THE FAR EAST.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 104, 25 January 1908, Page 12

THE FAR EAST.

!•-. TALK OF ANTI-BRITISH BOYCOTT. "CHINA FOR THE CHINESE." ' (FROM; OUR SPECIAL:COItBESPONDE!#: | 'pftt, . ;■ Hongkong, December .26. ' Tivo wooks ago: the British Admiral hero' despatched ■' a fleet of .torpedb: , ,.bdat3 ! ; to' the ;West'River,; to suppress pirating : there. Tlio presence; of', these ,'jvar 'yessejs'ihaivgreatly angered the Chinese. .-.Tlio Cantonese object to the supervision of the British Piracy has been rampant m tlio West River •for years, atid gunboats and the Chineso warships have,- apparently, been helpless. ' But the' men: who■know the. Clnneso best smile, and explain ■ is m'ofa in.'.this than : meets-the 0.v0." .It had .been arranged ' that a wellorganised attempt to hunt' dowiv the pirates , should :be' made- by the Customs arid' Chinese war boats. /-But. at once. the!.officials were faced .with; the, loSs; of the-, "squeeze" or bribe that, it is generally agreed: they, extort from , tne' buccaneers for- a - right. to carry on n system of, toll, on -tlio West, River trade. And thoy raised the cry ,of ;,,'fChina . for.:-; the Chinese"—a cry that,, from tlio 'outlook to'day, may . have, a very 1 farrreachiug,';echo., * lowed from the Chinese standpoint tho position is this: The Cantoneso strongly: object .to.allowing tlio.Customs authorities having tlio: sole: patrolling ofthe- West River. It has'to bp. remembered that the.Customs are hbt: ,iii tho ..jurisdiction-.: of )■ tho provincial authorities,-but arc managed direct' from Peking through Sir Robert Hart.': Hitherto ■the.!'Native 1 . v ( essiols, the iChirtese clairii,'have not rccoivod tho same treatment as to ready blearance ,'vthat . craft , flying 1 .'European flags have beeu given. / They argue thatonco the patrolling of tho river is placed in tho hands of. tho Customs, the provincial authorities, will bo powdrloss, and the Customs officials,- Who i.are mostly Europeans, will -be able to- do just' what they like With tho, Cliin-. ese. Mass meetings have been. held at Cantoil to' discuss-, tho matter; and the people appoar s to be ■in cntiro sympathy with tho merchants, who are. the agitators.. Petitions have beeii sent to Peking protesting against f'OrOign powers-being' allowed to'take pari, iil tho Govormhent of the country. Meetings' are,beiiig-hold' every day and resolutions are tiarriod at all to'much the sariio'effcct.' But Hollo' the less the British torpedo : boats are patrolling tho river. For: years the Peking Government* has been calling oil its officials :"to 'deil with' tho pirates," biitT I the "doaling" has been of -'quite a different''nature, to what Peking intended.' Tho" Chinese are very- incensed: at the presence of the 1 - foreign' gunboats; agitators arc making tho most of the opportunity for all anti-foreign War ; cry;: but there is scarcely any warranty for ex-' pecting that the disturbance will spread to: any other district than - Canton.'' * ■

. -PROCLAMATION BY THE VICEROY. ; . The Viceroy of Canton, iu reply' to/petitions received, has. issued the following proclamation :— "Whereas' Cho'cn Chien, a leading, merchant in Canton, and others, have petitioned in.o in regard to the British. patrol of the West "River, and, whereas the 1 petitioners • state that much suspicion , and alarm ,in regard thereto exists among the . people,' arid ask me to issfio a proclamation "warning, the latter against ally violence •or disorder: Be it- thereby known that I have, already ascertained from the British Consul-General that the British ships; are there ■ merely to. exercise . surveillance over British launches, and to watdli against the smuggling of arms, and. that they.,will,,not interfere in matters which, do: not concern (them,. Bo it also known that- I havo already written to the British Consul-General, telegraphed 'to tho offieo of the Minister' in London that they shall move the Foreign jOlTico in London'to immediately order the - withdrawal jof the patrol. Great Britain is one of the great civilised countries of Europe, and is in close friendship.',jvitili v China. Tho .British ships now., patrolling, the West River, do. not meditate anything-, in the nature, of violent aggression. There is therefore no cause for alarm or suspicion, and, in particular, there mUst be no rioting or disorder, which would only-interrupt our friendly relations with Britain and give the latter cause for ; complaint. I.have requested the : immediate withdrawal of tho patrol, and I now. feel it my duty to- issua tlw above .Warning." ' - Thoro has biion raised a cry, "Boycott tho British goods." This togan.has btoi mostly tho voico of Chinese :riative, papers, and but littlo importance' is attached to it. ' Yet strange results conis of war cries in China. ' ' ENCOURACINC TRADE.

_ Merchants in Hongkong: aro complaining bitterly that money is very scaroo, Anil that tho: Chinese, who control business in the East, will not speculate. For a reason for this, ono'llas to go back to of tho Japanese win 1 .; Whilo Vladivosio'ck was besieged a " simple'" Japanese came to Hongkong and pointed out to the Chinese, merchants, what fortunes awaited a man' who eftuld run cargoes to that port. A company was formed as. tho result , of his story, a ship was chartered, and the iirst shipload got through and paid hundreds per, cent. More money was put into tho filibustering concern, for nothing liko a good gamble appeals to tho Chinaman. Alas! though several'more ships woro despatched, nono ever got to Vladivostock, and their cargoes wcro seized by'. Japanese , warships. The Chineso of Hongkong lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and tho depression is directly attributable to the failure of this great gamble. Olid or two merchants wcro ruined; one of tho principal Chinese speculators was tho other day committed to prison as a debtor; and a suicido is traceable to the losses of this 'wild schome for amassing money quickly. To-day tho Chinaman of Hongkong is very chary of speculation, and as a conscquoiico trade is very dull.. In order to attract visitors to the colony tho Chinese last week organised a monster proccssion, with dragons worth thousands of dollars, and Chinftso' bands, and all tho cheap, tawdry tinsels that tho coolies, think a necessity in a Chineso display. Tho moro enlightened Chinese did not approve of the display, but as it had for 0110 of its objects the helping of tho local hospitals, they countenanced it. As a pageant it was disappointing. The promoters, with a laudable aim, included in tho representations a group that were supposed to s depict an opium smoker that had died fronl tho ott'ect3 of his folly. But tho moral of the story was rather lost through tho habit of tho " deadof sitting up and smiling at' his friends in the crowd. A co'olio in a cage was intended to convey to tho Chineso tho lesson that the arm of the law was long, and that iron bars awaited the evil-doer. But the effect of tho Jcsson was marred by the prisoner, who sat in his cage and smoked cigarettes as the bearers carried him by. In spito Of these little side issues tho procession did good,.'for it brought in a sum of 10,000 dols. to the hospitals, and doubtless thore aro hospitals boyond Hongkong that would welcome a similar addition to their funds. CHINA'S RAILWAYS. Tho British and Chineso corporation which is interested in several railways in China states that the progress made in tho construction of tho lino from Shanghai to Nanking necessitated the issue of a further instalment of tho loan, and £050,000 Imperial Chinoso Government bonds woro issued by tho corporation on behalf of tho Government,making tho total amount issued £2,900,000 out of £3,250,000 provided in tho loan ngreomont. Instead of issuing furt.hor bonds tho Chineso Government will provide from funds at its disposal fho capital to complete tho railway, which it is expected will bo finished by the middle of 1908. Tho lino from Canton to connect with the British lino being built in Kon'loon is being surveyed. Negotiations are pending for tho final agreoment for a loan to construct a railway of about 200 miles from Suchu, on tho Shanghai-Nanking lino, to Hanghau and Ningpo. This will develop tho Yangtse Valley railway system.

Dark clothes do not look well in the bright sunshine. Koithor do tho bright scarlets, tho sciearning blue, so much affected by Englishwomen as almost to hall-mark them as English at any distance. Colours that look comfortablo, suitable, in dark groy England, sot .tho tooth on edeo in Italy.—"Guardian."