154
SEQUEL TO THE CANTON FLOOD
FUND BAZAAR.
THE RONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
amount realised on each day, sộ that our humble press may publish it for you free of oharge and thus satisfy the minds of the people and prevent further idle talk. By so doing the Our Canton correspondent sends us the follow-public will not only remember the good ing translation of a letter sent to the Bazaar services rendered by you, but will be extremely, Committee:-
grateful to you.
"Our Kwong Tung Province has been very unfortunate. The recent disastrous flood has afflicted us with great sorrow. The membe:s of the Bazaar Committee voluutarily got up their Basaar on behalf of the distressed people. Many people sent valuable presents to the Bassar; others offered their services to conduct it, and numerous people patronised it. All the people were animated with one good feeling to raise funds for the relief of the sufferers and thus an important sam of over $100,000 was raised, and the distressed people will The receive the benefit of this huge fund, success of the Bazaar has earned the praise of both Chinese and Foreigners. The Bassar was carried on for eight days, and on the day when it was closed there still remained unsold articles piled up mountains high. The books of the different departments which contained entries of the articles presented were all in perfect order. This proves
the good discipline in the management of affairs by the Cantonese peple and they really deserve to be respected by the public.
On the day of the closing of the Bazaar it was estimated that the value of the unsold articles was over $100,000, and even your respectable Chief Superintendent of Affairs, Mr Mok Yam Hang, informed many persons that they were worth at least $70,000 to $80,000. You have now sold these articles by auction and it took you four days to complete the sale.
It is now reported that the proceeds amount to less than $10,000. We desire to know the actual amount realized at the auctions. In the report of your accounts during the last few days you only gave the total cash collected (daily, in cluding proceeds of sale by auction and previous outstanding debts. The fact of your mixing those two accounts makes it incomprehen- sible to the public, and consequently many unpleasant things have been said about the matter. The Committee does not seem to realise the value of the articles sent to the Bazaar. Every cent helps to relieve the sufferers to some extent. There apppears to have been a great difference in the original valuation of the articles and the prices at which they were sold at
the auction.
Were there no means of disposing of the unsold articles other than putting them up for auction so as to obtain at least their cost price ?
Or was it on ao:ount of unavoidable circum- stances which compelled you to get rid of these articles in a few days?
Probably you conceived the idea that in selling them by auction the distressed people will not be able to ascertain the prices they were sold for, and also that you thought the supporters of the Bazaar will not care to take the trouble to investigate into the matter; there fore you rushed the sale through carelessly,
Our humble Press desire to explain this matter clearly to the general public. But we regret we were unable to do so, as we are in the dark and do not know the real position of affairs, nor the internal working of the Bazaar, We intended to let the matter pass without saying anything, but have been unable to endure it any longer, because we feel as if there is a piece of fish bone stuck in our, throats, and we cannot be comfortable unless it is extracted. Our humble l'ress have all along regarded the members of the Bassar Committee as men of integrity whom the people could rely upon to carry out any important public undertaking with sino re hearts.
We do not say for a moment that you have taken advantage of the Bazaar to benefit your private purse. But as matters now stand, if a proper and clear explanation is not given, we are afraid that the public will not be satisfied and will lose confidence in the charitable societies, and the distressed people may have reason to suspect that they have been deceived.
We trust that your respectable Committee will not fail to furnish us with the true facts in connection with the auctions, stating clearly the names of the auctioneers, superintendents of the auctions, purchasers and the prices paid by them for each article and also the exnot
your
If you do not comply with our request we fear that there will be severe oriticism of conduct which will ruin your reputation for ever. Do not be stubborn; if you are you will find it too late to retract and the Charity union of the Cantonese people will henceforth be broken and destroyed for ever as a revival
will be almost impossible.
[The letter bears the signatures of six Canton newspapers.]
THE BOYCOTT AGAINST JAPANESE AT CANTON.
PENALTIES YOR BREAKING THE COMPACT.
Our Canton correspondent, writing on the 22nd instant, says :—
The Boycott of Japanese goods has hitherto been carried on most secretly by the different classes of merchants here. It appears to be well organized and the measures adopted are far more stringent than those taken against the Americans | as very severe fines are known to have been im- posed on those who bave broken the regulations of the Boycott Union. Meetings are held with Reports of meetings have great privacy. been occasionally published but they appear in the form of encouraging the protection of native commerce and industry and nothing is mentioned in the direct sense of boycott.
On the 20th instant the members of the Canton Sea Delicacies Guild called a general meeting for the purpose of passing a resolution to urge the other guilds to be more vigilant and sincere in enforcing the boycott regulations as it has been brought to the notice of the guild that some merchants of the other guilds have been dealing openly in foreign goods (Japanese). The resolution was put by the Chairman and passed. Notice to the above effect was on the some day sent round to all the other guilds.
One of the merchants of the Sea Delicacies Guild who was recently heavily fined by the Guild for dealing in foreign merchandise immediately stood up and in reply to the Chairman's remarks said, "I do not see why merchants of other guilds who deal in foreign goods are permitted to break the rules and are not punished, while my humble shop which happened to sell only a small quantity of foreign goods was fined several hundreds of dollars. I demand that the fine you imposed on me be immediately returned to me.
The Chairman replied:-You know that we have taken these measures of retaliation on behalf of the whole country of China, and if we do not punish those who break the rules in our own guild how can you expect us to pat pressure on the other guilds? If you could prove to us that any merchant is dealing clan- destinely in foreign merchandise no matter what guild that merchant may belong to, we will see that he is punished according to the regulations. As regards the return of your fine, we will do nothing of the sort.
Mr. Yuan Houng Po in supporting what the Chairman said, added that those who deal clandestinely in foreign articles
not only deserved monetary punishment but even the punishment of death was inadequate to the crime.
Mr. Cheong To Bang then said: It is not necessary for me to repeat the original cause (the "Tatsu Maru" affair) which prompted this public resentment, as you are all aware of it. China is like s broken bird's nest, and one woulp be very unlikely to find a good egg in such a nest. If we do not hold firm from beginning to end we shall rece.ve insults much more disgraceful from other (foreign) countries. If we do not devise means to save the situation of the present generation we ought to take steps to protect our sons and grandsone from receiving such treatment from the hands of foreigners.
On the following day the Piece Goods Guild immediately took steps to make stringent inquiries as to whether any of the merchants of their guild were dealing in foreign goods. The result was that they discovered three shops who
|
[August 81, 1908.
were handling Japanese piece goods. “They seized and conåscated over 250 cases and fined the delinquents very heavily
RIVER STEAMER'S UNDISCIPLINED
CREW.
On the 8th instant a letter written from Canton appeared in the Daily Press over the signature of “Truth” containing the following statements:-
+
"It is an open worst among the Chinese here that on the night of the last typhoon the Chinese crew of a river steamer owned by a Chinese company were so greatly terrified, so much maddened by fear of the approaching danger, that they broke open first class saloon the Chinese gentlemen in the cabins, and cabin doors to get at life belts. They terrorised sna'ched their life belts from their persons by force. Fortunately the steamer weathered the storm, and thus the matter ended. Subsequently these saloon passengers complained to their friends on shore, and when saked why they did not bring the matter to the notice of the authorities, they explained that they were too thankful to have eoaped with their lives, and so great was their joy over deliverance from death that they could afford to forgive the wretches. ''
The Government took notice of the latter and we were informed that if a prosecutor could be found the Harbour Master would deal with the matter under Section 9 (5) (y) of Ordinanos 10 of 1899, but the writer of the latter has failed to induce either of the Chinese gentlemen known to him to prosecute, That being the case we can only make publio the willingness of the Harbour Master to deal with the charge if it is properly brought before him, and trust that this information may reach some of the people concerned who will have suficient public spirit to make the necessary sacrifics of time and money involved in coming from Canton to Hongkong to prosecute,
The writer of the letter of the 6th inst., suggests that in the event of the Chiness passengers failing to come forward to prosecute, the Harbour Master might find some means of procuring evidence from the officers of the ship--and especially from the stewards-suffi. cient to enable him to teach Chinese arewe that such dastardly conduct cannot be tolerated on ships under the British flag.
We understand that Taotai Lai Kwai Lin was ope of the passengers referred to, and that in response to his calls for help the chief steward, who recognised him as a wealthy official and also a friend of the owner of the ship, came to his assistance and persuaded the orew to desist in their efforts to deprive him of bis life belt,
ACTION AGAINST A CANTON FIRM.
In the Danish Court at Shanghai, on the 19th inst., His Honour the Consular Ĵudge gɩve judg. ment in the case of Hop Shing v. Carl W. Smith and Company in the following terms ---
In this case Leung Shin-chin, s_British subject and owner of the firm of Hop Shing in Canton, sues Carl Waldemar Smith a Danish subject trading or hitherto trading under the style of Carl W. Smith and Co., also at Canton, for an amount of Mexican $1 370.63, with interest at seven per cent, per annum from date of filing petition until payment, being the prios of 450 bales of split bamboos delivered by plaintiff to defendant under a contract dated November 26, 1906, for 700 bales in all.
The defendant denies liability for this or any amount and raises & counterclaim for Mexican $10,000, or such amount as the Court may de- oide, on account of damages suffered in conse- quenes of a boycott against his firm alleged to have been instigated by the plaintiff. Defendant further statee that he is not bound by the contract because it was entered into in his absence and signed by lone only of two co- managers whom he had put in charge of his business during his absence. He admits that he bad sometimes recognised contracts signed in the same manner, but in this case a most important clause in the printed contract had been struck out, vis.. “The sellers are respon- able for any claim which may arise on socount of quality," which was an alteration in the usual
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