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The necessary official permission is being sought for the formation of a gas light company at Peking. It is proposed to begin with a capital of Taels 700,000. Taels 400,000 has - ready been taken up and if permission is granted the remaining stock will be placed on the open market.
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The foreign assistant of police at Kiukiang is reported by the Hankow Mail to be under arrest for causing the death of a Chinese at Kinkiang. It appears to have been quite an accidental affair. In a crush he pushed the Chinese with a stick and unfortunately burst his spleen causing almost instantaneous death. The Chinese are very indignant over the matter.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Owing to the decline in exchange and the consequent burden resultant therefrom on the Indemnity Paying Department of the Board of Finance, the Peking Daily News says the Viceroys and Governors of all provinces have been instructed to raise additional money in their respective provinces to adjust the differ- ence in exchange. The difference in exchange has hitherto been borne by the Board of Finance alone.
The funeral service of the late Mr. E. T. Bethell took place at the deceased's house on Sunday, the 2nd instant. The Rt. Rev. Bishop Turner officiated, and a large number of friends were present. After the service, reports the Seoul Press, the cortège proceeded to the foreign cemetery at Yang Wha Chin, being preceded by many Koreans carrying gauze lanterns and scrolls and followed by a large proportion of the foreign community.
Dionisio Mapa of Iloilo has introduced into the Assembly a bill for the establishment in the Philippines of a government agricultu al bank of issue and discount, with a capital of one hundred million pesos to be raised on a loan floated in the United States and the repayment to be guaranteed by the Philippine Government. The Cablenews American says:-It is not be. lieved that the bill will prosper even in the Assembly as one hundred million pesos worth of bonds at four per cent would mean an ex- penditure of four million pesos per annum which would effectually sink the country.
During a murder trial at Chefoo the counsel for the defence advanced the theory that the testimony of the five Chinese witnesses should be rejected as wholly and wilfully false. In sup- porting this contention, he made the following startling propositions: (a) That the Chinese mind and point of view is such that, in the case of every Chinese witness, the Court is bound to
start with a presumption that! the witness will not tell the truth; and (b) that this is a race characteristic so pronounced and so well-estab lished by authorities cited by the counsel that this Court is bound to take judicial notice of it and to be guided thereby in determining the weight of evidence,
On the 5th instant at noon Admiral Togo gave a dinner at the Mitsui Club, Tokyo, in honour of Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton, Commander of the British squadron on the
Jeme Tien Yan, Engineer-in-Chief of the Peking Kalgan railway, has been appointed Engineer-in-Chief of the Szechuan-Hankow Railway.
Quite a sensation has been caused in Shanghai settlement, says the Shanyhai Mercury, by the announcement that a writ had been issued against Mr. R. S. F. McBain, as director and general agent of the Maatschappij tot Mijn Boschen-en Landbouwexploitatie in Langkat, Limited. The plaintiff is a shareholder in the Langkat Company, and while the exact terms of the writ have not been made public it is understood that the claim is made in connection with certain information regarding the further
discoveries of oil which have been made on White-Cooper and Phillips are the attorneys the company's property. Messrs. Drummond,
for the plaintiff while the defendant will be Stokes, Platt and represented by Messrs. Teesdale. The writ is returnable in H.B.M.'s Supreme Court on Saturday the 15th inst, and when the case subsequently comes on for hearing the proceedings are likely to be of a highly interesting nature.
Referring to the reports in the Japanese press regarding the boycott in South China, the Japan Mail says:-Considering that barely four years have passed since Japan fought a great war which preserved to China three whole provinces covering an immense area and sacred as the birthplace of the reigning dynasty, this vindictive mood on the part of the Chinese towards their neighbour is certainly one of the curious episodes of modern history. On the one hand, we have the Japanese nation blaming its statesmen for showing undue leniency towards China, and on the other we have China behaving as though her neighbour were a perpetual thorn in her side. The worst of it is that the Chinese do not seem to be guided in any degree by reason. They would be puzzled to assign any rational explanation of their attitude towards Japan or to lay any definite accusations at her door. They appear to be simply huffed; and, when men have fallen into that temper, they cease to be capable of calm argument. Certainly, how ever optimistically we may regard the situation, it contains elements of uneasiness, for with the Chinese in their present mood any attempt on Japan's part to placate them by concessions with her neighbour, Japan has of course to place would probably be misconstrued. In dealing her own interests in the first line; but she has Western Powers, which means that she must also to take due account of the interests of not endorse any Chinese action which might become a generally irksome precedent.
The N. Daily News thus refers to the
China station, and others of the squadron, about thirty in all.
Besides the guests of honour, there were present Admiral Saito, Minister of the Navy, Admiral Kato, Vice-Minister of the Navy, Admirals Kamimuro, Nakamizo, Misa. and Shimura, and other officers. In the course of the function Admiral Togo proposed the toast of the British Navy and the health of 1905. Admiral Lambton, who suitably responded. At 2 p.m. the gathering proceeded to a reception given by Count Matsura at his residence.
The hostelries at Peking are not the only ones to experience a boom in trade. There is another branch of industry which is, at the present moment, doing a roaring business, namely, the numerous roulette establishments in Telegraph Lane. Night after night these gambling dens are crowded with residents and especially tourists The roulette owners are making hay while the sun shines, the P. & T. Times says, and adds the following curious statement:-During the past fortnight, Peking has been invaded by ambassa. dors, military and civilian officials, merchants, respectable Far Eastern residents and their wives, globe trotters, male and female tourists, shop keepers, pedlars, Greek and Jewish grogshop, roulette, and gambling house keepers, and various vagabonds, nondescripts, and social pariahs.
There was
departure of Mr. F. Anderson, who is a passenger by the P. and O. steamer Malta:-" a large gathering of the many friends of Mr. F. Anderson at the jetty last evening to bid him bon voyage on his leaving Shanghai by the P. and O. str. Malta for Home. Mr. Anderson has been identified with the public life of Shanghai for many years and eloquent testimony to the esteem in which he is held here was given at the dinner to which he was entertained at the Country Club on Tuesday evening. Mr. Ander son came to Shanghai in the early eighties to Messrs. Holliday, Wise & Co., and in the beginning of 1890 he joined Messrs. Ilbert & Co., of which firm he is now principal partner. He served on the Municipal Council for eight years 1892-3-4, 1897-8-9, 1904-5 and was Chairman during the years 1899, 1904. He represented the Council when the new Waterworks scheme was affected, he was closely identified with the Telephone scheme, and also had much to do with the initiation of the Tramway system in Shanghai. Mr. Anderson was a prominent member of the Chamber of Commerce and the China Associa- tion. He was Chairman of the China Association 1898-99 and 1908.9 and is on the London Committee. As a sportsman Mr. Anderson identified himself principally with cross-country riding, cricket and rowing. In 1889 he was one of the team of cricketers which represented Shanghai against Hongkong, he was one of the Scotch eight in either 1884 or 1885, and he rode across country on the well-known pony “Equity." The loss to the community at large, as well as many friends privately, that is occasioned by his departure cannot well be over-estimated and he will carry with him the sincerest wishes for his happiness and prosperity in the Home land.
to
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[May 24. 1909,
THE EXPANDING RAILWAY ESTIMATES.
(Daily Press, May 15th)
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The statement made by H.E. the Governor in the Legislative Council on Thursday regarding the ever-expanding estimate of the cost of constructing the British section of the Kowloon-Canton railway makes sorry reading. Originally the estimate a little over five million dollars, but this calculation the Governor ex- plained last year was "a very rough one and "included no calculation of quantities!
stock, workshops &c." and many important items such as rolling As soon as the actual work of construction began, the estimate of the cost commenced to swell prodigiously, and by the end of 1907 it had grown to very nearly twice the original amount; still it did not include provision for workshops, though rolling stock and the cost of some deep sea resumptions were inserted. In the last sixteen months the estimate has been further increased by another two million dollars, and the statə- ment laid before the Legislative Council on Thursday shows the present estimate to be $11,004,128, including workshops and all items, but "it is still possible that the land resumption may not be fully provided for, as all matters in connection with that subject are not yet finally concluded." In other words, a still further increase in the estimate is possible if not probable.
line took
There will be a familiar ring about this story should it be read in other colonies which have also had railways constructed for them by the Crown Agents. A few months ago, for instance, we drew attention to the evidence given by Sir FRANK SWETTENHAM, formerly Governor of the Straits Settle- ments, before the Commission of Inquiry into the Crowa Agents' system. Giving the experience of the Singapore railway, the ex-Governor said the ought to have done; it cost about twice the more than twice as long to construct as it
done, for a bridge subsequently tumbled original estimate, and the work was not well
down and an embankment gave way. Trinidad has had a somewhat similar ex- The Colonies may grumble, but they have perience. Now it is Hongkong's turn. in the end to pay the bill. No blame rests upon the Colonial Governments: in the words of Sir FRANK SWETTENHAM Government of the Colony has no voice in the
"the
| matter except 10 pay the bills.” rs regards the Kowlooù railway, veil of secrecy was thrown over the earlier stages of the undertaking. The scheme and the estimates were not laid before the Legis- lative Council, but an unofficial member of Council did manage to elicit the informa- tion that the twenty-two miles of railway from Kowloon to Samchun were estimated to cost about £550,000 sterling to construct. It was left however to Sir FREDERICK LUGARD a year ago, when the work was well under weigh and the estimate had been nearly doubled, to inform the Colony that the original estimate was merely a rough one," and did not take into account such things as rolling stock, workshops, &c. Surely the Government must have had some rough idea" of what rolling stock and When workshops would cost to provide? we recollect that the first information the Colony bad of the estimated cost of the line assumption that the difference between this was £550,000, there seems room for the
sum and Mr. BRUCE's actual estimate of
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$5,053,274, furmed the "rough estimate" of the cost of rolling stock, work- shops, and other incidental expenses. On this estimate the undertaking to
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