August 30, 1902.]
MISCELLANEOUS.
Major Imai, commander of the Japanese garrison at Shanghai, died of dysentery on the 21st inst.
The Times Ottawa correspondent states that Count Komura, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, has sent the Canadian Government a strong protest against the restricted legislation enacted in British Columbia, which the Federal authorities will undoubtedly disallow.
In the district of Shou Yang hsien, Shansi, some 3,000 have died of cholera within the short space of ten days. The plague began before the rains fell and has not yet stayed its havoc. Several other districts are affected and there is consternation at the peril, the China Times says. Baron von Czikann, the Austrian Minister in Peking, arrived in Vienna on the 19th ult., coming by the Siberian Railway. Baron von Czikann says travelling on the Siberian Railway is rather tiresome and very slow. During the greater part of the journey the accommodation was rather deficient.
Ou the 21st inst., there was launched from the International Dockyard of Messrs S. C. Farnham, Boyd & Co., Ld., at Shanghai, the U.S. lighthouse-tender Corrigidor. This is the third of this class of steamer built by the above Company to the order of the Insular Govern- ment Her dimensions are as follows:- length over all, 148 feet; breadth, 25 feet; depth, 11 ft 9 in.
The following appointments have been made at the Admiralty :-Lieutenauts: Cyril Asser, to Glory, for Fame; Ches. P. Mansell, to Tamar, for Whiting; Geo. C. Hardy, to Goliath, for Hart (all in command on recommissioning, undated); Robert G. Hammond, to Goliath, for Hart, on recommissioning (undated). Sub Lieutenants: Herbert R. Stokes, to Glory, for Fame; John A. S. Blackwood, to Tamar, for Whiting, both on recommissioning (undated); Inspector of Machinery W. Sharp, to the -Goliath, additional, for service with the China
Fleet (to date July 21).
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
The Perak Pioneer has the following reference to the new scheme for subordinates in the P.W.D. of the F.M.8. Service :-
:-"It opens a splendid field for those in the service who are blessed with a good stock of brains. They will have no other body but themselves to blame in future, should the Government find it neces- sary to advertise for the filling of an existing vacancy carrying desirable emoluments, which according to the scheme will only be resorted to failing the presence of a competent man in the department."
The Right Rev. Thomas O'Gorman, bishop of Sioux Falls, has returned to the United States from Rome, where he was present during the negotiations between Judge Taft and the Vatican as to the friar lands. He brought with him an autograph letter from the Holy Father to President Roosevelt. The letter dwelt upon the amicable relations existing between the Roman Church and the government of the United States, regarding the position and future of the friars in the Philippines. A mosaic picture sent by the Pope accompanied the letter, which was personally delivered by Bishop O'Gorman to the president.
Various promotions in and appointments to the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, intimation of which has already been mad`, | were announced in the London Gazette of the 22nd. Amongst these were:-To be G.C.M.G: -Sir Ernest Mason Satow, K.C.M.G., His Majesty's Minister at Peking. To be K.C.M.G.:-Commodore Francis Powell, R.N., for services in China. He is commodore in charge of naval establishments, Hongkong. He was decorated for services at Benin, and now enjoys the good service pension. Pelham Laird Warren, Esq., C.M.G,, His Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghai, for services in China. Mr. Warren passed his student in- terpretership in 1867, and has been in China ever since. To be C.M.G.-William John Archer, Esq., His Majesty's Consul at Bangkok, Captain Arthur Calvert Clarke, RN., for services in China, Chapman James Clare, South Australian Naval Defence Force, for services in China. Commander Ernest Frederic Augustus Gaunt, R.N., for services in Chiua.
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A hemp-rope factory is shortly to be started in Manila, with modern machinery. The site is in Santa Mesa, near the river,
A Tientsin telegram says that the money handed over to Viceroy Yuan Shikai by the Provisional Government was Tls. 185,024.
have done so much damage in Formosa recently It is expected that the tidal waves which
will decrease the annual yield of salt very materially.
The U.S. revenue cruiser Negros, one of the ten being built for the U. 8. Philippine Government by Messrs. 8. C. Farnham, Boyd & Co. of Shanghai, went on a successful official trial trip on Monday last.
All the fighting in the Philippines is not over yet, for the Moros continue busily at the work of molesting outposts in Mindanao. The attacking parties, however, in all cases are small, and deaths very few on either side, it
aprears.
The Japanese warships Asuma and Takasago sailed from England on the 18th inst., homeward bound. King Edward, in signalling farewell, expressed his thanks at their having come to England, and wished them a pleasant voyage.
The time of transit by the Chinese Eastern and Siberian Railways seems to be improving. A book-packet despatched from Port Arthur on the 10th June was received in London on the 7th ult., which is the fairly good time of 27 days.
At Kuala Lumpur, F.M.S., the question of registration of servants has come to a bead. A draft of a Servants' Registration Enactment, which is to be laid before the Government, has been drawn up, and has been submitt d to the public for discussion.
The Municipal authorities of Singapore propose to make provision during the next five years for a daily supply of 10,000,000 gallons of water. The cost is estimated at $2,500,000—— an approximate estimate only, since the work will be spread over a number of years and the dollar cost of labour and material may be expected to fluctuate.
We
We have received No. 2 of the magazine Der Ferne Osten, the German edition of the bilingual publication of which the English edition is known as The East of Asia. have already noticed the latter's second number, so that we need say no more than that its Germau contemporary is equally excellently planned and carried out.
Regarding the Java-China-Japan line of steamers, it is said that three private Netherlands dockyards are invited to deliver tenders each for one vessel-viz., at Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Flushing. One steamer will be constructed out of Holland. The steamer must h ve a length of about 300 English feet with engines of 1,500 indicated horse-power.
Orders have been issued directing the 30- knot torpedo-boat destroyer Fame to be recommissioned on the China Station, and
The Shanghai Times publishes the following attached as tender to the battlesbip Glory, telegram, under date 18th August, purporting flagship of Sir Cyrian A. G. Bridge, Comman- to give the final decision as to the future of the der-in-Chief. The Fame will be commissioned Hongkong Regiment:-" Definite announce by Lieut.-Com. C. Asser. The 30-knot des- ment is made to-day that the Hongkong Regiment troyer Whiting and the 27-knot destroyer will be immediately disbanded, being replaced Hart also ordered to be recommissioned on the by the Ninth Gurkhas. This would seem to China Station, the Whiting by Lieut. . P. relieve the doubt that has of late found expres Mansel, as tender to the Tamar, receiving sion at Hongkong in regard to the future of ship at Hongkong, and the Hart by Lieut.
the organisation; for while it seems to have G. C. Hardy as tender to the battleship Goliath. been understood there, and at other places in the At Tsintau the governmental palace has been East, that a change was impending in that enlarged by additional buildin, s. The Govern- Colony, no authoritative statement was justified ment out there also is busy making good what until to-day. The order for inmediate disband-Municipal Office shows that the total foreign the Chinese had spoiled in their time; they had ment will probably stand liberal interpretation, hown down all the trees in the settlement, with- There will certainly be no great haste in that out planting new ones in their place. It is proceeding. The order may be construed to hoped that as the settlement is forested again mean that disbandment is expected to occur at the climate out there will improve. The the time of the arrival of the Gurkhas at military force at Kiaochow so far has consisted Hongkong. An official note attends the order, of five companies; the Naval Field Artillery seemingly designed to pillow possible disap- of the three sea battalions and the Naval Artil-pointment in any quarter. It says that disband lery detachment. On Oct. 1 the whole detachment is due only to the introduction of the new meat will be altered into a Naval Artillery ystem of military reliefs." detachment. Up to now a captain-lieutenant was the commander of the detachment, but on Oct. 1 an officer of the Staff will command the new formation, and Navy Captain Jacobsen has been named for that office, after having been busy in China since 1901.
To a correspondent who has had a conversa- tion with him Viscount Watanabe stated that he regarded Japan's financial position as thoroughly sound. Comparing the ordinary expenditure with the income the balance was on the right side. He had no reason to believe that any depression in Japan's finance was to be looked for in the near future. On the contrary, he thought there was the strongest justification for thinking that the era of pros. perity that had set in would continue. Asked how he regarded the alliance between England and Japan Viscount Watanabe replied, “I agree with it in every respect." It would make for peace in the Far East as nothing had ever done before. That identity of interest which had given birth to the alliance would continue, he hoped, for a long time. It was the duty of England and Japan to ensure peace as far as possible in the Far East.
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The N.-C. Daily News correspondent at Hsingha, Fobkien province, wrote on the 8th August that plague was then worse in the north-eastern corner of the prefecture that ever in the past. The Christian are recom- mending Dr. Samp on's serum and the populace is gradually availing itself of this prophylactic At first only the students in the mission schools could be induced to submit to inoculation, but latterly the demand is becoming positive and general." U fortunately Dr. Sampson, of the Č. M. S., had to lay down his work for a season and return to England. A French doctor from Saigon is still there, with his serum. respondent continues:-" From Foochow we hear even more alarming accounts. It is stated these last few days that 1,000 are dying daily, and that more have already been swept off than during the terrible visitation last summer. Coffins can no longer be supplied for all, it is said." Native accouts of both cholers and plagueare simply heart-rending, the writer says. Allowing for the inevitable exaggeration, one nevertheless gets the impression that the twin scourges vie with each other in decimating the doomed population.
The cor-
The latest census taken by the Nagasaki
population there numbers 1,335. These are divided into 432 families consisting of 920 males and 415 females. As to nationality, the Chinese come easily first, their total being 717; British next with 123; Americans, 122; Russians, 120; French, 55; Germans, 48. The balance includes Austrian, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Egyptian, Indian, and Jewish people.
One of the eleven Spanish gunboats which were sunk by Dewey's feet on 10th May, 1898, has been raised by the Philippine Engineering and Construction Company. After a full mouth's work, Capt. C. W. Meade, who has the work in charge, finally succeeded in bringing the Marques del Duero to the surface. The usual method of raising sunken vessels was not employed in raising this vessel; instead of using lighters and purchases, Capt. Meade built bulwarks about the damaged parts of the gun- boat, then freed her from the water by means of powerful pumps.
A Tokyo private despatch to Shanghai states. that it is reported in Chinese circles in the former city that Minister Ts'ai Chọn will probably return to China some time early in October next; further, that it is learned that telegraphic instructions had been sent to Prince Tsai Chên, the Special Coronation Ambassador, who is on his return to Chins via the United States and Japan, that when His Highness arrives in Tokyo he is to make a secret enquiry into the recent dispute between the Minister and Chinese private students in Japanese schools, andalso go thoroughly into the question of the sending of students abroad.
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