560
CANTON.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]
Bureau to
18th June.
Rame
[June 26, 1909,
as the drinking of such tea is extremely detri mental to health. I wonder if anything of this kind occurs in Hongkong where there are so many Chinese restaurants P
RAILWAY MATTERS.
Ever since
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
cellency at the
time requested the members of this Association to be calm and to wait for the settlement of the case by the au- thorities. This Association took Your Honour to be an administrator who would deal with all public affairs in a spirit of justice and fairness. Some two years ago, when the bureau for the thus preserving the friendly relations between construction of railways in the province of our respective countries. Surely you would Kwangsi was established, it was distinctly stipu eventually find out yourself that the above-lated between the officials and the merchants mentioned allegations made by you were with that all the railways in that province should be out any foundation. Several months have since constructed by the merchants alone. elapsed and you have not answered the Viceroy's the establishment of the Railway Bureau the merchants and gentry have been endeavouring dispatch. This Association considered that the witnesses for
gave their prosecution
to raise funds, and large sums have been evidence simply from love of righteousness; the promised by both classes, but they have been at Press has the right to freely criticize all public variance all the time. Consequently_nothing matters, and the representatives of this Associa has been actually accomplished." The Governor tion have a perfect right to discuss any public has now decided to have all the railways in the Your false accusations have not only province constructed by joint capital of the caused us great distress, but have also seriously Government and the merchants. injured our good reputation and we resent the allegations made by you. We take apon our- selves the responsibility to deal with the matter unofficially, and therefore we write Your Honour this letter. We require you to substantiate the statements made, and we request you to reply to our letter within the next three days. The address of this Association is Wah Lum Chi,
EMBEZZLEMENT BY OFFICIALS. Admiral Li Toun has reported to His Ex- cellency Viceroy Chang that Wong-Hon Wah, Wong Kwok King and others, gentry of the Tung Koon city. who constitute the committee in charge of the Municipal Bureau having the care of firearms for the protection of the city
have embezzled, funds of the extent of 183.00 · els and have also clandestinely disposed of 000 Mauser rifles which the Burean obtained om the Bureau of Local Affairs at Canton. he Admiral expresses his belief that the fire- rms have been sold by the gentry to robbers ad pirates, and he has appealed to the Viceroy o instruct the Kwong Chan Prefect to proceed to Tang Koon to arrest all the gentry who are mplicated and have them tried and punished.
TROUBLE ON THE RAILWAY.
It is reported that a foreigner employed on the Kowloon-Canton Railway works here Issaulted a Chinese employee and that the Chinese employed on the line are very much excited over the affair. The matter has since been reported to Mr. Grove, the Superintendent
the Railway Works.
THE PARACEL ISLANDS.
A long report on the Paracel Islands has been sent to the Viceroy by Admiral Li. who was in command of the recent expedition to the islands. The report is said to embody many interesting schemes for the development of the islands, including the erection of a steel bridge to connect the Fook Po and Mo Hok Islands.
A CHINESE ORDNANCE SURVEY OF
KWANTUNG,
The Viceroy has received instructions from the Board of War at Peking to make a map of Kwangtung Province for military purposes. The dispatch urges His Excellency to have the map ready as soon as possible. His Excellency has already delegated many surveyors proceed with the work.
VICEROY'S PROCLAMATION RE 8.8.
31 "FATSHAN AFFAIR.
to
cause.
the
Western Suburbs. Canton.“
23rd nne. 1909.
+ STUD-POKER.
Of recent years stud-poker has become one of the most popular games in the Kwangtung Province. The Cantonese people have gone It is played by people crazy over this game. of the upper as well as the lower classes. Card houses have sprung up in almost every city, town and village up-country. In many dis- tricts the officials have made it a Government monopoly. I remember last year there was such a great demand for poker cards here that every available packet in the market was bought up and even old cards fetched 60 cents a packet. A few days ago Lui Cho Woug went personally to the Viceroy's yamen and presented a memorial in which it is stated that stud-poker gambling has become a serious evil and is spreading all over the Province.
He prayed that instructions might be given to the authorities in the province to prohibit stud- poker gambling and also to issue proclamatious to arrest and severely punish those who continue to indulge in the game.
His Excellency has already appointed Pre- fect Woo Ming Hing to be superintendent of the Kwai-lum, Chean-chow and Wong-sha-ho Railway. This line has already been surveyed by competent surveyors. It is about 330 li in length and the Hing On district is situated about 115 li from Kwai-lum, where there are rich coal mines. The Governor has memorial. ized the Throne to grant the necessary funds. His Excellency is also pressing the merchants to raise funds and to delegate deputies to the Straits Settlements to invite the merchants there to subscribe.
Chan Yee Hi, Director of the Sunning Railway, cabled to the Board of Labour, Agriculture and Commerce at Peking, applying for permission to construct a branch line of that railway from Sunning to Kongmoon. The Board replied that all matters concerning the construction of railways could only be granted by the Board of Posts and Communications, whereupon Chan immediately telegraphed, to the latter board who has since granted the conces- sion to the Sunning Railway Syndicate.
THE ASSESSMENT OF HONGKONG
FOR THE YEAR 1909-1910.
By order of His Excellency the Governor-in- Council a new Valuation has been made of the
whole Colony, with the exception of purely Chinese Villages.
City of Victoria;-The Ratable Value has decreased from 8,987,125 to 88,806,805, a reduc- tion of $180,320, or 2 per cent.
From inquiries made, I learn that the pro- clamation issued by the Viceroy on the 15th instant re the s.s. Fatshan affair (a translation of which appeared in our Saturday's issue) was
he Viceroy replied as follows: "I have issued in consequence of representations made perused your memorial very carefully. If the evils of stud-poker gambling are so great as you by Mr. Fox, H.B.M.'s Consul-General, who had received information several days previously state, it must greatly affect the morality of the to the issue of the circulars by the Self-Govern people, and should be strictly prohibited. Those who continue to indulge in the game must be ment Society that the meeting was contemplated arrested and punished. I hereby instruct the with the object of reviving the boycott against Provincial Judge, the authorities of the Mili. $6.027, or 10:53 per cent.
+
Messrs. Butterfield & Swire. It is curious to note that although the proclamation was issued on the 15th.'instant and its object was to prohibit any further meetings of the elf- Government Society to revive the s.8. Fatshan affair, or at least commanding the public to cease discussing the subject under penalty of severe punishment, yet circulars were distributed by the Self-Government Associa tion од the following day to convene & meeting on the 17th instant for the purpose of discussing the 8.8. Fatshan affair, thus entirely ignoring the Viceroy's commands. Another noteworthy incident is that all the local Press conspired to suppress the publication of the proclamation until the meeting had taken place. Only a few of the papers published the proclamation this morning. This was purposely done so as to give a loophole to the members of the Self-Government Society to claim exemption from punishment for disobeying the Viceroy's order in the event of any trouble arising, as they would plead ignorance
tary Department and the Bureau of Local Affairs to direct all civil and military officials in the province to issue proclamations to inform the public that stud-poker gambling is strictly prohibited, and hereafter rigid searches will be made and all delinquents arrested with a view to putting a stop to this sort of gambling. Should any further petitions be presented to the official Burean applying for the monopoly of this game under any new and ingenious name, the Bureau authorities are instructed to severely reprimand the petitioners."
THEE PRISONERS EXCUTED.
The prisoners Chan Hing. Li Hi and So Kwan Cheung, who were surrendered to the Chinese Authorities by the Hongkong Govern- ment sometime ago, were executed in the presence of the Nam Ho: Magistrate on the 21st instant by order of His Excellency Viceroy (hang. CHINA "TEA
AN INTERESTING REVELATION.
Chan Shu Tai, a tea dealer, was arrested and charged by the police with being in possession of 24 bags of used tea leaves weighing over
The Hill District: The Ratable Value has decreased from 263.265 to $262,445 a reduction of $820. or 0:31 per cent.
Shaukiwan: The Ratable Valne has in- creased from $57,197 to 263,224, an aúdition of
·
Hongkong Villages :-The Ratable Value has increased from $223,599 to 224,590, an addition of $991, or 0.44 per cent,
Kowloon Point: - The Ratable Value has
increased from $464,460 to $502,205, an addition of £37.745, or 8.12 cent.
per
Yaumati: -- The Ratable Value has increased
from $233,145 to $256,640, an addition of $23,495
or 10.07 per cent.
Hunghom :-The Ratable Value has increased from $230.715 to $237,520, an addition of $6,805, or 2.94 per cent.
:-The Ratable Value bas Mongkoktsui: decreased from $144,565 to $130,490 & rednotion of $14,075, or 9.73 per cent.
New Kowloon :-The Ratable Value has in- creased from $62,315 to 103,858, an addition of $41.543, or 66 66 per cent.
Kowloon Villages:- The Ratable Value has increased from $150,367 to $163,125, an addition of $12,758, or 8-48 per cent.
The Whole Colony:-The Ratable Value has decreased from $10,816,753 to $10,750,902, a
of the issuing of the proclamation because they 1,200 catties with intent to ship them abroad for | slight reduction of $65,851, or 0'60 per cent.
never saw it in any of the local papers.
The following is a translation of a letter sent by the Self-Government Association to the Portuguese Consul :---
"We beg respectfully to draw your attention to the fact that last year Your Honour wrote a dispatch to the Viceroy re the s.8. Fatehah which contained many false accusations against the witnesses for the prosecution, the representa- tives of the Press and this Association. Such Our allegations are most abhorrent to us. Viceroy has replied to you in a dispatch couched in most reasonable terms. His Ex-
sale. The defendant admitted having collected the tea from the Tin Shing, Ng Yu and Wan Heung restaurants situated in Chin Kam Street, but protested that it was not a legal offence. He stated that hitherto it has been a common trade amongst tes merchants to purchase such tea leaves from restaurants and have same dried The and exported to foreign markets for sale. magistrate ordered the tea leaves to be con- fiscated and fined the defendant $20. He re marked that many proclamations had been issued forbidding merchants to deal in used tea leaves,
PREMIER AND EMPIRE-DAY.
OFFICIAL RECOGNITION TO BE CONSIDERED.
The Prime Minister is apparently becoming convinced that Empire-day is worthy of official notice by the Government.
In reply to a parliamentary question put by Mr. Cecil Harmsworth, Liberal M.P. for Droit- wich, he promises to consult his colleagues with regard to the desirability of according official recognition to Empire-day in future years.
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