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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND people, had a hot engagement with them. Finding things unfavourable here they turned on their way to some raw silk shops, which they successfully broke into. They carried away booty to a large amount and escaped scot-
good reason with which the public are not ac- quainted, it is still necessary to act with caution. there would at any rate be no risk in turning it on in the Peak District, where all the houses are metered, and any waste would be detected and charged to the careless or extravagant | free. householder. In any case, if there is, as there may be, some conclusive reason why the supply should still be husbanded, it would be well to take the public into confidence. for though it is a distinct hardship and inconvenience to have to limit one's bath this weather, yet I think reasonable folk would willingly submit to it if it were shown to be necessary or advisable.— Yours faithfully,
COLD WATER.
[Our correspondent and the public generally will note with satisfaction the announcement in our advertisement columns to-day that the community has now a full supply. ED.]
CANTON NOTES.
[FROM THE “CHUNG NGOI BAN PO.
OPIUM REVENUE.
PAKHOL
AN UNPOPULAR PREFECT.
June 27, 1904.
Chú Ham Yek, the late Prefect of Linehow, came out from the city on the 20th instant, and left on the 23rd by the s.s. Apenrude on his way to Canton. He is reported to be one of the most unpopular Prefects who ever came to Lin- chow. The inhabitants in the Prefectural City, by way of showing their disapproval of his administration. are
said to have suspended paper-noney in prominent places on his departure from the city as a send-off.
++
THE RESUMPTION OF A MARKET TAI.
As the saying goes that every dog has its day, so it is with the porcine tribe at present, which is having a jolly time of it, as the tax on pork has been renewed to be collected since the 9th of the 5th moon by a new Syndicate, strong- ly backed by the authorities. Consequently the slaughtering of pigs for consumption has ceased to be on the usual large scale. The new tax ranges from twenty to thirty cents on every pig killed, according to size. The butchers had combined afresh to make a stand against the new imposition and the majority of them have gone on strike, but a few have since resumed how to make hay while the their callings at the stalls, and they understand sun shines by
(July 11, 1904.
THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP GUIDI.
The Manila Cablenews reporting the death of Monsignor Juan Bautista Guidi, arcbhishop of Stauropolis and apostolio delegate of the Holy See in the Philippines, says he passed away peacefully and without pain, at 8:20 on Sunday morning, the 26th ult. after au illness of 20 years, from cardiac affection.
his post in Manila from a protracted stay at Monsignor Guidi had but lately returned to Hongkong. He arrived there complaining of ill-health, and it seems that the excessive humidity aggravated the disease and hastened
the end.
After a severe attack on Friday be was counselled absolute rest by Dr. Cuervo, his physician, but it was not until Saturday night that his condition became alarming. In spite of the efforts of his physicians he grew steavily worse, a ud at 3 o'clock Sunday morning, ralizing that the end was nar, asked for the last sacraments of the Church. He confessed to Father O'Connor and shortly afterwards became unconscions. A little after 8 o'clock he died.
There were present at the time of his death. Fathers O'Connor, Tunoo, Chouza, the Dominican Fathers Tarin and Fortes, and the Father Superior of the local Jesuit order.
Governor Wright, accompanied by his secretary, called at the Catholic leg ation half an hour after the distinguished prelate's death and offered his condolence to the ecclesiastical
With regard to the prepared opium tax. which is entirely under the direction of the officials, the Canton authorities have deputed some officers to make enquiries and report the number of prepared opium shops and divans in Canton. They are divided into three classes- first, second, and third, according to the amount of business they carry on. Of the first class there are about one hundred shops; of the second class, about one hundred and fifty; of the third class, two hundred and fifty, selling in all about sixteen thousand eight hundred and increasing the retail price of the meat by a few Dolores in the Cathedral of Manila. fifty taels a day. A tax of six candareens is imposed on every tael of opium sold. realising about one thousand three hundred and forty-
eight taels a day. The quantity of opium sold in different districts in Kwangtung is twenty
times more than that of Canton.
If the pro- posed tax is carried on successfully, an enormous sum will be added to the revenu e.
KWANGSI BANDITS ASTIR,
I
is
cents per catty, besides injecting a greater amount of water into the meat than is usual to really paid by the consumers. augment its weight. The tax therefore
It will be recollected that the attempt last year to collect this tax resulted in a fiasco, owing to violent resistance on the part of the butchers.
MAN-OF-WAR,
visit on the 18th instant and left on the 20th.
The French man-of-war Surprise paid us a
authorities
in the
The body was embalmed and will be buried
Nuestra chapel of
Senora de,
~In Archbishop Guidi the apostolic chair loses a distinguished Churchman and diplomat. Juan Bautista Guidi was born in April 1852 at Collepardo, a towu in the province of Rome. He received his preliminary education in the episcopal seminary of Atetino, and from there went to Rome to complete his e llegiate studies. After a course at the "Gregoriana" university he received the diploma of doctor of philosophy in 1871. In the year following he went to Innsbruck to study Oriental languages. In 1877 he was made a doctor of theology and
Information has been received from Kwangsi to the effect that on the night of the 24th ult. a surprise attack was made by the bandits on the city of Lauchow. With the assistance of about THE HANKOW-CANTON RAILWAY. subsequently spent a year in Paris, teaching in
a thousand robbers who had already surrendered. the bandits had no difficulty in breaking into the city. Several officers were killed and the whole city was ransacked. They first cut the telegraph wires and destroyed everything in the telegraph office. The soldiers who were stationed outside the city knew nothing of the occurrence till the city had fallen into the hands of the bandits. who remained in the city for several days. The city was retaken a few days afterwards by the soldiers, who were greatly reinforced by the soldiers from the neighbouring districts. The bandits have carried away with them a large quantity of arms and ammunition, and over two hundred thousand dollars from the Imperial treasury. They are attacking the city of Ping lok, with dangerous effect. Soldiers were sent thither from Canton on the 3rd instant, and it is said that Viceroy Shum, who has not yet re covered from his illness. wishes to proceed again to Kwangsi.
KWANGTUNG RICE WASTED.
On account of the recent heavy rain many parts of the West River overflowed its banks, and the rice crops in different districts have been more or less damaged. The prefect of Kwangchow and the Magistrates of Namhoi and Pun-yu districts held a service in the Shing Wong Temple on the 2nd inst. to pray for fine weather. It is said that over twenty per cent. of the rice crops in the whole province of Kwangtung has been spoiled by the late heavy rain, and the price of rice is in conse- quence advancing.
RIVER PIRATES.
On the 26th ultimo over one hundred robbers who arrived in large junks towed by two steam launches made an attack on a pawnbroker's shop in Wong-lin Village, in the Shun-tak district. The people there had already made every preparation, as the pawnshop received a letter some days previously asking a large sun of blackmail, under threat of burning the shop and killing the inmates if the demand were not forthwith complied with. When the
robbers arrived, the watchmen, assisted by the
The railway construction of the Chinese Gorerament, telegraphed the Times corres-
the Augustine College. From 1879 to 1883 hə was secretary of the extraordinary delegate of the Holy See at the Court of Spain. Later he
at St. Petersburg, the coronation of Tsir Alexander III., and afterwards went to Pur-
tugal Brazil and Ecuador, charged with important ecclesiastical missions.
Monsignor Gaidi arrived in the Philippines in November 1902, as the special envoy of Pope Leo XIII. Daring the 19 months of his residence there, he was occupied with the settlement of the friar lands question and his an- failing courtesy, kindliness of disposition and rare tact had won him the esteem of everybody.
pondent at Shanghai on the 6th ult., is waiting witnessed, as secretary of Cardinal Vannntalli upon events. Political intrigues and the financial difficulties affecting the question are complicated by the uncertainty of the results of the Russo-Japanese war.
A policy of pro. crastination therefore commends itself to Sêng Ta-jen and the Waiwupu. With regard to the Hankow-Canton line, the Viceroys of Wuchaug and Canton have expressed to Sheng a strongly-worded opinion that the American syndicate's concession should be annulled forth with, because the contract has beeu violated by the transference of rights and interests to the Belgians. Shêng has definitely stated his intention to take action accordingly, but awai's further advices from his agent, the American missionary, Mr. Ferguson, who is now in New York negotiating with the Belgian representa- tires.
Mer while the Governor of Hunan has sub- mitted memorial to the Throne, which an Im-
perial rescript of May 10 refers to the Waiwu pu and the Board of Commerce, reques ́ing that the provincial merchants and gentry may be granted the right to construct brauch railways east and west of the Hankow-Canton trunk line on conditions similar to those recently sanction- ed by the Throne for the construction of a railway with native capital in Szechuan proviuce. The Governor proposes that a first experiment shall be made with a line from Changsha to Chang-te, east of Tung-ting lake, which shall thereafter be extended into Sze- chuan. This memorial was forwarded before the Hubanese officials had learned and protested against the Belgians' claim to control the
southern trunk line.
It is undeniable that the Japanese successes again. Russia have emphasised the pre-existing opinion, strongly held by provincial officials that the mistake made in the Manchurian railway construction should not be repeated in other parts of the empire.
The dead archbishop was a scholar and an eminent linguist. He was one of the founders of an historical museum in Rome, and besides his native tongue, Italian, he spoke German Spanish, French, English, Portuguese and
Russian.
Some of the towns in the New Territory,
especially Taipo, where the streets are covered with mud about six inches deep, could well do with some attention from the Sanitary Depart-
ment.
Hongkong is a long way ahead of Shanghai with its tramway scheme. The Shanghai scheme has not yet progressed beyond the stage of tenders. At the last meeting of the Muni- cipal Council a report by the Electrical Engineer stated the circumstances under which Messrs. Preece and Cardew have embodied in the conditions for Tramway tenders in London, a clause to the effect that the purchase of power from the Council is compulsory. The Secre- tary of the Council was directed to telegraph to the London Agents instructing them that this clause must be withdrawn, since it has been decided that the purchase from the Muni- cipal Supply or the establishment of a separate Power House shall be at the option of the firm or company tendering.
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