The-Hong-Kong-Weekly-Press-1909-06-07 — Page 5

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June 7, 1909.]

earth

we could

CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.

TRADE.

(Daily Press, June 5th)

465

currence to mean that the Colonial Govern. ments are now free to give local firms opportunities of tendering for the supply of articles required. Judging from the evidence small piece of evidence now under the notice which has been furnished in Ceylon, and the of the Hongkong Sanitary Board, the Colony of Hongkong in these hard times could effect in the aggregate a considerable saviug of expenditure by making the change indicated, and at the same time benefit local trade and industry.

RANDOM REFLECTIONS.

about it. Everybody else is.

Marvellous weather, ain't it? Don't talk

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reading through this article which_our | CROWN AGENTS AND COLONIAL | Regulations; at least we may take this con- Manila contemporary has printed as "Some Unpublished History of the Fight for Manila's Maligned Name," suggest several other adequate grounds for refusing its publication in a paper of the standing enjoyed by Collier's Weekly, but we are not so much" interested in this question as we are in the unbridled license taken by the author in maligning the other ports in the East, by way of defending the fair name of Manila. Both Yokohama and Amoy are described as "death holes." Amoy is particularly de- signated one of the dirtiest pest holes on where" cholera has reigned uncheck- ed from time immemorial." Of Yokohama it is suggested that at the time of the Flect's visit "fever in deadly form" prevailed. Again we are told that "Ever since Ameri. can occupancy of the Philippines, Hong. kong, Shanghai and other coast cities of China have vilified Manila, envious of her progress. Plague stricken though they be and always have been, they have magnified our lesser epidemics and given us no credit for preventative measures, our successes being a reflection on their lethargy." In what way Manila has been "vilified" by the coast cities of China, the author does not deem it worth while to state.

But we are favoured with the explanation that: "the strictures of the coast cities of China have a well-defined mercenary object in keeping tourists from visiting us and remaining longer with them."

The Committee which recently reported on the Organisation of the Crown Agents' Office found that possibly the most fruitful cause of discontent with the discharge of the functions which the Office performs is the existence of the rule laid down in the Colonial Regulations that articles, the pro- duct of the United Kingdom or of Europe, Crown Colony, should be obtained through which are required by the Government of a

Committee affirmed, is to the general advan- the Crown Agents' Office. This rule, the tage of the Crown Colonies; but they nevertheless saw cause for recommend- ing that wherever in any Colony firms exist able to produce the articles required or to carry out any needed works, and the Colony feels able to arrange for their adequate inspection, such firms should be given opportunities of tendering on the same conditions as home firms. It is scarcely necessary for us to say that the practice to which the Committee refer has been as fruitful of discontent in Hongkong as in other Crown Colonies. At the present time the Sanitary Board has under con- sideration a question put by Mr. SHELTON HOOPER embodying the statement that on through the Crown Agents' Office the a purchase of 2,800 gallons of Jeyes' Fluid

Colony has paid between £60 and £70 more than local importers were prepared to Singularly enough the writer omits to supply it for. At Colombo the Chamber of add that the British steamship companies Commerce has for some time past been in actually run lines of steamers from Hong. correspondence with the local Govern- kong to bring away from Manila any ment 25 to the tourist who happens to stray to the stores generally, and the Chamber, in supply of medical much-maligned city! It is perhaps due communicating instances to show that a to the writer of this diatribe to tangible saving of revenue might have been say that

when he writes of Manila effected by purchasing locally, made the being "vilified in the coast cities of general assertion that "in many past in- China he is but repeating what many have alleged before in Manila.

stances such good value has not been What found secured through the Crown Agents as would ation the allegation has, we have never have been obtained had tenders from local been able to learn, and the writer does firms been asked for and accepted." In Hong- not take the trouble to enlighten his kong, a question which has been suggested readers; but there is an implied suggestion by the instance Mr. SHELTON HOOPER has that tourists are told that Mauila is a brought to public notice at the Sanitary neglected, dirty city and possesses no Board is this: If it is possible to save a beauty worth going far to see. Moreover its climate has been reported as

sum of £60 or £70 on about five hundred uuhealth- ful" while

pounds' worth of disinfectant, how much tourists who have favoured might have been saved on an estimate of Manila with a visit have found it "delight-over a million pounds for railway construc ful." On this it may be said that every tion by giving local firms the opportunity member of the reading public in the coast of tendering for as many of the requirements cities of China must be tolerably familiar with the commendable efforts which have Colony not

as possible? There is, we believe, in the

豫 little soreness been made by the American administration

over the close adherence to the rule in the Philippines to improve the sanitation

in the and general attractiveness of the City of to

Colonial Regulations requiring all goods

be obtained through Manila, but while the newspapers of the Agents' Office; and we may draw attention to the Crown China Coast have certainly hesitated to tell the fact that the Secretary of State for the their readers that Manila is the sanatorium Colonies in forwarding a copy of the Far East, we have failed to notice the

of the Committee's "vile slanders" to which the writer refers,

Report to the Governors Colonies expressed his nor have we observed any manifestations of general concurrence" in the recom- a "joy unspeakable" with which the coast mendations of the Committee of Enquiry, cities of China are alleged to have and said he had requested the Crown been filled because the Press of the

Agents consider what steps United States has echoed these "vile slanders." These things exist only in the

required to give effect to them. Weimagine morbid imagination of the writer of the advise the Colonial Secretary as to what the Crown Agents will be in no hurry to diatribe. Even in Manila we trust there steps should be taken to give effect to the re- are not many readers so credulous as to commendation designed to remove what the accept these inventions as sober statements Committee regarded as of fact. What we appreciate best about fruitful cause of discontent."

possibly the most the article, and what we think the public not

But it does seem that the respective Colonial generally will best enjoy, is not the fecund

Governments need wait upon the pleasure imagination which this writer of fiction

of the Crown Agents in this respect. We evidently possesses, but the subtly humorous take it that the general concurrence of the and peculiarly apposite main headline which Secretary of State for the Colonies in the the Editor lias given to it viz.-" Ananias recommendations of the Committee virtually and the Cruise of the Big Fleet.”

cancels the objectionable rule in the Colonial

of the Crown

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value of the dollar is the cause of much perturb- If the love of money is the root of all evil the ation in Hongkong. There are at least two problem with, as it were one hand tied behind score of men in the colony who could solve the them; but fato is unkind and they are not allowed to develop their ideas.

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This suggests a problem-When is a dollar not a dollar? When it is subsidiary coin.

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The sensation of the week seems to have been Mr. Shelton Hooper's discovery of a Chinaman washing himself. Some people wouldn't saspect the ordinary coolie indulging in this practice,

This man, about whom there has been such a but the fact remains that they perform their

pother, was discovered washing himself over a fish tank, Naturally, it did not strike the visitors as being the correct thing for the man to do--I mean it was not the proper place, and so a protest was made against the lack of supervision which such an incident disclosed.

ablutions in a manner different to Westerners.

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Now it might seem to us that it is not quite proper that a man should bathe in the tank out the eye doth not see the heart doth not grieve of which we get our fish. Neither is, it but what

over.

What occurs to me is this-isn't it futile to object to the man bathing in the tank when the same man or several have to wade into the tank to procure the fish which pleases the particular purchaser? There is, of course, a distinction, but it is a distinction without a

difference.

It was

Reporting an al fresco entertainment given in the Mulberry Palace grounds at the Korean capital, our Japanese contemporary at Seoul remarks: Many Japanese and Koreans were seon chatting intimately and strolling about in brotherly embrace in shady corners. home. towards twilight before the last batch left for this success some of the promoters have the We are informed that encouraged by idea of undertaking similar meetings quite frequently in the future." Oh, those shady corners! Same old story. Does this not indicate a point of contact, East with West?

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I have often wondered why the varying modes of ladies' millinery fail to inspire the poets in England. How would this do as a suggestion to budding Laureates :-

TO A LADY IN A NEW HAT. Oh, modest little candle

Beneath the bushel's shade, Art thou a merry widow

Or but a merry maid? Or art thou, eh? a busy bee

All honey, in a hive ? With just a waspish little sting

But I won't go over the whole gamut of the

Designed to hurt a rival's pride.

simply to indicate to young poets what there is present fashions in millinery. My object is in the theme. No charge is made for the tip. When the whole range of fashions has been exhausted the Poet might direct his attention to the Eastern ladies who wear no hats, but on whom the insidions influence of Paris is begin- ning to make itself felt. Thus :--

The Turkish veil is going.

But the Turks take comfort that It never will be missed when they

Have got the western hat.