Evening star., 1900-07-07

This was Chinese acuteness. So conscious
Is the celestial of his own commercial abfI
lty that thirty years ago a Pekin official
SAID To an American traveller: 'Fuclishuaan
ana Meliran man come here make,. his-
plusin: bimeby long come German man
some Time You makee see Chinese. ,-at,e
everything up "a prediction which is be-
ing tuihiIed everywhere in the far east
and the archipelago
The Chinese are not so r,,Icb Iay.-.t.tyl;.
as law-evading- They never know ANY,
thing they do not wish To know ana D,n,
can be denser than they when they chonss
MOI SO long ago Chinese was summoned
to a Melbourne police court for hin, -
possession Of a tenement unfit for human
habitation The case was clearly nrov..d
ana he was fined I'll But I'm no way could
ne De made to understand that a tiu.. had
been inflicted He sat in his nlsca as i,,,
perturbable and eNpressionless as only the
aimond-eyed can sit. and all that the
court could get out of him was, MY no
saNFy, no savyy. After saying this in a
tone of hopeless resignation he rsIan.5
into stolidity. Hereupon rose a well-knnDn
lawyer With your worships permission"
ne saio. think L can make the China
man understand. He was permitted To
try Striding up to the poor celestial be
shouted to him. John. you are fined two
pounds. NO dam fear cried the Asian
mystery, with an indescriba BILE exnrassinn
only one" The word dam" so fire.
quently used by the Chinese is a legacy OF
the days when hard swearing was a mora
iashlonable western accomplishment than
Ii Is now. They use IL without the slight
est Idea what II means. For instance q
Chinese cook in Sydney. when APPLYING for
situation, concluded long list of oualt-
hcations by the startling announcement:
MY Clistfan man. mum, nv eat beef. INV
say goddam." D.. Morrison saws h,s - 80
ban could say in English, or pidgin. chow.
slt down, all right, one piece and goddamh
This last exotic he had been led to con-
slider as synonymous with very good
1he passive resist Of
as remarkable in the government as in the
individual During the reign Of one of the
greatest of their rulers. who died in I123
the patriotic pirate KoNinga rayaged the
coasts of Rwang-tung and Fu-kein. and
proved so strong that the imperial junks
We're unable to cope with him In these cir
cuinstances the emperor hit upon the
happy eXpedient of ordering all he nanu1a
nhabiting the southern seaboard to retire
inland nine miles. This extraordinary
command was not only obeyed. but il an
sWered Its purpose KoXfng5. ba fled In
MS plans, contented himself with driving
the Dutch out of eOrmosa and WAS .yen-
tually ennobled under the title of the ..Sea-
quelling Duke by which means he was
transformed into a peacable and law
abiding subject The author Of the Mid
die Kingdom" commenting on this incl
dent. says that a power strong enough to
compel an enormous population to leave
their villages and towns ought to have
Deen strong enough TO equip fleet and
crush the pirates. Only that the results
ef Just such topsy-turvy met hods of gov
eminent are the latest pews from the
east. the whole story might be regarded sss
myth.
Most Of the policemen in Australia are
lrfshmen. whose genius for humorous
numbering loses nothing of its quality un-
der the Southern Cross. Here Is an in
stance. Many Chinese names are remf-
n.scent of burlesque, and are probabIy
merely barbarian caricatures Of the orig
lnals- OF these Foug Fat All Su and All
FOO are the most common A newly-ap-
pointed crier In a county court was ordered
by the Judge, in A case in which a Chinese
was a witness, to call for All Song The
son OF Erin looked puzzled. ard darted a
look at the bench to try and discover il
this was colonial joke hut seeing the
Jucge as grave as an undertaken, he turned
to the audience and blandly inquired Gin
tlemen. VIII any of you favor his honor
with song?' In another court a new
representative of the majesty OF the law
was ordered by the magistrate to go in
search of the official interpreter whose
ma anne was All Kat. Constable go for An
Kat. Yes. your worship. Is il a tom
cat your worship wishes for?'' There is A
town in New Zealand so Scottish Il might
be situated in Scotland Some rfrn.. ago
the city council decided To undertake. a
publlc work in connection with a recla-
nation, and invited tenders. The one they
accepted was sent in by a contractor
named Macphea rson. who was not
known TO anybody present On expressing
a desire to him, a Chinese appeared
and. being asked why he had come an
swered: Me Macpherson. your honor ="
Utter collapse of the city fathers,