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may be got rid of quickly, and the Mission brought to a successful termination, in the interests of international harmony and good feeling.
(Daily Press, 6th September.) As we expressed the hope in our issue of Wednesday, the difficulty about Prince CHUN's mission of apology to Germany for the murder by Chinese last year of Baron VON KETTELER has been satisfactorily settled. The Kaiser gave up his demand for the "humiliating kowtow" from Prince CHUN's staff and also for a procession of the Mission through the streets of Berlin. Prince CHUN's reception was devoid, it would seem, of the accompaniment of thea- trical accessories, though it may be gathered that a large assemblage witnessed the de- livery by the Chinese Prince of his brother's letter. This is a satisfactory termination of the incident. There has been considerable surprise expressed in Germany, we are told, at the Kaiser's attempt to insist upon the howtow. His Imperial German Majesty, however, has a predilection for pomp, which would certainly have been gratified by what he at first asked from the Chinese Mission. Wisely he has consented to forego the extreme signs of humiliation, which there can have been little or no chance of After all, the his obtaining, save by force. Mission has travelled half round the world, and a member of the Chinese Imperial family has performed an act unprecedented in the history of the Empire, which in itself is a sufficient shock to conservative Oriental susceptibilities. Prince CHUN will now be at liberty to receive the full courtesies due to his station, and his tour, it is to be trusted, will not be without a strong effect un him personally nor without Ienefit to the future progress of China.
CHINESE EXAMINATION
REFORM.
(Daily Press, 4th September.) The abolition by Imperial edict of the Wen-chang, or standard essay in literary examinations, the news of which we published in our Shanghai correspondent's "telegram
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yesterday, is an event which can but have a great effect on education in China. The Wen-chang raay be styled the backbone of the Civil Service examinations in China. The following sentences, which are quoted by Mr. J. DYER BALL in his Things Chinese, give as good an idea of the character of the The Wen-chang as can be asked for :---
standard essay---
Wen-chang-has been the "chief cause of the working of the minds of literati, and causing them to labour ceaselessly in the same old tread-mill, it has held absolute sway for a millennium over China's intellectual life, and its bane- "ful effects can be seen everywhere in the literature of the last three dynasties, Scholars have learned what they could not "afterwards make use of in actual life, and they have had no time left for learning ** what could be used. The scholars of the "SUNG dynasty bequeathed in this legacy
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of the Wen-chang a burden of such weight upon the mental life of China that it has been steadily crushing out its very exist. ence. Originated to perpetuate classical learning, it has been the liviliest factor in suppressing the desire for such know- ledge. It has absolutely nothing to be said "in its favour, unless the remark of an eminent living statesman of China be given to its credit that it has repressed "rebellion by keeping the minds of ambi- “tious men cramped by the pursuit of useless knowledge. The main reason that has “kept it alive has been that it was supposed
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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to be the essence of orthodox Con- fucianism." "An attempt by the Emperor to introduce essays on modern subjects in place of the Wen-chang nearly cost him his life and brought on the coup d'état. The promulgation of the new edict, it is to be hoped, will be attended with happier results and lead to the progress of China among the nations,
STATE-OWNED CABLES.
(Dily Press, 5th August.)
We have received from the President and Council of the Ottawa Board of Trade a copy of a circular letter addressed to the Boards of Trade and Chambers of Com merce of the British Empire, on the subject
of State-owned cables, and an Imperial postal cable service, with appendices by The Ottawa Sir SANDFORD FLEMING. Board of Trade, confident in the importance of the movement to nationalise the British cable and telegraph service, invites aid and co-operation. In the circular letter it is pointed out that the proposal for all British possessions throughout the world to be directly connected by State-owned telegraph cables requires not only that the trans- marine cables should be under Government control, but also the land telegraphs of the The land several British possessions. telegraphs of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Australian States, India and South Africa, continues the letter, are already nationalised and administered by the Post Office.
Canada is the only ex-
ception; but the transfer of the Canadian telegraph lines to the Post Office, together with the laying of a State-owned cable cross the Atlantic, the Ottawa Board is informed, is under the consideration of the Government, and it may be assumed that Cannda will not long remain the only country within the Empire where the tele. graph system is not, in the public interests, controlled by the State. The Board goes on to express its gratification that the Pacific Cable is now being established, and that there is every prospect of Canada being connected with the United Kingdom at early date by a State-owned trans-Atlantic Cable. Reckoning by meridians of longi- tude, therefore, two-thirds of the globe will be girdled by a State-owned telegraph service, 80 soon as the Pacific cable and Canadian lines associated therewith are established necessity for connecting India and other British possessions in Asia with the Imperial system of telegraphy must, how- ever, be recognised. Reference to the papers appended to the circular letter shows that the Imperial scheme of cables to traverse the Indian and Atlantic oceans between Perth and London, embraces the following works, riz :-
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national works.
The
1. Cable from Western Australia, via Cocos Island and Mauritius, to South Africa, with branches to India and Singapore.-9,100 miles.
2. Cable from South Africa, via Ascension and Barbadoes, to Bermuda, thence to Canada and the United Kingdom -6,600 miles.
These two sections together make 15,700 nautical miles, while the distance from London to Perth by the Canadian route is about the same, the actual distance being few hundred miles less. Thus it will be seen, says the Board's letter, that taking into account branch cables to connect all the British possessions, half the whole work is already or will shortly be accomplished.
The appendices by Sir SANDFORD FLEMING, the most persistent and unwaver.
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[September 9, 1901.
ing advocate of the cable-nationalisation scheme, enforce the arguments of the Ottawa Board, and must appeal with the greatest force to those who have Imperial interests at heart. They comprise a paper read before the Royal Society of Canada and four letters, addressed respectively to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1898, to the Earl of HOPETOUN in 1900, to the Postmaster General of Canada and the President of the British Empire League in the Dominion this year. We have alluded in past articles to Sir Sandford Fleming's letter to Mr. CHAMBERLAIN in 1898. It is perhaps the strongest defence of the State- owned cable scheme over penned. One point in particular made by the writer is of tremendous force. Sir SANDFORD FLEMING says: One advantage peculiar to a globe-
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encircling system of cables will be appar "ent; each point touched would be in connection with every other point by two routes extending in opposite directions. This feature is of special value, as it practically constitutes a double connection "in each case.' The projected system of all-British cables with its branches, the writer goes on to point out, would doubly connect the fellowing fortiffed and garrisoned coaling stations-Hongkong, Singapore, Trincomalee, Colombo, Aden, Cape Town, Simons Bay, St. Helena, Ascension, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Bermuda, Halifax, Esqui- malt, King George's Sound, and Thursday Island. The following defended ports would likewise be connected:-Durban, Karachi, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Ran- goon, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Townsville, Auckland, Wellington, Lyttletown, and Dunedin. Such an argument is unanswerable, and we know enough in China of the inconveniences and actual dangers of cable interruption, with only a single line, to appreciate as much as any one in the world the strength of the case presented. The questions whicli Sir Saxuford FLEMING then, in 1898. proceeded to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies may certainly be asked again now. Would it not be in the interest of a 'great commercial people, he enquired, to have these and all such points in the outer empire con- nected by a means of communication so perfect as the electric telegraph ? Is it not a matter which vitally concerns every British community around the globe? Is it not in their common interest that the all should be placed in possession of the speediest means of conveying intelligence the one to the other, free from the burden of high charges? The answer to these queries is obvious, and it is generally recog nised now that State-owned cables between all the British possessions are only a matter of time. Other nations are working on the same lines, and Great Britain could' 'hot afford to be behind them in this, even were the plan not so plainly desirable in itself.
A correspondent sends us the following in- teresting Item of news:-The fishermen of Southern China have been scared by the recent appearance of a dragon. The apparition bas caused quite a sensation and the news has spread like wildfire. Report says that the dragon was observed to ascend from the ses în the direction of the horizon and vanish amidat the clouds, leaving a luminous trail behind it) The dragon was golden in Bolour and similar in shape to those generally embroidered on Chinese silks. The two horns were short and not quite developed, and above its head were three bright red stars and some nese charactéry. The rustics may that Kwangtung will produce an Emperor when the horns of the dragon are developed. Our corrispondent suggustar Per- haps this story in connected with the mus the south coast of recently observed
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