June 3, 1905.]
A TRAMWAY FATALITY.
•
ARE THE LIFE GUARDS EFFECTIVE At the Magistracy on the 30th May before Mr. F. A. Hazeland, sitting as coroner, and a jury, an inquiry was held into the circumstances connected with the death of & Chinese boy Wong Ping Tim, who was knocked down by a tramcar in Des Voeux Road on the 16th instant and subsequently succumbed to his injuries.
J. Gray Scott, General Manager of the Tramway ( o.. gave evidence with regard to the life-guards. He said The present case is the first in which the
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guards have been put to practical use in the matter of life saving, all previous accidents having been due to knocking down, the cars having been brought to a stop before a body has got underneath When this accident was told to me, I endeavoured to ascertain if possible how the boy got under the mat of the lifeguard. with a view to testing its efficiency. I am of opinion that in all pro! ability deceased fall with his arm exte.ded outward in the direction of the on-coming car, and his arm formed a guy by which the lifeguard passed over his body. I tested car No. 23 by placing on the line a large coil of rope and a circular timber baulk. The lifeguard picked these up in sach case. The height of the lifeguard from the ground is arranged as nearly as possible at two inches, which margin is necessary in order to avoid the guard scraping on the concrete track. This is not the common form of guard in use in England. The more common form is one of a similar type fitted in addition with a gate and trigger, The gate is placed about three feet in front of the life guard, and when any obstruction comes against it the trigger is released and the guard falls, Our system is used by many companies in England and, in my opinion, is a satisfactory one. It is passed by the Board of Trade. Í have reported this matter, and anything that can be done by my company to avoid accidents and loss of life shall be done. I think it desirable that our life guards should be con verted into the gate system. Even with the gate type the present accident could not have been avoided.
By the Jury-It might be possible for a boy to fall on the line and avoid striking the guard. It is a disputed point among tramway com- panies in England as to which is the best sys'em of life guards, but the gate system is now more generally used.
The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure, but did not think it necessary to add a rider with regard to life guards.
CHINESE CHRISTIANS.
HOW SOME CONVERTS ARE MADE.
The following strange tale published by the Shenpao comes from Hankow: ln the district of Loshan belonging to Chienlihsien, Wuchang prefecture, there is a Protestant Church belong ing to the American Church Mission, and also a Roman Catholic Church. The converts of both Churches have hitherto always lived in harmony, lately, however, there has been troubl between people of the two sects which,
191
CHINÅ OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
success. The aggressor becoming bolder than ever by the indifference of his priest, then gathered a large mob with the object of creating a riot against the Protestant Church, and so menacing was the mob, that those in the Protestant Church compound were forced to get away to avoid it. A cook belonging to the Mission unluckily c uld not get away in time
and he was set upon by the riters and fatally injured. The matter has been repo ted to the
Head of the American Church Mission in
Hankow with the request that the Head of the Roman Catholic Mission at that port be asked to settle matters. People in Chienlihsien are writing to Hankow and anxiously waiting for news.-N.-C. Daily News.
GASCOIGNE ROAD."
A letter from H. E. the Governor, sent to Major-General Sir W. J. Gascoigne, read as follows:-Government House.
Hongkong, 24th March, 19 5. Sir. I have the honour to transmit the enclosed (copy of Government Notification No. 158 and to inform you that the main thoroughfare recently opened across the Kowloon Peninsula has by my direction been named Gascoine Road in commemoration of your connection with the dedication to the Public of the King's Park which the road partly traverses.
I have, etc. (Sd.) M. NATHAN,
Governor, &c.
Major-General W. J. Gascoigne,
Lordon.
His Excellency is in receipt of the following reply from Sir W. J. Gascoigne :
13, South Street, Park Lane. W. 28th April, 1905. Sir, I bave the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's letter of 24th. ultimo numbered as above
It is with very great pleasure that I learn that, through Your Excellency's kindness, a road across the Kowloon Peninsula has been named after me, thereby associating me with a Colony in which I passed five of the happiest years of my life.
I beg to express to Your Excellency my great thanks for your kindness in allowing this honour to be accorded to me.
I have, etc. (Sd.) W. J. GascOIGNE.
Major-General. His Excellency the Governor.
ALLEGED ARMED ROBBERY.
The adjourned case in which the extradition of Cheang Pat was applied for by the Chinese Government on a charge of armed robbery was continued before Mr. F. A. Hazeland at the Police Court on 1st June.
MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN.
349
who chose Japan as the field of their immolation The "self-sacrifice" of foreign missionaries is thus described by the "Stray Notes "writer in the Japan Chronicle.
to me.
What a lovely place Arima is at this season of the year! Umbrageous groves, tinkling waterfalls, purling streams, the brilliant greens of early summer backed by the lovely blues of a thing," as one of the missionary young ladies said storm-washed sky. "it's just too lovely for any;
I can well understand the enthusiasm of my missionary friends for Arma at this season of the year. The week before last, I am told, the Baptist missionaries of Japan were meeting there, having great liking for the place because there is so much water about it. Last week about ninety of the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society met in Arima to deliberate upon their work." This week or next week will come the turn of the American Board missionaries with Rockefeller's dollars, behind them. And I further learn from a faithful chronicler in a Yokohama journal that "at other times in the year several other companies of missionaries will also convene there." The same writer says:-
The complete change from the cities or the mission stations gives a pleas nt rest and the opportunities are unexceptionable for quiet conference and debates over methods and ways and means. The place is easily reached and the scenery through the mountains is inspiring. All things thus combine to make it an almost ideal place for the holding of a week's con- ference meetings.
I can well believe it. There are too few con. ferences in Japan altogether. Some of the missionary so ieties do not have more than four a year, and this is clearly too few to enable them to recover from the exhausting labours in the vineyard. But why do I not see more about these conferences in the missionary magazines with the alloring title on the cover: "Coms Over and Help Us?" If I had only known about those conferences I should have come over and helped many years before I did. But all I remember was sach paragraphs as this :-
The American Board has now a mission in Japan. The missionaries and their wives are described as living on the site of abandoned Buddhist monasteries on a mountain slope to the east of Kyoto, the ancient Japanese capital. They have renounced everything but a bare subsistence, are living in their white tents and working with enthusiasm.
That was not the sort of thing to invite a constitutionally weary man to join the mission. ary ranks. If I had only known what the reality was,-if I bad only learned of those pleasant re-unions in the hills, of those delightful conferences in Arims, of those little holidays in Karuizawa, of the tent life on the slopes of Hyiesisan, how different it might have been!
CHINESE "JUDICIAL TORTURE
AGAIN.
According to a letter from the North the
I not settled satisfactorily by the heads of the (being instructed by Mr. Bowley), the previous recent Imperial decree abolishing torture, dur-
two churches will be a constant source of friction. It appeared that a certain farmer, a so-called convert of the American Church Mis-
sion, on the strength of his membership. took upon himself to encroach in various ways upon the lands of a neighbour, a non-convert. The latter dared not openly resent the treatment accorded but quietly applied for, and got admitted into, the same Church as his aggressor. The new member then took the first opportunity to ex- plain to his pastor the injustice under which he had been suffering, and the pastor, after due investigation, finding the charge made to be true, naturally spoke to the aggressor and advis.d him to make proper amends. When the aggres- sor saw that his conduct was not favourably looked upon by his pastor, he sought revenge by joining the Roman Catholic Church. Then began the trouble in earnest. The apostate gathered a crowd of men, and taking advan-
tage of the absence from home of his victim one day did great damage to the latter's crops. Upon complaint being made to his pastor the latter called upon the Catholic priest on the matter, but apparently without
Mr. H. E. Pollock appeared to make the application on behalf of the Chinese Government Goldring) who represented the defendant ob- but Mr. F. P. Hett (of Messrs. Brutton, Hettand
Government on the grounds laid down by the jected to Mr. Pollock'sappearance for the Chinese Chief Justice, and submitted that although the latter gentleman now represented the Crown
proceedings were improper. Mr. Pollock pointed out that previously by the absence of the local authorities he bad implied authority instructed by the Crown Solicitor) he had to appear for the prosecution, and now (being express authority. He submitted that there was nothing to render the evidence that had Mr. Pollock was retained by the Chinese been taken illegal. Mr. Hett pointed out that
pretest from members of the Board of Punish- ing investigation of cases, has raised a storm of ments and a number of Censors. It would seem establishment of the Cheng Wu-ch'u (Depart that it has been the etiquette since the
ment of State Affairs) in 1902, that whenever any suggestion is presented to the Throne the matter is at once referred to the Cheng Wu. ch'u for decision. In the case under review this immediately after reading Wa Ting-fang's was not done by the Empress Dowager who,
the laws, issued an ediot granting bis memorial. memorial for more leniency in the execution of
Conservatives in the Board of Punishmen ta, however, declare that under present conditions it is impossible to abolish torture during the examination of cases, and they have also taken Tsoi Tam Kau, a forester in the Afforesta-advantage of the Empress Dowager's so-called tion Department, was charged before Mr. G. N. Orme at the Police Court with neglecting to
Government and. as it was a matter of life or death to his client, he must take every possible objection.
His Worship reserved his decision on the points raised, and the case was remanded.
IRREGULAR DEFORESTATION.
enter in his entry books 467 trees which he had felled at Aberdeen. Mr. F. B. L. Bowley (Crown Solicitor) prosecuted. Defendant was sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment with hard! labour.
slip to declare that Her Majesty should have in the first place ordered the Cheng Wu-ch'u to consider and report on the matter before grant- ing the Imperial approval. The chances are that being unable to withstand all this clamour, Her Majesty may order the Cheng Wa-ch'u to report on the matter after all.-N.-C. Daily Ne‘rw
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