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TWO ATTEMPTED SUICIDES.
Two cases of attempted suicide came up for hearing before Mr. F. A. Hazeland at the Police Court on July 17th. In the first, the secondary wife of a Chinaman living at Kennedy Street. Yanmati, quarrelled with the first, and left for Hongkong. She, however, soon grew tired of the city, and decided to return to her home. On the way back on the launch she jumped
overboard but when a rope was thrown to her she clutched it, and was hauled on board again. On appearing before His Worship, she was discharged. Her sister romised to take care
of her.
Another case occurred at Second S reet. West Point, on July luth. For some mis- demeanour, a Chinese woman had thrashed her little daughter, and was chastised by her husband for so doing. When the linsband left home, he told his wife that if she beat her daughter again. he would beat her. The woman did, but was evidently afraid to meet her husband. The little girl went and brought the neighbours from the next floor, just in time to catch he woman with a rope round her neck. She was first taken to hospital, and afterwards removed to the Police Station, and on appearing before His Worship on July 17 was cautioned and
dismissed.
THE ILLICIT OPIUM TRAFFIC.
The Opium Farmer is experiencing great diffi ulty in endeavouring to prevent this un- lawful traffic. which, notwithstanding the activity of the Excise Officers. is a parently increasing. Passengers on the Canton steamers smuggle large quantities down from that city. and if the traffic continues the Opium Farmer wil have no other al ernative than to cause a strictor search of passengers to be made, which he is legally entitled to du, The long-robed gentry object to undergoing a search by the excise officers, and frequently complain to the author.ties when subjected to it, but neverthe less. it is believed that a great quantity of opium is laudel by the well-to-do Chinese. Europeans also are not now beyond the pie of suspicion, since the conviction of the Americau who was in league with the Chinesa compradore, and if an excise officer has suspicions, Europeans in future must undergo the ordeal of the search.
Some ingenious methods to get the Inury into the Colony were revealed before Mr. G. N. Örme at the Police Courton July 14th.
A native with a bamboo, on the end of which was a parcel, thrown over his shoulder, alighted from a Canton steamer on on the 13th July and was walking along the wharf when au excise officer stopped him and searched his bundle. Nothing was found in this, but a closer scrutiny
of the bamboo revealed the fact that six taels of prepared opinm was secreted inside. The native informed His Worship that he did not know the laws of the Colony with regard to opium, but as a reminder that he was breaking such laws. he was ordered to pay a fine of $300, the alternative being three mouths' imprisonment.
In another case in which a steamer passenger was charged, he was found to have eight taels secreted in a bag, and wrapped up in old paper and clothing. He informed His Worship that he was a letter carrier. but the story wouldn't wash, and he was ordered to pay a fiue of $250 or go to gaul for three months.
A third steamer passenger who was arrested. was found in pos-ession of fourteen taels, and five mace of opium dross. In default of payment of a fine of $90, he was sentenced to three months hard labour.
SALE OF PONIES.
On the 17th July, ou the block of ground before the City Hal, Messrs Hughes and Hough, auctioneers, sold by public auction. a number of Chins ponies. The only pony withdrawn from the sale was Highland Laddie, the highest price bid being $100. Tu can King was bought by Mr. S. A. Seth for $75, Saron King by Mr. Carlowitz for $75: Jungle King by Mr. Smith for $175: a polo pony from Shangbai by Mr. Knotswall for $75 and Two Step (a griffin by Mr. Gegg for $10.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
AMUSEMENTS OF THE CHINESE.
In a long article on Sports of the Orient," Mr. Alleyne Ireland makes the following observations:-It might have been supposed that the Chinaman, who lives in a country which is outside the tropics. would have taken more kindly than his Malay neighbour to games and sports involving outdoor exercise; but this is not the case, and the principal amusements of the Chinese are theatres and gambling.
It is true that many persons dy kits, or match trained birds in a contest of catching seeds thrown high in the air and that young boys find amusement in pitching coins, fighting crickets and quails, or sitting in a circle for an hour or two trying to guess the number of seeds in an orange: but the theatre and the gambling-house are the popular resorts of the Chinaman when he is in search of enjoyment.
There is much that is curious about a Chinese
theatrical performance. The theatre itself is seldom more than a rude stage erected on some vacant piece of ground, with very rudimentary accommodation for the audience. The female parts are always taken by boys, who paint their faces. and imitate the dress, voice and manners of the gentler sex with great ingenuity. Per haps the most unusual feature of a Chinese theatrical show, from the standpoint of our western idea of the drama, is the constant dinof the orchestra, which makes impossible for the greater part of the audience to hear a word of what is being said on the stage.
The
But the theatre makes no such appeal to the Chinaman as that of the various gambling schemes which add the charms of uncertainty to the life of the happy Celestial. Men and women, boys and girls, throughout the length and breadth of China, are inveterate gamblers. Chinese gambling takes many forms. best known it that of fantan, which consists of counting out a bowl of cash four at a time the bets being made on how many are left over after the last complete four have been counted. Then there are the various lotter.cs, of which the most popular is pak kop piu, in which the player selects ten Chinese characters out of eighty, printed on a slip of aper, in the hope that some of them may be the same as twenty drawn by the bolder of the bank. If the player gets five of the characters the same as those drawn by the bank he wins his money back, if he gets six he i paid three times his stake, if seven be receives eight times bis stake, and so on.
[July 21, 1905.
VICEROY AND MAGISTRATES.
The magistrate in China, as most of our readers know, holds a unique and by no means enviable position. While ostensibly designed to administer justice he is in reality a kind of moral sponsor for any district he is in, and any and every event from the overflowing of a river to the murder of a missionary he is responsible for as we'l as the punisher of. Of course the position is an anomaly, but China is the land of anomalies, and this one is accepted with that philosophical resignation borne of su utterly hopeless position. Viceroy Yuan who has more than once proved himself more en- thusiastic than discerning, especially in civil matters, is now desirons of improving the status of the provincial magistrate and possibly of international relations in the interior, and he has therefore decided that in future any and all magistrates who desire to hold office shall perforce spend at least three months in Japan studying judicial and police methods in that country and thus laying claim to the plea that they have studied abroad."
The Viceroy maintains that the magistrates on whom so mach depend are sadly ignorant of ordinary educational responsi. police and general
and it is therefore useless to bilities, expect from them any radical reforms; and what is worse, the people know of this ignor- ance and it weakens the official hold over those who have probably themselves more knowledge, The Empress Dowager has emphasized the necessity for all officials not only to be educated but also to travel, and he is therefore making this new rule in the hope that a better state of affairs will result. In the abstract the Viceroy is no doubt on the right track, but in allowing only three months for this wonderful course of foreign observation,- -we can bardly call it study, he is attributing to mere clim- atic influences a spurious value, the magistrates are to familiarise themselves with industrial as well as police and magisterial duties the time is of course unreasonable, Moreover the luckless officials are to pay all their own expenses and to be submitted to a running examination during their stay by the Superintendent of Students there as to their
observations.
for as
The object in view is in a few years time to be able to state that there is no magistrate in office who has not been abroad, and any official not willing to submit himself to this expense and ordel will not in future be allowed to hold office. The Viceroy's intentions are The various games of chess, dominoes and praiseworthy bat the trail of the serpent cards have their special devotees, and all these superficiality is over them all, and in the present games are played for stakes varying from some- instance it is absurd to pretend that this thing like a fiftieth of a cent up to hundreds of regulation is going to achieve any good what- dollars. As far as I am aware, the only form ever. However, it is a beginning, and we do of gambling among the Chinese to which not wish to discourage the day of small things European and American civilization has given in China, and we can only hope that the inutility any impetus is horse racing In Borneo, in of such preparation will present itself to the Malay Peninsula, in Hongkong, in Shang-Chinese commonsense and that some hai, betting on the borse races is a favourite amusement of the upper class Chinamen; and not a few of the wealthier among them own their racing stables and carry off from time to time the Governor's cup or win the Jockey Club stakes.
PROPOSED CHINESE OPIUM MONOPOLY.
We (Peking Times) mentioned some time ago that the Board of Revenue had it under con. sideration to create a Government monopoly of opium in the same way as the Japanese have done in Formosa, the ostensible object being to check the excessive use and abuse of the drug by the people. Viceroy Yuan is very keen on the monopoly, believing that it will be of real service in controlling the consumption of the poison, and he has now commissioned 80 assistant district magistrate to go to Formosa and thoroughly investigate the Japanese methods of dealing with the drug. Strangely enough the official so commissioned is himself an opium smoker and is taking with him a quantity of the drug for his own consumption. He is of the opinion that little will be done in the case of present day smokers, but that the evil may possibly be largely checked in the next generation. The trip will cost a little over Tls. 1,000, and cover a period of two months,
More
serious attempt to qualify themselves will be made by the young office-seekers of the day.- Peking Times.
HOW CHINA CIVILISES.
A proclamation has been issued jointly by the Police Office and Tientsin Prefect and Magistrate, which runs as follows:-
Tientsin is a well known port for international trade, with a good maloo (horse road) as the principal thoroughfare. At present, the build- ings facing the roads are irregular, the huts and matsheds are in a poor condition and look very shabby. We have received personal orders from the Viceroy to have the huts and matsheds by the sides of the roads put in order. The Kung Hsin Chuan Chü, house tax office, has been requested to find out the number of such buildings facing the roads in the city, by the Bund at the places which lead to the concessions, at the new railway station and other places. In all there are 600. The Kung Hsün Chüan Chu is to appoint officers to exhort the traders
and people who are well off to repair at once the buildings in question, and paint and decorate within one month. For those who are "hard up" the repairs will be done by the house-tax office, and the cost be paid by the occupants in instalments. By this arrangement," the market will present a decorative appearance, which is a step towards civilization.-P. & T. Timza.
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