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198.
THE CRISIS: TELEGRAMS.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
SHANGHAI, 9th March, 9.45 a.m. Chinese merchants, from Port Arthur are arriving here in accordance with orders to remove their families, as Port Arthur is preparing for a war between Russia au Japan.
SIAMESE OUTRAGE IN PATANI.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND Volunteers being invited to attend, or iu case the number is so small that it would not admit of the Hongkong Volunteers, I myself would personally be very glad indeed to give letters of introduction to any member of the Hong- kong Volunteer Corps who might happen to be on leave to any of the commanding officers so as to secure their attendance in connection with one of the crack Metropolitan Volunteer Corps, such as the Artists, the London- Scottish, the Inns of Court, or the Queen's Westminster, with each of which regiments I am intimately acquainted, (Applause).
CHAIR AND RICKSHA-COOLIES.
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD-I beg, sir, to put the second question which stands in my name.
The question was:-"Will the Honourable the [FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT].
Colonial Secretary inform the Council whether the recommendations contained in the Report, SINGAPORE, 12th March, 4.25 p.m.dated Hongkong, 6th November, 1901, of the *The Rajah of Patani [in Siamese Malaya Commission appointed by His Excellency the Kidnapped Governor, on 28th August, 1901, to enquire into north of Perak] has been by the Siamese. He was lured to a house and report on the question of the existing difficulty and asked to sign a treaty whereby he abjured of procuring and retaining reliable chair and jinricksha-coolies for private chairs and jinrick- When his right of governing his own State.
shas, are to be carried out, and, if not to be carried he, refused he was surrounded by Siamese out, explain the reason why?" soldiers and carried on a gunboat up the coast. The Patani Malays are frantic, and serious trouble is feared. The Governor of the Straits Settlements has been asked to interfere.
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL..
A meeting of the Hongkong Legislative Council was held on the 11th inst. in the Council Chamber. Present:-
HIS EXCELLENCY the Acting GOVERNOR, Major-General Sir W. GASCOIGNE, K.C.M.G. (Commanding the Troups).
Hon. J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, C.M.G. (Colonial Secretary).
Hon. W. M. GOODMAN, K.C. (Attorney- General).
Hon. Commander R. M. RUMSEY R.N. (Harbour Master).
Hon. A. M. THOMSON (Colonial Treasurer). Hon. W. CHATHAM (Director of Public Works).
Hon. A. W. BEEWIN (Registrar-General). Hon. C. P. CHATER, U.M.G.
The COLONIAL SECRETARY in answer to this the table the following question laid on letter with enclosure, and also a minute by His Excellency the Governor.
Government House!
Hongkong, 31st December, 1901. SR-I have the honour to report that, in consequence of a number of complaints which reached the Government in connection with the difficulties of procuring and retaining reliable coolies for private chairs and jinrickshas, I appointed a Commission, in August last, for the purpose of enquiring into the cause of these complaints and suggesting a remedy,
2. The Commission held fourteen meetings during the months of September, October and November, and examined a large number of
witnesses.
The Report in which the evidence of these witnesses was reproduced, and in which the Commissioners formulated their suggestions for the removal of the alleged grounds of discontent, was submitted to me last month. I gave it my very careful consideration and perused all the evidence upon which the recom- mendations of the Commissioners were based.
3. I did not find myself in agreement with the deductions drawn from the evidence by the Commissioners, and was unable, therefore, to concur in their recommendation. I invited the Members of my Executive Council however, to give me the benefit of their views on the Mr. R. F. JOHNSTON (Acting Clerk of subject, and caused them to be informed of the Councils).
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD.
Hon. J. THURBURN.
Hon. J. J. Bell-Irving.
Hon, Dr. Ho KAI,
Hon. WEI A YUK,
QUEEN'S COLLEGE.
f
The COLONIAL SECRETARY laid on the table the report of the Queen's College for the year 1901 by the Headmaster.
FINANCIAL. ·
The COLONIAL SECRETARY laid on the table financial minutes (Nos, 7 and 8), and moved that they be referred to the Finance Committee. The COLONIAL TREASURER secondled, and the motion was carried,!
The COLONIAL SECRETARY laid on the table the report of the Finance Committee (No. 1), and moved its adoption.
The COLONIAL TREASURER seconded, and the motion was adopted.
VOLUNTEERS AT THE CORONATION,
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD-I beg, sir, to put the first question which stan's in my name.
The question was:-"Will the Honourable the Colonial Secretary inform the Council whe- ther the Government have taken into considera. tion the expediency of suggesting to the Colonial Office that members of the Hongkong Volunteer Corps in Great Britain during the Coronation of His Majesty King Edward the Seventh be invited to participate in the Coronation care- monies as representatives of this Colony, without 'cost to the Colonial funds?
The COLONIAL SECRETARY - No instructions regarding the Coronation have been received, but a communication has been addressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies enquiring when such instructions may be expected.
His EXCELLENCY-I would like to supple- -ment that answer by saying that in case, when we do receive an answer, there are no Colonial
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opinions held by myself.
4. On the 20th instant, the question was fully considered in Executive Council, especially as to the question whether there should or should not be compulsory registration of private coolies, and it was advised by a majority of the Mem. bers of Council that no steps should be taken to carry out recommendations of the Committee. This advice was given on the ground that the recommendations, if carried out, were not calculated to bring about the desired result, nor, in the long run, to satisfy the employers of private coolies, inasmuch as the real causes of discontent appeared to be traceable to the state of the labour market of Hongkong and China and other natural economic conditions.
5. I have now the honour to transmit for your information six copies of the Report) together with a statement of my own views, which. I drew np after reading the Report, but before I consulted the Executive Council.
6. I also enclose an extract from the China Mail of the 20th instant from which it appears that the difficulties dealt with by the Commis- sioners who drew up the Report may be mitigated by other methods than those gested by them--methods which wou'd be less subversive of sound economic principles. I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient Servant, HENRY A. BLAKE, Governor.
(Enclosure.)
[March 15, 1902.
Extract from China Mail of the 20th December, 1901.
The difficulty in procuring ricksha-coolies seeins to have. been almost met by the recent action of the authorities in placing 500 extra public rickshas on the streets. There are now twelve hundred of these conveyances plying in Hongkong, and the coolies, finding that their earnings are not so profitable as before, are throwing aside the public ricksha and going into private employ. The public ricksha owners grumble that many of their machines
want of coolies.
The are lying idle for grumble, of course, is justifiable when one takes into consideration the fact that the licensee has to pay $72 a year to the Treasury for the licence for each ricksha.
The following is the minute HONOURABLE COLONIAL SICRETARY,—I and considered have very carefully road this report and the evidence upon which it is based. The causes of the difficulties complained of are fairly et forth in the answer of the first witness to question of page 1A-(a) the demand for coolies is greater and the coolies are more or less limited in Lumber; (b) they are under no control and they can do as they like; (c.) the cost of living has increased and wages are still going up. The latter reason given is borne out by 17 of the 32 responses in Appendix E, and is emphasised by Inspector Hanson in his answers to questions 9 and 10, On the other hand, as suggested in page 11 questions 3 and 4, page 14, as private chair coolies are usually housed, the increased cost of lodging outside ought to tend to increase the supply of private chair-coolies.
Another reason of the alleged discontent of private chair-coolies is that they object to per- forming the light work outside the mere carry- ing of chairs that has hitherto been within the scope of their duty.
The proposals put forward by the members of the Commission to meet this state of discom. fort are compulsory registration of all coolies employed as private ricksha or chair-coolies, and the reduction of the fares of public ricksha and chair-coolies so that their possible earnings would cease to be a temptation to private chair coolies to leave private employment and become licensed public chair-coolies. The establishment of a coolie-farm was also suggested, question "There 10, page 15, but Mr. Hanson's answer is no doubt that if these people are put into the hands of one person, the community will have to pay largely for that man's monopoly," con- firmed by Mr. Dyer Ball's answer, question 6, page 23, is borne out by the demand of Ngan Wing Chi, who hal evidently been approached on the subject of a monopoly, and was preparad to undertake the supply of 2,70) private chair and ricksha-coolies in three classes, at eleven, ten, and nine dollars respectively.
On the subject of registration, the views of the witnesses are very divergent. Registra- tion has been tried before and proved a failure, because the masters would not be troubled by any restriction of the kind so long as they could get their work done. Mr. May's answer to gestion, page 6, shows how far this dis- inclination went to accept any trouble even in a case where it was notified to the master by the police that one of his boys were a thief. The answer was: Well, so long as he does don't mind." The evidence not trouble me, of Mr. Lennys, late Crow · Solicitor, showed that he was strongly opposed to any interference by compulsory registration of private coolies as an interference with freedom of contract, questions 6 to 9, page 29; and at question 6, 3, he gives the reasons for the present page difficulty, that is, that a street or cargo-coolis
can
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earn more money than a private chair coolie. The evidence of Mr. Saunders, pages 92 to 99, is also very strongly against registra- sug-tion, on the grounds of interference with free-
dom of contract (question 3, page 94) and also . of the danger of intensifying the present dis- comforts (qustion 4, page 94) There is a limited supply of these people and, if you weed them out, there will be an insufficient supply." Mr. Saunders's evil.no appears to have been rather a resistance to persistent arguments of the Commission in favour of registration mak His Majesty's Principal Secretary of Stateing employment of unregistered coolies an
The Right Honourable
J. CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,
for the Colonies,
ko. &c. &c.
offence, than the volunteering of his views on the questions under discussion.
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