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taken his prognosis, so that instead of the pro- mised recovery the patient has entered the region of the great unknown, is, to say the le ist, unnerving to the one on whom it is practised. A messenger again seeks the doctor, and with honeyed words and smiling o untenance says, "Your prognosis was correct; come and see for yourself how well she is." And all unconscious of the horror before him he goes and is led upstairs to the patient's room, the curtain drawn, and he confronts his mistake. Only a few weeks ago this happened, and when the terrified physician would have fled, behold! the steps were drawn and he was a prisoner; freed only when he had written for the family of the deceased a cheque for 11s. 300. They say this happens frequently, and I feel quite sure that it is because of such cases as these that the custom has been established of making the worst possible prognosis, whereby nothing is lost if the patient dies, and everything gained if she lives-face saved and reputation earned. It is only one among many of the tricks of the trade, the outcome of the fear which the practi- tioners have of their own people.
CHINESE MANNERS.
"
The N.-C. Daily News remarks editorially:- Under the head of "Manners and Customs" it was said of some savage tribe, manners they have none and their customs are beastly." Whether the Chinese rank as civilised, semi- civilised, or semi-barbarous is largely a matter of definition, but in any case it cannot be said of them, "Manners they have none. Those who know best might rather complain that they have too many. The average English boy hates to take off his cap in greeting you, and does it awkwardly; the average American boy is apt to keep his on even when he enters a room; but no Chinese schoolboy fails to greet his teacher with proper ceremony, formal but not awkward. Foreign school- boys, on their return to school do not show much interest in the state of health of their companions' parents; but among Chinese studests and schoolboys there are always formal enquiries after the “
peace at home" and as to
peace upon the road" When differing civilisations meet there can- not fail to be a good many misunderstandings on both sides. Our manners are not only less formal and tiresome than those of the Chinese, but they are very different in character, being the outcome of a different civilisation in a different environment: the two systems are incommensurables." It is therefore not to be wondered at if the Chinese think we are manner-
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The
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND familiarity or lack of polish is hardly less offensive, and is often a mark of those who have been educated under foreign teachers. Chinese do not require that we should teach formal politeness - they could rather be our instructors; but they do require that we should impress on them the value of good manners, whether native or foreign; in schools especially it should be looked to that good Chinese man ners should be encouraged and that laxity or awkward imitations of the freedom of foreign manners should be checked.
CLOSING OF AN OLD FIRM,
DEPARTURE OF MR. R. C. WILCOX.
With the departure of Mr. R. Chatterton Wilcox from the Colony on Jan. 18 for England, we have to record the closing of the firm of Messrs. Turner & Co., one of the oldest firms in the Colony, with which Mr. Wilcox has teen identified during the past four years. The
exact date of the foundation of the firm is not known, there being no clear record, but Mr. Richard Turner, founder of the firm, wax in business in Macao in 1828. He subsequently traded at anton as Turner & Co., and the firm was one of the first batch that migrated to Hongkong on the invitation of Captain Eliott, the Superintendent of Trade, in 1839 firm prospered and had branches at Shanghai and Foochow. When Mr. Turner's connection ceased, some time in the early 'sixties. we believe, Mr. Phineas Ryrie became head of the firin,
The
(January 23, 1905.
ag
business of Turner & Co., Mr. Wilcox was ap pointed a member of the Committee, and up to the time of his departure continued to take the closest iuterest in its affairs. In addition Mr. Wilcox ha rendered useful service Chairman of the local branch of the China Association for the past year and a half, and also as a member of the Navy League Com- mittee, not to mention his services as director of several public companies.
Mr. Wilcox, accompanied by Mrs. Wilcox and Mr. Harold Wilcox left by the Namsang yes er- day for Calcutta, intending to spend about a month in India before proceeding to England. In wishing him bon voyage and many years to enjoy at Home the repose which thirty years of activity in Hongkong may be considered to earn. we echo the wishes of a very wide circle of friends by whom Mr. Wilcox and his family are held in the highest esteem.
STEAMER UNDER ARREST.
ALLEGED CONTRABAND 'CARGO.
The steamer Tung Chow was arrested in the harbour, under warrant, by Inspector Langley yesterday morning, with some two hundred and fifty tons of ammunition on board, which was not on the ship's manifest. The ship, it is alleged, was cruising between Hongk ng and Saigon, awaiting the arrival of the Russian fleet.
CAPTAIN BEFORE THE COURT. Captain Parkes, master of the Tong Chow, was charged before Mr. H. H. J. Gompertz at the Police Court yesterday afternoon with failing, on arrival, to furnish to the Harbour Master a manifest of such ammunition. Mr. Jones of the Harbour Office prosecuted.
The Captain admitted the charge, and said he bad no manifest.
and many still resident in the Colony will remember Mr. Ryrie as for many the senior unofficial member of the years Legislative Council, and Chairman of the
of Chamber Commerce. Mr. Ryrie died in 1892, and thereafter the firm passed into the hands of Mr. A. W. Walkiu- shaw, who remained at Foochow, leaving the Hongkong house in charge of the late Mr. James H. Cox. Mr. Wilcox urchased the busi-
Mr. Jones: By the Master's words, 250 tons. ness in 1900, and carried it on till the close of 1904, when, anxious to retire, and failing to find No notification of the cargo carried was a purchaser for the business, he decided to close given before I went on board, which was the firm and the bulk of its business was trans-immediately after she dropped anchor, when the ferred to Messrs Gibb, Livingston & Co. The firm, it may be mentioned, had held the agency of the Northern Assurance Co. for exactly fifty years.
was
His Worship: What was the quantity of ammunition on board ?
Master gave me the information.
His Worship: 1 do not understand the meaning of the charge if he gave you the information.
Mr. Jones: A. manifest must be furnished, and when the Master enters the vesl at the Harbour Office, he must hand same in. If the Master intended to furnish a manifest he could on board.. not have done so before I went A manifest for such cargo is generally, but not always, forwarded from the last port of call. The Master, in this case, is not provided with a manifest.
The Captain said it was not intended that the ammunition was to appear in Hongkong. He came into port as it was an absolute necessity that he should get coal and water.
His Worship: I must inflict the full penalty, as the amount of ammunition you have on board is a very large one. You are fined $250.
KWANGSI'S EX-GOVERNOR.
Mr. Wilcox arrived in Hongkong on Jan- uary 8th, 1875, coming out from England as Editor of the Hongkong Daily Press, in which cap city he remained, with credit alike to the paper and himself, for fifteen years, during a large part of which time he was also lesses of the business. In those days, as a glance less and impolite. It has happened for example at the old files will reveal, the community that a foreigner riding in China has beeu less contented and peaceably inclined
than it is to-day.
term During the
of .deliberately misdirected by the peasant of whom
he asked the road, Chinese manners required Sir Johu Pop Hennessy's governorship the Governor's that before enquiring the rider should alight, popular dissatisfaction with the and the peasant answers impoliteness with im policy was exceedingly pronounced, and was politeness. The foreigner rides some miles out faithfully reflected in the leader column of the This antagonism of of his way, and ever after treasures his ex- Hongkong Daily Press. perience as a proof of the boorish hatred of the the community to the Governor lasted through- Chinese to the foreign devil! Misunderstand-out His Excellency's term of service, and ings of this kind take place every day. Not looking back over the files one might easily every foreigner, any more than every Chinese, suppose that Sir John Pope Hennessy would
The cashiered ex-Governor of Kwangsi pro- can recognise the actual politeness which may entertain no kind regards for the Editor of the very well exist under a breach of formal manners. Daily Press. But it is interesting to record vince, Shih Nien-tsu, has been granted by The foreigner's insolent disregard of that before His Excellency left the Colony he decree dated the 7th inst. the rank of a Taotai Chinese conventionalities has sometimes an invited Mr. Wilcox to meet him for the express and ordered to report for duty with Viceroy unfortunate result on tho e natives who are purpose of making known to him his apprecia-Chang Chih-tung, at Wuchang. This, the intimate with him,-they also learn to leave off tion of the high tone of his criticism and its being polite according to the native code, and, complete freedom from anything in the nature needless to say, they do not acquire instead the of personal attack-a compliment which was ease of foreign manners. We have seen the certainly deserved and duly appreciated. missionary's wife shaking hands with her After fifteen years of journalism Mr. Wilcox neighbour's table-boy-which will cause a few sought a change of occupation. He went into discerning readers to shudder; we have seen the the house and estate agency business, and shortly foreigner dining with the mandarin, who did afterwards was appointed as Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, into which institution not know enough to cap "your honourable with "my unworthy," who proffered tea with he infused new life and considerably increased one hand while the other was in his pocket, its membership. Any movement calculated to who emphasised his "thou, thou, thon,' with benefit the trade of the Colony always found flourishes of a table-knife before the great in him p warm supporter. In 1897 he acted as
Worse still, we secretary to the Committee man's astonished spectacles.
formed to the trade of the port, have known schools where manners became inquire into disintegrated because the foreign teacher knew and subsequently served on the Commission no Chinese civilities and the pupils naturally appointed to inquire into the advisability of the learnt no Western manners; with the result registration of chair and jinrikisha ecolies, but that after years of schooling they enter 'the recommendation of the Commission was, un- the world unpleasant, ungracions, uncouth happily for the public, not approved by the to native and foreigner alike. Hostility we Government. On resigning the secretaryship of may often make allowance for, but -the Chamber of Commerce to take over the
over
N.-C. Daily News is informed by a Peking correspondent, has been the result of a judi- cious manipulation amongst the principal eunuchs of the Imperial Palaces of the ill-gotten gains for the obtaining of which ex-Governor had been cashiered in the October, 1897, accentuated, as it were, by the laying of oostly "tribute" at the feet o the Empress Dowager in November last, when her Imperial Majesty was celebrating her seventieth birthday anniversary and in a sufficiently genil state of mind to be at peace with all men. The following, in a few words, is an outline of the official career of ex-Göyernor Shih Nien-tsu, who is a native of this province and holds the literary degree of M A., or Chujon:-Appointed Tactai of Lanchon, capital of Kansu province, 1872; promoted Provincial Judge of same, 1877; retired into mourning, 1881; appointed Provincial Judge of Yunnan, 1884; promoted Provincial Treasurer of Kueichou, 1887; transferred to similar post
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