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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND Gracious Majesty King Edward VII, the latter to His Majesty Kwang Hsu. To both are extended all the privileges of law and freedom, without distinction or partia ity. Do the non- British subjects clamour for a representative to be elected by them? Anywise, the Govera ment is sufficiently enlightend to dispense with Mr. Tse Tsan Tai's gratuitons advice and pronouncement, and I presume the majority of sensible persons will agree with me in thinking that we have not yet reached a turning point in our history when distinctions should be made in storm in a kettle." view of merely raising a I will grant that Mr. Tse Tsan Tai is not an agitator, but, at the same time. I am uncom- promisingly an anti-agitator.—Yours, &c.,
A BRITISH SUBJECT AND AN EURASIAN.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS.”
on the Legislative Council, I think a few words from me would be of some use. Since we are not allowed to elect the two Members ourselves (as we ought to have been allowed) we should therefore be extremely careful in choosing one, if the Government allowed us to do so. We must not not according to the opinion of persons given us by the local papers, for if so we seem to have entirely no self-control of ourselves, as the persons appearing to be the fittest men to them might not appear to be so to us. So I think it would be the best that both the Nam Pak Hong and the Chan Tan Hong should take the matter up. We have the Tung Wa Hospital and the Chung Wa Club. They are the best places for public meetings and we should make use of them, and then let us call a public meeting and form right, man a committee to appoint the to represent us on the Council, so that some of our brother Chinese may not growl even if our interests could not be properly looked after by the man so appointed. At
Hongkong, 11th June. present we cannot say that we are properly SIE, Will you permit me to reply to Mr. represented. The following words were heard Wong Chuk Yan's question in your issue of spoken by a Chinese representative on the yesterday morning, as to who Mr. Tse Tsan Legislative Council: "Although I could not Tai is, and what is his position and standing in properly look after the interest of my fellow-this Colony ? Mr Tse Taan Tai is a man of -countrymen in the Conucil, yet I have not unblemished character, respectable, and as his He may not done anything to injure them." If such were letter shows, well educated. the case we did not seem to have been repre- perhaps, be the possessor of millions, but that sented at all. We want one to look after our surely does not debar him from expressing his interests, we do not want any one to injure us.
views on any subject he thinks fit, and especially At present the two gentlemen who are supposed on a matter which intimately concerns every to be our representatives do things at "their Chinese in Hongkong, namely, the election, or own free will. They ought to call a public nomination, of a Chinese representative to the meeting and ask the opinion of their fellow Legislative Council. countrymen whom they represent, as how to go on with a thing first, before they speak for them. It won't do to sit still with folded »rms to see things go on as they are. I do not mean to say that they are not fit for the Council, on the contrary they are the best men we can get at present, but we should remember that the knowledge of one or even_two men is but limited. His Majesty the King acts through the advice of the Parliament; His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government, on the advice of the Council. Why can we not do as they do? In conclusion, my fellow countrymen, I trust you all will agree with me and say that unless some- thing of the like is done we are not fully represented nor our interests properly looked after in the Colony, and in case the day should come when all of us are called upon to vote our representative on the Legislative Council, you should be careful in electing such a fearless and painstaking man to represent us as His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government said the Hon. T. H. Whitehead was-Yours respectfully,
A FELLOW COUNTRYMAN.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS,
Hongkong, 10th June. SIR,-If I have rightly seized the spirit of Mr. Tse Tsan Tai's letter in your issue of the 6th of June, he advocates-I refrain from the word "agitate," for he distinctly denies being an agitator-he advocates, I repeat, the election by the Chinese community of a representative to the Legislative Council and impugns the hypothetical appointment by the Government of Mr. Ho Tung on the ground that he is an Eurasian. Now, may 1 ask who is Mr. Tse On what Tsan Tai and what is his birth? ground does he arrogate to himself the right of treating such a grate matter in a ponderous dogmatic tone? May I ask whether it is the Government, or the Chinese, or the community at large who have thought it fit to make nice distinctions between who is or who is not an Eurasian or whether such may or may not be appointed in the Legislative Council. I discern in his subtle letter, firstly; - a direct attack against Mr. Ho Tung; secondly, a not less direct attack against the Eurasians. Is it not premature to speak of the Honourable Wei A Yuk's possible successor to his seat on the Legislative Council, and is it not still more untimely, under cloak of advocat- ing a Chinese, representative-whose name he has nevertheless not disclosed to launch the
ttacks referred to P
There are virtually two classes of Chinese in our midst : British subjects and non-British subjecta." The former owe allegiance to our
I am sorry to confess that want of broad mindedness, such as that shown by Mr. Wong Chuk Yau's question, has always been the misfortune of our community here; that when any one has the courage to show independence of character and is not a groveller after the upper ten," there are those among us who, with their pose np in the air, question his standing. Such people evidently consider that they have a monopoly of all Chinese affairs, and that no one else outside their clique has a right to give an opinion. For my part, I consider Mr. Tse Tsan Tai as competent to speak for the community as Mr. Wong Chuk Yau.
As to the main question, I think there can be no two opinions that were Mr. Ho Tang, or any other Eurasian, elected or nominated the majority of the Chinese community would absolutely disown such a representative. I quite agree with Mr. Tse Tsan Tai, or for the matter of that with Mr. Wong Chuk Yan, that Mr. Ho Tung is to be greatly admired for his known liberality and large-heartedness, but that is beside the question.Yours, etc.,
A MEMBER OF THE CHINESE. COMMUNITY.
t
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS." Hongkong, 11th June.
"
SIB,-If British Subject and an Eurasian will read and inwardly digest my letter of the 3rd inst. (see Daily Press of the 6th inst.) he will find that I meant no offence whatever and merely referred to the principle of repre- sentative government. Again, I am not advocat ing any particular mau as Chinese representative, as maliciously asserted by your anonymous correspondent, and I don't think it gentlemanly at all to make such an aspersion in an British Subject and anonymous letter. If " an Eurasian," whoever he is, is so anxious to know who I am, let him make enquiries, and I
am sure he will soon find out. I can afford to
Jund 18, 1902.
THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND BUILDING BILL.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE “DAILY FRE
Hongkong, 13th Junë. SIR,-After a careful sorutiny of the cover ing letter of our Experts and the principal sections of this Amalgamated Bill which will shortly be introduced into the Legislative Council, it is found that this Bill is only another attempt to tinker sanita ion. Our Experts state that this Bill might reasonably be ex- pected to obviate the necessity for further sani ary legislation "for the next few years at least." While advocating wider streets, larger back-yards and scavenging lanes, our Experts are contented, with regard to setting back of buildings in narrow private streets, not to go beyond the law of 1889, which requires an open space of 74 feet at least, as measured from the middle of the lane cr street, to be left in front of any such new building. Although a com- pensation clause for resuming insanitary blocks of buildings is introduced with a view to buying up the worst class of insanitary properties. gradually, our Experts prefer to allow houses in narrow lanes or streets to remain, until such time when these houses have to be. re-erected, under the provisions of this new - Bill, but without giving any compensation to owners of such properties, Their, logical argument, that "the right of an owner of property to re-erect dwellings of an insanitary his present dwellings sre. type because insanitary should not be admitted," may sound correct, but the fault of erecting these insanitary dwellings resis not on the shoulders of the owners but on the Colonial Government alone. This class of houses have been built and the lanes and streets laid out in conformity with the existing building ordinances of the day, and with the approval and sanction of the Government, who are now advised not to give any compensation for setting back such bonses or widening the streets and remodelling them, should occasion arise to benefit the Colony generally, at the sole sacrifice of the owners of such properties. If the Government on the sale of a piece of land had prohibited the erection of these houses in parrow streets, which up to a year or two back were not pronounced to be insanitary, and owners, in spite of such prohibition, erected these houses, then no sympathy should be extended to such owners. If on the other hand the blame rests with or even is shared by the Government, then fair play and justice should be extended to these loyal subjects. There are bonses in narrow lanes or streets 30 feet deep and if a back-yard 15 feet, a scavenging lané 6 feet, and a kitchen 5 feet are taken away, there only remains 4 feet, which is further taken up by the thickness of the cross walls, and nothing, not an inch of accommodation space, is left-a total loss to owners of such properties. This would be an absolute confiscation of vested interests. In
or
all English laws compensation is given for every inch of land sacrificed by owners to im- prove the sanitation of the place. Again it is greatly to be deplored that houses of this descrip'ion in narrow lanes are allowed to exist until re-erection through age or other causes which might take perhaps fifty years until further sanitary legislation. When the last Bill was before the Council in March last, and it was withdrawn, it was generally understood that the present one would be final-not for a few years only. It has been believed that this Bill would deal and tackle with all insanitary properties, making last effort to put this prosperous Colony into
treat his and Wong Chuk Yan's personal remarks with contempt. I very much regret that the anonymous correspondence of a few
hotheads
has created such a hubbub-pucca san. ary port, once for all. Yours, etc.,
TSE TSAN TAI.
46
"
TO THE EDITOR OF THE
DAILY PRESS,"
Hongkong, 12th June. SIR-I was very interested in the letter which appeared in signed "John Chinaman your issue on the 10th instant, and if the writer will kindly give his name, and if I find that he is a man of standing, I shall be happy to reply to the points which he has raised.Yours, etc.,
SHI CHAN KWONG.
T
As regards compensation for resumption of properties, it would be advisable, in order to prevent, owners to be overpaid, to formulate claims On present rentals, --, as --+ assessed during the last two months, on the basis ranging from 8 per cent, to 12 per capitalisation. Properties situated at Point can now be purchased on cent. net outlay. Should “rentals; resumption be taken as a critorio compensation, many abuses might and rents would be increased: 1 block of buildingsþing
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