Commerce holds its annual meeting in Hongkong to-day, and the report of the committee for 1889 is reprinted in a recent number of the Datly Press. One of the most important paragraphs in it is put right at the end of the report, the one referring to the "alleged contemplated convention between the telegraph companies and the Chinese government," though why it should be called "alleged" is not very clear. It was not only actually contemplated, but has been so vigorously pushed that its authors even went so far some little time ago, as to get it stated in some of our contemporaries that it was actually ratified; the facts being, as is pointed out by "Equity" in another column, that of the convention itself and its Russian rider, only the latter has ever been signed even by Li Hung-chang, and that the Russian government declined to ratify. We trust that all those who have successfully opposed the convention hitherto will continue their opposition to "a compact"—to use the words of the Hongkong Chamber's report—" detrimental to commercial interests generally and which has, apparent-the maintenance of a Tigh tariff." In ly, for its object a long monopoly and
the face of the probability mentioned by the Calcutta Statesman that in the near future a through land line of telegraph between India and China will be opened, which will be able to take messages at cheaper rates than those which of necessity are charged over long stretches of cable, it is to be hoped that everything possible would still be done if it were necessary, which we are glad to believe it is not, to discourage the Chinese government from bartering for the paltry compensation offered by the cable companies its right to a large share of this trafic, and confirming the latter in the monopoly they are so anxious to maintain.
Reverting t6 the beginning of the report, we find the Committee congra-tularing themselves with justice on the intended termination on the 30th of April next of the special privileges hitherto granted in British Colonial waters to foreign mail steamers. These privileges were reasonable perhaps in the days when the mail steamers were devoted almost exclusively to the carriage of mails and passengers; they are unreasonable when these packets compete, as they now do, with the cargo steamers, and their chief use has been to shelter fugitives from justice. The Chamber does a work in which we are all interested when it draws attention to the mistake made by the British goverument in withdrawing the surveying vessel Hambler from the coast, and we are glad to see that it has been given to understand that another surveying vessel is already under orders for the China station. We are naturally proud to feel that the greater part of the surveying work in the world has been done by our countrymen; so much so that when the Russian flagship went on the rocks near Vladivostock a little while ago, her captain complained that it was the fault of the British sailing directions which he was following, and which told him to be careful not to keep too near to the other side of the channel. We have no sympathy with the enquiry that is sometimes querulously made, "Why should England take all this trouble In China at any rate, because Great and Greater Britain still do four-fifths of the sea-borne trade. The paragraph that follows on "'The Piunade Rock Fund" is a rider to this. This fund, which now amounts to $2,245, is destined as the source from which rewards are paid to native fishermen and others for pointing out unmarked dangers on the coast. The report tells us that though only one jiunacle rock has been identified so far by this means, Captain Moore of H.MS. Hambler was confident of its value, and the Hydrographic Depart ment at Whitehall specially marked its appreciation of the action of the Chamber by tendering thanks for what had been done.
The paragraph on the Fees to Special j Jurors has not much interest to us here, where jury cases are rare and special juries unknown; it is surprising how much more litigation there is in Hongkong than in Shanghai. To the question of nonfulfilment of contracts by Chinese buyers of imports, which is the subject of the next paragraph, we hope to refer separately hereafter. The Committee next take up the subject of Storm Wamings. It Tras been objected more than once in the southern colony thatthe government observer, Dr. Doberck, occupies himself more with astronomy
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.