February 6, 1905.j
sult of the Court-martial. This quieted in a manner many of the turbulent spirits gathered in the Chinese suburbs and the propos- ed demonstration was adjourned to await the result of the meeting at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. This was published in an Ex- press sent out yesterday and distributed through- out the foreign settlements, native city and suburbs, which we now translate as follows:-At a conference held this afternoon in the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, in which the members of the Committee of the Guilds of the various provinces doing business in Shanghai participat. ed, it was decided in the first place to send & joint telegram signed by the Committees of the Guilds present, to the Waiwupu and also to the Imperial High Commissioners of the Nanyang Administration (Viceroy Choo Fu of Nanking) strongly protesting against the action of the Russian authorities in relation to the death of Chon Seng-yu at the hands of Russian sailors. In the second place it was decided to draw up petitions, signed by the members of Commit- tees of the various provincial Guilds present, and send them to the Shanghai Taotai, the Senior Consul, and the International and French Municipal Councils, informing these gentlemen of the popular dissatisfaction and the difficulty being experienced by the peti- tioners in calming the people; and thirdly, it has been decided to stop using all notes issued by the Russo-Chinese Bank, until matters have been settled. These three decisions have received the unanimous endorsement of all the representatives of the various provinces assem- bled this day, and they now unite in requesting the merchants and handicraftsmen of Ningpo descent in Shanghai to postpone their proposed mass meeting. (Signed) The members of Com- mittees of all the provincial guilds established in the port of Shanghai.
As already stated above this Express succeed- ed in preventing the mass meeting at the Ningpo Josshouse called for yesterday by the more turbulent of the Ningpo community of this port, and as can be imagined may be said to have been the only way under the circumstances to effect such a thing, as these people had lost faith in the ability of their leaders and the Shanghai Taotai to do anything in the matter, Had a mass meeting of the kind referred to been allowed to take place there is no knowing to what a pass these ignorant and misguided Ningpo labourers, handicraftsmen and coolies, led by interested rascals and assisted by rowdies and desperadoes, would have been brought.
PROPOSED KUANGTUNG-KUANGSI
RAILWAY.
In response to a circular despatch of Viceroy Trên to the Waiwupu and the Shangpu asking for money to construct a railway which shall join the two provincial capitals (Canton and Kueilia) of Kuangtung and Kuangsi, in order that China may be first in the field and so prevent foreigners from seeking to exploit the same, the two Boards have sent a reply em- powering Viceroy Tsêa to raise funds locally as the Central Government has no available funds for the proposed undertaking. In consequence of this, Viceroy Tsen has ordered that all civil and military officials holding office in the two Kuang provinces, are to subscribe certain percentage of their salaries at
8
once
towards the scheme, while on the other hand the wealthy gentry and mer- chants of the two provinces are to be appealed to to purchase shares in the new railway. With the money thus raised Viceroy Tsên has 8x- pressed his conviction that there will be quite sufficient funds to start the venture and bring its construction to a successful issue. Viceroy Tsên also rightly thinks that once the line has been started and opened to traffic without delay as each section became completed, and worked intelligently and honestly-and there are plenty of Cantonese and natives of Kuangsi who can do so not only would the road pay for itself as its construction proceeded, but that those who held back from subscribing for fear of losing their money, seeing how things were managed, would only be too glad to press their money into the hands of those in charge of the railway for the purchase of shares in the
concern.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE A.D.C. PERFORMANCE OF "JANE."
* Jane
is just the right kind of piece to bring out the qualities, good or bad, of amateur Thespians, and if presented at all well, is sure to delight almost any audience. It belongs to the "Charley's Aunt" category, with a soupçon more of farce about it. The "fat" all falls to the share of the servant characters, the soubrette, the bachelor's man, and buttons. The fun allotted to the master is of a less vociferous
sort, and less liable to reach its mark.
The very shabby, holed, and dirty green frout cloth drow up on a scene mounted with the amateurs' too great devotion to detail. The effect of all the pictures and nio-nags is, of course, excellent in the extreme, but it is not the professional way of suggesting a drawing As these room interior. It is a drawing room. things are not properties, made to be removed in convenient bunches, they involve long waits In this case, however, the between scenes.
action all taking place in the one setting, it did not matter.
85
posture of her arms in the threatening attitude. she assumed did not look so natural, we think, as would arms akimbo, or elbows nursed in the manner of the Police Court termagant, but this is, no doubt, hyperoriticism. It was a small part excellently done. So was the small part of her husband (Mr. M. W, Silas), whose make- up was really most amusing
It was a rattling good performance all round, thoroughly enjoyed, and quite a success. We cannot, indeed, remember a performance by the A.D.C. in which all the characters have been so uniformly excellent as in this performance of “Jane"; and the veteran stage manager, Mr. E. W. Mitchell, to whose untiring exertions the success of these performances by the A.D.C. is so largely due, is to be most heartily con-
The house was not so crowded as we expected gratulated upon the latest triumph of the Club. to see it; there were several seats vacant in the dress circle; but $965 cannot be considered a one performance. Only two more performances of " Jane " are announced -one this evening and the other on Satur- day next. The excellence of the play should ensure crowded houses each night.
small haul for
We must not omit a word of praise for the orchestra, for the music was excellent. By kind permission of Rar Admiral the Hon. A. G. Curzon-Howe, and the captain and officers of H.M.S. Ocean, the b nd of this battle- ship, which formed the orch stra on Saturday, will play each evening under the direction of Bandmaster H. Willmer.
The title role was in unusually capable hands, "Jana" presenting a Mrs. Hall-Wright as soubrette performance of quite professional verve and aplomb. Given the pert, pretty, and spoile maid, taken into the confidence of her foolish master, and paid to conspire with him to deceive the trustes of the family estates it is not difficult to imagine that " Jane," as portrayed by this lady, would be duplicate, word for word. and action for action. in real life. was really very litle of the burlesqu about her performance. but a great deal of genuine humour. We have it on excellent feminine CHINESE WARSHIPS TO BE BUILT authority that her dresses-or two of the three worn during the evening-were "simply lovely; and must have cost an awful lot
There
We liked Mr. Shackleton (Capt. Smith, A.D.C.), but think he might, to maintain the exact spirit of the play, have taken his troubles a little more seriously. In his restrained, ex- pressive, and carefully enunciated rendering of his part, there seemed to be at times an under- tone of amusement, natural enough; but supposing the character to have been foolish enough to do as he did, we cannot think that he would have sufficient sense of humour to smile at his own folly, as Capt. Smith's Shackleton seemed to be doing. He was, however, quite good enough on the whole to disarm criticism.
"William" (Mr. H. W. Bird) was excellent. In our opinion he made up a little too old; but for the rest we are inclined to give him unqualified praise. His elocution, enunciation, mannerisms, and "business" were all that we have ever looked for from such a character, real or stagey. We have heard it opined that he exaggerated some of his despondent poses, but we did not see it. He was great fun, and good throughout.
L
The same may be said of Claude," the boy in buttons (Mr. Tester), who made more than the most of his part. We know the book, and can assure the reader that he introduced a lot of excellent "business" of his own, always pat, and never interfering with the progress of the piece. We should like to see him in a principal comedy role by-and-bye.
Mrs. J. Hooper as the amorous widow had a capital make-up, and got a lot of amusement out of her part, which was throughout capably interpreted.
Mrs. Chichester as the master's true fiancée
looked charming, and got through her small part with credit. Considering that this was her debut in a speaking part, Mrs. Chichester show- A little ed a commendable lack of nervousness. more freedom of manner and responsiveness, when the reconciliation with her lover took place, would have been more in keeping with her opening scene.
was
and
We
"Mr. Kershaw," the trustee (Mr. H. W. Looker), had a capital voice and a really ex- cellent make-up as the elderly gentleman who
to be diddled
wheedled into alleviating his ward's financial troubles. think this the weakest character in the piece, but the fault is rather that of the play. wright than the actor, who may certainly be credited with a good rendering of a difficult part
Mrs. Mitchell as the virago "Mrs Pixton was distinctly good, in manner, make-up, and speech. When delivering her ultimatum, the
୮
H.E. the Governor and suite were present at the performance.
IN JAPAN.
A long memorial by Viceroy Chang Chih- tung regarding the order for gunboats and torpedo-boats to be built in Japan and shallow draught warships in China has been duly sanctioned by the Throne. From the memorial it is understood that four gunboats for the Yangtse river had been ordered by the Viceroy at Nanking, while Viceroy Chang Chih-tung has ordered ten ships, six gunboats, and four torpedo-boats. The description of the gunboats is-steel, twin screw, length 200 feet, beam
twelve
29 feet 6 inches, the depth of the hull 14 feet, mean draught 8 feet, displacement 740. tons, I.H.P. 1,350, average speed 13 knots, with armament consisting of two centimetre guns, two 7 centimetre guns, and four machine guns, and it is necessary that the hull suffer no effect from the firing of these guns: The vessels compared with the vessels for Nanking show an increase in tonnage of 220 tons, in horse power 400, while in armament one gun at the stern and bow respectively. The description of the torpedo-boats is:-Length 40.; beam 4.94; depth of the hull 2.05 and mean draught 1.110 (French measurements); tonnage. 96 tons, horse power 1,300; average speed, 23 knots; armament, two 4.7 centimetre gans, three 14 inch-torpedo tubes. These boats are to be built at the Kawasaki Dock Company at Kobe.
-Sinwanpao.
THE HOLLYWOOD ROAD
HOLOCAUST.
CHARGES OF MURDER AND ABSON.
The hearing of the case in which Chan Chung and Tan Hop were charged with murder and arson in connection with the fire at No. 168. Hollywood Road, wherein several persons were burnt to death, was continued before Mr. H. H. J. Gompertz at the Police Court on Feb. 2nd.
Mr. F. J. Badeley, Captain-Superinten- dent of Police, prosecuted, and Mr. Hursthouse (of Messrs. Dennys and Bowley's office) represented the Meiji Fire Insurance Company. Prisoners were not defended.
In Po, Chief Chinese Detective, declared: On the morning of the 12th ult. at 2.15 a.m., I was in a chair going from West to East. Just as I reached No. 170, Hollywood Road, I heard someone calling out "Fire." He called out two or three times. I then saw a man standing outside the door of No. 168. I looked in and saw that all was in darkness. I caught hold of the man who shouted "Fire." Then I saw fre. baru up suddenly inside No. 168. The man. I
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