456
a
already got, so they carried away nine people, The shopowners, and held them to ransʊm. business of that market-place is now at standstill and very few people dare to visit it, even on market day. Some well-to-do citizens are overawed by the daring of the robbers, and dare not sleep in their own houses at night; they take refuge in the mountains.
FLOODS AND CROPS.-
Owing to the continued heavy rains and the rising of the West and North rivers, many of the embankments in different districts have been broken. Consequently the first rice crops were seriously damaged and in many places uo harvest can be expected. The food in Kwai. Yau village, Fung Chun district, was more serious. About five hundred houses destroyel and the rice crops of over eight hundred mau of land were washed away. Viceroy Sham has sent a deputy officer thither to make an investigation into the condition of affairs, and to take steps to relieve the poor sufferers.
SUGAR CHEAP.
were
The chief product of Chin-chow and Yang- kiang is cane sugar. The export of sugar from these two districts is valued at over one million dollars. The price in former years was about mine dollars a picul, but of late the price bas
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
CORRESPONDENCE.
CROWN AGENTS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS.
++
The
SIR,—I have occasionally heard people defend the Crown Agents and the system they repre- sent, and have heard it suggested that the popular outcry against them is prompted in the first place by disappointed contractors.
may have saying that Balbus is a bad man been repeated so often as to give that deceased gentleman an undeserved reputation; but what you call the " popular prejudice against the Crown Agents rests on surer ground. Fresh evidence is always cropping up.
For instance: The Colony of British Honduras has been seeking the consent of the Colonial Office to the construction of a seventy-mile rail-
the way to
frontier. When anplication WAS first made the Colonial Office gent out surveyors from the Crown Agents' office and they estimated the cost at £75,000. The Colonists were amazed at the estimate and declined to embark on such an expenditure for a railway "with a gradient of only fifty inches in the mile, no excavation so deep as ten feet. no rocks, and only three insignificant creeks to
}
(June 25, 1906.
NEW METEOROLOGICAL DATA.
TO THE EDITOR of the "DAILY PRESS,
"
Sir. The increasing amount of meteorolo- gical information, and the daily development of trade in the Far East, have decided us to add a new feature to our service. Henceforth we shall is:ue a Daily Weather Chart.
The new publicstion will, of course, be im- perfect in the beginning; it will, for instance, be impossible ts construct the map from data strictly corresponding to the same physical instant at all the stations. This drawback (common to nearly every similar work in Europe) will be made good, as far as possible, by applying to the barometric pressure the most acceptable reduction. Other information on weather, wind, temperature, etc., will be given, as a rule, without alteration.
The chart will show approximately the state of the atmosphere, along our coasts, at 6 a.m. (120th meridian time). It will appear in the afternoon, as early as the telegrams received make it practicable. We hope that it will be shown at several places in the Settlements, where the public may consult it easily.
The large daily map, sent every morning (since January 1st, 1896) to the Time Ball
been greatly reduced and sugar is sold at only be crossed." A second scheme was in conrse of / station, will continue to be posted there. It
about five dollars & pical. The sügar merchants are consequently experiencing hard times.
WHAMPÒA AGAIN.
REPORT OF A NEW PORT.
The Chung Ngoi San Po, of Hongkong, gives currency to a report that Oo-chung in the Pun-yu district is to be opened as a port for foreign trade. Oo-chnug is quite meir "to Whampoa.
It is some time ago since we reported the presence of some officials from Canton at this place; and it appears that they have now submitted to Viceroy Shum their survey-plan and reports.
According to the Chung Ngoi San Po, the matter is so far advanced that an official has been named to take charge, this being H.E.
talke Chang Pat-shi.
Chang Pat-shi, if there be any truth in the report of his appointment, is well chosen. He is a very successful merchant from Singapore, keenly alive to all the points of foreign com- merce. He is of Taotai rank, and one of the directors of the Canton-Hankow Railway. The connection between the railway and any devel- opment at Whangpoa is, of course, a very close
MACAO.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
June 21st.. KEEP ΤΟ THE RIGHT, IF YOU WOULD NOT
GO WRONG.
་་
A rule which has existed but been ignored for many years at Macio has recently been rig-
meau the rule orously put into force. I governing vehicular traffic. Orders are issued that all rioshas and bicycles are to keep to the right of the road. This is just the opposite, of the rule in Hongkong and most other places, so that excursionists from Hongkong who bring their cycles will have to be careful not to run into trouble. I do not know why Macao wants to be peculiar in its rule of the road.
THE ST. ANTONIO FEAST.
This religions fixture was celebrated with its customary splendour There were illumina. tions, fireworks and music around the Parish Church in the evening, and a large crowd of spectators.
FISHING.
Fishing appears to be the main attraction at present, and good sport is to bo had up the river, where fish are plentiful.
OFFICIALS AT LOGGERHEADS.
+
I hear that during the absence of H. E. the Governor, visiting your Colony, trouble arose between two Government officials on account of a street lamp. Correspondence, on the subject is now proceeding.
|
time submitted by the Colonial legislature aud Within 'disapproved by the Home authorities. the last twelve months a third scheme, backed like the previous ques by wealthy and capable contractors, was passed by the local legislature and approved by the Governor. The sum asked for was 3,750 a year for ten years. This scheme, like its predecessors, met with objections at Home, and the Colonial Office acting no doubt on advice tendered by the Crown Agents' office, submitted instead a scheme for a twelve-mile railway into a country which may in time develop a bauana trade. The cost of this project is £50,07, com. pared with £35,000 spread over ten years for a seventy-mile railway which would tap virgin forests and reach the trade of Guatamala and South Mexico. Thus, while the Crown Agouts
been permitted to make would have extravagant construction that would have cost £735,000 and while the Colonial Office is willing to burden British Honduras with an expendi- ture of £50,000 for a twelve-mile railway where in the opinion of the Colonists it is not needed, they will yet not permit the Colony itself to build a railway 70 miles long to the trade centre which contains a third of all the inhabitants for an expenditure of only £1,500 a year for ten years Yours truly,
CAIUS.
A GRUESOME CUSTOM.
4
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS,"
au
has the advanta re of being more complete, but will appear later than the new chart. On the back of the latter a table will be found, con- taiuing observations from nearly all the stations connected by telegraph with Sicawei. l'his will supply distinct information, different from that on which the map is based, as it will give the last observation preceding that on the
the table. Thus the variation of the principal map, and taken at hours clearly indicated on data will be readily realised.
In view of the steady progress of science among the learned classes of China, and their increasing interest for meteorology, the greater part of information will be translated into Chinese.
The firms, navigating companies, clubs, etc., desirous to receive daily the new bullețiu sad map, may obtain it at Shanghai by a subscrip- tion (payable in a Ivance) of 4 taels a year, 2 for six months and I for every quarter; at other ports the difference of postage will be charged, the parcels being sent weekly. The first issue will appear on 1st July.
I am, etc.,
LOUIS FROC, S.J., Director, Sicawei Observatory.
3rd June, 1906.
THE RETURNING COOLIES.
MANY RE:ENGAGE FOR SʊUTH AFRICA. The coolie transport s'eamer Indravelli, now in port, en route from Durban to Chingwantao, has on board between five and six hundred coolies, and it is in gome quarters mistakenly assumed that these coolies are returning under the terms of the British Government's repatria- tion proclamation. That is not the case. It has been officially announced that only twelve coolies had availed themselves of the Govern- ment's offer. Only two of them are on board the Indravelli, the other coolies on board are either time-expired men or coolies who have been invalided home. Every coolie ship return-
hundred coolies, and us the contracta rún out possibly the number returning may increase. But already it has been found that after a short visit to their native country the men are found ready to re-engage for further service on the Rand. Each coulie ship leaving Chingwantao -one a month now, we believe-carries about two thousand coolies to Durban.
Hongkong, 19th June. Sre,-It is not quite the fact that the ordenl of boiling the bones" has been out of use in China for 500 years, as stated in your yesterday's extract from the Shanghai Times. A somewhat A similar case occurred at Hankow in 1882. death by suspected poisoning occurred a little farther up the river and the parties concerned being influential, a commission was sent from Peking to enquire into the matter. The bodying from South Africa brings back a few after a year's burial was exhumed and sent down to Hankow for trial. A temporary kitchen was built outside Wuchang, and water from the middle of the Yangtze being used as most pure, the remains" were duly cooked, Then the story goes on to say that the resulting liquid was tasted by the experts. As a sequel it was said that they were all very sick. One of the tests was whether there were black marks on the bones or not; and to the best of my recollection the result was inconclusive, the operation having been spoiled by the officer who conducted the affair putting salt in the water. He was severely punished for this mistake. Some of the judges held one opinion and some another and they sailed away from Hankow under a salute of guns. I happened to be arriving at Hankow at this juncture after a- long absence, and my enquiry as to the occasion of the noise brought forth this story.
Yours truly,
L.
|
The World has a couplet which admirably meets the case :-
In bondage vile and chains he lay,
The handcuff on his hand; His soul was sad, for Tories had Enjailed him on the Rand,
And then 'twas told him he might go
Back to his native land. Around him rang the rançous roar
Of speech and cablegram,
And shout of those who meet their foes
With show'rs-of shift and sham; But all he answered was, “Oh, let
Me stay just where I am!”
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