20
ATUE. THE CONNAUGHT STATUE.
(Daily Press, 7th July.) The ceremony performed on Saturday afternoon by His Excellency Major General Sir WILLIAM GASCOIGNE, the Officer Administering the Government, of unveiling the statue of the Duke
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
degree of pleasure that his statue in Hong. kong was unveiled by an old comrade in arms, one, too, who had been with him in the famous action at Tel-el-Kebir. It was fitting and most opportune also that a soldier should unveil the statue of a Prince whose whole carcer has been devoted to the profession of arms, and more especially one who knows so well and accurately how to appreciate the eminent abilities and soldierly usual interest. Apart from other circum-qualities of the KING's brother. The speech stances the ceremony was interesting made by His Excellency the General was itself, the statue having been presented by singularly suitable to the occasion. With an old and popular resident to commemor- ate the visit of the Duke to this Colony in April, 1890, when His Royal Highness laid
of CONNAUGHT
WAR one of most un.
the foundation-stone of the Reclamation
Works then just commencing: Since that date the whole Reclamation has been made, and about nine neres recovered from the sea in the very centre of the city, on which, too, some of the finest buildings in it have been erected. The new Hongkong Club, the
handsome offices of the Eastern Extension
out being in the least degree studied, it hit the mark in every particular, and completely carried the hearers with it. His warin and well deserved encomiums of Me. BELL IRVING, and the appreciation and praise bestowed on Sir PAUL CHATER's public spirit and liberality, found a general response among the nullerous assembly on the ground, who vigorously applauded the references to the donors of the statues.
The community will, we are sure, grateful- Telegraph Company, those of Messrs. ly recognise the public spirit and love of the BUTTERFIELD & SWIRE, and the noble blocks tight little island which have prompted known as Queen's and Prince's Buildings these donations; while the Royal personages have all sprung into existence and long whom they commemorate will doubtless since been occupied. The Jubilee statue appreciate the loyalty shown by the donors, of Her Majesty the late Queen VICTORIA and the account of the ceremony will also has a prominent place in the centre of assuredly be perused with unusual interest the new ground, and that of her sou
by the members of the Royal Family. ARTHUR now stands on part of the ground The erection of these statues in the centre intended to be preserved as a garden of of Victoria by her faithful citizens will also open space in front of the proposed new impress the Chinese with the devotion and Law Courts. An arrangement has been loyalty felt in this Colony for the persons come to between the local Government and of its past, present, and future rulers. The the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking idea that animates the Western man to Corporation to preserve those spaces between immortalise the features of his rulers or of the Queen's and Prince's Buildings on the great and venerated compatriots in bronze one side and the Law Courts and the
or marble, may not, perhaps, be at first western part of the vacant site opposite the fully understood by the Chinese people, but Hongkong Club on the other side as an they will learn to appreciate it, and possibly open square, or rather oblong space, as a
to copy it by and bye. The Emperor lung in the midst of the city. When the build KWANG HSU is still surrounded by jealous ings now in course of erection, including myrmidons, and is not allowed a free the Law Courts a handsome structure expression of opinion, while his subjects in granite to be crowned with an imposing are held at an unapproachable distance, and dome are completed and the square laid he is practically kept out of touch or out, the Reclamation, at whose inauguration sympathy with them. But the Japanese the Duke of CONNAUGHT presided some successfully shattered the walls of isolation
(July 14, 1902.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE INDEMNITY.
(Daily Press, 5th July.)
The North-China Daily News, in a recent article, drew attention to the very extra- ordinary distribution of the indemnity payable by China, nearly one half of which is made to go to Russia and France, the nations which suffered in the Peking emeutes the least of all, and whose economic interests in China are practically non- existent. The article very pertinently asked: What were the Ministers in Peking thinking of when they passed the account? And what are we to think of a Concert which could permit such a blot on our modern civilisation to pass without a word effort in its power to conceal from the of comment; nay more, has made every
world at large the evidence of its incapacity? Apparently, England and the
United States-the two nations which stand almost lowest on interests are by far the largest, and who the list, yet whose played by no ineans a secondary part in the suppression of the troubles-concurred in this iniquitous division, and the Daily News asks very properly: Would it not
have been at once more economical as well as more consistent with the honour of both
countries, had they refused to permit such a stain to be placed on both their honour and their commonsense? The United States did indeed at a stroke reduce their claim from nearly eight to five millions sterling
-a motion which the French organ Chiua, L'Echo de Chine, characterises as they would gladly have gone further and un coup de Poker; are we to surmise that withdrawn from the disgrace of the whole affair had the British Minister only con- sented to act with his American colleague ? suggested something further; would, it not The North-China Daily News seems to have
be better, even at this eleventh hour, for
England, with or without the United States,
to take on her own shoulders this burden
for the distribution of which she is in a
measure responsible, and which she had
against herself? As corrected, the amounts
twelie years ago, will present a truly noble that had grown up round the person of surely sufficient warning would be used coup d'oeil, unsurpassed in any city in Asia their sovereign, and His Majesty the of the indemnities, passed by the body of The statue, which is the work of Mr. BOERM, Mikado is now ruling as well as reign-Ministers called together for the purpose,
is a good and faithful likeness of His Royal Highness, and must vividly recall to those who were present on the occasion of his visit here his affable and genial presence. It is a great addition to the objects of interest in the city of Victoria, with which up to the present the Colony has been rather slenderly endowed.
This brings us to a consideration of another point in connection with the un veiling ceremony to which we have above alluded. His Excellency Sir WILLIAM GASCOIGNE, in the course of his remarks, made the interesting announcement that two more statues, one of His Majesty King EDWARD VII, and the other of His Royal Highness the PRINCE OF WALES, have been
ing, whilst the Shogunate is a memory of the past. The example of the Japan ese may in time-it will probably be many years-act upon China, and the freedom enjoyed by the Chinese in foreign, ard especially British, colonies cannot fail to have a share in breaking down the barriers artfully maintained by the man- darinate between the so-called Son of Heaven and his subjects. The loyal affection which prompts British subjects to erect such lasting personal memorials of their sovereigns in this remote dependency of the Empire is certainly an object lessou to the Chinese people, whose loyalty to their Emper r is, to say the best of it, based on a tradition, and has nothing personal or presented to the Colony, and are to be romantic connected with it. Superstition erected on sites in the same square. These and "olo custom," not sentiment or affee. statues, both of brouze, have been present- tion, constitute the somewhat precarious ed by Sir PAUL CHATER, K.C.M.G., bond that maintains in existence the and Mr. J. J. BELL IRVING respectively, Manchu dynasty and the corrupt system and form a most munificent and seasonable that has grown up under its aegis. If the addition to the beautification of the city. tie is to continue and to be strengthened, There was a peculiar appropriateness in then the Emperor of China must emerge Sir WILLIAM GASCOIGNE forming the from his seclusion and become, like other central figure in the ceremony on Saturday. sovereigns, a known and esteemed entity. It was surely a most felicitous fact that the Officer Administering the Government at the moment should have been intimately known to the Duke of CONNAUGHT, and we may be sure that His Royal Highness will hear with no little interest and no small
The Japanese Legation in Paris has denied that Japanese officers commanded the Siamese force which invaded the neutral zone. We have yet to hear that a Siamese force did invad, the neutral zone.
Russia £20,000,000, England and the are, omitting fractions, France £11,000,000, United States £13,000,000; and all the rest £25,000,000. It is sufficient to place these on paper to recognise the absurdity of the demauds. The English and American claims were carefully scrutinised, and insupportable claims at once struck out; even after this amounts were fined down, and in the case of hose from the United
States, a still further reduction of nearly
three millions sterling was made.
The
remaining nations were not of course bound to make these voluntary sacrifices, but their representatives were certainly bound to see that before sanctioning then they should. have examined the foundations of each claim; this was unfortunately not done, but the various demands thrown into a hat without sifting, and the were practically
sum total taken. The curious paradox appears that the nations who drew the largest profit out of the iulemnity are precisely those who have no beneficiary interest in China, and practically the whole has to come out of the nations whose interests are solid. There is then a logical basis for the suggestion that it would be a sound financial policy for the two nations to at once take on themselves the payment of the debt. Managed wisely there is no doubt that the debt would eventually
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