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JAPAN AND RUSSIA.
(Daily Press, Eth October)
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The news telegraphed by our Kobe cor- respondent yesterday morning is the most serious which has yet been announced since relations betw en Japan and Russia assumed their present strained aspect. All, of course, depends on the good authority mentioned by our correspondent. If it is sufficient to guarantee the validity of the report of Russia's memorandum to Japan and of the Japanese Foreign Minister's answer thereto, then it is useless to disguise the fact that prospects are very threatening, It has been rumoured from several sources, including the Times Peking correspondent, that Japan propose to Russin some sort of a deal whereby Russia's position in Man- churia should be compensated by a like Japanese supremacy in Corea. The details of this arrangement were variously filled in by some of the correspondents. There was, however, no official confirmation, either Japanese or Russian, of such a report-as, indeed, was only to be expected. All that was known for certain, therefore, was that Russo-Japanese negotiations were proceed ing at St. Petersburg. On the 23rd of last month Baron ROSEN left Nagasaki for Port Arthur, his departure causing much specu- lation in the Japanese Press. The Japan Mail of the 25th ultinio, noting this, remarks that it does not appear to occur to the vernacular papers that Viceroy ALEXIEFF was on the point of liolding at Port Arthur a council of all the principal officers and officials within his comman, and that he might very reasonably h ve desired the assistance of Baron RosEN's advice. But while making this suggestion, the Mail does not wish to minimise the importance of Baron ROBEN's visit to Port Arthur, "for not only his very exceptional knowledge of Far Eastern affairs in general, and of Japan in particular, but also his liberal and moderate views can not fail to produce a salutary influence on the personages assembled at Port Arthur."
If DOW our
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[October 10, 1903.
be an example of "the intelligent anticipa- | hands of their countrymen of the criminal tion of eveuts " of which we hear so much nowadays. So we are brought back once more to the question of the goodness of the authority responsible for the report which our Kobe representative bas tele graphed. One thing is certain, that if the tale of Russia's memorandum and Japan's reply is true, then we are on the brink of a war which must be terrible and far-reaching in its results.
CRIME IN HONGKONG,
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(Daily Press, 7th October.) Just twenty-five years ago to-day a public meeting of an extraordinary character was held on the Cricket Ground at Hongkong to discuss the then existing state of in- security of life and property in the Colony, and to pass such resolutions as might be advisable. We cannot here describe all the features of that meeting, hut it will perhaps suffice to say that the European residents when they turned up at the City Hall, found the room packed full of Chinese, almost without exception Chinese unable to speak or understand any English, who, it was very openly alleged, had been induced to attend by the supporters of the Governor, Mr. (afterwards Sir JoHN) POPE HENNESSY. An adjournment to the Cricket Ground was thereupon moved and carried-it was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon-and the leading residents were enabled to occupy the central position, while the others had to be content with positions in the outer circle. The debate was characterised by some very acrimonious! language from the late Mr. J. J. FRANCIS, then Acting Police Magistrate, who was twice obliged to apologise, once to the Chairman, Ultimately a resolution was Mr. H. B. GIBB. put to the meeting and carried, amid accla- nations and almost unanimously. The Hon. W. KESWICK, M.L.C., proposed and Mr. W. REINERS seconded:" that during the past eighteen mouths life and property in this Colony have been seriously jeopardised and a feeling of insecurity, the result of recent events, has been engendered, which in the opinion of this meeting has been mainly caused by a policy of undue leniency! toward the criminal classes." As it was only a short time before that the notorious outrage on Winglok Street, Hongkong, had occurred, it is easy to understand the reference to insecurity of life; while there had been an unusual amount of thefts, burglaries, etc., in the Colony. The state ef affairs had become so serious that almost every European resident, and the better class Chinese as well, were convinced of the necessity of a public appeal for protection.
class. The fact is almost universally recognised among Hongkong householders that there is an extraordinary number of dishonest persons, servants and vagabonds alike, in the Colony at the present moment. There is a strong feeling that no measures are being taken which can in any way cope with this efflorescence of knavery. Yet, as is the wont of Hongkong, the only outcome of the sentiments of grave dissatisfaction at the state of affairs is a lot of grumbling in private circles, which after all does no good at all. If the sufferers at the hinds of the thieving gangs wish to get the situation altered they must do more than merely make complaints to one another; they must bring their influence to bear on the authorities. The latter, we may be sure, are not insensible to the gravity of affairs; but they show the usual lack of initiative.
(Daily Press, 8th October.)
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We notice that in reproducing from the Daily Press some particulars of recent burglaries in Hongkong, the Kobe Chronicle appends the following note:-
'By the way, "crime is more severely punished in Hong- kong than in Japan, and yet there is much "less crime, especially crimes of violence, "in the large ports of this country than in "the British colony. Notice of this fact "should be taken by those of our con-
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temporaries who are continually urging "that crime in Hongkong should be dealt "with by measures of greater severity.” We may consider ourselves as being conspicuously one of the contemporaries referred to, and while we are glad to take notice of the pleasing facts mentioned by the Kobe paper we fail to see what application they have to the circumstances in Hongkong. Surely, from this and similar paragraphs which we have noticed from tinie to time in the columns of our Kobe contemporary, we are not expected to draw the conclusion that greater leniency in the penalties imposed by the Hong- kong magistrates on wrong-doers would tend to diminish crime in this Colony! We are not of the opinion that severe paualties fail to have a deterrent effect a the criminal classes, though there is some reason to doubt whether in Hongkong mere imprisonment, be the term long or short, is the form of punishment best calcu lated to check effectually the periodical outcrop of criminality from which this Colony suffers. No comparison, of course, can reasonably be drawn in this connection between this Colony and the large ports of Japan. If Kobe, for example, had Canton Now, we do not at all wish to compare the as a near neighbour, instead of Osaka. we do state of things existing in 1878 and now, not doubt that the Editor of our contem- nor to suggest that the present Governmentporary and the residents of Kobe generally is following the same feeble line of policy that marked Sir JOHN POPE HENNESSY'S rule. But it cannot be denied that the present wave of crime" presents certain analogies, as far as insecurity of property is concerned, to that of 1878, and that, as then it was the general opinion of the respectable residents, of all nationalities, that severer steps should be taken to meet the unusual outbreak of criminality, so now it is generally held that the situation is being dealt with in an inadequate fashion.
Kobe correspondent's authority is correct (an his judgment is one which may be safely relied on), Baron ROSEN, for all his moderation, has beeu obliged to be the means of presenting to Japan a document which that country does not find satisfactory. If Baron KOMURA, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, has actually stated that "there is no room for further negotiations," this is tantamount to a declaration of war. Yet only nine days ago the Tokyo correspondent of the North-China Daily News telegraphed to the Shanghai papar, stating that much surprise had been caused in Japan in con- sequence of the rumours circulated in Europe concerning warlike preparations or war-fever in Japan and that the situation did not inspire any new anxiety. Of course it is possible for the situation to change very rapidly in the lapse of a few days. Never theless, after the frequent reiterations of Japan's calm attitude (and there is no doubt that it was perfectly correct and diplomatic), | it is surprising to read now so strongly provocative a declaration from the most responsible Minister if Baron KoMURA has indeed made the reply attributed to him. The fact of the report being made now may or may not be takenļas evidence of its truth. | Anyone who reads the Hongkong newspapers of its proximity to Canton and other The 8th October being the original date must be aware that there has been an fixed for the Russian withdrawal from extraordinary amount of robbery, both petty Mauchuria, it was popularly and naturally theft and open burglary, during recent rumoured that Japan had given Russia up months; but there are hundreds of cases of to that day to reply to her. demands the kind which never become public, with regard to Manchuria. Yesterday including a vast amount of theft from the was the 8th October, and Russia's alleg | wealthier Chinese, who, though we hear little ed reply was announced. This might about it as a rule, suffer very beavily at the
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would soon find good cause to be as clamorous for severer measures against the perpetrators of crime as are the Press and the public of Hongkong. Greater leniency of penalties does not induce, but naturally follows, a steady abatement of crime in a nation, for lower criminal statistics are as a rule due to the spread of popular education, inducing a growing moral sense among the criminal classes and a keener susceptibility to public disgrace. At present, and for a long time yet to come, Hongkong, by reason
hotbeds of crime, cannot hope for much assistance from any other educational means than stern measures of repression. The recent use of the stocks in some very bad cases, we have some reson to believe, has had a most wholesome effect, and we are satisfied that we are voicing the senti- 'ment of the law-abiding residents of all
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