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be either inflexibly adbered to, or abandoned by all nations. There is and can be no middle ground. The criterion of warlike usefulness and destination has hen adopted by the common consent of civilised nations. after centuries of struggle in which each belligerent made indiscriminate warfare upon all commerce of all neutral States with the people of the other belligerent, and which led to reprisals as the mildest available remedy.
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If the principle which appears to have been declared by the Vladivostock Prize ourt. and which has not so far been disavowed or explained by his Imperial Majesty's Government. acquiesced in, it means. if carried into fall execution. the complete destruction of all neutral commerce with the non-combatant popu. lation of Japan; it obviates the necessity of blockades; it renders meaningless the principle of the Declaration of Paris set forth in the Imperial Order of February 29 last that a blockade, in order to be obligatory, must be effective; it obliterates all distinction between commerce in contraband and non-contraband goods, and is, in effect, a declaration of war against commerce of every description between the people of a neutral and those of a belli- gerent State.
"You will express to Count Lamsdorff the deep regret and grave concern with which the Government of the United States has received his unqualified communication of the decision of the Prize Court; you will make earnest pro. test against it, and say that the Government of the United States regrets its complete inability to recognise the principle of that decision, and still less to acquiesce in it as a policy."
THE ALTERATION OF LOCAL TIME.
We have received from the Colonial Secre- tary for publication the following copy of a letter from His Excellency the Governor of Macao to the Governor, in connection with the proposed alteration of the time of this Colony to that of 120 deg. East Longitude which is to take place on Sunday next:--
[Translation.]
Government House. Macao, 22nd October, 190£. SIE-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the Despatch in which Your Excel- lency was pleased to communicate to me that on the 30th instant the time of 120 deg. East Longitude will be adopted in Hongkong, and to inform Your Excellency that on the same day the time in question shall also be put into execution in this Colony by an advance over the present time of 25min. 50sec.
God help Your Excellency.
(Sd.) MARTINHO MONTENEGRO,
Governor.
His Excellency
The Governor of
Hongkong.
We e are further desired to make it known that the change will be effected by firing the gun and by the dropping of the Ball at 23min. 18see. before one.
MANCHUS AND CHINESE.
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A letter from Peking states that during a recent private audience of Prince Ching before thair Majesties the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, his Highness lamented the lack of talent and enterpris among those of Manchu blood and earnestly advocated that the caste,"
or race line hitherto drawn between Manchus and Chinese, be abolished, and so long as a man should have the necessary ability and know ledge he should be given the position his talents fitted him for without regard to the fact of his being a Manchu or a Chinese. In other words, Prince Ching recommended that Chinese shall from henceforth be given equal chances with Manchus to hold
p sts of
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AN
distinctions in the holding of ozice for ever. ¡ It will be remembered the Empress Dowager made a decided step in this direction in 1902, when she issued a special decree permitting Chinese and Manchus to intermarry, hitherto prohibited by Imperial proclamations of the first Emperors of the present dynasty. In this connection her Majesty, it will be remembered, also exhorted Chinese parents to abolish the cruel custom of foot-binding, speaking strongly against it in her decree.-N.-C. Daily News.
THE METHODS OF EXTENDING BUSINESS IN CHINA.
[October 29, 1904
becausé deceased did not anticipate death at the time he made it. Well, be it as it may, do you think, Mr. Editor, that deceased, though a Chinese coolie, received the violence which sub- sequently cost him his life from anybody other than from a European constable? The question is, who is that constable, and in what way cán? he be discovered? It would not do to say that all the witnesses were only ricksha coolies and that their evidence could not be taken into consider tion. If this be the, ides of the Government, the formality of calling witnesses to give evidence should be altogether dispensed -with.
According to the evidence, there were four European constables on duty near the locality in which the brutal assault was committed, and although none of them could be identified as being the actual door of that wicked deed, it is still Capt. Badeley's duty to see that the slur cast upon his department be cleared up, for the evidence distinctly showed that the deed was committed by a member of the Police Force. I should suggest that the four European con- stables referred to ought to be temporarily suspended pending further investigation by the Captain Superintendent of Police. Yours," &c.,
JUSTICE.
HONGKONG.
Ground, vice Surgeon W. L. Martin, R.N Excellency the Governor to be a Director of the Mf. S. B. C. Ross has been appointed by His Widows' and Orphans' Pension, Fund.
Mr. John James Blake has passed his master's examination. He was examined by Commander Dawes, R.N., and Capt. Evans, of the C.P.R. ss. Tartar,
f
The British Consul at Canton in his report for 1903 remarks: I am constantly the recipient of admirable price lists and descriptive catalogues from British firms at home, which endeavour to place to the best advantage of the senders. But in nine cases ont of ten I feel the futility of this method of extending business in China. Such lists and catalogues being only in English can only be made known by the agency of British firms on the spot, and they, as a rule, have neither the special knowledge nor the staff to enable them to do this with practical effect. For instance, a firm of machine makers sent me not long ago an
•laborate illustrated pamphlet, which would be sufficient perhaps to assist a European merchant, with expert knowledge, to extend that line of busi-pointed a member of the committee for the
Fleet-Paymaster A. Wilson has been ap ness. In Canton there are no machinery experts amongst the British merchants, and even
Queen's Recreation if
Wong-nei-chong and there were, the first step they would naturally take would be to ask the home firm to send out some working specimens of the machines to show to Chinese. It cannot be too thoroughly understood by such manufacturers that almost their only hope of establishing a footing is to specimens. The creation of a paying market send out qualified representatives with working
The only cases of communicable disease re- in any novelty is a tedious process in China. and the local British merchant will not attemptported last week were three Europeans with the task without more inducement than a cata-
enteric fever (two imported from Japan and logue. A commercial friend.
one from West River), three Chinese and one the leading representative of an old firm of standing, has pointed out to me a difficulty which actually occurred to him in such a case. He was prepared after some trouble and enquiry to risk capital and effort in pushing the wares of a British manufacturing firm, but he wished to make it one of the conditions of his assistance that he should be the sole agent in China for the purpose for a specified period. This was refused, and those wares are, I believe, still unrepresented in the Chinese market. Yet it would seem only rea- senable that if a local merchant succeeds in making a market for special wares he should be allowed a fair enjoyment of it and not be liable to displacement by the home manufacturers for any reason and at any moment. It is all a matter of terms, no doubt, but the impression left on my mind by the facts of the case I have mentioned was that the home manufacturers did not attach sufficient value to the advantages which in China arise from the machinery of an old-established firm with a well-known chop and a wide connection. For such they must be prepared to pay more than for similar advan- tages in Europe."
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CORRESPONDENCE.
A RECENT CORONER'S INQUEST.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS."
་་
Hongkong, 25th October. SIR, A verdict of death from a ruptured spleen as a result of violence was returned by the jury sitting at an inquest held yesterday re the death of a ricksha coolie who died at the Government Civil Hospital.
According to the evidence given by Dr. Laing, the cause of death was no doubt due to a rupture of spleen resultant from several violent kicks received by the deceased, and in the short account narrated to the jury regarding the honour and responsibility in the Imperial circumstances of the death, Mr. Gompertz also Government and that positions hitherto mentioned the fact that deceased had made a peculiarly vested in Manchus be also given to statement before him that a European constable Chinese and vice versi. It is stated that their had given him several kicks on the back, &c., Majesties welcomed the suggestions of Prince while sitting on the shafts of his rickshs, but Ching and that there is a good chance of seeing, the statement in Mr. Gompertz's opinion could an Imperial ediot on the subject abolishing race not be admitted as evidence against the constable
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Japanese (also enteric).
Return of visitors to the City Hall Library and Museum for the week ending the 23rd Octo- ber, 1904. were 275 non-Chinese and 86 Chinese
to the former, and 112 non-Chinese and 1,872 Chinese to the latter institution.
Mr. Albert Attwood has passed his master mariner's examination. Mr. Basil Taylor examined him in navigation, and Commander Dawes. R.N., and Capt. F. D. Goddard in seamanship.
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The P. & O. s.s. Banca arrived from London Oct. 26th. Besides a large quantity of general | cargo she had explosives consigned to the War Department here. There were 406 cases of cartridges, 20 shells, ten torpedoes, and one case of safety cartridges.
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Mr. G. Hoggarth, a member of the Civil Service Club, has written to the committee of the Cricket League asking them to accept a cup, to be presented to the batsman who makes presentation is to take place at the end of the he best average in the League's fixtures. The
present season, so that the cup will, if accepted be won outright and become the property of the best batsman.
It is probable that very much the 'same team as that which took part in the Interport Rifle Match will shoot for Hongkong in the Imperial Rifle Match. Teams competing in the Imperial Rifle Match will, as usual, be representative of the whole British Empire-that is, Australia, Canada, South Africa. India, New Zealand: Ceylon Hongkong, Straits Settlements, etc., about the middle to the end of December. etc. The time allowed for shooting is from
Fire Brigade's winter drills have been com
menced. The Brigade is to drill in two sections, as was the practice last year. On Wednesday morning drill took place behind the Ko Shing Theatre, and yesterday morning at the rear of the City Hall. In future all of the drills will be carried out at the back of The drills have the Ko Shing Theatre. been well attended, close on 20 Europeans and a good force of Chinese being present. The officers in charge were Mr. E. R. Hallifax (Deputy Superintendent of Police), Chief In- spector. Baker, and Assistant Engineer Lane. The men practised with the ladders, life-saving appliances and the hose carriages.
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