The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-12-16

] in echelon, go that the men working one 1 gun would infallibly have been killed by the discharge of the next. He de- l monstrated this to the mandarin, who l replied, Yes, some men would nodoubt | be killed, but the shot would reach the
 enemy At another place he found | that the gun was actually loaded in the l magazine, and he said, "If there were any carelessness in sponging the gun
 after firing, the magazine would be l blown up.' The mandarin in charge
 gave him slap on the back, and re-
 piled, You are one of the cleverest men
 have ever met. Gaughter.) The year before last we did fire these guns.
 and we blew up the magazine just as
 you have said. I will show you where 1 1t was" Uaughter) The mandarin
 added that he did not remember how
 many men were killed, but he believed
 that it was fifty. On visiting a certain
 powder mill he pointed out that there
 was great danger in having all the win
 dows open, lest dust should get on the grinding wheel and by friction cause
 an explosion
 The mandarin replied: Yes, it blew up like that last year. This is the new Pleitc we nave Dulll SllC6. ueSG AHl-
 nese were excellent mechanical work
 men if they had good foremen over
 them. At one of the arsenals' he met with great civility. His advice was asked and was given. He went into
 one shop where there was no European
 supervision, and found that the man
 boring sixpounder gun did not know
 how to arrange his speed and feel gear
 ing for the steam tools He adjusted
 the machine and set it going properly.
 The workmen gathered in corner and
 talked eXcitedly. He asked what they
 were saying, and the answer was:
 They are saying that England pro- duces the most wonderful mandarins in the world. Uaughter) We have many, but there is. not one of them who understands a bit about the machinery in the shop" Another opening for the
 mechanical engineer was to establish himself as an agent for the British ma
 chinery in the foreign settlements and concessions. Over and over again he saw British machinery with the name plate removed and German and Bel gian names substituted. The Chinese preferred to buy their machinery through lccal agents, who understood it. There was an immediate necessity for British firms to establish an exhibition of British machinery in China with en- gineers to explain it's capabilities. The Chinese were practical, and if they saw what machinery could do they would often buy. Americans and Germans took great pains to find what the peo- pie wanted and to supply it. The Brit ish manufacturer was too apt to sup ply what he thought the people ought to want. The Americans too were ahead of us in adopting all the latest inn provements in machinery, By far the most important point for the mechani cal engineer, however, was the learning | of Chinese, and that could only proper ly be done by establishing a school of mechanical engineehs in Hong Kong. He had great hopes that the four coun- tries which had trade with China-Ja- | pan, America. Great Britain and Ger many--would come to an understanding i for maintaining the integrity of China | and the open door. (CheersO France | and Russia had no trade with China | The whole of the Russian trade with | Manchuria last year consisted of two | cargoes of seaweed. Naughter) If | everybody were given fair chance, | and things went as they usually did, | we should get the best of it." Uaugh- ter and loud cheers .)-London Times.