84
The nation that tries to retain and defend | an established orthodoxy contemporaneous- ly with absoluto individual freedom of opinion is bound to encounter difficulties. It is like trying to make ice in an oven and roast meat in a refrigerator. The most bighly prized inheritance of the Briton is his right to refuse to conform in matters of opinion, to be a law unto himself in matters spiritual. The high churchmen whose doings caused the appointment of this Royal Commission were not so wicked as the rehement denunciations of those who wit nessed against them seemed to suggest. They were merely exercising that freedom, of conscience and religious liberty which the Briton prizes above everything else. As members of an established church, however, and presumably clinging to the privileges of establishment, they are held to have voluntarily surrendered that right and freedom which we regard as so important. Obviously the existence of this establish- ment is inconsistent with the genius of the general British law. affecting its purview. Uniformity being out of date, its conserva- tive value being unappreciated by a radical and iconoclastic age, the recommendations of the Commission will probably not be easily carried into effect. As the pen is said to be mightier than the sword, so conscience may be said to be more potent than the law. We have already noticed what respect the law pays to it. Some will argue for disestablishment; others for less toadying to individual conscience. Those who believe it to be importaut to preserve that organisation which alone can preserve an unchanging faith must look less kindly upon the individual freedom which the nation seems so set upon; on the other hand, those who appreciate this liberty of conscience cannot logically support auy organisation whose principle is to keep the consciences of the community as near to one authorised pattern as possible. For instance,
a letter in this issue reminds us that we
have in this Colony a growing number of independent consciences that apparently pre- fer eclecticism to discipline. They disavow the woman EDDY and her writings, and claim that their Christian Science is simple Bible truth, which does not shut them out of the regular Church. The BISHOP, following the lead of his colleagues at Home, has declared otherwise, knowing that an established organisation with fixed principles must set its face against the individual conscience if it wishes to continue its existence. These people interpret the bible in one way; the Church, represented by the BISHOP, interprets it in another. Who is to settle the dispute, if not the established Church? If not the Church, why retain it, its occupation gone? The raison d'être of the Church is to promote and preserve uniformity of belief. The national church is the saviour of the national faith. If we have no national faith, if the national laws emphasise the desirability of individualism, by insisting on each man's right to his own belief or unbelief, why do we retain the stable for which we have no horse? Or is it that there are more horses thau stalls? Iu any case, the situation is a puzzling one, and it would be rather interesting to learn just what the Chinese think of it
The prospects for Indians in Panama have made many of the local police dissatisfied with th ir present position. Two dollars gold per diem is held out to these men, that being the ware for policemen, and besides the hundreds who have been attracted here from India many have left Hongkong for the scene of the new
cancl.
i
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
HONGKONG TONNAGE.
[August 11, 1996,
HONGKONG SANITARY BOARD.
A meeting of the Sanitary Band was held on August 7th at the Bard Room. The Hon. Dr. F. Clark (president) presided, and there were als present-Hon. Mr. W. Chatham (Vice President), Dr. Pears, M.O.H., Hon. Mr. A. W. Brewin, Dr. Macfarlane, Hon. Mr. E. A. Hewett, Lieut.-Col. Joslin, Mr. A. Shelton Hooper, Mr. H. Humphreys, Mr. Lau Chu-pák, and Mr. G. A. Woodcock (secretary).
also of figuring creditably with regard to the growing frequency of the British flag. (Daily Press, 10th August.)
In actual numbers the visitors were 506 THE report of His Excellency the GOVERNOR British and 383 foreign ships. These 889 to the SECRETARY OF STATE, concerning ships entered 3,926 times, and gave a total Hongkong affairs of
1905,
although tonnage of 6,756,600. There were four necessarily containing much information more visitors than in 1904, but they paid with which our readers are already familiar, 61 less visits. The nationality of the makes interesting reading. It was presented steamers was mostly British (490), German to Parliament in June, and as Colonial (163), Norwegian (85), French (39), and Report No. 485 reached the Colony yester American (22). day. Although there was an actual deficit on the year's working, of 832,871.41, the statement of assets and liabilities at the end of 1905 shows that the Colony was solvent, with a surplus of assets amounting to $772,206.81. There was a net decrease of 17,396 tons of the principal imports in European bottoms, as compared with the figures for 1904; but, as has already been noted with natural gratification, the total tonnage entered and cleared amounted to 34,185,091, being an increase of 622,305 tons, and the highest tonnage yet recorded. Nearly seven millions of it was British, or 38.6 per cent. Foreign shipping was represented by nineteen per cent. Steamers of under sixty tons accounted for 26.9 per cent, while the juuks, of which an Australian critic made so much, represented only 15.5 Our Singapore contemporaries are reminded that the figures are based as usual on the registered net tonnage. Com- pared with the previous year, the figures analysed do not perhaps look quite so well, from a British point of view. There was an actual decrease of 36,410 tons in British ocean-going craft, aud of 143,338 tons in British river steamers. Deep sea foreigners, on the other hand, increased by 469,938 tons, and foreign river steamers by 189,226 tons. The net increase in tonnage was
per cent.
13
more than half accounted for by the remarkable increase in steam launches plying in the Colony. It should, however, be noted that while British tonnage on the river decreased as stated, there was a big increase (1,616) in the number of ships engaged in this traffic; and foreign river steamers were fewer by 61, although the tonnage was more. The net result is flattering to the port's eminence as a port, if not as a British port. Thus far on the table itself; but His EXCELLENCY offers an admirable example of the danger of trusting to statistics unexplained. He says the decrease in deep sen British craft loses any significance it inny at first sight appear to possess when viewed in conjunc- tion with my report for 1994, where an increase appeared of 352 ships of 930,300 tons, which was shown to be practically due to special circumstances connected with the late war. These special circumstances being removed with the advent of the Baltic fleet in Far Eastern waters April, 1905, the shipping tended to return to its normal state". This normal state would still be unflattering to the British amour propre were it not shown that there is actually also a normal growth, evident in an increase over the figures for 1903 of 32 ships and 893,890 tons. The river trade inconsistency is explained by the statement that additional small steamers were put on
"three moderate to the West River run,
sized vessels were taken off the run early in the year, and much smaller craft sub- stituted". The most satisfying explanation, however, is that which belittles the foreign increase. There was a big reduction in
in
1904 of Japanese ships, and the increase low shown is but the partial restoration to normal conditions, and should really be read as a net decrease". Thus Hongkong may boast, not only of being the pre- eminent port with regard to tonnage, but
RAT DESTRUCTION.
Voluminous correspondence was submitted relative to the use of sulphur dioxide for the destruction of rats on shipboard. Dr. W. PEARSE, M. O. H., wrote that having read the reports attached regarding experiments with the Clayton apparatus he saw no reason to alter his previously expressed opiniou as to its usefulness.
was quite possible to reader the holds, cabins, saloons, etc.. of a ship reasonably airtight with little trouble. The Clayton gas being heavier retained at a than air might easily be
for maay bours in 8
high percentage
not follow, however, that ship. It did this method w.uld be quite successful
in dealing with Chinese bouses IL took nearly two days to close up Government House in order to fumigats it with formaline gas last year. He considered it practically impossible to render Chinese houses sufficiently gastight to get the best results with disinfection. Moreover, rats could not escape from 1 ship, bat in a Chinese house' it was absurd to think that
rats could not find an avenus of escape. It was impracticable to render a Chinese h use sufficient- ly gastight to maintain gas at a percentage of eight for two hours right through the building. The experiment already conducted ou shipboard afforded no guidano owing to conditions bng so different from those prevailing in a Chinese house. For these and other reasons be considered that the experiments made by Professor Simpson furnished no evidence as to the general usefulness of the Clayton in thod of disinfection of Chinese houses in the Colony. For the disinfection of ships he cons dered the method was a useful one, but as pointed out by Dr. Haldane a considerable difference in the results might be expected to depend on whether the disinfection was done before or after the discharge of cargo.
The correspondence was laid on the table.
DIVIDING THE TWO DEPARTMENTS.
A further reply from the Government rela- tive to the recommendations in connection with the Estimates for 1907 was read as under :-
Colonial Secretary's Office, 4th July, 1906. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 39th June, 1906, submitting two resolutions adopted by the Sanitary Board with regard to the draft estimates referred to them at their meeting of the previous day.
With regard to the first of these resoluti ns I am directed to point out that it is not possible to divide the salaries of Sanitary Department officers between the Sanitary and Public Works Department estimates so as properly to represent the work they do for each department, but that if the Board recommend that an additional allowance, chargeable to the Public Works Department Estimates, should be given to those officers for work done for that department contemporaneously with the follow the practice in the analogous case of the discharge of their Sanitary duties so as to police officers referred to in the Board's resolu tion. that recommendation will be considered. With regard to the second resolution I am to state that His Excellency has decided in the absence of any reasons given by the Board to the
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