516
16th June, 1909.
8.8. FATSHAN AFFAIR.
The following is a translation of a circular issued by the Self-Government Society:-
That with respect to the s.5. Fatshan case "We beg respectfully to inform our brethren we received an order from the Viceroy some- time ago commanding all our brethren to obey it and to wait patiently for the decision of the matter by the authorities of both nations.
KC
As you are already aware, the Portuguese Consul made certain false accusations against our brethren in this matter; and notwithstand- ing the Viceroy's repeated communications arging the Portuguese Consul to hold a fresh joint investigation into the case; the latter has persistently delayed the fixing a date for the trial.
This is practically destroying the good friendship which has hitherto been existing between the two friendly nations. In investigat- | ing into the duties of a Consul as representative f his Government in a foreign country we find that all such officials should be guided in all matters by a spirit of justice and fairness to the advantage of the people of both countries, With regard to the Fatshan affair, not only did the Portuguese Consul falsely accuse the mem- bers of the Self-Government Society with bribing the witnesses who gave evidence in the case, but he also admonished the representatives of the Press in very strong language; and, moreover, he insinuated that the Chinese are a race of people who only pretend to love their country. This is actually despising the whole Chinese race; such expressions certainly do greatly affect the good reputation of our brethren.
Several months have elapsed since we wrote to the Portuguese Consul about this matter, and we are unable to bear it any longer. It is high time that we should again communicate with the Portuguese Consul and remind him about this subject and also to request him to give us au answer so as to allay the public anger, We have decided to hold an extraordinary meeting at 1 p.m. to-morrow to discuss this matter and we respectfully request all our brethren to attend the meeting.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The local press has been publishing for the last ten days an essay on hygiene written by the doctors of the Red Cross Society embodying precautions to be taken against plague.
The recent freshet has not entirely disap- peared from the river at Fat Shan; there is still about three feet of water.
Owing to frequent complaints made by the Hongkong Government regarding the smug- gling of prepared opium into the Colony by people from Canton, His Excellency the Viceroy has instructed the (ommissioner of Customs here to make careful enquiry into any seizure of frepared opium made by the Custom House so as to find out whether the smuggling of prepared opium is being carried on by Chinese merchants in large quantities or only taken to Hongkong by opium smokers who travel frequently between Canton and Hong- kong.
15th June, 1909.
NOT INCLINED TO GIVE UP OPIUM SMOKING.
THE HONGKONG. WEEKLY PRESS AND
Last week notifications were issued by the Police Stations of the various districts in Fat shan requesting all opium smokers to call at their stations to apply for the new wooden opium license. It is reported that during the week thousands of people went and applied for. the new licenses; they were numerous that the stations did not have enough licenses to supply half the demand and had to issue tem-, porary paper licenses to several thousands of them. This proves that the people in Fatshan are not inclined to give up pium Smoking,
HUNANESE LOOKING FOR WORK Over 1,000 labourers have travelled overland from that province to Canton seeking for em ployment. They arrived at the North River a few days ago and the authorities up there on seeing such a large influx of people into the district and fearing that they might create trouble cabled to H. E. Viceroy Chang praying that instructions may be given to all the civil
and military officials in the neighbouring dis- tricts to keep them in peace and order and guard against any trouble which may arise while en route to Canton.
It is reported that yesterday about 500 of them arrived at the Tiger Forts. The Superin- tendent of Police on receipt of this information immediately instructed the Nam Hoi Magistrate to dispatch four large junks to convey them to Shek Loong, where employment will be given to them at the Canton-Kowloon Railway.
THE NEW PRAYA.
The wholesale firms along the band here have hitherto enjoyed the privilege to erect a certain number of covered wooden jetties on the new praya for the purpose of landing and shipping cargo, but the new praya reclamation law distinctly states that no wood jetties will be permitted to exist and only iron or steel piers will be allowed in future on the bund.
The Director of the Reclamation
Department has in consequence given notice to the wholesale firms to remove all the wood jetties and have them replaced by iron ones. On receipt of the notification the wholesale dealers sent a joint petition to the General Chamber of Commerce representing that having regard to the depressed state of trade it would be very difficult for them to raise the necessary funds to erect iron piers at the present time. In support of their argument the petitioners stated that
even in a foreign port like Hongkong only large steam boat companies lave iron wharves, the smaller Chinese craft being allowed to ship and discharge their cargo along
the praya letter says:-" This shows how liberally the Chinese merchants are being treated by the British Government; we are in our own country and surely deserve.equal treatment. Further- more, of late years many Imperial Edicts have been issued commanding the officials to be more considerato towards the merchants and also to
wall.
The
give them every facility. The petitioners finally beg that the General Chamber of Commerce will take up their cause and communicate with the authorities to have the new laws repealed."
PLAGUE.
Plague has been playing havoc in Waichow and a large number of deaths are reported. It its stated that many of the wealthy and middle class people have fled from the city for safety.
L
A DECEPTIVE APPEARANCE.
་་
Cumsha, Mas'r, Cumsha, a small insignifi. cant looking native beggar wailed as he followed three stalwart European policemen along the Wanchai Road on the 10th inst. His
As the
MACAO.
[June 21, 19:9,
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT]
11th June 1909.
THE EMPTY MUNICIPAL TREASURY. The Leal Senado is still without money to fully meet last month's wages bill. The school teachers and others have not yet been paid. Heretofore it has been the practice of the Senado to observe the feast of St. John the Baptist, which falls on June 24th, but at its last meeting the Senado decided that they could not afford to celebrate the Feast this year, at the expense of the municipal treasury, and so a public subscription has been started.
- exonse
are
Il public works which the Corporation has in hand are stopped for want of funds to carry them on. But why the Corporation does not reduce the number of its employes I do not
instance, in understand. For
the school to for girls there
five mistresses teach twenty-eight girls. One class consists the Irishism-of one girl; two other classes have five girls in each; one class has seven pupils, and the largest twelve. I am told that none of the teachers receive less than $56 a month. One would think that two teachers would be ample in this school. Some- what similar conditions obtain in the Chinese school for boys. Sometime ago a report was made by Sr. Silva Mendes, the Rector of the Licen. Nacional, adversely commenting on the efficiency of these schools, but no action seems to have been taken on the report.
THE CITY RUINS,
Tourist: How is it that so many houses in Macao are so dilapidated?
Resident: Presumably the Government desires to impress visitors with the fact that this is an ancient city-not a modern growth like Hongkong and the Treaty ports of China.
Tourist: but what can the owners of these buildings be thinking about, letting them go to rack and ruin in this way?
Resident: Oh, well-the owners have no veneration for the ruins. They would long ago have put these houses in repair, or rebuilt, if only the Director of Public Works had been ready to grant the necessary licenses. There is in fact great joy among house owners here just now because of an announcement in the Boletin Official that H.E. the Governor is putting an end to this state of affairs, and we shall soon see the building trade flourishing_again_in Macao. Therefore the feeling is "
Long live Rocadas!
OIL FIELDS IN TIMO?. News has reached here of the arrival in
Mesers. Elliot and Co., the Australian firm which has obtained, a concession to bore for oil in the island. Machinery and the staff enterprise seems a promising one. to control operations are on the spot, and the A consign. ment of the oil is expected to reach Macao soon. Let us hope the time may soon come when Timor will do unto Macao in her days of adversity, as Macao has for many long years done unto Timor. Millions of dollars have been remitted from the government chests of Macao to replenish the coffers of Timor. Macao will hope these favours-made by direction of a benevolent government at Lisbon reciprocated.
remarks appeared to be addressed more parti- Timor of the senior partner in the firm of cularly to the biggest man of the trio, whom he characterised as kind-hearted, generous and good, and felt sure that he would pai chin.” The officer, however, was not in a generous mood, and ordered the beggar to move on. order, after being repeated several times, was not obeyed, the policeman decided to effect an arrest. With all the assurance of a strong man he seized the puny gleaner by the shoulder with the object of marching him off to jail, but was somewhat disconcerted to find in the beggar a man of exceptional strength. In the struggle which ensued, the hefty policeman found the small Chinese to be his match, and the other two officers had to render assistance. On the march to the Wanchai Station the beggar created quite a disturbance, his cries of "save life' soon attracting a large following. However, he was landed in a cell and appeared before Mr. F. A. Hazeland at the Magistracy on June 11. After hearing the evidence his Worship im. posed a fine of $1.
SUPPOSED MURDER ON THE
RAILWAY.
Early on Thursday morning, a shocking discovery was made by some coolie women, who were employed ou a hillside near the south face of the Beacon Hill tunnel. While removing earth they discovered the body of a man with his skull battered in and a piece of rope made fast round his neck. ppearances indicate foul play, but the police who are investigating the affair have not yet got on the trail. The murdered man was one of the night gang of coolies employed in the tunnel.
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THE GOVERNMENT MONOPOLIES,
The government is inviting tenders for the resuscitation of the Macao lottery, but it is understood that nobody is desirous of the privilege. For the opiam monopoly, however, three or four syndicates are competing.
CATA TROPHE IN THE BEACON HILL TUNNEL.
THREE MEN SUFFOCATED.
News reached the city on June 11 of a çatas- trophe which occurred in the Beacon Hill tunnel on Thursday night, causing the death of three Chinese workmen and necessitating the removal of five others to hospital. It appears that the victims proceeded to work too soon after a blasting charge had been fired, and were overpowered by gelatine fumes which, as stated, caused the death of three men and half-suffocated five others.
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