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ANTI-FOREIGN FEELING
AT CANTON.
[Janhary 4, 1909 »
"THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
remind the public of the services these the minority of his infant son, who gentlemen bave rendered the community proclaimed Emperor. Contrary to gene during the past three years. They joined expectation, the new régime has been quiet-
(Daily Press, 31st December.) The news which we publish to-day from our Canton correspondent regarding the mischievous progaganda of the misnamed Beli-Government Association of that city must especially at this time of the year be regarded as disquieting, to say the least about it. I here has not in recent years, he says, been a recrudescence of anti-foreign feeling in Canton equalling in intensity that which now prevails. The agitation engineered by the so-called Self-Government Association in consequence of the death of
the Board at a time when the operations of ly inaugurated and the accessional Edicat
the Sanitary Department were causing wide-spread dissatisfaction, and their efforts to remedy the grievances complained of resulted in the appointment of the famous Sanitary Commission. Both were hard- working members of that Commission and, though the public generally can have but a very inadequate idea of the sacrifice of time which that prolonged investigation required or the amount of painstaking labour it involved, the public is at least in a position to fully appreciate the beneficent results.
give promise of the development of those ideas of reform and progress which have been the theme of a multitude of Imperial Edicts during the past two years. The promise of a Constitution has not been lost sight of. It was repeated in the death-bed Edicts of the late rulers, and was endorsed in the Accessional Edict of the new monarch. The next eight years will be a time of prepara- tion on the part of the nation to receive the promised gift. Nothing else of a very startling nature has occurred in China
movement, begun in 1907, has been continu- ed, but it is very difficult to judge of the progress made. Next month an Interna- tional Conference on this subject sits at Shanghai when we may hope to learn something authoritative as how far the Imperial Edicts enjoining the restriction of native cultivation of the poppy, and the sup pression of opium smoking, have been obeyed. Another movement of perhaps a less general character has been the boycott of Japanese goods maintained by the Cantonese for more than half the year, by way -of pro testing against what they regarded as a high- handed action on the part of the Japanese Government in insisting on the release of the Japanese sto mer seized near Macao by two Chinese gunboats on
a Chinese passenger on the steamer Fatshan The "Augean stable" has been cleansed, during the past year. The anti-opium eclipses the agitation aroused over the Tatsu Maru affair, and the violence of the language employed to inflame the minds of the populace is certain to lead to serious mischief unless rigorous measures ale taken by the authorities to suppress the agitation. No sign of any movement in this direction on the part of the Viceroy or the police officials at Canton is apparent. On the contrary, the published statements purport- ing to give the views of the Viceroy with reference to the Fatshan affair distinctly sympathise with, and therefore encourage, the agitation which is being fomented by a small group of political mischief-makers. In the authenticity of these alleged official dispatches, which have been reproduced in the Canton papers, we have hesitated to
and public confidence has been restored in the Sanitary Department. For this improved condition of things the public are fargely indebted to Mr. SHELTON HOOPER and Mr. HENRY HUMPHREYS, and we are sure that their retirement from a position in which they have been able to render such signal service to the community would be viewed with very great regret. Should there be à con- teated election, it would this time be on an extended franchise, but we believe the public are so well satisfied with their present representatives on the Board that no desire for a change is likely to be mani- fested. It only needs to be generally known that the period for which they were chosen is so near its close, to elicit an expression of the public gratitude to Me-srs. HOOPER and
believe, so crude are the views expressed; HUMPHREYS, and of the desire, which we are ground that abe was engaged in smugė, G.
but as no steps have apparently been taken to correct the mischievous impression they create, the populace can only regard them as encouraging and justifying the propaganda of the group of political hooligans styling themselves the Self-Go- vernment Association. Everything that a Consul can do to satisfy the officials and the general public of Canton that the allega. tions against the Portuguese ticket-collector are entirely unfounded, has been done by Mr. Fox, and it is a sorry comment on the education and intelligence of the Viceroy's advisers that the exhaustive and impartial inquiry held at the British Consulate, in the presence of deputies appointed by the Vice- roy, has not been accepted as final and conclusive. Only one verdict was possible on the evidence, but it was plainly indicated by the Chinese agitators before the inquiry commenced, that no verdict would be acceptable which did not entail the punishment of the person accused. The notions of the Self-Government Asso- ciation were obviously shared by the Viceroy, and it has since been abundantly shown that in the viceregal yamen blind prejudice has taken the place of sane judgment. We hope the fears our correspondent expresses may not be realised, but if difficulties are to be avoided it seems highly necessary that that British suthorities should lose no time in getting the Viceroy to realise his respon sibility in the matter.
APPROACHING SANITARY
BOARD ELECTION. :
(Daily Press, December 31st.) It is not generally known that the period for which Mr. SHELTON HOOPER and Mr. HENRY HUMPHREYS were elected members of the Sanitary Board expires on January 21st next. If there is to be a contested election, it is time therefore that candidates announced themselves. We regret to learn that neither Mr. HUMPHREYE nor Mr. HOOPER is anxious for re-election, but we hope that, before the time for election Arrives, they may be induced to stand for another term. It is scarcely necessary to
sure widely exists, that they will continue to represent the community on the Board..
THE OLD YEAR,
(Daily Press, January 1.)
AN old and half-forgotten post once welcomed a New Year with lines like these:
Plague on't; the last was ill enough—. This cannot but make better proof; Or, at the worst, as we brushed through
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arms into China. That such a movement should have been allowed to grow up to defy and set at nought the act of the Government, is a comment on the weakness and inefficiency of the control exercised by the responsible authorities which requires practically at an end is not due to any ex no elaboration. That the boycott is now
ertion on the part of the Government, but is attributed to the circumstance that the ultra-patriots have too much on their bands to give the matter that close attention which they have heretofore devoted to it. For the rest, China has now few unsettled disputes with foreign powers. With the exception of the small question of the delimitation of the boundaries of Macao, the only matters of importance remaining are the questions now under negotiation with the Japanese Minister at Peking and and an early settlement of these is antici- pated. Good progress is being made with the construction of railways in China, aud in many other ways 'signs of peaceful development and progress are to be noted.
The last, why, so we may this too. Nine business men out of ten, these last three years, have probably had similar sentiments at the dawning of the years, but on the present occasion the signs and portents are rather more encouraging, and give justification for greater cheerfulness and hope. In the Review of the Trade of the Colony for the year 1908, which we publish to-day, "in accordance with our annual custom, may be discerned a tone of quiet optimism and confidence in many branches of business and the impression that this collection of reports leaves upon the mind is that the cloud of depression, As to Japan the Emperor and his which has hung like a pall over commercial Government have given substantial proof operations for three years now, is slowly of the peaceful aims of the nation in the lifting. The steady recovery of the United drastic reductions which have been made in States from the great financial crisis which military expenditure; in the Imperial Re overwhelmed it in 1907 will re-act on the script enjoining upon the people the develop China trade. A gradual return to a pormalment of the industries and commerce of basis has recently been noted everywhere the country; and finally in the exchange of in the United States Orders reaching the Notes effected with the United States Go- industrial centres are reported to be steadily vernment giving additional assurance increasing; confidence in the future is peace in the Pacific. restored and the 'country is described as returning to normal business conditions more rapidly than ever before after a period of, depression. The Bank clearings show this. In England and on the Continent of Europe the prospects at present are not so bright, but there are not wanting indica tions of a revival of trade.
In taking stock of things political the outstanding events of the year in this part of the world have been the death of the Em- peror KWANG Hau, followed the next day by the demise of the aged Empress Dowager, and the appointment of Prince CHUN, the late Emperor's brother, as Regent during
The general aspect of the year so far as the Colony of Hongkong is concerned calla for very few words. We need a return of prosperity very badly. The Budget showed a deficit of some $400,000, and the anti-opiem policy of the Home Government hangs like a Damocles' sword over the Colony, threat ening to lop off the chief source of its revenue. The most important legislative achievement has been the placing upon the statute book of the Amended Publia Health and Buildings Ordinance which is the outcome of the Sanitary Commission. There has been a much lighter crime roll than in the preceding year, but 1908 will be
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