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MP. GARNETT'S JOURNEY.
(Daily Press, 27th July) Very seldom are Parliamentary papers more interesting than a report presented to both Houses in June last, of a journey through Shantung and Kiangsu. The nar rator is Mr. W. J. GARNETT, Third Secretary to the British Legation in Peking. He was accomp n'ed by Mr. BRENAN, a stu-lent interpreter. The land journey was made in September-October last year, from Chefoo and Weihai, along the coast to Tsingtau, rail inland to Chinanfu, and south to the Grand Canal at Chiningchow, through Kiangsu to Chinking, and thence to 800- chow and Shanghai. At Chefoo he inspected an undertaking of which we have hitherto heard very little-Baron BABO's wine making establishment. He writes:
Some ten years ago a wealthy Chinaman at the Straits Settlements conceived the idea of cul- tivating the grape in China for the purpose of an extensive wine trade, and be secured the services of an Austrain expert, Baron von Babo,
THE HOGNKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
or
Nearly every village possesses an inn, and the only difference between these inus is the vary. ing amount of discomfort the traveller has to endure, for none are good, We found that the ians in Eastern Shantung were distinctly in ferior to those in the central portion of the consists of four walls, a thatched roof, and a province. The best room of a Chinese iun
door (though this latter is not essential). In- side the room the floor is of mud and very far from being level, and there is the “kang," Chinese bed-place, on which camp-beds can be erected. Chairs and a ricketty table can fre. queatly be obtained, though the innkeeper may have to borrow them from his neighbours There are always windows covered with thy rarely is glass to be met with, exoep, perhaps. paper broken away in a thousand places, but
in a large town ino. The walls are usually of mnd bricks, sometimes partially covered with paper as filthy as that which acts as windows, and usually bearing a few red-paper Chinese characters expressing "Happiness" and similar good wishes, or bearing & quotation from the classics. In many cases the wal's do not all touch the ceiling, or else several bricks have been removed from various parts of the wal', and the rooms are in consequence always open for this purpose, Land was bought on the
to the air somewhere. It is perhaps, needless slopes of the bills behind Chefoe, and many
to say that the dirt of the rooms is usually very The acres planted with vines from every wine prodor, which, as a rale, has the wherewithal to
horrible, and there is plenty of vermin. ducing country. More land is still frequently close it with in the shape of a huge wooden bolt, acquired in the valley behind and planted in the same way, but the price of land has now gone frequently ends a foot from the ground, ao in up considerably. Both black and white grapes consequence the traveller may find in the are grown, Phylloxera has attacked them from morning that he has had visitors during the time to time, but never to any d sastrous extent, night in the shape of cats, dogs, chickens, and The grapes are brought in to the establishment even pigs! As a matter of fact, when the inn in the town, and there the wine is made aud room is really too bad for u-e the traveller can stored in special casks capable (the largest) of usually obtain a night's lodging from some other holding as much as 15,000 litres (18,000 bottles house in the village. The question of payment of wine). These casks were constructed in is always a difficult one. The innkeeper never Austria in sections, and so shipped to Chefoo, likes to tell the guest the price, as he is terrified where they were put together in the cellars of naming a sum smaller than the guest would These osllars, legau four years ago, took two perhaps pay if left to himself to decide; but the years to complete, and are built blow the level right prices seems to be about 20 cents (4d.) for of the sea; they are lined with concrete, as it
a night's lodging, if the travellers consume a was found that otherwise they were being fair number of eggs and have a fire lighted for constantly flooded. They are extensive, and boiling their water. This price of course, already hold a great number of casks full of excludes payment for the mules and drivers, wine, the name and year of the latter being and is merely personal. Eggs and chickens inscribed outside every cask. Though it is ten
oan nearly always be obtained in the vill years since this work began, no wine is to be ages, also Chinese bread, which is by no put on the market for another two years. This
means bad when the outer conting has been market is to be the Chi a coast. Baron von Babo pulled off. In the larger villages it is possible would not say what price the wine was to be
to oblain the Chinese equivalent for a table sold at, but, considering that the capital will d'hôte dinner, which consists of four or five have been locked up for twelve years, the sale little Chinese dishes, which are quite pleasant if price will doubtless not be a low one. I tasted
one cares for Chinese food. The guest-r om of several kinds of wine, both red and white, and
a Chinese inn always opens on to the yard. in found them excellent.
which the varias mules and other animals stand; and in hot weather this is very nu- pleasant, and at night the noise of the mu'eteers aud of the mules jingling their bls and neighing is very disagreeable; but there is no way out of this difficulty. In every wallel town or village, where the town gates are olosed soon after sunset, the inns are to be found outside the walls on purpose, for the sake of belated travellers.
Crossing the promontory southwards from Weihai, he noticed that a good deal of opium was being smoked, and made enquiries as to the probable effect of the recent Edicts. The reply was that these would be ineffective, the reason given being that the high officials were opium smokers. He was told that the Edict would probably be as little regarded as that relating to the women squeezing their feet. The natural feet Edict was placarded at the Yamen, but the public said : "When the Mandarin's wife and daughters cease to bind their feet, we will follow their example." Except when nearing Tsingtau, roads in the German leased territory were as bad as on Chinese Boil, and even there were nut to be compared with the British Weihai thoroughfares. One good feature, how- ever, was the provision of trustworthy finger posts, and tablets giving the name of each village passed through, Mr. GARNETT's experience was like Dr. Moɛ. RISON'S. There was no apparent aumity to foreigners, and even the highway robbers let foreigners pass uumolested. The tra- veller has to suffer a good deal of incor- venience from the usual friend y curiosity of the natives. He has the status of a circus procession everywhere. Many of our readers know what Chinese inns are, but for the sake of those who don't, we quote:
[August 5, 1907, ..
bution to the discussion is almost irritatingly inadequate as the replies menë tioned in the following quotation
4
The natives in Chins are extremely irritating when one asks the way of them. To-day the following conversation ensued, which ended in the usual_unsatisfactory maoner. We asked a native, “Is this the way to Taouhsion ?”
Ho
W. replied "Are you going to Tanahsien P**
He answered. replied, "Yes; is this the way?”
Oh, you are going to Tsouhsien, are you? We replied, Where do you ome from?"
From Chiningohow; please is this the way to Tsoulsion?" He ausw red, "Oh you've come from Chiningchow, have you? Are you going into the city walls of Taahsien ?" Finally the Tsouhsien and a quarter of an hour has been native rays he doesn't know the way to
wasted.
I experienced another instance of natire stupidity last March in the mountains some 8 miles from Psking. I asked an ancient villager at the entrance to his village what the name of it was, After many questions and replies as to who I was, where I had come from, where I was going to, and why I wanted an inn, I repeated the original question as to the uams of the village, when he replied, “How should I know? I am not a learned man.'
THE NEW GOVERNOR.
(Daily Press, 29th July.) Our voice is cheerfully joined in the chorus of welcome. Welcome, Sir FEEDERICK, The journalist is welcome, Tady LUGARD. being hard put to it to find nice things to say, that shall be less trite thau usual, and yet not impertinent; and the hardship is certainly not caused by any lack of sincerity. It is safe to say that a high appreciation of their merits came before the gubernatorial pair, and it might be embarrassing to state in so public a manner how favourably the populir impression was confirmed, by the appearance of Sir FREDERICK and Lady Long ago LUGARD in our midst yesterday, a reputed wise man, inordinately fond of his tub; received a visit and the offer of a favour by one of the great ones of earth. IIe named the boon he would prefer, that his exalted visitor should cease to intercept his share of sunshine. That speech of DIOGENES to ALEXANDER has often been use to point a moral; but probably never without suggesting to the mind of the student that he was a curmudgeon, and less wise than reputed. Yesterday, there was nothing of the curmudgeon about the Hong- kong ppulae. It perhaps gets more sun. shine than did DIOGENES; it certainly preserves an unimpairad respect for such dignitaries as come its way. And here were undoubtedly two people entitled to diguity, to respect. Without losing an atom of her fininins charm, Lady LuGard has shown enterprise and achievement that many a man may envy, while her husband, the now Governor, has distinguished himself even among the more distinguished of his
"There are
some men who
Mr. GARNETT gives an excellent acount of the various vehicles availabl—the account, not te vehicles, being exellent, and he praises the climate of Santung. Like all recent travellers, he noticed the omnipresence of things Japanese. Su-generation. tung" is infested with mission tries of all have no individuality, just as there are sects, but that is uot Mr. GARNETT's word. some men who have no face. These are "After a short but careful stuly of the to be described by general, not parti- question," he says, he has n›
culars. doubt of the extreme usefulness of their work, meaning, not "evangelization, as it is called," but the work of educating the people. He admires them as schoolmasters, and this we can also do; but it would be better all round were their teching unsectarian. The "pissive resisters" at home who have made such a fuss about payment of eluca tion rates might consider afresh their subscriptions to foreign mission, Lut pr batly they do not mind sectariani‹m s› long as it is the right kind, A longer and more careful study of the subject ma convince Mr. GARNETT that he has perhaps not said all there is to say. His contri.
They are thin, vapid, thcon-* clusive. They are important" solely on account of their numbers. For them the census enumerator labours; they form majorities; they crowd voting booths. They are valu.ble when well officered- plastic matter to be shaped by a workman's hand; and they are built with as bricks are built with. In the aggregate, they form public opinion." Tɔ know how to deal with such men-to know how to use them—is the work of men like his Excellency, who. bas come to us from a sterner miliea, who has “found himself," in Kipling's sense of the phrase, in the imminent deadly breach. He claims our respect by no mere accident
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