The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-13

shame when detected in a lie or in crime, the mutual distsust which per
 vades all classes. the disregard Of prom
 the people on the single idea of economy
 (wbich results, to give an instance Tn perfect readiness to eat diseased meat If 1t is sold fraction cheaper thar good meat. the incapacity of the Chinaman irn ty which has been mistaken by some op- servers for a remarkable fortitude In bearing it), the complete indinerence 70 the misfortunes of others-these things make the administration of a Chinese community difficult in the extreme.
 To give just three instances of ocur- rences in which some of the apove tralts appear. Some years ego there was hours before its arrival the observatory officials issued a warning to all ships ana junks. A police boat was sent TO MITE Bay, where a great many fishing nets are placed under charge of men wno hve m small huts perched on the top of couple of poles right out in deep water. All these men were warned by Chinese police men of the approaching danger ana were advised to leave their huts ana go on shore the launch offering to take them free of charge. Not one of the men fol, lowed this advice; the typhoon came, ana every one of them was drowned It was afterwards explained by their friends on shore that the reason why the men nao
 
 could not conceive of the possibility or
 the government offering to take the men
 on shore free of charge unless sFister
 motive lay behind the act. iunks were wrecked in Hongkong har- bor, and no effort of any kind was made by the Chinese to help one another.
 Drowning people hoated past safely an chored junks. but although numbers coHio have been saved merely by the casting of rope, those on the junks eat still ana calmly watched their fellow men ana Wo-
 men drown. The English were In the
 meanwhile busy at rescue work. one junk was seen to be sinking and number of young men, at the gzeatest personal
 peril made a living cosdon over some
 wreckage and called out to the single
 Chinaman on board that If he was quick
 they might save him. As soon as the
 man had assured himself that the men
 really intended to save him. he disappear ed for a moment and returned with heavy trunk which he said they might
 pass on shore for him first
 Hongkong. and one fishing junk set out with a crew of four or five men to catch fish by means of exploding. dynamite
 under the water. One of the men. In
 mistake and blew off both his hands at | the wrists. His companions sailed over | to a small rock near by, set the man ashore, and left him to die or recover, as might be ms luck. The Hidn uiou, 'hS case came under inquiry, and the China
 men indignantly defended their action on | the ground that If he had only blown ofr l one hand they would have kept nlm on | board, but that as he had lost both his | hands and could thus be of no use at 1 all they had done the only tnlng pos | sible in setting him on shore to die
 The discouraging part or all thls IS | that, as far as one can judge, three nun
 dred and fifty years of contact with the | white man has made no appreclapie | change in the Chinaman. -
 In talking over the matter with one | or two highly educated and widely traV- | eled Chinese gentlemen in Hongkong, l | was told that, with the exception Of a
 mere handful of men In Hongkong and | the Treaty Ports, contact with Western l civilization had absolutely failed to | change a single trait in the Cnlnese | character; that we are as much hateo 1 and despised as ever we were by the
 mass of the people, that as far as the
 present is concerned, the existence or
 ppowerfuI armed forces alone insures the | lives of the foreigners; and that. TOT the | future. the probabilities pointed to the l total exclusion of the foreigners from | China, This they all deplored; but It was | their sincere conviction. | The more we bear these facts !n mlnd | the greater must be our admiration for | Eneland's work in Hongkong. Sne mas l turned a nest of pirates into hourishlpg l city; she has made nfe and property as
 secure there. where there are searcey lWo U | white men in hundred as they are IT | London. and she has done all this almost | within sight of Canton, where today. as | fifty years ago. when foreigner passes l In the streets the people cry, Ah' lor- l eirn devil! foreign devil!