Page
April 23, 1904.]
HONGKONG FIRE-ENGINES.
↑
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. neighbourhood and broke open the door, and found nobody inside, only some old furniture.
THE PAKHOI BUICIDE.
RELEASED ON PROBATION.
AMOY.
FLOWER SHOW.
317
a very
Probably no city in the Orient the size of Cheang You Choi, the late commander of the
[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Hongkong has such inefficient fire-extinguish. Canton native army, has committed suicide. ing appliances as we have. In spite of there He was an adopted sou of the late Admiral
Amoy, 12th April. being complaints at almost every fire that Cheang Chew Chung. During the Kwangsi
BACHELORS' DANCE. occurs in the Colony-and there are many-rebellion he was ordered by the Viceroy to take arranging for a dance on the 4th inst. caused The energy displayed by our bachelors in that there is not enough water on the mains, no troops against the rebels. Of late he received steps seem to have been taken to enable the orders from the Viceroy to disband his troops; the great event a rumour was current that some a mild sensation in Kulangsu. The day before Brigade to utilise their fire-engines speedily. in At the recent Queen's Road fire no water was
consequence. some of them joined the of the bachelors had actually taken their coats rebels. The Viceroy censured him, where off and were to be seen working on the decora- obtainable for over half-an-hour, and by that on he took a revolver and putting it into histions, etc., in the Club Theatre. Needless to say time no less than five houses were ablaze. Why mouth blew out his brains. cannot the Brigade be independent of water from the maius when, but a few yards away. harbour water is always available? Most fires in the Colony occur on the lower level. At present, it may be remarked, the Volunteer Brigade are not so much to blame as one would imagine, for. to begin with, they have no fire-engines worth speaking of; and. as they have their respective Police duties to perform. cannot spare the amount of time for Brigade drill that is customary elsewhere. A Daily Press representative has visited the Hongkong Fire Station, in Queen's Road, and inspected the engines, which, as far as could be seen, bore no dates. Upon further investigation, however, be learned that one of the two engines there were only two-was some 15 years old, and the other had just left its " teens." Surely such a state of affairs is a disgrace to the Colony, where Chinese frand, Chinese carelessness, and kero- sene lamps abound. Is it. moreover, just to the insurance companies? We understand that at Kowloon there are no Police fire-engines. though there may be, for all we know, a few hand squirts! The Navy, at their Kowloon Torpedo Depot, have two good steam fire-engines, and a manual: and the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company have the latest Shand-Mason London engines (but 18 months old) which throws water-two delive- ries easily over their highest double-story go down. They have also a manual fire-engine, and a few Woodhouse squirts. With private pro- perty. therefore, Kowloon, no thanks to the authorities, is better off than Hongkong. The water fire-engine, it may be remarked, is effici- ent, though seldom under steam when required. This fire-engine question, certainly is a matter which should come before the Legislative Council.
no credence was given to this report, as it seemed too good to be true; we believe, nevertheless, that A Captain Cheung Tak Kwai was accused of misappropriating the pay of his soldiers and
one or two privileged persons managed to get a permitting some of them to join the rebels. On by what they saw. It is only fair, however, to peep at the unique sight, and were much edified the 20th of the Chinese moon he returned from the bachelors to record a great success Kwangsi with his family and had an interview result of their labours, for the dance in the as the with the Viceroy. The latter ordered a court-gaily decorated theatre lasted till an early hour martial composed of the Commissioners of to the enlivening strains of the band from Grains, of Salt, and of Revenue, the magistrates S.M.S. Luchs, and those present had of Namhoi and Punyu being present, and also enjoyable time. the public executioner, who was waiting in one of the halls, After the trial Cheung was sen. tenced to be beheaded. When he was asked if he liked to see his family to bid them a final good-bye, he said no-as it was his destiny he was prepared to die he then sent word to his not to be a mandarin." He said there was no proof of his guilt. Upon the two generals Kwang Kip and Chung Hip reporting the matter again to the Viceroy His Excellency ordered him to be released and sent him to Kwangsi to fight the rebels again, saying that he must suppress the rebellion in three months.
CANTON.
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT, [
one of
Canton, 18th April.
ESCAPES FROM JUSTICE,
Pui King Fuk, the late Namhoi Magistrate. of whom so much has been written, and who was charged with misfeasance in office, has at last bolted." He was put in prison and strictly watched by the Punyu Magistrate; but during the last few months he was allowed to leave the yamen privately, with full liberty to go out and come in whenever he liked. Не took the opportunity to shift the residence of his family from one place to another to escape observation. One or two days he took passage on board one of the river steamers and went to Hongkong, The Panyu Magistrate, when he know, went with some soldiers to Po Wa Street where Pui's residence was, and, finding an old amah and a coolie watching the house, took them both into custody to be examined. The present Namhoi Magistrate, Yew, and the Punyu Magistrate both went in a Chinese gunboat to pursue Pui. It is also said that he has gone to Macao. Viceroy Shum is very angry, and it is said that he has given orders to degrade the prefect of Kwangchow-fu as well as the two Magistrates. Pui was fined $120,000; instead of paying the fine he remitted the money to Hongkong to facilitate his escape, leaving his furniture in Canton to be seized by the officials. Lai Sai Kwai, the late fantan monopolist, has also escaped. He was accused of misap priating the fantan revenue, and fined $500,000. Over twenty soldiers went to his last place of residence in Kwan Po Street and found the door locked and strongly secured. They borrowed a saw and big hammer from a carpenter in the
son
-
SUCCESSFUL INTERVENTION.
Li Sin I. General of the Pakhoi troops. was accused of some crime which has not been proved; it is believed that some mandarin charged him in order to get a squeeze, One of the Consuls (not of Canton) wrote a despatch to the Viceroy saying that Di Sin I was sick, and, as he wanted him to get cured in Europe, he took him away.
RED CROSS FOR KWANGSI.
patriotic Chinese lady, by name Cheong Chuk Kwan, has formed a society which she has called by the name of the Red Cross Society. composed mostly of Chinese women and girls. The object of the society is to attend to the sick and wounded soldiers in the fight against the rebels.
FROM THE "CHUNG NGOI SAN PU.
TO RAISE MONEY.
Ten
It is reported that a Taotai surnamed W
ong has proposed to the Viceroy a new method of levying on prepared opium, a tax of four candersens to be imposed on each tael. It invites the co-operation of the merchants of the raw opium and prepared opium guilds. per cent. of the tax is employed to defray the expenses of collecting the revenue and twenty per cent. to be given as bonus to the leading persons who undertake the work. If the opium: merchants refuse to accept the new method and go on strike, one million taels are to be drawn
from the Government Treasury to open shops to sell prepared opium under the charge of prohibited. officers, and illicit opium is to be strictly
It is reported that To-Shing in the vicinity of Wuchow, will be soon opened as a been going there lately day after day to inspect large market-place and some merchants have
the place for the purpose of buying land on which to erect godowns and build shops.
BOLD BRIGANDS.
On Tuesday the 5th inst. the cricket ground and it has seldom presented such a picturesque was the scene of the Amoy Horticultural Show,
appearance. A feature of the show was the fine collection of cut flowers which would have been hard to match anywhere. The com- petition amongst the ladies for table-decoration tastefully and artistically adorned tables the work was a very popular item, and amongst so many of the judges must have been no light task. Mrs. Fesler received first honours with a table decorated with eschscholtzia, the prize being presented by Mr. A. F. Gardiner; Mrs. Van Aalst took the second prize presented by Dr. H. McDongall. Mrs. Barton's table was also highly commended.** The prize presented by Mr. T. H. Fesler for the best arrangement of cut flowers in a basket, glass, or epergue was awarded to Mrs. Barton, Miss Saunders being. second. The greatest number of prizes fell to Mr. Wallace, Mr. Hempel being second, and Mr. Gardiner third on the list of prize-winners.
The notorious robbers in Namhoi and Shuntak districts, being quite conscious of the weakness of the officials, are now doing things openly under
the very
noses of the authorities. I They have posted up notices everywhere asking their followers and other criminals. to whom they are offered them high rewards, to decoy or cap. ture well-to-do citizens, who are to be brought to them to be held for ransom, from different villages. They are now sending agents to different places to find out the names of the rich persons secretly. The victims are to be divided into three classes according to the value of their property, so that they are able to understand what will be the ransom when they are captured.
NAVAL NOTES.
H.M.S. Bramble, of straight-shooting fame- we notice that she heads the list for naval gun- nery. not including battleships and cruisers, which, of course, are in separate classes-left for Foochow on the 5th inst. S.M.S. Luchs left for the same port two days later. S.M.S. Thetis arrived from Tsintau on the 12th inst. and is at present the only man-of-war in port, barring the Chinese gunnboat Yuen Kai,
PAKHOI.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]
·
Pakhoi, 14th April. As previously announced by me, the Tung Sai launched into existence on the 19th ult. It is Sun Mun (Eastern and Western News) was
Mission House In the first few numbers there a weekly publication, issued from the German
was very little reading-matter to interest sub- scribers, and I am afraid it will not prove a However, I can
financial success to its owners.
only wish the paper long life.
SUICIDE OF AN OFFICIAL.
countries, and unfortunately its occurrence pro- Suicide is an old practice with people of al-
gresses in the same ratio as the civilisation ad. different races. In China, for instance, the vances. But the means adopted differ with the
most common way is by swallowing opium or by hanging among the ordinary people, while among the well-to-do and official class they swallow gold leaf. It will not fail perhaps to surprise some of your readers to learn that the revolver was adopted by a native official to put an end to his existence the other day. Chiong Yon Chai, a Major-General, com- mitted suicide on the morning of the 9th instant, at Yamchow, by shooting himself in the mouth with a revolver. The cause of such action has not yet been ascertained. The de- ceased was an officer of no mean distinction. He had been with Viceroy Shum last year to quell the disturbances in Kwangsi. The de ceased was scarcely a few months ago appointed by Viceroy Shum to take the chief com- mand of the garrison at Yamchow. For some reason or other, however, he was ordered to
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