN asked if any prosecutions had been instituted lately against persons for neglecting lime-washing.
Dr. CLARK said: Yes. To some extent they had been in abeyance because the lime-washing inspector had been in hospital.
THE HEALTH OF THE COLONY.
The death rate for the colony for the week ended Nov. 17th was 28.3, against 25.8 for the previous week and 23 for the corresponding week last year. The death rate for the follow-
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We get so little news of military movements (says our comtemporary) that it would seem the censorship must be at work again. We have heard very little of the proceedings of Count York von Wartenburg, who was in command of the Kalgan expedition, and what we have heard has come principally through German sources. We heard that Count York, after accepting the surrender of Huailai, was deterred from proceeding to Hauenhus because he heard that a force of 10,000 Chinese troops would oppose him there, and had sent back to Peking for reinforcements. It seemed impossible that any European commander should hesitate to attack 10,000 Chinese with 2,000 Europeans, and we were glad to get the subsequent news that Count York was marching on again without waiting for reinforcements. The Chinese, of course, made ansther strategic movement to the rear when they heard that the German expedi- tion had started again. On the 27th ult. we heard that Count York had occupied Hsaenhua without fighting, and that he sent a flying column to harass the Chinese, who had come up with the Chinese General's rearguard and killed some thirty of them. Then came the news that the Germans had met with a serious verse; our correspondent at Tientsin refers to it as an occurrence of which we were expected to have the particulars already, but nothing more than this has been made public hero. Then we have the news published this morning that Count York was killed by charcoal fumes Travellers in on the night of the 27th ult.
re-
|
NEW GOVERNOR OF CHEKIANG.
The removal of the Governor of Chekiang from his post by Imperial ediot, and the ap pointment in. his place of Yun Tsuyi, the present Provincial Treasurer, gives considera- able satisfaction both to the Chinese and for- eign officials in the Yangteze region, says the
for some time past. He allowed the proclama- Mercury. Lin Shutang, the removed official, is old and has been very feeble in his rule tion ordering the extermination of foreigners to be posted in his jurisdiction, and afterwards had to withdraw it, but not before the evil had taken root, with the result that the Chu- chow massacre followed. Latterly he has failed to keep the disorder reported on the sea-coast down, and generally he has been a thorn in the side of the authorities keeping order in these regions. His successor, on the other hand, has a good record for firmness and ability, and ac- cording to the reports of Chinese officials at Shanghai is certainly not intensely anti-foreign, to say the least. He is expected to put affairs right within his government in very short order.
THE MIAOTZE "RESCUE ARMY." Roferring to a Wnchang despatch published about two months ago in its columns reporting the arrival at Siangtan, Hunan, of some 5,000 Miaotze aboriginal troops who had been raised in Kweichou for the rescue "of the Empress Dowager in the North, the N.-C. Daily News now quotes a second despatch to the effect that, owing to want of funds to pay these Misotze troops as well as lack of supplies en route, this Miaotze brigado is still at Siangtan, having re- fused to march another stop unless given their full dues. Of late the impatience of the ab- origines has caused them to prey upon the country; and to stop them from doing so they had hitherto maintained some discipline-the Governor of Hunan, Yü Lien-san, has been compelled to give the troops one-half of their pay, the remainder to be paid by the Governor of Kweichou, who sent them up North.
THE BLOCK IN PEACE NEGOTIA. TIONS.
Letters from members on the staff of Viceroy Li Hung-chang lately received at Shanghai, says declare that Prince Ching and Viceroy Li our morning contemporary there, unanimously Hung-chang have not been able, so far, even to begin peace nerotiations with the Foreign Ministers in Peking owing to the difficulty of performing some of the preliminary demands of the Powers before the negotiations can be allowed to commence. For instance, it is demanded that General Tung Fuhsiang must be executed first. Seeing the Court is at pre- sent within the toils of General Tung at Hsian it must be obvious to all that this demand would be impossible, under present circumstances, to perform satisfactorily. Another demand was that a Reform Government must be started im- mediately. This again is an impossibility just now, for with only one or two milk-and-water exceptions-otherwise they would never have succeeded in remaining in Court until now-all those now around the Throne are strong conser- vatives and bigoted reactionista. The difficulty in removing all these under present circum- stances is evident enough to any person.
With reference to the enlargement of the ongolia in the winter, and men who go up Japanese Concession at Tientsin, a N.-C. Daily on shooting expeditions, are always warned News Tientsin telegram of the 1st inst, says :—— not to go to sleep with a charcoal stove in The Japanese Concession has been enlarged on their room, and it is a really terrible thing the north as far as the South Gate of the native that a distinguished soldier should be car city. It is intended that part of the city wall ried off thus ignominiously in the course shall be demolished, and the low ground filled of an almost bloodless campaign.
It ap-
in and made to connect with the city of Tien- pears that Count von Waldersee, the Com-tain. Work has already commenced. The mander-in Chief, was himself about to start | Extension to the Concession measures about through the Nankon Pass to see what the 500,000 tsubo, or 2,000,000 square yards, - or expedition was doing, but deferred his departure over 430 acres.
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