June 26, 1909.]
Theatre last week-end. The operatic perfor- mance attracted those with claims to refine ment, the boxing contests drew a less preten. tions body, and the Sunday night meeting appealed to quite a different class. It would be offensive perhaps to indicate the differences which distinguished the three gatherings, but one feature which the first two would share in common was interest in the whereabouts of the bar.
The other was supposed to have its thoughts centred on less mundane things. You can imagine then what a shock some of the good folks received on entering the building to be confronted with the notice "This way to the bar." Somebody must have been careless. Or was he a joker ?
The Retrenchment Committee seems to be retrenching with a vengeance, if report be true. A few weeks ago I commented on what I thought was the mistaken policy of reducing the numbers of the police force. Now I am informed that the medical staff is also to be retrenched. It is stated that the two bacteri- ological appointments held by Drs. Hunter and Heanley will be, abolished, and also that the medical officer for the New Territory when his agreement expires in October will have to seek fresh fields andipasture new. Surely this is zeal without discretion. It is too much to believe that the Government can seriously con- template a large area of something like 280 square miles being left without a medical officer. That post, I know, has been no sinecure.
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I have always understood there was a certain association between moustaches and love, but it was news to me to learn that the growth on the upper lip, or the absence of it, could lend itself to such classification as that adopted by a Berlin authority. He says
If a good-looking young man, suddenly grows a wild and bushy beard, be sure he loves a woman who cares most for domestic joys. That is why one sees more full beards in Germany than anywhere else. If another man appears unexpectedly wearing a small upturned moustache of melancholy aspect,
he surely loves a woman who adores classic art. But if a man, formerly famed for his beauty because of his beard, should appear clean-shaven. he has been captured by an American lady. If he wears a toothbrush moustache, which doesn't become him at all, he either admires an English- woman or a woman who dotes on everything English."
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The Chinese have not much to learn now from the Western world. They have telephones, telegraphs, railways and taxes. They have, to use the mericanism, canned meat, and now they are going in strongly for canned music. Gramaphones, I read, are increasing in popu- larity. The Chinese do not purchase the higher priced instruments, but demand cheap machines. They are not as particular as the foreigners, and do not mind the scratching so long as the machine is loud enough. The scratch in play- ing is also, to some extent, lost in the Chinese music. The head agency at Shanghai has eight or ten Chinese salesmen continually in the field and every detail of the trade is being carefully watched. For instance, it was found that the black horn, which was suitable for the home, trade did not appeal to the Chinese eye The company has now placed bright red and yellow horns on their machines, and they are very popular. The record-making is most expensive and is very carefully undertaken. The most famous Chinese bands and palace singers are being engaged to make records. They are being brought from all parts of the empire to the three record-making ceftres Peking, Shanghai and Hongkong. Here the apparatus for making the master records is set upand the recording done under the direction of the expert. The Chinese do not care for foreign records, except for laughing songs and selections with the bugle and drum.
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
medicines and into the palm of his hand he shook a few scruples of a pink coloured powder. He next licked his finger and dipped it into the powder, and inserting this into the man's mouth, rubbed it on the acting tooth and gum. He repeateded this three or four times and then concluded by turning the patient's head upside down; when to the no small astonishment of many of the by- standers the tooth dropped out and fell on the ground." The operation seemed to be painless, and there was not the slightest effusion of blood from the mouth. This naturally sug- gests that a visit to the dentist in China is not invested with so much terror as in other lands.
The Hon. Mr. Hewett is concerned with the gradual whittling down of the powers of the Sanitary Board, but unexpectedly he was not supported by his unofficial colleagues, and the voice crying in the wilderness seemed to have little influence on the stern official phalanx who probably regard the Sanitary Board as a questioning babe which should be answered not much by way of giving information but by way of shutting its mouth.
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RODERICK RANDOM.
HONGKONG.
Police Constable Conlan from Yaumati Police Station died at the Government Civil Hospital on Monday night, and was buried at Happy Valley on Tuesday afternoon, a large number of his comrades in the force attending the funeral.
A theft which borders on sacrilege was re- ported to the police on June 21. Miss Storr, the superintendent of the Victoria Girls School. sent information to police headquarters that the bell was stolen from the spire of the chapel connected with the school, sometime between the 14th and 20th instant.
A pleasant. little gathering took place at the residence of the Japanese Consul (Mr. Funatsu) on Monday night when representatives of the local press and leading Japanese citizens were invited to meet r. Fujimura, the manager of the Independent News agency" of Tokyo
The weekly plague return shows that there were 16 cases and 13 deaths in the Colony last week. Of the cases 13 were Chinese, II dian and 1 Japanese. Eleven of the cases were in districts other than the City of Victoria. The only other communicable disease notified lust week was one fatal Chinese case of smallpox.
The first typhoon warning of the season was given in Hongkong Monday evening, the black cone, point downwards, being hoisted about half-past six, indicating a typhoon within 300 miles south of the Colony. As soon as the signal was hoisted all the small craft made for shelter at Causeway Bay.
Commissioners for Portugal to settle with China General Joachim Machado and Senhor Cinatti. the delimitation of the received on arrival on June 23 by Senhor J. J. acao boundaries, were Leiria, Consul-General for Portugal and Brazil, in Hongkong, who escorted them ashore to the rooms provided for their accommodation in Glenealy.
We understand the following official changes are impending :-Mr. J. H. Kemp to succeed Mr. A. Seth (retiring) as Registrar of the Supreme Court; Mr. FA. Hazeland to succeed Mr. Kemp as first Police Magistrate; Mr. J. R. Wood to succeed Mr. Hazeland as second Magistrate; Mr. G. N. Ormae to succeed Mr. Wood as deputy registrar and appraiser at the Supreme Court; Mr. E. D. C. Wolfe to assume the post of Head of the Sanitary Department; and Mr. R. O. Hutchison to succeed to the post of assistant Registrar-General.
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At the Magistracyon the 22nd instant before Mr. J. H. Kemp sitting as coroner, and a jury, an inquiry was held into the circumstances of the deaths of two hinese girls who succumbed to opium poisoning at Kowloon City between the 14th and 17th inst. The medical officer in charge of the mortuary, deposed that the cause of death in the case of the elder girl was due to concussion of the brain, while in the case of the younger death was caused by opium poisoning. removed in a most remarkable manner. The A verdict was returned in accordance with the doctor took a small phial from his stock of ' medical evidence.
Some little time ago I referred to the system of painless dentistry practised by the Chinese, and asked for further information on the subject. Only the other day I read in a book entitled "Chinese Sketches," published over thirty years ago, an account of a man suffering from toothache having the offending molar
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Mr. G. Haffe, a clerk in the employ of Messrs. Heuser, Eberius and Co., fell from the back verandah of the top floor of the German Club on Tuesday morning and met with in- stantaneous death.
His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to appoint the Hon. Mr. A. M. Thomson to act asolonial Secretary, and Mr. C. McI. Messer to act as Colonial Treasurer and Collector of Stamp Revenue in addition to his duties as Postmaster-General during the absence on leave of the Hon. Mr. F. H. May, or until further notice.
on
Two natives appeared before Mr. J. H. Komp
a charge of snatching an earring from a Chinese woman in Queen's Road Central. When the woman felt the ornament tugged from her ear she turned in time to see a man running away, and promptly raised cries of stop thief." A lukong appeared on the scene and the man was captured, and as the policeman secured him he threw the ring away. The thief, who was captured redhanded, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, six hours' stocks and two whippings of twelve strokes each. The other man was discharged.
THE PORTUGUESE COMMISSIONERS.
General Joachim Machado and SenhorCinatti, the Portuguese Commissioners to settle with China the delimitation of the Macao boundaries, were entertained to dinner at the Hongkong Hotel on Wednesday night by Consul- General Leiria. On Wednesday afternoon they visited the Portuguese cruiser Patria,
Captain Ferreira Marques has been deputed by the Governor of Macao to be in attendance The Commissioners proceed to Macao to-morrow où the General during his stay in Hongkong.
by the Potria.
General Machado and Senhor Cinatti, and their suite dine with H. E. Sir Frederick Lugard this evening.
The following have also been invited to dine at Government House :-Colonel Darling, Sir Henry Berkeley, K.C., Mr. J. P. Braga, Comm
and Mrs. Leiria, Mr. A. M. Thomson, Mrs. and the Misses Loureiro, Mr. and Mrs. F. Browne, Dr. and Mrs. Bell, Mr B. Tanner, Mr. and Mrs. Brewin, Dy. Insp. Surgeon General and Mrs. Tait, Lt. Comdr. Bridgeman, Captain St. Clair, Captain and Miss Armstrong, Captain, Mrs, and Miss. Sayer, Mr. J. H. de Reus, Consul-General for the Netherlands, Mr. C. E. Anton, Mr. R. D. Atkinson, Rev. and Mrs. Hewitt, Mr. Lensman, Mr. W. J. Daniel, Mr and Mrs. Webb, Mr J. Paterson, Mr. A. G. Gordon, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Harston, Dr. Black, Mr. Eldon Potter, Mr. E, Owen, and Mr. H. G. Calthrop.
SMUGGLING OPIUM.
Lance-Sergeant Edwards placed a native, who was arrested on board the s.8. Tean with 100 taels of opium in his possession, before Mr. F. A. azeland at the Magistracy on June 24. It transpired during the hearing of the evidence that the defendant had attached to the box containing the opium a forgery of the opium farmer's mark, and that he intended to smuggle the drug into Manila. His Worship imposed a fine of $500, the alternative being three months' imprisonment.
In another case heard before the same
Magistrate, a long robed gentleman from the north was the defendant. As he was pro- ceeding ashore from the Canton steamer Heungshan on Wednesday night he Was detained while excise officers inspected his box. Four rolls of silver dollars were discovered, and another roll which was a fac-simile of these four. On the paper being removed from this latter roll it was found to be a long tin containing four taels of prepared opium. The man was arrested, and on being taken to the police station paid $200 to bail himself out. When he appeared before his Worship yester- day, he denied that the opium had been found in his box, but the magistrate found that it had, and imposed a fine of $136, in default six weeks' hard labour.
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