84
FAR EASTERN QUESTIONS IN
PARLIAMENT.
BIR ROBERT HART.
Mr W. Redmond (Clare, E., Nat.) asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he had any information as to the appointment of a successor to Sir Robert Hart in China, or whether it was the intention of Sir Robert Hart to continue in the office.
Sir E. Grey. I understand that Sir Robert Hart has applied to the Chinese Government for a year's extension of leave, and for the pre- sent, therefore, I have no information to give as regards the appointment of a successor to his post.
Major Anstruther-Gray (St. Andrews Burghs, Opp.). Are we to understand that the Chinese Government have furnished no informa- tion as to who is to succeed Sir Robert Hart, temporarily I mean, during his leave?
Sir E. Grey.-There is somebody acting, and he has been acting for a year, while Sir Robert Hart has been away.
OPTUM AND GAMBLING DENS IN NORTH BORNEO.
Mr. T. C. Taylor (Lancashire, S.E. Radcliffe, Min.) asked the Under Secretary for the Colonies whether it was with the sanction of the Secretary of State that the Government of North Borneo had recently advertised for tenders for the farming out for the years 1910,1911 and 1912 of licences, not only for the sale of spirits and pawnbrok. ing, but also for the carrying on of opiam dens and gambling houses; and whether he would take steps at once to prevent the issue of new licences to opium dens and gambling house.
Colonel Seely (Liverpool, Abercromby, Min.) -No, Sir; the Secretary of State has no official cognizance of the subject matter of the question, and has certainly given no sanction to anything of the kind. The territory of North Borneo is in reality governed by a company, and I gather that the charter of incorporation would not preclude that company from advertising for tenders for the farming of opium.
Mr. T. C. Taylor asked whether steps could be taken to prevent the licensing by British Colonies of the businesses of opium and gambl. ing dens.
Colonel Seely said it was a difficult matter to decide exactly how far the Government had power. But the question was too large to deal with by means of question and answer.
Mr. C. Wason (Orkney and Shetland, Min.). Are the Governors appointed by the Colonial Office?
Colonel Seely said he did not know how the question stood, but our control was more limited that in the case of an ordinary Colony.
Mr. Smeaton (Stirlingshire, Min.). -Is it the case that the opium farmer and the lessee of the gambling dens are one and the same person?
Colonel Seely.-I do not know.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
FOREIGNER KIDNAPPED...
BRIGANDAGE BECOMING SERIOUS IN TONKIN.
Painful news from Toukin reached Saigon on the 6th inst.. when word came that M. Voisin, & prominent French resident at Hanoi, had just been kidnapped by brigands, who had sent a message that they would strike off his head at the first shot fired at them. The Government retorted by holding several leading brigand prisoners as security for the life of the captive. The brigands belonged to the bands of De-Tham, a famous outlaw chieftain. A party of outlaws commanded by Carinh, one of De-Tham's sons, waylaid M. Voisin who was passing in a ricksha. He offered a stout resistance and killed a brigand with a revolver shot. The brigands soon overpowered and bound him. The puller was bounded but escaped with his life. M. Voisin was carried off, his captors allowing him to write to the nearest official,
A resolu-
[July 24, 1909.
FAR EASTERN TELEGRAMS.
JAPANESE MINISTER TO AMERICA
RECALLED.
Tokyo, July 2 th. Baron Takahira, the Japanese Minister at Washington, has been recalled, and is en route for Japan.
THE STRIKE IN HAWAII.
Tokyo, July 20th. The strike situation in Hawaii is becoming worse.
The Japanese Consul, in attempting to reason with the strikers, was roughly handled.
FORCED MARCHES IN JAPAN
A HEAVY CASUALTY LIST.
JAPANESE CAPITAL INVESTED IN CHINA.
Shortly afterwards, two other foreign resi-
Tokyo, July 20th. dents passed by the scene of the outrage in a Twelve deaths have occurred, and hundreds of motor car, and had a narrow escape from soldiers have been invalided, as the result of capture. They were fired upon by the outlaws. forced summer marches by regiments in various The brigands and their captive soon disap-parts of the country.
a tremendous peared. These events aroused sensation at Hahoi, where, on the 6th inst., a public meeting was held to consider the situa tion. About 400 persons attended and it was unanimously decided to establish a league for
A well-known journalist Mr. Ishikawa Yasu- the protection of French interests. tion was also passed calling upon the governjiro, formerly editor of the Mainichi Shimbun, ment to take sharp measures for the liberation has just returned to Tokyo from a visit to China, of M Voisin and for rooting out brigandage where he collected some interesting information. utterly.
The Keizai Zasshi quotes him as saying that in order to be as well furnished as Japan, propor tionately, with means of communication China must have 60,000 miles of railway, or about ten times the mileage now in operation in Japan, whereas she has only 3,000. Inasmuch, how. ever, as foreign capitalists are competing keenly to obtain railway concessions and are evidently willing to invest large sums in this kind of enterprise, China will be probably well sup- plied before many years have passed. Mr. Ishi- kawa found that wherever he went in China
The situation is indeed such as to arouse in tense public indignation. Early this year, troops moved into the brigand country and hunted the outlaws down. But soon the home government shrank from stern measures and would not hear of shooting the brigands down. It was decided to surround the outlaws and starve them out. The outlaws retreated into the wilds, and bided their time which soon came when the troops were withdrawn, and many outposts were evacuated.
This was done to
show that order had been restored in Upper Tonkin. De Tham and his men have proved the contrary by sallying out of their fastnesses, and raiding the neighbourhood.
A COSTLY AMERICAN HOLIDAY.
An urgent need of a definite control and wise direction of the popular use of the Fourth of July is emphasized by William Orr, in the Atlantic. He quotes the following figures from the Chicago Tribune as eloquent in their warning, telling their own story of an insensate and reckless abuse of the day's privileges:
Dead. Wounded.
72
2730
1908
1907
58
3807
THE IMPERIAL MARITIME CUSTOMS.
1906
51
3551
1905
59
3169
1904
58
3049
1903
52
3865
E. Bernadsky, Assistant, Harbin, transfor red to Peking.
The following list of recent transfers in the service was made up to June 28th :--
1902
2796
1901
35
1803
1900
2707
33
1742
A. W. Holstein, Tientsin, transferred to Harbin,
A. P. S. Moss, Newchwang, transferred to Tientsin.
J. W. Richardson, Kiukiang, transferred to Amoy as acting Deputy Commissioner.
A. Machie, Shanghai, transferred to Kiu- kiang.
C. A. McAllum, Hankow, transferred to Canton, as acting Deputy Commissioner. (out door.)
1899
308
29.085
That these statistics, gathered by July 6th, are below the real totals is seen from the tabula tions of the Journal of the American Medical Association made in August, when tetanus has
had time to do its dire work:
Dead. Wounded. Tot. Tetanus.
163 5460 5623 55 164 4249 4413 62 5308 5466 75
1908
1907
8. F. Grainger, returned from leave, trans- ferred to Shanghai.
J. Steinacher, Harbin, to be acting tide-sur- veyor, Harbin.
1906
158
1905
182
4994
1904
183
1903
J. Lourreiro, Shanghai, transferred to Mentsz. F. W. Rowland, assistant examiner, Ningpo, to be examiner, Ningpo.
E. A. Strehlneek assistant examiner, Tientsin to be examiner, Harbin.
G. W. R. McKie, transferred from Mentsz to Shanghai.
4
5176 87 3986 4169 91 466 3983 4449 406
Totals
1316 27980 29296 776 Surely the sorrow, suffering and mutilation here represented, Mr. Orr concludes, mock the claim that July Fourth, as at present observed, is in any sense a festal day; rather is it a day of terror, anxiety and dread.
Japanese subjects constituted a large element of the foreign population. Thus at Tientsin there are 1,800 Japanese; at Peking 8000; at Hankow 1,500; and at Shanghai 7,000. If they are conspicuous by their number, however, they are also conspicuous by their comparative poverty. Thus in Shanghai, although out of a total foreign population of 14,500 the Japanese aggregate 7,000, there are only 100 among them who pay rates qualifying them to vote at the election of members of the Municipal Council. It results that Japan is wholly unrepresented on that body. As for capital invested by Japanese, there also the figures are discouraging. The principal enterprises with which they are con- cerned are not numerous. In the Tara iron mine they have about 3 million yen. This money is to be repaid with ore taken from the mine during 30 years, 5 or 6 of which have the Hanying already passed. Again in Foundry the Specie Bank has 2 million and the Mitsui Firm one million, but as 300,000 of the latter sum has been paid back, the amount actually outstanding is only 2,700,000. In the Ping-Hsiang colliery the Okura Company has sunk 1,200,000 yen, and altogether, including Shanghai, Hankow and other tradal centres, Japanese investments in China probably ag- gregate 20 million yen, Contrasting these fig- ures with the fact that France and England are about to invest from 30 to 40 million yen in the Yeh-Han and other railways in the Yangtze valley, it is evident that Japan cannot hope to
take her due share of Chinese commerce without sinking much larger sums of capital-
The year 1908 was not a prosperous one for mining in Malaya owing to the low prices pre- vailing for tin,
•
Prince Ching is using his best endeavours to raise money for the relief of the distressed Besides subscribing five people in Kansu. thousand taels himself, he has asked Princes Su and Li and other distinguished men to subscribe according to their means and has proposed to form a Relief Committee in Peking to raise subscriptions from all classes of the community.
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