448
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
THE HONGKONG UNIVERSITY
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PROJECT.
(Daily Press, May 27th.)
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[May 29, 1909. have contributed a much larger propor- tion of the amount. The Governor has looked for support not only from the the Chinese residing in Hongkong and the immediate neighbourhood, but from Chinese in the Straits S-ttlements, in Java, in Siam and elsewhere, for they, too, may hope to benefit from the University to which they will be able to send their sons. The project is primarily for the Chinese and H. E. the Governor early in the looked
he year said
the to the Chinese to provide
Mr. MODY's offer bulk of the funds. remains open only a few weeks longer, and the time, therefore, has now arrived when hesitation on the part of iutending The munificent subscribers should cease. donations of t'e
Taikoo Hong have immensely improved the prospects of the scheme, and we can hardly doubt that His Excellency's anticipations of this noble example stimulating emulation, will in the few weeks that remain, be largely realised.
THE RAILWAY ZONĘ AT HARBIN.
(Daily Press, May 28th.)
nation be rich. Therefore, unless we are prepared to throw down our armaments and throw ourselves upon the goodwill' of the world, we must be able and ready to defend Ourselves and the great empire of which we The splendid lead which the Taikoo Hong are justly proud. Consequently it follows has given in the effort to raise the fund for that if we are to have an army and navy they the endowment of the University which Mr. should be equal to all possible calls. And H. N. MODY 80 magnanimously promised it does not seem possible to attain this end to provide for Hongkong should give the under our present voluntary system. We needed fillip to the collection of subscriptions ensure the establishment of the do not impugu the patriotism of the people. and We know that were Britain in danger her University at no distant date. The sum sons would take the field as readily as required for the furnishing, equipment and in the days of old. The spirit is endowment represents a capital sum of still the same, but the fighting machine £110,000, or 81,250,000, and it was a con- is not the same. Men are not univer.dition of Mr. Mody's gift that the Endow. sally trained in the use of arms, and ment Fund should be raised by subscription therein lies our danger. Ethusiastic, before building operations were commenced
it being his ambition to see the University patriotic, untrained men are of little use against a determined, trained soldier; but established and working during his lifetime. add efficiency in the use of arms and the Mr. Mony's offer remains open till the steadiness which comes from drilling men
end of June. Among the Chinese a sum together to their other qualities and we approaching 'two lakhs of dollars has need have little fear that the manhood of been so far subscribed, so that, with the Britain will give a good account of itself in handsome donations by Messrs. JOHN SWIRE & SONS, the Taikoo Sugar Refining all emergencies.
Co., Ltd., and the Ocean Steamship Ca.,
more than half the total amount required is The jurisdiction question a Harbin about now in sight. Five weeks more remain which there has been much dispute almost
When we
ever since the close of the war, has been in which to obtain the balance. point to the fact that no subscriptions from settlel, on paper at least, by an agreement British or other European firme intere-ted between Russia and China which was signed in the Colony, other than those we have at Peking on the 27th ult. and is now mentioned have been announced; that no published for general information. We have report has been issued as to the result of the become accustomed to hearing that in the appeals which H. E. the Governor has made Chinese Eastern Railway zone in North- in many other directions for support of the West Manchuria there is no trace now of scheme, we feel that before the end of June Chinese authority, and that the Russian it can confidently be hoped that the sub-authorities have successfu ly impressed upon to take his part in the defence of the country,cription list will be considerably enlarged.hppulation that their mi itary domina- and that cannot be accomplished wi hout some sacrifice on his part. He has to trai: himself to the use of arms, he his to make himself a military efficient, and that means he must give up time and perhaps money to do so. A Citize Army, though implyin a nation under arms, does not nvolve a warlike frenzy. On the contrary, it wil induce men to take a more sober and ser ons view of their responsibilities. It will not encourage but repress the jingo spirit, and we may be sure that wars in the future, will not be so lightly entered upon as they have been in the past.
While the very word Conscription sounds repellant to British ears, it has to be admit. ted that there is not the same objection to a Citizen Army. Conscription interferes matenlly with the industrial and commer- cial life of the country. It takes away men from their occupations during their most receptive and studious years; but not so with a Citizen Army, the training for which can be accomplished in a short period of the year. A Citizen Army emphasises the duts which is apt to be overlooked these days, that every able-bodied man should be read
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That the Territorial Force may be converted into a Citiz n Army is a belief shared by other military authorities than Lord ROBERTS. "Add the principle of e m. pulsion to the HALDANE schme, SAYS a ser- vice journal, “and the skeleton is turned to living organisation." A National Army in the real sense of the word is created, and the burden of defence is equalis d, while the security of the country is ensured. True, there will be many objections to the proposal which Lord ROBERTS has brought forward. Industrial difficulties will be pleaded. Financial
anomalies
will be
quoted. But difficulties and anomalier exist at present, and as no reform can be accomplished without inflicting some bard- ships, we need not allow ourselves to be turned aside from a desirable principle by a few details insistently thrust under our notice in the hope that they may assume an importance which they do not deserve.
At the ordinary general meeting of the Oriental Telephone and Electric Company, the Chairman said the China and Japan Telephone Company had at present full employment for all the capital they can spare, both in Hongkong and Kowloon; but when the Kowloon Canton Railway, which is now in course of construction, is finished, they might expect that company to extend their sphere of activity considerably in the direction of, and probably to Canton itself.
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tion has rendered China's rights of eminent domain fictitious. But that is not the case,
His Excellency las earnestly api ealed "
who desire, on the one hand, to assist China in acquiring Western knowledge, and, and in the “ Preliminary Arrangement
n the ther hand, to exten1 British prestige which has just b en signed we have it nd the knowle 'ge of the English language. | »xpressly admitted as a fundamental in the East, to assist the project. Sit | principle," that "the sovereign rights of
JOHN JORDAN. the British Minister a
а warm supporter oʻ Peking, who is the project, has breu a-kel to lay it before the Wai-wu-pu for presentation to the Grand Councillors and His Highness the PRINCE REGENT, with a view to enlist. ing their e-operation and financial support. The Chin se Government has contributed
$40,000 to a College which the Grman Government proposes to found at Tsingtan, nd tere is r ason, therefor, to hose that they will, m a similar manner, identify the m- selves with the project in Ho gkong which is likely to prove of intimable y lu to the rising veneration of Chinese. When His Excel ney la-t made a public spere. on the subject he e tertained a hope cf suport also from H. E. the Viceroy of Canton.
Letters were written on the (subject to the Secretary of State, to the Government of India and to the Governor of the Straits Settlements; also to the China Chancellor of Oxford Association, the University, to Lord FLGIN, lately Secretary of State for the Colonies, and 'o other in. fluential reople, including the Munisipality of Shanghai. Obviously, no effort has been spared by His Excellency the Governor to get the money needed. As to the result of hese appeals no public statement has yet been made. We feel, however, that they cannot all have been made in vain.. and when the time comes for the Committee which has charge of the scheme to declare the result of their efforts to raise the Endor- ment Fund we can hardly doubt that the entire sm will be well in sight. While it is very gratifying to note the amount of financial support the scheme has already received from Chinese sources, we hope to see in the final statement that they
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'hins are recognised within the zone of the ailway," and it is further agreed that there hall be no infringement of these rights. The original Convention contained
a.
se providing for joint jurisdiction within the railway zones, but when that Agreement Was signed in 1896 there
w.re
no indications that Russia Was kely to acquire in that region the import- ant position she now unquestionably ccupies and this important part of the Convention seems to have been more or less 10 red, At the time that Convention was gned. Har in was an insignificant town: it is no
onef the most pop bus cities i. Asi and the Russian population done amounts to not less than 80,000 ersons Its rapid rise to its resent im- ortauce results from railway developments It is here that during the last ten years. the Chinese Estern Railway, running North from Dalny, joins the Russian main line from Irkutsk and Lake Baikal to
Vladivostock. Ever since the first Russian occupation of the place, during the war with Japan, building appears to have been going on in a must extraordinarily rapid fa-hion. The Russians perceived the great commercial possibilities of the place. St. Petersburg and Moscow became interested. and set to work to create here a Central Manchurian depôt where Moscow cotton and woollen fabrics, and other Russian manufactures were to be sold in fabulous quantities, and great cotton-mill projects have been talked abow. Although many of these projects are still in the air, there is avertheless abundant evidence of a great Russian commercial boom at Harbin. The rapid growth of the Russian population in the city is some proof of this, and gives
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