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agency.
MAILS.
11
EL
(Daily Press, September 30th.) There was not really anything of the nature of an " agitation at Hongkong against the Siberian mail route, as correspondent seems to have told a British The fact that two or three letters, despatched by that route, went astray, led to a suggestion that until it had had time to get thoroughly organized, the trans. Siberian route would not be found altogether dependable. Hongkong is not concerned in any way to praise or condemn particular mail routes, save as they may be found to serve their purpose. The much talk of an "All Red " or purely British route for our mails left us unexcited. We waited to see if the C.P.R. mail could beat existing popular lines, and it didn't. Now that the land route is actually delivering mail matter abead of any of the ocean routes, it is becoming increasingly popular, and will The correspondent to whom expedition is a desideration, and that embraces the majority, does not care a straw under what flag his mail matter travels. So long as it goes quickly and safely to its destination, that is all he troubles about. There is no sentiment in
continue to do so.
THE HONGKON) WEEKLY PRESS AND
business, and while the national prestige counts for a good deal with most of us, it is only after office hours really that it matters. We bave seen how on passenger lines the red ensign has failed to compensate many people for cheaper fares or greater comforts and indulgences. With a sort of "ring," and level fares, we expect that each national will show preference for his own flag, but it would be sheer humbug to pretend that there is an appreciable number who in such a matter would consider patriotism before pocket. The empire does not suffer parti- cularly when a subject choses to travel by an alien line, but his pocket or convenience might if he consistently refused to pa- tronize the foreigner. In the matter of mails it is the safest possible prophecy
to make that that route will be most favoured which is most expeditious, other things being equal. The land route is bound to beat all the sea routes, and to beat them more handsomely in the future than it is doing now. The vexed question of subsidies will before long be simplified; it is inevitable. The "all red" agitation has come too late. At present it appears the all railway route costs the postal autho- rities more, but that is a detail which will surely be amended as the line develops and its patronage increases. The complaint that letters endorsed "via Siberia" are enclosed in mail bags for the ocean route is a serious one, and we trust the local postal authorities noted it in our columns. It is, of course, not correct to suggest that the superscription was purposely ignored; it has been due to carelessness among the sorters, perhaps due to overwork. There would be no occasion for the rush and hustle with which our mails are made up for despatch if the public were to be a little more considerate. Much is left to the last moment that could very well be sent in earlier, and the strain of “mail day in many offices is possibly a result of pre- vious slackness, though this is not to over- look the fact that some things have to wait till the last possible moment,
"}
H. E. the Governor, has been pleased, under instructions received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to direct that the post of Assistant Superintendent of Police and Police Magistrate in the new Territories shall be amalgamated, and that Mr. E. R. Hallifar shall continue to perform the duties of such post under the title of District officer.
[October 5, 1907.
standing" which occurred at laku. The Chinese Government consented to pay to the British an indemnity of eight million taels, two for the indemnification of the British mercantile community at Cantou, for losses sustained by them, and the remaining six millions for the liquidation of war expenses incurred through the bad faith and insolence of the Chinese Govern- Another provision of this Treaty ment. was the absolute cession to the British crown of the territory at Kowloon which not long before had been acquired on perpetual lease. One other clause, regarded by the Chinese perhaps as even more humiliating than the others, contained that Her Britannic Ma- the provision jesty's Representative in China would henceforth reside, permanently or occa- Her Britannic sionally at Peking, as Majesty should be pleased to decide. From this time onward commerce has proceeded without serious interruption and has develo- ped enormously. The foreign trade of China coming under the supervision of the Imperial Maritime Customs now amounts to over one hundred million annually
OUR JUBILEE.
(Daily Press, October 1st.) Founded on October 1st 1857 as a daily newspaper the first newspaper to make a daily appearance in the East-the Hong- kong Daily Press to-day attains its Jubilee. Looking backward over the history of the past fifty years we may well claim that it forms an era in the history of the world, with which no similar period of time can compare in richness of achievement, com- mercial, political and scientific. Especially interesting and remarkable are the com- mercial and political developments in Asia during the past fifty years. When we take a bird's-eye view of the half-century's events in the Far East, we begin by witnessing the persistent efforts of China and Japan to close their doors against the commerce and the friendship of the Western " barbarians." Fourteen years before the Daily Press made its appearance China had seeiningly been brought by British Military operations to revise her estimate of the Western nations, and a Treaty was signed at Nanking in 1843 granting to British subjects the right to reside for the purpose of carrying on their mercantile pursuits without molestation or restraint at the ports of Canton, Amoy,
Though the Treaties with China osten- Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai, and also confirming the cession of Hongkong in sibly established a friendship with the a place Western Powers there was no approach to perpetuity to Great Britain as
friendship until about 1875 when China whereat British subjects might and refit their ships when required, announced her intention to establish Mis- for that purpose.' sions and Consulates abroad. China invoked and keep stores Driven by threats of annihilation from the aid of European Powers for the first secure the retrocession of the Canton and Macao, the British merchants time to had sought a refuge on the island of Hong-Liaotung peninsula which the Japanese had song, nearly four years before, and when occupied in the war with Chiua which retribution followed, an Imperial Commis- broke out in 1894 in consequence of dis- sioner ceded the Island to the British Crown putes regarding the independence of Korea, the British flag being hoisted on the peak in and ended in 1896 with the signing of the January 1841. But as the reader knows, Treaty of Shimonoseki. Since the Peking that agreement was repudiated by the Treaty was concluded no decade has been Emperor of China, and in like manner the crowded with events of such momentous Treaty engagements solemnly entered into import as the last. Following the con- the provincial Chinese authorities, secretly in the panorama of events a scramble by at Nanking were also studiously ignored, clusion of the Japan-China war we witness
"
careen
"
directed no doubt by the Court, manifesting 8 determination to make the Treaty ineffective.
were
pounds sterling and China derives from it a revenue of about thirty-five million taels.
the Western Powers for territory, for spheres of influence and for railway concessions in China. Germany seizes Kiaochow and That was the position of affairs in 1857, obtains from China a lease of territory, Two further military expeditions
Russia secures a usufruit of Port Arthur
'I hereafter necessary before the Chinese Government and Great Britain, to preserve the balance was brought to understand the binding of power, leases Wei-hai-wei. nature of its agreement with the Powers. comes the scramble for railway concessions, Belgium each secure When the Daily Press made its first in which Great Britain, Germany, France, appearance Hongkong was showing its America, and
Pre important interests in China. The era of value as a naval and military base. parations were in progress for the military reform seemed suddenly to have dawned, operations which resulted in the Tientsin but the cloud of the Boxer rebellion quickly Once again military Treaty of 1858 whereby the Treaty of came over the scene. Nanking was "renewed and confirmed," and intervention was necessary to protect the many further concessions, granted, including lives and property of foreigners in the very the right to appoint a British Minister to the capital of the Empire, and we have the uni- Court at Peking, the opening of the Yangste que spectacle of the armies of many nations river to foreign trade and the addition of marching under the command of a single The last Newchwang, Chefoo, Formosa, Swatow and Generalissimo to Peking to exact retribution Hainan to the list of places open to from the Chinese Government. international commerce. But no
sooner great scene of all in the panorama of the had the expedition quitted Tientsin than it last half century in China is the sanguinary war between Russia and Japan on Chinese became plainly apparent that the Chinese Government never intended to carry out territory. The astonishing completeness of the terms of the Treaty if they could avoid the success achieved by Japan has changed it. When Lord ELGIN was proceeding to the aspect of Eastern politics. England's Peking to exchange ratifications his ships offensive and defensive alliance with the were fired upon by the garrison at Taku. island empire of the East guarantees peace In consequence the Taku forts were taken, in Asia and leaves all nations fres of and an Anglo-French expedition went to prosecute here the less sanguinary wars to Peking. The Emperor fled from the commerce and industry. China has a very capital and as a retributive act of justice long way yet to go before her claims t the Summer Palace was burnt to the admission to the comity of nations can be A convention of admitted, but the educational movement ground by the allies. peace was signed by Lord ELGIN at Peking now abundantly in evidence in China, the embodying an expression of the Emperor | establishment of railway_communication of China's deep regret at the "misunder-in every part of this vast Empire, facilitat
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