November 28, 1904.]
which continued throughout the 15th, prevent- ing the work on board the Hailan being re- sumed, as she brought, amongst other cargoes, some 200 tons of Japanese coal for the Chinese Government.
MACAO.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
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MACAO, 20th November, MILITARY “RELIEFS." S. Thome, a steamer of about 1,500 tons,
belonging to the "Empreza National," has been chartered by the Portuguese Government to bring 300 soldiers to this place and take back about 160 time-expired men. The vessel is expected here about the middle of December next, having sailed from Lisbon on the 10th instant.
COMİNG EXCITEMENTS: ALLEGED MISUNDER-
STANDING.
Great preparations are being made for the religious festivities. A great number of arches are already to be seen in the Praya Grande, Penha and Guia, with many pillars and posts for illumination, and the whole town is prepar- ing for a ball to be given on the 26th. The priests are under the impression that the forth- coming ball is in opposition to the religious festivities. They cannot understand why Chinese have also been asked to contribute to the ball fund, which is already large. The ball promises to be a grand affair. Yet a hitch or something must have occurred among the Com. mittee, because the naval officers who formed part of it have all res gned.
MISTIMED MUB.C.
The Military Band continues to play at a very unpopular time. Last Thursday there were very few in the Avenida to listen to the music. In the first hour there were but one or two Europeans and half a dozen Chinese present.
NEW HOTEL FOR KOWLOON.
The "Station Hotel" (Tsim-Tsa-Tsoi) is to be erected on Kowloon Inland Lot No. 402, and will front on Robinson Road. Tais Lot has a frontage of 100. feet to Robinson Road and a depth of 150 feet. The design shows a three storied building on front wing. and four- storied to north and south wings. Each wing has wide verandalis to permit of every room having veramah accommodation. The front verandah is surmounted with towers, and the facade will have an elegant appearance. Eight European shops will be erected on the opposite side of Robinson Road. so that in all pro- bability this part of Robinson Road will be the
business centre of the future. The splendid position of Lot 40 demands that a fiue building should be erected, and we are told the owner is sparing no expense to ensure the building being made as imposing as possible. The hotel will contain public bar and billiard room, private bar and billiard room, office, two dining rooms; and 44 large, airy, and well-ventilated rooms suitable for bedrooms, parlours, etc. The total number of rooms for public use will consequently be 51, exclusive of roomy servants' quarters, kitchen, pantry, larder, scullery and laundry. There will be ample bathroom and lavatory accommodation with up-to-date sanitary appli. anoes. Electric passenger and food lifts, electric lighting and bells will be installed as well as gas lighting. Everything will be done to make the betel thoroughly modern and worthy of the constantly growing Kowloon side. Rolled steel joists and concrete fire-proof floorin will be exte sively used in the structural work. The directors are all gentlemen of good position, and the hotel will be under European management. The plans and specifications have been prepared by Mr. John Lemm, F.I.A. Architect. The work will be commenced shortly, and carried out under his supervision to as speedy a com- plation as possible,
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
HONGKONG ODD VOLUMES
SOCIETY.
ANNUAL MEETING.
The annual meeting of the Hongkong Odd Volumes Society took place at the office of Mr. ❘ H. E. Pollock, K.C., No. 18, Bank Buildings, on the 21st instant. Mr. Pollock presided.
The CHAIRMAN said-Gentlemen, there is not much to be said with reference to the report and statement of accounts. It has been in your hands some time. You will see that the balance
in hand is $195.89. It is not a very large balance to start the coming season with, an therefore I am anxious to get new members for the com- ing season. You will see from the report that Sir Matthew Nathan has kindly consented to be President, in succes-ion to Sir Henry Blake; and you will be pleased to hear that Major- General Villiers Hatton and the Hon
F. H. May have agreed to take over the duties of Vice-Presidents. Mr. May, also, has kindly promised to give a lecture on "Irish Characteristics." I hope the members will come forward with lectures, and persuade their friends to come and give lectures also.
Mr. E. D. HASKELL proposed, Mr. D. E GUBBAY seconded, the adoption of the report and accounts. This was done by a show of hands.
Mr. POLLOCK said that the next business is the election of officers. He was quite sure that he was only voicing the opinion of the members present when he said that they were very fortunate in having secured Sir Matthew Nathan for their President and Major-General Villiers ratton and Mr. May for their Vice- Presidents. Just to have the matter in formal shape, however, he put their election to the meeting.
A r. NEWMAN MUMFORD seconded, and it was carried.
Mr. POLLOCK said that the only other business was the election of the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Newman Munford had very kindly acted as Hop. Treasurer since Mr. Purcell's depar ture from the Colony, He could say from his own experience that Mr. Mumford had thrown all his energy into the work. He proposed that Mr. Mumford be elected as Hon. Treasurer for the ensuing year.
Mr. GUBBAY seconded and it was carried. seconded, and it was carried, that Mr. POLLOCK Mr. GUBBAY proposed, Mr. HASKELL be asked to continue as Hon. Secretary.
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now sceptical about such ancient history. Ke spoke of ancient Chinese government and
civilization, and its beneficial effect on both the Chinese themselves and on those immediately around them. Some believed the people of China to havɔ a Babylonian or Accadian origin, but doubts were entertained on that subject- proof was lacking. He gave a short account of what the Chinese thought of ancient times. When their people first came to the country they absorbed some of the aborigines, and drove others into the mountain fastnesses. There were reminis cences of the aborigines in the boat population
to
at Hongkong. The mythical period covered from forty-five thousand to five hundred thons- and years, commencing with the creation of the world. There were three discoveries the credit for which no nation had had the auda ity to try to wrest from the Chinese-porcelain, lacquer ware, and the manufacture of silk. In the time of the great Yü, roads and lanes, and vessels for the pathless ses, were first made. One account of the origin of boats was that the people got the ides from seeing leaves floating on the water. The population of China about that time was only one or two millions. The Yellow River and Hanan. were brought under civilization, but the other parts were jungle affording lairs of wild beasts. There were no roads-only the tracks of animals. During the time of Yao Shun—the Golden Age -to keep a prisoner one only had to draw a line around him-he would not try escape. On the other hand, however, there were bad rulers. One of these out the legs off a woman who, in very cold weather, was wading in the water to get fish from the river, to see if the marrow in her bones Was the same as that of other people. The lecturer reviewed the time when the "Chinese, like the Peruvians, counted their time by knots in strings: then notches in sticks. This was the origin of the abacus. He dealt with the beginning of writing, the hieroglyphics, and the change from pictures and symbols to conventional forms. The lecturer spoke of the invention of ink, paper, and so on. He spoke about the man who made the first idols: about the compass, first mentioned in Chinese litera- ture of the fourth century before Christ: about Confucius, Mencius, Laotsze, and other great men. Alchemy in China had developed into chemistry in the west, and charlatanism and superstition in the east. Feudalism brought about a more consolidated state of the Empire, The border was extended to the south of the
Mr. POLLOCK thanked them. He had Yangtsze. Tsin Shu Huang Ti was the been Hon. Secretary off and on for over ten Napoleon of China. He built the Great Wall years past, and always experienced difficulty in public defences and canals. Some of these getting lecturers to come forward Now they works remained to this day. His destruction of had got competitors, the Union Church Liter-books earned him the execrations of the literati. ary Club, which had very successful meetings. The Y.M.C A., also, were get ing up lectures. This, however, must not make them discour aged, but ought to move them to fresh efforts and stimulate them to retain their place as a literary and lectu ing institution.
Mr. NEWMAN MUMFORD said it was pleasing to know that they had such a man
as Mr. Pollock for Hon. Secretary. He proposed a very
hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Pollock (Applause).
Mr. POLLOCK again thanked them He hoped it would not be left to him alone to make their meetings a success during the winter season before them.
THE FIRST LECTURE,
The 22nd inst. Mr. J. Dyer Ball gave a very interesting lecture. under the auspices of the Hongkong Odd Volumes Society, on The Origin and Progress of the Chinese." The lecture, which was given in the former Chamber of Commerce Room at the City Hall, commenc- ed at about half-past five. The Hon. F. H. May, C.M.G., was in the chair, and there was a very fair attendance of members and their friends, including many la lies. H.E. the Governor, president of the Society, was also present.
The Chairman, in introducing the lecturer, said that they all knew of Mr. Dyer Ball's knowledge about Chins. The subject was of great interest to all of them present, living, as they did, on the very threshold of the Chinese Empire. (Applause).
The China Review reproduces "some remarks very justly made" by this journal on a recent gambling case, "with a hope that these may prove a warning to some, and arrest a career that must assuredly end in ruin, if continued.” he Lecturer said he had some difficulty in Our contemporary states that it is aware of compressing four thousand or more years of high play going on at Tients n, many young | history into one hour. The records, indeed, men having incurred large indebtedness.” went further back than that, but people were
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Parts of the books, nevertheless, were preserved in the minds of scholars, and so (with the few books safely hidden) much priceless lore escaped destruction. Mr. Dyer Ball referred to the Han Dynasty, the Tong Dynasty, introduction of Buddhism, and Ancestral Worship. It was merely guesswork as to the number of Buddhists in the world. He spoke of Chinese novels, of heroes and heroines; and of how the Chinese
prized historical novels in their literature. The Chinese were nothing if not literary, yet there were a vast number of illiterate people in the country. The dark days of the middle ages in the West formed the brightest ers in the East. Other subjects were the invention of gunpowder, and of printing. The last prince of the Sing Dynasty encamped in the New Territory of Hongkong. A large boulder with an inscription there, still to be seen, preserved his memory: Then came the Mongol conquest, and next the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty the Portuguese Colony of Macao was founded, and Jesuit missionaries came to China. Foreign
interference in China was another interesting subject; also the origin of the quene. l'he Chinese were making progress. The lecturer was optimistic enough to believe that anti- foreign feeling was dying out in Kwangsi and Kwangtung Provinces, as a result of the money subscribed by foreigners for the natives at the time of the recent famine. (Applause).
No one having any remarks to make, the" Chairman said itnly remained for him to thank Mr. Dyer Bali for his very excellent lecture. China was a very old conservative country, and did not like to change her ways, A poor man outside Peking, who on first sight
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