The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-05-15
GL|MPSES
OF CATHAy
What is Doing in the
Orient.
Off FOR THE MANEUVERS
Incidents Grave and Gay That Make
Up JapaO's Picturesque Ways
Of Living.


In Seoul is said to be money-lending, owing
"a IN. fact tbat interest stands very high
!, 90 -, Loo, an nor cont a yoar ana
~ IL Ut lehst ~ per cent year. anu
those who are astute enough can get as
,nurb as 100 nor cent And vet we are
80, 49,, ii, % ooo ,,o,, ,.,,i a., s,,9oior,
WI" t''"t o"'' 'o''V' '.' VIM w
for the whole city, inhabited as II is by
more than 400 Goa inhabitants showing
-, t,t,t,, q, a. ,,,. -, t,,,t,,os,
~" piii"i''N' 10 ''' S'a'o VI D"Si'i'So
there. Side by side with this high rate of
interest there il another thing which
,,tarsaras oo,,aI,,, ,,,,,b ,ho ao,,a,o,,,,o,,
i"'ei AeicS eiuahS WI" '''e uSNeiOP"'eh'
of business; that is, ginseng transactions.
This business is attended with great risks
but can hiring whom successf,l n nroat
s, p"
Oh even three-lold the pilhclpal, ana TINS
in one season. The unsteady value Of
Korean coins rust also he reyardsd as
- "''' "' "
supplying ahother factor me Nalue Is
constantly huctuating, not only daily but
even hourly the standard of comnarison
it,, Io,,a,,oso ill.,, 100, ,,,,,iai, -.
pciiS 'aPahese SILVER SeH' "hicH may
properly be considered as Koreas curren-
CIV. So singularly sensitive is the rela-
t,,,,,i,, ho,1,a,, ,,,, 49,. 49,, ,,,,,,.,,,..,
bchship oet"eeh 'he 'Wo that whenever
say. 100000 yen of the subsidiary coins are
withdrawn from or produced on the mar
ket, the parity, which is only nominal is
upset at once If one possesses 10 600 ven
i'm Korean coins he can practically con-
troll the market A Japanese contractor
who undertakes a piece of work for the
Korean Government and receives the
payment in coins is I'm Imminent danger
of mourning serious loss unless he
promptly gets the coins exchanged for
silver ven In general the premium on
the silver ven does not fall below 10 per
cent, but this frequently rises to as much
as 40 per cent.
There are already in Seoul three Rus
sian missionaries and they have estab-
ished a temporary church in the prem
ises of the Russian Legation, The other
day all the Korean dignitaries We're in
vited To n banolIet held to commemorate
the opening of the church, and on the
f1tb inst throuph the services of M
Payloff, the three reverend gentlemen
were received in audience by the Emper-
or. The church has already made a large
number of converts.
THE newly started Meiii News Agency
supplies us a queer piece of news in re-
gard 70 the Island of ITl-long Korea the
lease of which by Russia accustomed much
talk last year. The report is to the eff
feet that Russia obtained the privilege
of telling the trees growing in the island
nv having a sum Of 10 OS0 ven to the
Korean Court-the privilege to extend for
thirty vears Russia has discovered as 81
result Of n thorough inspection and sur
yev of the. island that owing chiefiy to
the inaccessibility of the coast the priv
ilige is not worth retaining so that she
sum of On 0O0 Ven But the island being
antireIv ,,seIess from ratepic point OF
view. those who are in a position to
speak with something like authority on
the subject are of opinion that If any
Japanese should he inclined to purchase
the nriviIepe he must regard the trans
action purely as a matter of business;
that is to say, with the view of turning
40 a's and that az, If he shouid pav for the
nrivilepe more than the sum given by
Russia he would incur a loss.
Ms lin The wife of n certain Mr.
Takeda Of Oita prefecture died a short
time ago and while the funeral prepare
tions were going on a terrific thunder
stroke of lightning struck and set on fire
a pile of fuel outside the sorrow stricken
house. The flames thus started threat
ened To lean onto the house itself, but
We're extingtIished lust in time by the
ioinI efforts Of the assembled mourners
and svmnathizers The confusion engen-
dered was naturally very great, but after
order had been restored and while the
PRIEST was proceeding to administer the
last rites to the corpse. having lifted for
that nurpose the lid of the coffin what
was his surprise as well as that of the
whole company to find the coffin empty,
the deceased having evidently walked
away or flown away or disappeared some
how or other during the confusion!
strange to saw no trace of il has so far
been discovered nor explanation forth
coming!
a sum of about 15,O 600 ven is yearly ex-
nended nv the Government towards the
promotion of the fishing industry in Hok-
kaido, where 60 to 20 per cent of the en-
tire nonulation are engaged in fishery
Every YEAR several millions of artificial
" batched salmon and masu are let out
into rivers: and there is a provision to
grant a subsidy of LOCO ven and below
to newly established private piscicultur-
al stations.
Conscrint Motokichi Nakai Is now n
soldier in the Eighth Battalion of the In
fontrv RePiment of the Formosan garri-
son From the DAYS when he lived at
home in NIutsu proyince he has always
been noticed for his filial and loving con-
duct toward his parents Since his en-
Iistment he has added to his reputation
nv being very thrifty, so that he can
send in whole to his father his govern
ment allowances-a practice which he is
stilI keeping up The people of his ma
tive village met in council recently
and in accordance with a resolution they
then passed. have just sent him a purse
of money to show their appreciation of
him.