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provisions for the protection of established marks, such protection consisting in the fact that such marks "cannot be_registered "—(I may here note that other translations interpret this “will be refused registration") and in the event of infringement, the proprietor has the right to proceed against the offender who (if he be a Chinese) on the case being proved will be punished.
This is the reading of the regulations by one section of the Members of the Chamber, while there is another section to whom it is not clear that these three articles contain even efficient protection for old marks which are not register- ed in China.
But assuming that the former interpretation is the correct one, it means that the proprietors of old marks must keep a constant watch, per- manently, in order to see that their marks are not being infringed-a contingency that would certainly arise otherwise, as the marks not being registered, the Registrar would not, at the time of application by another, be in possession of the information which would justify him in refusing registration.
The constant necessity of such vigilance, apart from the payment of examination fees, would become an intolerable burden, but to adopt the alternative of registering all old marks would cost many of the older firms in Shanghai from Tis. 10,000 to Tls. 20,000 under the present scale of fees.
As was evidently not the intention of the British Government when making the Treaty, that Merchants should be in a worse position than they were before, this Chamber cannot doubt that a more ressonable and less burden- some form of protection than the present Regu lations contain will be insisted on.
In all countries where Trade Marks are protected, protection is based on Registration, which appears to this Chamber to be the only sound basis, but the cost of registering 200 or 300 marks under the scale laid down in Regula- tion 23 is prohibitive, and this Chamber ventures to suggest that the difficulty might be met by requiring owners of Trade Marks registered abroad, and marks which have been used in China for over two years, to deposit such marks with the Registrar, accompanied by satisfactory proof of title, in order that the Registrar might have in his possession the necessary particulars for reference when considering applications. Should this suggestion not meet with approval, another way out of the difficulty might be found in permitting proprietors of such marks to register the same for the payment of an initial fee of, say Tis. 30, and a further fee of Tl. 1 for every mark so registered.
Finally, this Chamber is strongly of opinion that it is very desirable that an authorised English translation of the Regulations be issued which shall be accepted as the official guide in dealing with all Foreign Trademarks.
In giving the foregoing details, it has been my aim to dwell only on those points which appear to be of fundamental importance and to pass over minor ambiguities, which one may suppose will receive attention before the Pro- visional Regulations are made absolute.
I have endeavoured to show that the claim for an extension of six months is well founded, and I earnestly trust that Your Excellency may con- sider that the reasons given warrant your mak ing a request to the Chinese Government in this
Serizo.
I have the honour to be, Your Excellency's most obedient and humble Servant, WILLIAM D. LITTLE, Chairman.—N.-C. Daily News.
PAKHOI.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
AN OTTER caught.
7th October.
An otter was caught by some fishermen a few days ago. I am told it was taken to the market and retailed for consumption. As it is not an animal commonly seen here, it soon attracted a crowd of onlookers who were eager to have a peep at the strange creature.
TRAVELLERS.
Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, Little were passen gers on board the s.8. Hue on the 23rd ultimo, bound for the North; having come from Ch'on-tu-fu (Si-ch'uan) overland to Tonkin.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
A FORTUNE-TELLER BEHEADED.
A fortune-teller was decapitated here on the 27th ult. for being implicated in decoying or kidnapping for ransom a boy from a village called Hoong Hom, situated near the sea. Six | hundred dollars were asked for the release of the boy, which sum was paid through the wizard," who undertook to restore the boy to his parents.
ANOTHER WIZARD'S END. During a heavy rain on the 1st instant, another fortune-teller was struck by lightning. He was in the act of taking down his cloth sign board, hanging outside his door, when he was struck and killed instantaneously. The fact of two of the “profession" coming to such un dignified ends within four days will certainly shake the faith of their clients.
MEN-OF-WAR.
The German man-of-war Iltis arrived on the 24th ult. from Hongkong and left on the 26th.
The French men-of-war Aspic and Estoc arrived on the 4th inst. from Kwang-chow-wan and left yesterday for Haiphong.
KWANGSI PROVINCE.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Kueilin, 20th September. The news of the past month has not been of an exciting order. The rebellion is, I suppose, still going on somewhere, for there are con- tinual rumours coming in. One is to the effect that the Viceroy's troops have surrounded the rebels, but one has heard this sort of thing so often, and nothing come of it, that it will probably be the same in the present case. Some of the people will doubtless be killed, innocent with the guilty, and then things go on as before. To anyone who knows the character of the country, range on range of most precipitous mountains, full of the caves and fastnesses with ways of escape in all directions, the idea of putting down the rebellion with the troops at the disposal of the Viceroy seems rather hopeless.
Besides this, it must be remembered that a large proportion of the people are rebels and citizens by turns, just according as the wind blows for the moment. The passage of troops through a district makes all the people citizens for the nonce, but makes them all the more determined to be rebels as soon as their per- secutors and oppressors, the troops in question, have departed. The troops apparently have no proper commissariat department, but each squad of ten men has to forage and provide for their wants as best they can. In vain does the Viceroy put out proclamations that they must pay for all they get, but how does H.E. expect that such counsels of perfection will ever be carried out? As a matter of fact the troops are just as much raiders, if reports are to be believ- ed, as the rebels. In the case of large bedies of troops stationed at particular places it is pro- bably not so, but to suppress the rebels the troops must split up into small companies to scour the country. Then the country feels the burden too heavy to be borne.
I think that it is hopeless to expect the re- bellion to be put down by force, except it be by the complete extirpation of the populace. Report has it that this is what the Viceroy intends to do. If so his fame will excel that of Judge Jeffries.
[October 17, 1904.
the distressed areas would soon settle down. With the means of communication open it would certainly be profitable for the people to export their produce. With rion a little over a dollar silver for a hundred catties, it can be seen what possibilities lie in the direction of opening up the means of communication.
On August 21st the Viceroy opened in state the reorganised Provincial College. The addi- tions to the buildings make it really a fine blook of buildings. The visitors' reception room would do credit to any Hongkong builder. One item of interest is the forty bathrooms for the use of the students. One hopes that they will be well patronised. The college is for about two hundred young men and boys. The present head is a promising Taotai, Song by namɔ, who has bad some experience of educational affairs in Japan. If only an efficient staff back him up much superior results should be forthcoming to those produced by the inane attempts of the past five years.
Several officials have been beheaded for their supposed culpability in not preventing some phases of the rebellion in their districts. Оде cannot but feel sorry for them, for in some cases it was the scheming of higher officials that produced the latest outbreak.
A VISIT TO THE FORMOSAN
HEAD HUNTERS.
(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
While in Formosa two months ago I was fortunate enough to be able to pay a visit to the borders of the savage territory. The centre of the island is inhabited by eight tribes of aborigines, who, although they have been driven from the lower parts of the island, have made good their stand in the mountains, where no stranger can penetrate save at risk of his life. For hundreds of years these tribes have withstood their enemies, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and Japanese in succession, and in all probability they will remain in possession for many decades to come. It is quite out of the question to attempt their extermination, for the hills are their fastnesses and they are in great numbers. The Japanese, recognizing that systematic war. fare against them is impracticable, have adopted the wiser policy of conciliation, entirely drop. ping the treacherous methods of the Chines. They are establishing a chain of posts, which is intended in time to completely encircle the savage territory. Each of these border posts is in constant communication with its neigh- bours. The telephone is used, and daily visits are paid from the bases by patrols of armed police, so that there is no danger of their being cut off. The savages are encouraged to come in and barter goods, and are always well treated. Some of the children have been sent to school in the capital, and so it is hoped that civilisation will be gradually introduced among them.
There is something very attractive about a people which has never known a master. Wild and cruel they may be, but yet liberty has existed among them from the dawn of history. A visit to them is of the greatest interest, and there is also an element of danger which adds a spice of excitement. Only last year a band of Atayals, the most northerly tribe, travelled swiftly down from the hills ten miles from the capital, and all unobserved crept in the dead of night into Banka, a suburb of Taihoku, where they began Another report says that the rebels are to be an indiscriminate massacre. The police and captured and sent down to Wuchow to be military were called out, and soon dispersed the exported as coolies to the Transvaal. This is savages, but not before they had taken as certainly preferable to wholesale slaughter, but trophies over a score of heads. A raid on this again the question arises, How is it to be scale is of course rare, but not infrequently a done? Of course the population of whole vil-single savage will pounce down on a solitary lages may be captured and all the men be Chinaman, and carry off his head into the hills, exported, but who is to be responsible for the where in a moment he is beyond all possibility of women and the children? Is the land to be capture. turned into a wilderness! The chief need of Kwangsi is population. How then can such schemes be anything but the counsel of despair? For more than sixty years the province has been devastated by one rebellion after another, the Taiping, the Mohammedan, etc., until now the land is weary. It wants rest. This cannot be obtained by feeble displays of force. They only aggravate the disease. If only the troops sent out were all transformed into road-makers, to open up the means of communication, with the establishment of police centres, I believe
Having taken in all that I could about this people, I set off at six one morning from Taihoku. Two bours' jinricksha ride brought me to Shinten, where a courteous constable procured a mountain-chair for me. Two more hours over rough mountain tracks, three times ferried across a foaming river, and I arrived at Kutsshaku, an outlying village of the Pe-po-: hoan (civilised aborigines who dress in Chinese style). Another mile and I was at Dogura, the. first border post. An aqueduct is being built beyond this place, and hundreds of coolies—many
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