114
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND ment. Conditions have not been such as to make it expedient to interfere with the method of selection under military rule. It is expected that the time may soon come when selection may be justified for police, fire and prison guard service on some such basis as prevails in various cities in the United States. Whatever rules may be adopted will provide a simple educa- tional test and a thorough physical test. In regard to labourers, there will of course be no test at any time, but they are to be protected in a way. Whenever they may be discharged by reason of a reduction in force, they shall be furnished with discharge-cards if their work and conduct have been satisfactory, upon presenta tion of which they will be preferred in subsequent appointments as vacancies occur.
George T. Schoens, of the Eighteenth Infantry, will doubtless find his talents employed in the future in his new field. There are other instances less conspicuous illustrating the good work soldiers have been doing among the schools. They have confined themselves mainly to English teaching, but the readiness with which soldiers fit into their environment has enabled some of them to pick up the dialects and to make profitable use of them in their work. Now that teachers of English are to go out among the islands, they will find that what soldiers have done, if not systematic, has been practically helpful in making the ground hungry for seed. The Civil Service Board has been in something of a quandary in regard to the action it should take toward bringing school- teachers under its supervision. Teachers now arriving from the United States come so highly Civil employees will be divided into classes on recommended for experience and other quali- the basis of pay, regardless of the departments fications, and their stay as teachers is likely engaging them. The minimum salary in the to be so short, that the Board has not felt it first class will be £600 and the maximum pay necessary to advise that they have its certificates. in the lowest class will be £48 per year. All Native teachers who are to be trained in normal pay is to be in United States currency. En- institutes and in the Normal College will have gagements have been made on the basis of diplomas or something of that kind to show Mexican dollars, but they have been adjusted to their training. Since the Board is disposed to the new medium, the law providing that the accept as sufficient guarantee of fitness recom-ratio of the two currencies shall be as two to mendations brought by teachers from normal schools or colleges in the United States, it is accounts come about midway in the class list, one. Clerkships requiring fair proficiency with difficult to figure out how teachers' examina- and will pay from £180 to £240 per year. tions can be held under civil service rules,
THE CHOICE OF TEACHERS.
SALARIES.
Those who pass examinations in the United States must pay their own expenses to San It seems particularly true here at this time Francisco, but from that point they are under that knowledge of books is not the prime salary, and expenses are allowed them. Since essential in a teacher's equipment. A person others have come here drawing salaries from able to pass a perfect examination may do the time of their appointment, and expenses poorly in a natire school. Soldiers have from their homes, justification for the change succeeded whose papers would be thrown out is claimed on the ground that those arriving by any examiner. They had patience and earlier often came under ugent call for what sympathy, and managed to create a friendly might be termed emergency duty. Under the bond between themselves and their pupils. new practice, there will be pay during the Success for anyone under other conditions voyage of a month, and expenses for that time, is extremely doubtful. The experience of the this allowance offsetting, in the Board's opinion, teachers coming from the United States any expense that may be incurred in the trip seems to have been in the lines required to San Francisco from the employee's home. bere. Such experience, at any rate, and, The Board expects to have fully 1,000 eligibles such qualifications were in mind when these ready for places as soon as the civil government selections were made. The Board will experi- shall be ready to take them on. ment in this matter before settling upon a policy in relation to the examination of teachers. It is probable that the experiments will at first be conducted through the Civil Service Com- mission in the United States, and will be ap. plied here if they seem to work well there. In any case, certificates of graduation or other vouchers from normal schools or colleges will always count high in the selection of teachers.
THE VARIOUS NATIONS,
The present list of employees for civil work contains 3,600 names of persons classified as natives. Spaniards, or Chinese. Nearly all of them are natives. They fill clerkships and other subordinate places, and they do it credit- ably. As the eligible list grows, many of them will doubtless be submitted to examination in order to test their fitness for the positions they hold. There will be no disposition to remove those who do their work well, the aim being rather to provide that it shall be done in the best manner in all branches of the service. Spaniards have the native facility for keeping books neatly and for performing other details of a clerical nature. The Chinese employees consist of an interpreter, one cr two men around the Custom House to pass upon the character and value of the mass of imports from China that reach here, and health inspectors for Chinese residences. About 1,000 in the large list are unskilled labourers. It is enough if they can do what they are hired to do. Of the enlisted men, nearly 100 are detailed as checkers on foreign vessels and as inspectors. Their places when their terms of enlistment expire can be filled by native olerks, if need be.
POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS.
PEKING.
I
Peking, 17th July.
RETRIBUTION.
Mr. Joostens, the Belgian Minister, was en gaged a few days since with some German soldiers in putting up the corner posts of the new Belgian Legation that will be erected on the site of the home of old Hsü Tung, the most intensely anti-foreign man who encouraged the Boxer fizzle. Hsü committed suicide on the entrance of the Allies into the capital, and his son was beheaded some months since by the Japanese along with Ch'i Hain. It is to be hoped the Belgians will soon improve their property, for the unsightly ruin of the Hsu family palace is the only site on Legation street that has not been improved or in process of improving since the siege.
THE REBELS AT POYEH,
Two days since, a messenger from General Chang, Commander in Chihli of Governor Yuan Shih-kai's foreigh-drilled troops, sent word to Li Hug-chang that the rebels in Poyehhsien, west of Psotingfu, were well armed with modern rifles, as they were composed largely of the deserters from Nieh's_army defeated at Tientsin, together with ex-Boxors and thieves generally, and that being all proscribed men, they would fight desperately. He therefore begged that the thousand foreign drilled troops already sent to reinforce the defeated General Li Ken-yuan might be in-
creased to two thousand.
A RUMOUR OF A DEFEAT.
[August 5, 1901.
considerable, will indeed be a souree of danger -even to the capital,
vacated and looted after the siege, have again been put in order and are occupied by the members of that formerly interesting and obstructive body. The hole for the base of the Kettler monument on Hatamen street is now twenty feet deep and the workmen are still digging away on it. One wonders if a second Washington monument is contemplated.
THE TSUNGLI YAMEN - BUILDINGS,"
PRINCE CHUN
left us quietly on his apologetic mission, to Germany, Sir Robert Hart and a few other notables escorting him to the station. While it has been authoritatively stated by Li Hung- chang that the Imperial University will be reopened in the autumn, no date has been pointed. In the meantime Mr. J. M. Allardyce's fixed as yet, nor has a chancellor been ap- English school, now numbering nearly one hundred and fifty students, has been granted permission to use the buildings for recitations and study halls.
ROAD-MAKING.
road on Hatamên Street from the gate to the The Germans have repaired the macadamised Tahpailou, a much-needed improvement.
THE POST OFFICE,
All the native buildings on the west side of the street have been torn down to make the military glacis, excepting the old temple, where the Imperial Chinese Post Office holds forth. This too must soon go, although why steps have not been taken to rebuild the govern- ment Post Office only the inscrutable I. G. knows. The I.P.O. is not a very up-to-date institution. The mail cannot be despatched on the day received. It could be by sending it on the 10 a.m. train, but it is not. Why? Ask the I. G.
MILITARY UNIFORMS,
while not as frequent on the streets as a few mouths since, and perceptibly less, are still too frequent.to suit either Chinese or civil residents, Tientsin, I am told, also agrees to this. This is an ungrateful world perhaps, but the fact is, while we were mighty glad to see the soldiers coming, we will be almighty glad to see them go,
HOT WEATHER, which has been playing sad havoc in Europe and America, has at last reached Peking, and breathing has become a labourious task, to say nothing of eating, while tennis and other exer- cise, excepting only fanning, are not to be thought of. steadily getting rid of their highly-watered Aerated liquid concerns are
stook.
THE NEW GEEMAN POST OFFICE ·. is nearing completion; it is a substantial two- storey building on Wall Street just east of the Canal bridge. Following the precedent set by the greedy Legations for expansion, it has encroached upon the road to such an extent as to shut off half the width of the bridge. An utterly inexcusable proceeding.-N.-U. Daily News
NORTHERN NOTES.
The following items are from the Peking and Tientsin Times of the 20th inst. -----
Tis.4,000 has been voted for the construction of a boat for the Imperial party on the Yellow River.
French Minister to remove the terminus of the Li Hung-chang is endeavouring to get the Pro-ting line ontside the West Gate.
Hung-chang to take over the Imperial Rail- Hu Yu-mei has been recommended by Li ways when they are handed over by the British.
and to have killed several Native Christians a Gen. Mei is reported to have been attacking short distance from here. We do not know whether there is any truth in it.
Large quantities of assorted railway material have been coming to Tientain from Port Arthur for the Luban Railway. Where they originally It is not yet settled how police and fire
A rumour was current that these rebels after came from is not stated. departments will be supplied for permanent defeating General Li had also defeated a account. The police force in this city has been French force of four hundred, and Paotingfu, particularly efficient, being composed in part fearing them, had closed its gates. This of natives and in part of selected volunteer
rumour proved to be unfounded. The French soldiers. They make a fine appearance, are
to the number stated, viz., four hundred, had under good discipline and preserve order. The gone to General Li's assistance, but up to Board has no fault to find, but since the police present writing no further news has been heard will become attached to the civil establishment, from either them or Yuan Shin-kai's troops en the Board feels, as it does in respect to teachers, route to the same place. Should this combined new technically exempt, that a suitable test force be defeated, and it is certainly a possible should be provided as a condition of employ. I contingency, the rebels whose prestige is already
Rumour has it that a much larger Russian force than originally anticipated will be retained here. The Russian troops are at the moment t still engaged with disturbances in Manchuria.
four high officials for their anti-foreign con- Li Hung-chang is reported to have, osasured 'servatism. The memorial however fell into
L
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