July 18, 1903.]
May be, the Government will permit the use of curtains or screens, as they have done in the houses in the by-lanes, but if the Ordinance is put in force at once, how are we to have curtains or screens ready? If the Chinese petition the Sanitary Board, how long will they have to wait for an answer? We beg the Govern- ment to have some consideration for the Chinese. If one keeps a pig, a goat or a cow, it is kept in a separate compartment. Are there to be no such reservations for Human beings Are Chinese to be regarded as lower than pigs and goats? All peoples are like in that they are created by the great Providence, but the Chinese are now being put in a position lower than that of four-footed animals. We feel deeply pained to have to give expression to those sentiments,
There is another matter to which we wish to call attention: The Chinese members of the Legislative Council and the Sanitary Board are not fighting on behalf of the Chines inhabi- | tants of the Colony, and have not taken any steps to inform the Chinese inhabitants beforehand of the action of the Government. Perhaps, when these laws were passed by the Legislature, the Chinese members were absent. Must Chinese males and females live promiscuously in disregard of the rules of propriety ! Or is the action that of the Sanitary inspectors paly, without the know- ledge of the Government? We cannot solve the puzzle. We are quite aware that the Govern ment officials in this Colony are doing their best for the Chinese inhabitants. We have 200,000
Chinese living in the Colony, and it is their fervent prayer that the Government will the speedily amend Ordinance. In case the Government has issued circulars calling for the removal of the partitions, it would be a good act on their part to recall them, and amend the Ordinance so that it will not operate harsbly on the Chinese population. We are quite willing to obey all rules of the Sanitary Department, but if this law should be amended, the Chinese inhabitants would never cease to be grateful."
THE NEW STREET TRAMWAYS.
The work of constructing the new street tramways is proceeding steadily. About two- and-a-half miles of line have reached completion, and operations covering other large stretches of ground are nearing that stage. The trolley- wire poles are being erected in outlying parts of the city, and the brickwork of the power station at Bowrington Wanchai, is so well advanced as to be almost ready for the roof; the "beds for the engines are now being put
in there.
there
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
ROBBERIES IN HONGKONG.
A recrudescenca ia crim、 has taken plaa within the past week, as is evidenced by the various robberies, street and otherwise, that have been committed. Two more were reported on the 11th inst. In the first, three armed men, it is alleged, entered a Chinese dwelling house at West Point, and, having gagged and bound the inmates, two women and a man, ransacked the place and left with jewelry and money to the amount of about $500 in their possession. The victims were taken completely by surprise. The robbery wa‹ perpetrated at three o'clock ou Saturday morning, at which bour the people were awakened to find three natives stauding over them with daggers. The latter covered their victim's mouths to silence any cries for help, and forced gags between their teeth; then they b and their hands behind them, and completed the work by appropriating all the valuables they could find When the robbers had gone the unfortuu te occupauls of the house ncceeded in so far loosening their gags as to be able to attract the attention of some neighbours, who entered and liberated them. Information was lodged at No. 7 Police Station, West Point, and the affair is now being actively investigated.
The second robbery occurried in the street at Huoghom, and hal a ricksha-coolie for victim. His vehicle was engaged by a countryman who was evidently working ia concert with another, for in Austin Road, near the Indiau bırracks, a man jumped from behid some bushes and threw pepper in the coolie's eyes. He offered resistance, whereupon his fare caught him by the queue and held him prisoner whilst the other man rifled him He had $1.10 in his purse, and this the miscreants decamped with. The coolie reported the occurrence, which took place at eleven o'clock on the 11th inst., at Yaumati Police Station; but it is unlikely in the circum- stances that his assailants will be arrested.
A.Chinese youth who stole jewelry and money to the total amount of 8870 from the house of his adopted parents at 39, East Street, in order to go and see the procession at Macao on the 8th, 9th, and 10th inst., was sentenced to one month's hard labour at the Polic, Court on the 11th inst.
Thefts have been frequent at the Hongkong Club of late, and the closest investigation failed till on the 15th iust. to reveal the thief. It was supposed that the guilt lay with the Chinese ser- vants, but that assumption has turned out to le wrong. One of the Indian watchmen, Vazeer by larceny at the M gistracy this morning; he name, has been accused, and will be charged with made an unsuccessful attempt to implicate one of the "boys," and will have to face the music alone. The Club members the loss
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As to the cars, the service will comprise 26, of these 10 being for Europeans and 16 for of whose property resulted in the present natives. The former will carry 32 passengers proceedings are Messrs. Thiel, Finke, Blas- and have the seats placed longwise, whilst the latter will provide accommodation for 44 consisted of gold sleeve-links, gold studs, a son, and Thomson, and the articles stolen people, and have the sea's ruuning cross- wise. The interior of the cars is fully protec-ring. The most of them were traced to a nickel watch, a gold chain, and a diamond ted against the weather. In the summer, are blinds which can be utilised to shut out the pawnshop, the proprietor of which was taken sun's rays or to afford shelter from the rain, and possible, the person who pledged them
to the Ceutral Police Station to identify, if The ventilation is secured by letting down the win-uniformed Indian watchmen from the Club dows and opening the sliding doors at each end. No
were drawn up in line, and when the Beats! will be fixed on the top of the cars,
pawnbroker scanned their faces he had no stated. The total length of the cars, which will conducted away and charged.
we have already difficulty in picking out one, who was thereupon be lit with electricity is 29
He has sines feet and the maximum width 6 feet 6 inches; they are all
been committed for trial. All the property, fitted with life-guards which are placed in
with the exception of a set of gold studs and a front of the wheels and reach close to the rails. pair of gold sleeve-links belonging to Mr. Whether or not the tramways will be a success
Thomson, has been recovered. financially is a question that the future alone can decide, but so far as their existence as a working system is concerned the promoters are more than confident that they will be a success, and that the travelling public will have nothing to complain of.
[28
The importation into the F.M.S. of subsidiary silver coin issued by the Government of Hong kong is forbidden.
L'Echo de Chine has an article on supremacy in the Pacific (cean and suggests that the struggle for the Pacific may be one of the causes of the Anglo-Freñich rapprochement.
man
had he not
made after him. The obss, was a long one, and ming attempts were made by Chinese to block Inspector Cullen's way. He showed these fellows scant consideration, but might never have caught his been able to attract the notice of Polic Inspector Williamson, who was in the vicinity and joined in the pursuit; between them they captured the miscreant, who was tɔkon to the Central Police Station and charged. The case will probably be heard to-day
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OPIUM-MAKING IN HONGKONG.
HOW THE DRUG IS PREPARED.
In Hongkong there are some 220 public opium-divans -90 of the first class and 130 of the second-where at all times the opium. moker can be seen su :king solace through the It must not be supposed, however, that the stem of his long pipe charged with poppy juice. smoking of opium is contined to these places, for there is hardly a hong in the city but has its opium-smoking couch upon which callers and customers are invited to recline and enjoy a pipe; while in private life also the opium habit is indulged in. But it is in the divans that one gets to close touch with the thing. Io the No. 1 divans one finds Chinese of the better
smoke it; or they may take with them their class. They ny buy their opium there and
own drag, in which case the dross left in the pipe after smoking becomes the property of the divan-keeper and the smoker gets the use of the pip in return for th→ dross. secoud-class divans one finds the habitués tɔ be In the
from the lower strata of the Chinese community; here prepared opium is little used, the smokers using instead the cheap dross which is left after the first smoking of the drug by their wealthier countrymen,
Another was added on Thursday to the list of street robberies which have taken place in the Miss Berkeley, daughter of the Hon. Sir Col ny recently, the victim this time being H. S. Berkeley, Attorney-General. Luckily the incident was witnessed by an European, and the thief is now awaiting an appearance at the Police Cour Miss Berkeley and her sister were out shopping, and the former was carrying her purse, which contained only a small sum of money in her band. At Lee Yuen Street, a notoriously bad locality, the thief came up behind Miss Berkeley and snatched her purse away. She screamed, and Sanitary Inspector Cullen, who was riding past in his ricksha and saw the Chinaman dart off, jumped out and
Most of the crude opium brought into the Colony comes from India, and the monopoly is vested in the Opium Farm, to which it is periodically farmed out by the Government. Most people who know the East are aware of the method by which the juice is gathered from the poppy: how the seel-balb of the flower is incised and the juice flows out as a milky liquid. concretes in a brownish mass, and is scraped off the balb and collected into lumps such as are found in the market. But compara- tively little is known of the process through which the opium afterwards goes before it is ready for smoking. Yet ia Macao and in Wanchai are large opium-preparing establish- year's end to year's end. ments where work goes on unceasingly from A visit to the Wan-
terest to the uniti sted. chai factory of the Opium Farm is full of in-
In the first place the inspissated juice obtained from the bulb of the poppy flower is enclosed in a shell consisting of the leaves of the flower and plant and rolled in the shape of a ball weighing about 4lbs. This is the shae in which the crude opinm reaches the factory for preparation into the article beloved of the smoker. 'The shell in which the opium is wrapped is divided into three layers; the first or outside layer be ng dry and of no use is thrown away, though some of the poorer c'asses chew it with their betel. The second layer, which is impr. gnated to a cer- tain extent with opium, is stewed along with the innermost layer, from which is first scraped carefully all the palp attached to it. The water resulting from this stewing process is of a brown colour, contains a small percentage of the drag and is used for boiling the pulp in.
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As regards the boiling of the pulp, this is done in a brass pan over a charcoal fire -all pans used in the preparation of opium must be of brass, and all fires of charcoal.
The opium water having been first thickened a little, the boiling goes on for about two hours, and, as containing all the impurities, is skimmed off it proceeds, the scum of the boiling liquid, with wooden spoons or pieces of wood made in the shape of a long-handled bat and thrown away. After being boiled the opium thickens to about the consistency of putty, and it is then removed to smaller pans and kneaded with wooden scrapers for about an hour and a half. When the kneading is completed the opium is spread out in the pans by means of ladles, being sprinkled at the same time with water blown in a spray from the mouth of the worker in the same manner as is employed by the Chinese laundryman when engaged in ironing
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