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and there are the railways, but between the two there is a great gulf fixed, and goods and pass ngers have to get from one to the other by such means as were available in China seventy years ago. The China Merchants. Co. are certainly in no way responsible for the difficulty. If there be any fault between the two, it is certainly on the part of the railways. Why do they not run their trucks on to the wharves? The steames will be only too glad to go along
•side and co-operate.
We begin to see from the other Notice some part of the reason, though by no means the whole. The President of the Board has been making his plaint that it pains him to think that China's means of communication, which, as he truly states, are the very life of country, are almost all in the hands of foreigners. But why should they be in the hands of foreigners? The fault is certainly not that of the foreignere, but lies in the Reactionary Party in Chiua herself. The impassable barrier that blocks the balf mile between the Kacch'ang terminus of the Kiangsu Railway and the Namteo Wharves at Shanghai, certainly was never raised by the foreigner. Good communications, as the President of the Board rightly savs, are the very li e-blood of a cuntry, and the President will acknowledge that to the foreigner all these-nay, te Board of Communications and its President them- selves are due. In the interest of all, of China and the Chinese, as well as of himself, the foreigner has for the last fifty years' been pressing these truths on the Chinese. He has never denied that they were in his own interest, nor asked credit for a quixotic But he philanthropy he did not posses. stated in as many words, that in thus bene fitting himself he aided China tenfold; it was neither his desire nor his interest to claim any special rights for himself; the general improvement of his trade was ample reward.
That the unremitting efforts of the foreigner to induce China to reform herself. has resulted in the enormous advance of China as a nation, even she cannot deny nor explain away. Of all the many abuses in China against none has the foreigner set (his face so hard as likin, which he has ever pointed out, by striking at the root of her communications, has all the while been draining her of her life-blood. It is some slight consolation that this truth has as yet, it is true in but uncertain accents,- commenced to impress itself on the Govern- ment itself. It is likin that is at the root of all these obstructions which prevent China from deriving the full benefit, and in some cases, as in the case of the Nanking Railway, of deriving any benefit from her steamers and her ailways. Unfortunately, the school of statesmen, who see in the ruin of their neighbours their own prosperity, has ever been in the ascendant in China. The President of the Board of Posts and Communications likes to think that if he only could get rid of the foreigner his Posts and Railways would flourish as they never had flourished before: this is trying to drive the mill quicker by diverting the mill race, or building his railways and forgetting his termini. Such, it is true, was the practice of China in the days of KIA K'ING or HIEN FENG; and such it would be again were the Pre-ident to restore the posit on, and get rid of the foreigner. He reasons correctly that the Communications are the circulating blood that drives the machinery of State, yet he cannot follow up his own argument, that the absence of the corpuscles that animate the circulation would render use- less the circulation, and bring back again the ages of anaemia, from which China,
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
|
[August 30, 1909.
thanks to the presence of the foreigner, | consolation in the fact that he goes from a colonial appointment to one of great Imperial has hardly as yet escaped.
till the importance where his experience will prove of The foreigner is needed
It may be that he has been considerable value without líkin strangulatina be abolished; him China can never accomplish the task. brought back to London to undergo a course of When likin has been ablished, and the training with a view to future advancement, or it may be that he returns to England in order circulation restored to a healthy sondition, to be near his mother who is in failing health. China will of her own experience recognise At anyrate we feel sure that the abilities and how necessary in commerce are the two experience of our ex-Governor will not be elements, the buyer as well as the seller: it overlooked. is the forgetfulness of this fact, and the attempt to find a stream of commercial profit carrying its benefits all in the one direction, that has been the the stagnation of the life-blood. China could possibly attract to her shores all the wealth of the world, and were to close the ways of exit, she would be none the richer for the accumulation. This is one of the fundamental truths of political economy. China sees but half the truth; the way Our and the way IN are hoth equally essential for the circulation. The foreigner is as necessary as the China- man, each in his way, to whole-some circula- tion.
cause
RANDOM REFLECTIONS.
of
If
August is maintaining its reputation for Usually they go immunity from typhoons. north at this time of the year, but they get back as a rule in September. They are not welcome visitors at any time.
It transpired during the course of a trial at the Supreme Court this week that when a certain man received an injury, one of his companions applied a piece of tobacco to the part afflicted. Probably this is a cure imported from home, where the horny-handed son of toil frequently uses tobacco leaf to heal and to protect an injury, especially a finger. It is somewhat heroic, but its results seem to give satisfaction. At any rate it is less severe than the methods of the Chinese who apply pepper to a cut. Ugh!
*
Last week I suggested a preference for the Scotch bath. This week I find myself regarding with some favour the Scotch jury system. The thought arose when I read the report of the murder trial on Thursday, with the disagree. ment of the jury and the discharge of the prisoner. In this case the seven men were unable to arrive at a unanimous finding, and the Court, being unable to accept a majority verdict, could only discharge the jury. the Chief Justice not suggested to the Attorney. General that the case against the prisoner was
Had
rather weak it would have meant a re-trial. It is remarkable that the advantage of the Scotch jury system with its majority verdict should not have impressed our law-makers ere this, but probably when common-sense leavens law this desirable change may be effected.
*
*
It seems remarkable that only one unofficial member of the licencing body should have attended the meeting held on Friday to consider the application of Mr. Bertelone for an adjunct licence for premises in York Buildings. The matter was of no little public importance, and the discussion of the application might very well have taken place in open court so that the reasons for and against the proposition would become generally known. That only one J. P. should attend such an important meeting seems to strengthen the hands of the Government in their legislative proposals for the transfer of the licencing authority to the Captain Superin- tendent of Police. What excuse have the unofficial J. P's to make?
Hongkong residents were interested to learn, of the new appointment offered to our old Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan. At first sight it looks as if Sir atthew was enjoying a sories. of Irish rises, for he left here to take up a more important office in Natal, to which less salary attached than the Governorship of Hongkong, and now he becomes Secretary of the General Post Office, where his remuneration will be smaller than in Natal But perhaps there is
In the bathing season, it is perhaps not in. appropriate to refer to the need for looking after the limited bathing areas now possessed by the
The Colony.
nice beach which Kowloon residents once enjoyed has been lost as the result of railway operations, and Stonecutters' and Laichikok are the only places of easy access which remain. The beach at West Point, just beyond the tramway terminus, might be made a good bathing area-a place appreciat ed by those not able to afford launch transports- tion-if the rocks and stones were removed, and though this not the time nor place to advocate additional expenditure the Government might be well advised to spend a hundred dollars or so in this direction. The result would be to bring sea bathing within the reach of a greater number of residents. On the eastern side near Belle Vue Hotel, a very little outlay would give additional bathing facilities there. The matter, though comparatively small, is one which should not be overlooked by the Government.
*
Can you imagine a sane man entering into matrimony and agreeing to the elimination of the word "obey" from the marriage service P This was the feature of a recent wedding at a Wesleyan chapel at Wandsworth, and as a mere man, jealous of all masculine privileges, I may be pardoned for expressing the hope that this innovation will not be universally adopted. It is only a young man in the ecstasy of pre-nuptial consent to the omission of such an important contemplation of prospective joys who would word from the service. A man with an ex-
perience of matrimony would know better.
*
I heard a good story related the other day of one of our missionary friends. His wife died last year and he was inconsolable. However, he decided to wed again, and when a friend asked who was to officiate. a wag replied," Dr. So and So is in the habit of marrying him." to say, the story is American.
Needless
The day of the Directoire is done. Ladies need no longer seek to attain that degree of attenuation known as the Directoire figure. They may now deal with themselves generously. They must henceforth assume ample propor. tions, and change of figure means change of diot, or change of diet means change of figure. You may have it whichever way you like. "Women," I read, “who are striving after a more generous outline are drinking buttermilk and honey at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Flaked nuts in the form of prepared sweet- meats or as an ingredient of various cakes is another agency which is being tried by many women." Heavens, what a breakfast! Butter- milk and honey! But the most interesting part is that the insect-like lady, the creature al- most bisected in the middle, has contracted her- self for only a temporary glory. The small waist is no longer the ne plus ultra of feminine grace. What is wanted is "substantial wastes-pardon, waists-and if ladies find nature somewhat diffident, they are permitted to pad their corsets until they have produced a circumference of twenty-four inches. He is a greedy men who wouldn't be satisfied with twenty-four inches. To say two feet would be to court misunder- standing.
"
*
A fortnight ago I referred to the objections from a sanitary point of view of drinking from glasses, and pointed to the advantage of using vessels with handles, thereby avoiding the con- tact of the hands on the rim of the glass where the drinker naturally put his lips. Since then a correspondent has informed me of a Dutch invention by which ice glasses are used. The "glass" is frozen in a mould and retains its form for an hour before it begins to melt. When the drink is consumed the "glasses" are thrown away. As the cost is a trifle more than the same
i
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