136
Mr. Vida Mr. Gogg
14
Mr. Alderton
Mr. Johnstone...
Mr. Cruickshank
Mr. Leslie...
Mr. Inglis...
Mr. Robertson.
Mr. Mackie
3
3
1
CANTON.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
VICEROYS.
3143
It is said in official circles that after the
opening of the official seals, that is the 19th of this moon, when everything in Kwan si is (anquilized, His Excellency Shum Chou Hün will return to Canton to attend to the more important local business. It is also rumoured that he will be transferred to be the Viceroy of Liang Kiang, Kiang Nan and Kiang) while Yuan Shih-K'ai, the Viceroy of Chihli, will be sent to Canton to be Viceroy.
THE FATSHAN RAILWAY.
A railway accident happ n d on the Fatshan line. On the 13th ult at about 12 o'clock
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
one of the men said he had been slaughtered, but ( on going through the house he found him hanging 88 described in the passage leading to the cookhouse. The master ordered that his boy be released, but he was informed that if he did not get out, he too would be hung | up in a similar position. The Master on going out of the shop said "You have nearly killed him, you can now do what you like,” He had only gone a few steps when the boy was thrown from the shop door on to the road. He was picked up, placed in a ricsha and taken to No. 7, Police Station, where about half an hour elapsed before he could be brought round suffici- ently to inform the Police of the fac's. The accountant, together with the other five men
concerned, were arrested, and at the instance of yesterday charged Inspector Collett, were before His Worship with assault. In passing sentence Mr. Hazeland said it was the worst case of the kind that had come under his notice since he had been on the bench. He would not allow the defendants the option of a fiue, but would sentence each to imprison- ment for six months with hard labour, and in lieu of one day of the said imprisonment, six hours stocks.
ROBBERY.
[February 25, 1905.
F.J.Badeley,Captain Superintendent of Police, gave evidence as to the identification of prisoner from amongst twelve others in the gaol com- pound by two of the witnesses in the case.
Further evidence was adduced and His Worship informed the defendant that he would be committed to gaol pending the order of the Governor as to whether he should be sur rendered. If he liked, he could apply for habeas. corpus within fifteen days.
BEACHCOMBERS AT HONGKONG.
The list of guarantors given. in Monday's Daily Press was incorrect in two particulars.
The number of guarantees by His Excellency the Governor should have read five, not four; and the undertaking of Mr. Findlay Smith was for two, not one.
We learn that one applicant has already come forward; and our previously expressed opinion that this new fund would not, ander right management, be frequently taxed, finds striking confirmation in the fact that this first applicant was at once provided with employment, and did not need to "go on the
fund.
noon when the train had reach Sew Tong, it ALLEGED MURDER AND ARMED volence would attract fumbers of idlers to ran against a ston", and the front car went off the track. The fireman, and a passenger, were killed and several others wounded. It is said that since the opening of the railway more than ten persons have been killed or injured on it.
THE MURDER OF JAPANESE AT SWATOW.
On account of the attack upon the railway labourers by the villagers, arising out of fungsvi in Swatow, in which two Japanese were killed and others wounded, the Viceroy's Secretary, Wen Chung Shew, was despatched to Swatow to investigate the affair.
CHINESE CRUELTY.
On Feb. 21st the accountant of a Chinese shop, No. 140 Queen's Road West, was fined $202 for being in illicit possession of opium and the following story was t ld Mr. F. A. Hazeland at the Police Court on Feb. 22 as a sequel to the fine.
The accountant of the shop before mentioned was in the habit of employing a servant boy from a neighbouring shop to go and procure opium for him. This the Excise officers found out, with the result that the accountan! was arrested and fined. Be came to the conclusion that the boy, by name Mok Shui, was in the employ of the Excise Officers, and had given the information against him, so sent a foki on Tuesday night last to tell the boy he wanted to see him. Quite unsuspectingly, the youth walked into the shop. As soon as le was inside, the accountant closed the door and told him he was ging to have a bad time. He was first asked how much he got for supplying the information, and then ordered to hand over $101, his share of the fine. The boy protested that he had not informed the Excise Officers, but the accountant with five other of the shop's employees, struck him to the ground. They then brutally treated him. The boy was first gagged. His hands and feet were tied together, a pole was run under his knees and placed on the backs of two chairs, and he was suspended therefrom head downwards, and nearly strangled by a handkerchief which they tied round his neck. After a period of this treatment they took him down and asked him to confess, but the boy was unable to speak. One of the men then got hold of a long knife, and threatened to cut him in pieces if he did not tell the truth. As the boy spoke not a word, they placed him in his former position on the rail, for a further term of torture. While in this position an Insurance broker called in, and seeing the state of the boy asked the men to release him. They informed the broker that if he did not clear out they would treat him the sime, and thereupon hunted him out of the shop. Meantime, the boy's Master, who wanted him to go on an errand, learning that he had called at No. 140 Queen's Road, went there in search of him. He found the shop closed, but on knocking at the door was admitted. reply to his inquiry as to where the boy was,
In
[
Another application for extradition was made to Mr. H. H.J. Gompertz at the Police Court on February 20th. Mr. H. E. Pollock K.C. instructed by Mr. R. A. Harding, made the application on behalf of the Chinese Government. Prisoner, who Was not re- presented, pleaded not guilty.
the crime was alleged to have been committed Mr. Pollock, in opening the case, stated that
on the the 16th June 19.14 when an attack was made on Ngan Kok Shiu village in the Sau Ming District of the province of Kwang Tung by a band of upwards of 100 robbers. When the robbing was going on reports of firearms were heard.
A great many houses were broken into that night and many robberies were com mitted. There was a sort of general melee between the robbers and the villagers. As the result of the visit to the honse with which we are concerned, the defendant is alleged to have killed Li Cheung Sham's father, and Li Cheung Sham was robbed of $120 in cash and various other goods and chattels,
As the extradition papers only referred to the charge of armed robbery Mr. Pollock said he would formally withdraw the charge of murder, Li Cheung Sham declared: I am a student residing at Ngan Kok Shin village. My residence is about four chung from the East gate of the village. On the evening of the 16th June,our cook went out to buy goods. Shortly afterwards he came running back calling out thieves. My father immediately got on to the roof of the house and beat a gong. Just then the thieves broke in the door. There were about twenty of them, headed by the defendant who carried a gun. Befo:e the defendant entered, he shot at my father on the roof and he fell to the ground. The defendant then beat his brains out with the butt of his guu One of the other robbers took hold of me and covered me with a revolver, telling me that if I moved I would be killed. Leung Tsung then came up and asked where my money was. I said “In the room.". Defendant said to the robbers-"Go in and get it." Then five or six men went into my father's room, and five or six into mine. I heard the boxes being broken open, and my wife and children crying. The robbers gathered all the clothing they could find and put them into about twenty baskets, which they carried into the yard. They then said-"Let us go into the next house", and they left. They took about $120 in silver be- longing to me. Several of the robbers, all armed, held me while the others ransacked the place. Most of the robbers were armed, some with knives and firearms, others with axes. After leaving my house I heard them breaking in other doors. Then several gongs were beaten, and the robbers ran. After consulting with the elders of the village, we sent a petition to the Sun Hing Magistrate, and he came and made inquiries into the case on the 19th June. I am quite sure that defendant was the leader of the band.
The fear that rumours of the latest bene-
Hongkong has no ultimate justification. The rumour has unfortunately spread to all quarters of the globe that Hongkong and the China coast is a Tom Tiddler's ground, a paradise for the indolent, where windfalls from the Pagoda-tree only need picking up. Those who come exp cting free quarters at the Seamens' Home, undeserved, expose themselves to the deadly insult of being offered work! All that is necessary for the treatment of those who will not work lies to our hands. It is not for u to imitate the methods of Manila, by shipping them elsewhere. The passive treatment of allowing them to want, and punishing them severely when they do wrong, Should thin their ranks in time, and give the Colony a reputation for hard-headedness that it does not at present enjoy among these gentry.
Could anything be more illustrative than the recent whine that the whiner intended to be guilty "only of false pretences"? The Go- vernment has a Vagrancy Ordinance in force. What more is necessary? The sentimental view expressed in the remarks: "Poor fellows Destitute! What else can they do? Why doesn't somebody help them ?" is not only foolish. It is politically immoral.
The twenty-one guarantees already recorded are ample to do all that is necessary for all the deserving cases that are likely to come up in the next few years,
It is worthy of note, says the Straits Times, that the recent lamentable affair that occurred in Hongkong and resulted in the hanging of three beachcombers, has apparently induced the authorities at that port to take seriously in hand the question of dealing with the beach- combers difficulty: In Singapore we are only to familiar with the evil. Mr. Justice Leslie Thornton took. occasion the other day, in Court, to make a remark about the very unfortunate position in which Singapore was placed by the ending of the s.s. Spondilus affair, which throw twenty non-British seamen practically on the beach here without any chance otherwise than the very fortuitous one from which all seamen more or less suffer in an Eastern port, of getting a ship again. The situation was accentuated by the added dis dvintage that the discharged men are foreign sailors in a British port. These men when they were liberated from the prison to which, they contended, they were most unjustly haled, simply had to resort to the Sailors' Home. It is the matter of residence in this institution which is the main bone of con- tention also in this Colony, At Hongkong H.E. Sir Matthew Nathan has put forward a new scheme for getting over the difficulty. He proposes that the Benevolent Society should expand their operations in the guaranteeing the upkeep of seamen in the Home, who have become destitute through no fault of their own. This of course will not do away with those undesirable and genuine beach- combers who simply live like parasites on the public generosity, but it is excellent so far as it goes, though depending on subscribers from the general body of the public.
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