June 27, 1904.}
and those governments have already, in many osses, established independent monetary systems and have issued independent paper money, This, of coarse, stands in the way of a national currency under central control.
The country is seriously burdened with debt, so that it will be difficult for her to bear the expense which will be required to change the present system to a better one, although, of course, the greatly added benefits of the new system will repay richly the initial cost as soon as the system is established. The political organisation of a new sy tem with sufficient skilled help, and such as to secure the confidence of the people, is also a very difficult task.
NEW RAILWAY ROUTE TO CHINA.
VIENNA TO SHANGHAI IN EIGHT DAYS.
In an Austrian review Dr.Convall Spatzier out. lines a project for a new railway route to China, The route of this new railway. starting at Constantinople. crosses the Bosphorus to Haidar Pasha by the proposed Abdul Hamid Bridge or by ferry-boats. utilises the Anatolian system, actual and projected. to Erzerum, passes from! the basin of the Euphrates into that of the Aras, follows this valley to the plains of the Kura, passes along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, ascends the valley of the Atrak. then beyond Kuchan, passes into the valley of the Keshef Rud, crosses the Hari Rad on a bridge, follows the upper course of the Amu Darya, passing through Faizabad (1,080m.) and the valley of the Kokcha. till it enters the Pamirs
Here the difficulties become serious, but not insuperable. The line passes through Ishkashim (2,650m.), ascends for 300km, the valley of the Panji till at a height of 4,000ha. (its highest point, which would be lessened by a tunnel). it passes from Afghan territory to Chinese territory ou the Tagh-dum-bash Pamir. There the line would descend 2.000m. in 150km.,
and the plain of Eastern Turkestan at a height of 1,350m.. and would form a difficult section to construct. but not a problem impossible to solve. From that point the line passes through the Chercheu valley and skirts the table. land of Tibet, passing through Tsaidam (500km. (2.830m.), and then south of the Kuku-nor reaches the basin of the Hwang-ho. After follow- ing the valley of the Hwang-ho (2,620m.). it passes above Kung-chang into the valley of the Wei-ho. through Si-an-fu. and arrives at the great bend of the Hwang-ho at Tung-kwan, and follows along the right bank to Yungtsze. From that point one branch leads to Peking, while the other quits the valley of the Hwang-ho and proceeds to the Yangtsze, which it reaches twenty kilometres below Nanking, and thence across the river and onward by rail (265km.) to Shang- hai, or down the river (320km.) to Wosung. the out-port of Shanghai.
At Yungtsze, where the line quits N. and S. the Hwang-ho, a branch would join this route to the Canton. Hankow, and Peking system, Thus the commercial towns on the Pacific would enter into railway connection with the inland towns of the empire.
Dr. Spatzier discusses the time the journey would occupy by this route to the Far East. From Vienna to Wosung the approximate dis-
¦
tance is estimated at 11,920km., from Vienna to Peking 11,646km. Taking for his standard of speed the express from Paris to Marseilles. 863km. in 12 hours 50 minutes, say, 67km. an hour, or 1.610km. a day, with twelve stops. he finds that the time of transit would be 7 days 14 hours and 7 days 10 hours from Vienna to Shanghai and Peking in place of 17 days 8 hours estimated for the Trans-Siberian route.
Rear Admiral de Fanques de Jonquieres, second in command of the French squadron in the Far East, visited Macao
on Thursday. The gunboat on which he went up was accom- panied by two torpedo-boats. The vessels arrived off the port about six o'clock in the evening and exchanged a salute of nineteen guns with the Fort. Shortly afterwards. the Admiral with his suite landed and was met by a guard of honour and escorted to Government House to call upon His Excellency the Governor. Senhor Queiroz Montenegro.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
ΡΑΚΗΟΙ.
June 14, 1904.
477
Anthony, but of the well-known Marques family, 38 well.
In the evening there were Kermesse fireworks and a band performance on the Praca Luis de 9th inst. off the roadsteads, and after half-an-houses were very gaily illuminated, and the The French man-of-war Pascal arrived on the Camões; the facale of the church and several hour's stay she put off to sea again.
THE NEW MAGISTRATE.
Pao Kwok Chun, the new local magistrate appointed by the Viceroy, arrived here last week awaiting the decision in the late case of bribery to succeed Chong Chun, who is still at Linchow in which he is concerned. Pao did not actually take the seal of office from Chong, but from an acting magistrate named MB, who had been
ap- pointed temporarily to the post during Chong's absence at the prefectural city.
THE PREFECT OF LINCHOW.
The Prefect of Linchow, Chu Ham Yek. after an indifferent career of less than a year, is going to be succeeded by, Lee Chong Kwong, Canton on the 11th inst. Lee will leave for his who arrived here by the gunboat Anlan from new post probably to-morrow morning. understand he comes with instructions from the Canton Viceroy to finally deal with the bribery case, which ought to have been decided long ago.
A NEW ILLUMINANT.
I
By the advent recently of a new brand of kerosine oil in this port from your colony, not a little stir was noticeable amongst the traders in oil.
The new illuminant. which comes from Burina, is pronounced to be quite as good as any other brand in this market, except theSuow-flake." the prohibitive price of which has limited the numbers of its consumers to a "selected few.” new oil, its cheapness commends itself to the Apart from the quality of the natives, and unless the prices of other brands of oil come to a level with the new rival, it is my demand for them, at least so far as this distribu humble opinion that there will be practically no ting port is concerned.
THE HEALTH OF THE PORT.
temperature and occasional showers.
The health of the port is good, with a mild single case of epidemic disease has come to Not a my knowledge, though we are in the middle of
summer.
FESTIVAL AT MACAO.
Macao, usually so dull and quiet, was very gay on the 18th and 19th inst. The occasion was the annual feast of St. Anthony of Padua, a saint highly venerated by the Portuguese in every part of the world. made by the people of Macao in general. and Great preparations were those of the district of St. Anthony in par- ticular, for the feast. From the ruins of the ansient Church of St. Paulo to the Camoen's Gardens triumphal arches, flags, banners and lanterns were fixed up, bearing evidence of hard and painstaking work on the part of the com- mittee in charge of the decorations.
Under
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the first of these arches a number of little girls were posted to collect money for defray ing the expenses of the feast, and judging from the large numbers of people who of neces- sity passed through in order to see the decora tions, these girls must have netted quite a nice sum for the fund. The feast actually commenced on Saturday afternoon, when His Lordship the Bishop of Macao blessed and distributed alms, consisting of wine. rice and fruits, to over 300 poor people. The service on Sunday began with a Pontifical High Mass by the Bishop at the Parochial Church of St. Anthony, and in the afternoon at half-past five a long procession started from the same church and wended its way through the streets of the town. The Bishop was assisted by all the clergy in the ceremonies.
The Governor of Macao was represented by his aide-de-camp, who walked immediately behind the Bishop, and the procession was followed by large number of the devotees of the saint "both of Hongkong and Macao. From every coign of vantage there were crowds of sightseers, owners of houses in the vicinity dispensing hospitality to their friends. Among these was the large and well-known house of the late Commendado Lourenço Marques, which stands not only as an historical landmark of the district of St.
a
crowd of people, both foreign 3r8 and Chi- nese, who thronged there WBS enormous. There were close upon 1,500 visitors from Hongkong, other than Chiness. in Macao on
The limited means of locomotion in Macao were Sunday. The polic kept excellent order, and we have not heard of any accidents. sorely taxed, ricksha: especially being at an enormous premium. The fest must have proved very profitabl to the hotels and rick, sha pullers. The former, we understand, were all full. Mr. Farmer in the Macao and Mr. Marques in the Boa Vista were kept very busy. catering for the crowd. Of course, as usual on an occasion like this, the fant in shops were Hongkong sadder but wiser men. well patronised, and many as usual returned to
THE, MACAO HOTEL.
INSTALLATION OF THE ELETRIC LIGHT.
On Friday 24th inst Mr. W. Farmer, the proprietor of the Macao Hotel. entertained a large company of friends to dinner on the occasion of the installation of the electric light in the hotel. This is the first time that electric light has been introduced into Macao, and its introduction says much for the enterprise of Mr.- Farmer and his business capacity. We learn that the contract for the electric lighting being a Frenchman. of Macao has been signed, the contractor When the scheme of lighting is completed. Macao will be even more tempting than it is at present for the jaded Hongkong worker, but whil. the electric light is being installed visitors will find all the comforts that electricity brings in the popular resort of which Mr. Farmer is the head. On Friday evening there were about eighty guests to do honour to the event. Among the invited guests were Mr. E. S. Whealler, of Messrs. Dodwell & Co., in the chair, and among those present were Mr. Farmer, the Governor's A.D.C., C. A. Magalhaes (H.E. the Governor Senhor Montenegro was un- fortunately unable to be present owing to sickness in his family), Major Commander and Lady Guedes, Dr. and Mrs. Gonsalves Pereira, gunboat Diu: the officers of the cruiser Adamas- Captain and Mrs. Duras, R.A.; the officers of the
Santes. R. I.; Captain R. M. Roza, R. I.; Dr. tor; Captain D. Garcia, R. I.: Captain J. M.
Mr. Orssen. Commissioner of Customs; Mr. Fortes: Lieut. and Mrs. Labato, R. I.; Mr. and Mrs. O. d'Oliveira, Mr. R. d'Almeida;
Ho Yung, Mr. A. Rodger, Mr. T. Skinner, Mr. E. A. Hankey; Mr. Allen, Vice-Consul for Britain: Mr. R. B. Moorhead, Assistant Commissioner of Customs; Mr. J. Deveria, I.M.C.; Mr. E. Girault, Lieut. Godricho, A.D.C.; Lieut. L. Marques, R. I.; Mrs. Moore; and Mrs. S. Noronha, Mrs. L. Lopes, Mrs. C. Captain McKenzie, of the s.s. Kiang Yung, Mr. Cabral, Dr. Barbosa de Lemos; Mr. J. Boardman, and Mr. J. B. Paterson, of the 8.8. Heungshan: Mr. Grainger, Mr. Coulton, Mr. Mr. A. Robarts, Mrs. J. J. Watson, Mr. Ip G. Hoyes, of the Green Island Cement Co.; Loy San, Mr. J. de Souza, P. Guttierrez, and Mr. J. Santos.
The menu was as follows
Caviare on Toast. Stuffed Olives.
SOUP. Turtle.
FISH.
Boiled Garoupa, Parsley Sauce,
Butter Chicken
ENTREES.
Grilled Pigeon, Mushroom Sauce
Stewed Prawn, white sauce- Pate de Foie Gras in Jelly Iced Asparagus, Mayonnaise Sauce.
ROAST,
Roast Turkey and Sausages Roast Saddle of Mutton York Ham. CUREY.
Chicken a la Indienne. VEGETABLES.
Boiled Potatoes Green Peas Baked Tomatoes Parsnips.
Plum l'udding
SWEETS.
Pineapple Ice Cream. Champagne, Moet, and Chandor.
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