The Chinese Dead.

Manawatu Herald, 25 October 1902, Page 2

The Chinese Dead.

On Saturday evening Messrs John Mill and Co.'s steamer Ventnot will leave her anchorage in the stream and steam away for Hongkong carrying 684 coffins containing bodies and bones of Chinamen who have died in a foreign country, and which are being taken to a last sleeping place in their motherland to satisfy the demands of their religion and a wish natural to men of all nationalities.

Most of the dead that are being taken away were members of the Chong Shin Tong Society. The agreement between the Society and Messrs John Mill and Co., as agents for the charterers, provides that a health certificate as required by law, and all necessary permits to land the coffins at Hongkong shall be obtained by the Society. The coffins are not to be transhipped or disturbed after leaving Wellington, under a penalty of £IOOO, unless such transhipments or disturbance shall be rendered

necessary by perils of the sea, or unavoidable accident. They must be carried on the ’tween decks of the steamer (which has been fitted lor the purpose by Mr Wilson, of Port Chalmers, foreman carpenter for Messrs John Mill and Co.), tier upon tier, and heads to the bow. Practically, the coffins are all placed in pigeon-holes, space being left for the body servants, of which there are six, to walk between and to perform rites pertaining to the religion of Confucius. Luxurious quarters have been fitted for the servants on the poop deck. The coffins of the dead outside the pale of the Chong Shin Tong Society have to be stowed apart from the others, and there is a separate compartment for the casket in which is the body of Sew Hoy, ft former prominent Dunedin merchant. His son, Mr Kum Boy Sew Hoy, will superintend the stowage of hitf father’s coffin. He is Secretary of the Chong Shin Tong Society, and has been the leading spirit in the shipment of his dead countrymen. Educated at Dunedin University, be is a cultured scholar, and speaks English fluently. Captain Ferry, commander of the Yentnor, has been employed in the transhipping of Chinese bodies from various places in the East, and his vessel is one of the very few which has been permitted by the Chong Shin Tong Society to fly tho dragon flag.—-Post.