310
In the great changes in China can Ancestral Worship be maintained? If so, is it consistent with the raising of the position of women by education ? Such education must be a powerful disintegrating foros. The best way to push out the evil is by substituting something better. In its reaction from the errors of Rome, Protest- antism teaches too little about the slate of the departed. But we have little to learn from Roma, | with its worship of the ancestors of others, when styled "saints.'
Larger use should be made of - memorial days in churches for members, and in schools for founders with special forms of service. The chief perplexity is in regard to the commemorati n of heathon ancestors, but we must not tell the Chinese that Christianity has no message, no hope for those whose ausestors died without seeing the Gospel's light. More attention should be paid by school and church to positive teaching of reverence to parents. We are not justified in asking Chinese to give up or destroy their ancestral Lableta, which is indeed a breach of Chinese law. Christian memorial tab lets to replace have been recommended. 'I he ques. tion of offerings and prostrations must be left to the enlightened conscience subject to the teaching of the Word and the Spirit of God. Without this, formal prohibitions are useless, with them unnecessary. More care should be bestowed on Chrisian cemeteries, visits to them encouraged, with services at Easter, etc. Ancestral Worship has disappeared in the West, but not easily or suddenly. Superstition is hard to get rid of. Our greatest struggle will be with materialism, godlessness, practical atheism. An agnostic, educated class is far harder to deal with than a superstitions multitude.
Naturally.
warm.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
like s
One curious announcement was made, that China is being flooded with materialistic literaturs from Japan. This looks commentary on the progress of the missionaries in Japan.
The seventh session on May 3rd dealt with
medical missions.
A
The Rev.L. Lloyd (C.M.8, Foochow) cansed mach amusement by quoting; the paasage from Ecolesiasticas which says. If any man sin against the Lord let him be delivered into the hands of the physician." He considered that this was the worst fate they could wish their enemies at the present day if it meant into the hands of Chinese physicians Medical mission work was evangelion', philanthropic, and aa pl neer work. But it was necary that only Christian men should carry on this work.
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Dr. Hodge said while a great deal of what he might, call “ Good Samaritan work was dona by unskilled hands it could not be properly It would not be recognized as medical work. permitted at Home, and at the present time legislation was being introduced on this very At some future date the same point in India.
would be done in China. While a great deal of good was done by missionaries who were not doctors, a great deal of harm was also dous. The work done by those who were not doctors would not be stopped, but he hoped it would be continued as long as those who did it had sense enough to bare alone thing they did not auderstand.
Dr. Christie moved, and the Rev. T. W. Pearce (Hongkong) seconded a resolution of appreciation of the support given medical missions by commercial men. Mr. Pearce said that the first operation performed by a missionary in China was as a result of the effort of a commercial man, and the commercial community had well supported medical missions ever since. It was only fitting that they should express their appreciation of what the commer cial community in the Far East was doing for Medical Missions.
[ May 18, 1907,
THÉ CENSUS.
TRYING TIMES FOR HARBOUR ENUMERATORS.
bost
MP P. P. J. Wodehouse reports as under concerning the census of the Colony for 1906:--- A partial consus of the Colony was taken ön the night of Tuesday, 20th November, 1906. The census was confined to the original Colony of Hongkong and to that part of the New Territories, called Naw Kowloon, which lies to the South of the Kowloon Ringe of hills. The folat civil popalation enumerated was 319,803. The portion of the New Territories North of tho Kowloon Range and not included in this consus was found at the o nsus of 1901 to possess a population of 85,011. The date of the Consan was originally fired for the 30th June bat was subsequently changed, on acconat of the prevalence of plague at that time of the year. Preliminary returna were published on the 5th December, 1906. The Agures were taken from the enumerators' books. There was an error of about 2,800 persons in the Chinese boat population, owing to certain totals having been carried forward from one book to another by the Water Police, and another of about 2,000 in the Chinese land population. The latter was due to faulty addition on the part of some of the Chinese enumerators. The census of the Chinese residing in the City of Victoria was taker, as on previous occasions, by a staff of specially engaged enumerators, with the exception of vertain areas which were done by the Police. The Chinese population of the harbour was taken by the Water Police, while the Harbour Department enumerated the persons on board the
and British
merchant Foreign
vessels. The brunt of the work of a census in this Colony falls on the Police, and all the men employed did exceedingly well. The arrangements made
and out-stations were very good, and they took by the Officer a charge of the various districts great pains to see that they were properly carried out. The work is specially heavy in the Aberdeen and Shankiwan districts, where a large floating population has to be des't with - in addition to the land one. The Police in the Kowloon Peninsula had perhaps the most diffi onlt task of all, owing to the large increase in the population there. Officers, appointed for that purpose by the Commodore-in-charge and the General Officer Commanding the Troops took the census of the Naval and Military The census of the British and Patablishments. Foreign Mercantile Marine was taken by Messrs. McIver and Meugens of the Harbour Depart- men!. These officers were greatly hindered in their work by the attitude of many of the masters of vessels, who refused to give the enumerators any assistance, and seemed to look apon the census as a joka. Une stsamer left her buoy at West Point during the night of th 20th November with the schedules on board, and anchored at Quarry By, where she remain. Dog prices depend on the supply and on io-ed the whole of the next day. No notice of the dividual fancy and demand. $150 is not an extravagant price for a kangaroo-dog; it would never buy a trained cattle-dog. If Mr. Justion Wise says $5 is enough for a "dingo," in Hong- The following resolution was struck out, kong, I will give him $6 for as many as he can
import here. though not for the right reason.
The discussion following was very Mr. Watson (Changsha) proposing an amend- ment, could not be heard. It was almost like the House of Commons for a while. Some
were for no compromise at all. "But what who asked
Я man
CORRESPONDENCE.
AUSTRALIAN DOGS.
TO THE EDITOR,
DAILY PRESS "}
was to be done with whether he could enter the Church and retain a part of his ancestral worship, who asked whether he could be a dutiful son and abandı n it, who asked whether he could abandon one part and keep the other?" Quote to bim the story of Naaman the leper, if that be not suppressed. Many things are ignored, if not suppressed. Mr. Jackson condemned "the degradation cast on all women by reason of their ineligibility to make the filial offerings,"
SIR.If it is not irreverent to reflect on the and no comparison was made with Paul's instructions for the proper repression of Chris-knowledge canine of your Puisne Judge, I tian women. Dr. Gibson was a marked exception to the intolerants of idolatry or demonology. "In these strange times he found himself at times almost an apologist for some forms of idolatry. If the Chinese cast away their idols, | and showed their utter disrespect for them, as they sometimes did, they would be still further from God. For his part some road-side shrine sometimes touched bim as an expression of something which one sorely missed in the so- called Christian West. So with ancestral worship they sometimes saw things they could admire. Consciences must be educated, and each man must decide what was lawful for himself, in communion with Christ,”
"That some effort be made by memorial or otherwise to induce the Chinese Government to follow in the steps of Japan by declaring that the homage paid to the tablets of the Emperor and of Confucius, shall not be regarded as an aot of religious worship, but of State ceremony only, so that Christians may perform the requir ed acts of homage without violating Christian principle or Christian conscience, while at the same time escaping the brand of disloyalty.”
This was the argument. The Rev. Arnold Foster (Wuchang said it was irrelevant.
was not a They asked the Emperor, who `Christian, to give an assurance that they could worship him or Confucius or any one else. Were they to expect their Christians to submit to this? Were they as a body of missionaries to tell a convert who had conscientious scruples that he might worship Confucius because the Emperor said so ?
The true point would seem to be, what is the value of the Christianity or other religion of a person unintelligent enough to require auch instruction ?
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would say that in your report this morning His Lordship seems to have been a hit mixed ia the dog case.
Adingo" is the Australian wild dog, irre. claimable, of no use to man.
++
Akangaroo-dog" is a dog specially bred, from deerhound stuck, to hunt that marsupial.
A cattle dog seems often to have a strain of "dingo" in him, but I am not sure that it is more than a resemblance.
Ten Dollars (21) is the common price for mere puppies of that breed, however, and a grown dog, delivered in Hongkong, might b worth anything.-Yours &c.,
change was given to Mr. Molver who only found the vessel again after some trouble. Another steamer left the Port without enumera- ting her Chinese crew, and schedules for that purpose bad to be sent to Canton. Severs! visits had to be made by the enumerators on the The particular dog in this case is a kangaroo-British barque Arrow. Eventually, just as she dog I would not give $150 for it, as I consider was on the point of sailing, a second set of it undersized
schedules had to be filled up by the master,
had as the maté sent the original ones who ashore in charge of a sampan man. did not deliver them antil the next day. Two ren els had to be refused cleaFRIDGE until their schedules were produced. At the next census, it would be desirable for the Harbour Master to issue a notice to the masters of vessels, ordering them to give every assistance to the enumerators, and making vessels which leave port in the early morning on the day
distribution of following the
schedules, responsible for the safe delivery of the papers at the Harbour Office. Following so closely on
VEE JAY AUST
Japanese Imperial Ordinance No. 157 was published ou April 25th prohibiting the hanting of seals off Seal Island, Kabafuto. the day The Ordinance takes effect from of its publication. A Tokyo dispatch explains that the measure is the outcome of an agive- ment between the Japanese, British, American and Russian Governments to hold a conference and adopt suitable measures for the preserva tion of seals. The Japazons Government has agreed to the request of the American Govern- ment to stop seal-hanting until an understand-- "ing has been arrived at between the four
Powers.
the disastrous typhoon of the 18th September, great interest was taken in the census of the bost population of the barbour, which was in charge of the Water Police. The same sections were employed as in 1901. Nine launches and sight, rowing boats were engaged, sach in charge of a European sergeant or constable accompanied by an interpreter. Owing to losses in typhoon the Water Police had only
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