Under the above title the Imperial Maritime Customs propose to continue and per: petuate the ancient, blockade of Hongkong. 'A priclumation to Chinese junks and vessels notifies that the Governor of Kuangtung has instructed the magistrates of the Sun On and Heungshan districts to consult with the Customs Commissioners at Kow-Toon (no longer in existence) and Lappa, and select suitable sites on Taichwu, Lin tin, Tungho, Sayucheung, and Sxnmun Island for the establishment of Custom houses, It is reported thut the buildings for these stations are nearly completed, and the Governor, jointly with the Superintendent of Customs, issues a notice to inform the public that the name of the Kowloon Customs is to be changed to the "New Kowloon Custo As this shows a deplorable lack of originality on the part of these two functionaries, and as it is not consistent with truth or with fact, it is to be hoped that they will be called upon to exercise their meagre wit to discover a title more in accordance with fact and common-sense. The people and Government of this Colony, which now embraces the whole of Kowloon, will generally object to. the Customs Stations on the frontiers being called the Kowloon Customs, No doubt Mr. Lockhart, or some of our officials, ein present the Customs authorities with an idea on the subject, but in the meantime the Intter are welcome to the following suggestion—namely, that they be called the Lintin Customs. Lintin is a well Known—I might say notorious—islaud, and itis a good enough name to date from.
Hongkong;.28rd September.
As an exrnest of the resolute determination of the British Government. not to make any concession on this point, the occasion has been taken to publish in the form of a Parliamentary Paper all. the patches which have passed be-1 Govern-subject of th These dispatches unfold completely the desperate attempts which have been made by President Kriiger and his Ministers to use the present crisis as a means of i it absolute independence of They cannot, of course, deny that under the Convention of 1884 the London Convention "—-Great Britain has a right to veto any treaty into which the Transvaal may enter with a Foreign Power; but they contend nevertheless, with Some ingenuity, that by that Convention the suzerainty of Great Britain was entirely abolished. But Mr. Chamberlain completely demolishes their arguments. The position was very clearly stated at the time in the House of Lords by the then Colonial Minister, the late Earl of Derby; and as he wasa Liberal member of Mr. Gladstone's Liberal Government his utterance has all the more force in binding both political bodies this country to-day. Lord Derby admitted that.in order to appease the susceptibilities of the Boers and promote good feeling, the word suzerainty" was avoided. "But [apprehend," he said, whether you call it a Protectorate, or a Suzerainty, or the recognition of England as a Paramount Power, the fact is that " certain contralling power is retained when the State which ex-reises this suzerainty has a right to veto any negotiations with which the dependent state may enter with Foreign Powers. Whaterer 'Suzorainty' meant in the Convention of Pretoria, the condition of things which it implied still remains although the word is not actually employed, we have kept the substance."
WAR PREPARATIONS, This is all that Mr. Chamberlain is contending for to-day. The British Government has no desire to interfere in the internal administration of the Transvaal so long as the interests of Great Britain and the rights of British subjects are not dis garded in flagrant defiance wf undertakin: into which the Transvaal entered at the time of the Convention. And suzerainty or no suzerainty the British Government has aright and a duty to interfere to this tent. It is clear from the dispatches that Lord Sulisbury's Government are resolved to insist on this right and to carry out this duty; and unless the Transvaal withdraws the impossible conditions which she is reported to attach to her concessions war must be the result. Happily there is no reason to abandon the hope that the Boers recognise the folly of resistance. But meanwhile war preparations are going on apace both-here-and in.the Transvaal, It is too soon yet to judge of the effect of the Archbishop's decision against the legality of ceremonial incense and process sional candles; but the "Protestant" party, and, indeed, all whose main desire is to see the end of this ritualistic dispute, have been. gratified by the issue of a circular letter from the Bishop of London to the rural deans of his diocese asking them to convey to all the clergy in their deaneries who have introduced these usages into their service thy Bishop's request that they will abandon them. Up to the present very little practical notice has been taken by the ritualistic clergy of the Archbishop's deci They had, however, a perfect right to wait. till they received a formal intimation from their own bishops on the subject. Bishop Creighton is known to have greater sympathy with the ritualists than most of his that he ha- taken loyal and energetic action brothers on the episcopal bench; and now in the matter the others will doubtless follow his example. We shall then see how many of the ritualistic d will prove defiant. According to the Record there are 289 Churches in England in which incense is used, 46 of these being in the diocese of London, 21 in York, 17 in St. Albans, and 15 in Norwich, the numbers diminishing until in the. Soe of Carlisle alone there are none. cRIcKET.
County Cricket has made some amends in its interest for the disappointment of the All England and Australia matches. With this dry season it has, of course, been a batsman's year, and although it has yet a jood fortnight to run Prince Ranjitsinhji 3 already beaten his own world's record for the greatest number of runs scored in season. And there have naturally been a large proportion of drawn matches; but there have been some fine matches. This week the cham: ion Yorkshire, suffering defeat at the hands of Kent, has lost its leading position and Surrey has gone to the top, M ite ex being a good third, and'Lancashire not yet quite out of the running for the championship. There was unfortunately a discreditable scene at Lord's on Monday, when the onlookers, irritated by the stone-walling " of certain of the-Australian, hooted and misbehaved themselves to such an extent that for a little while'play 2 good effect. Dasling, the principal otfenhad to be stopped. But, the incident: had der, played up much more briskly afterwards, and the chanze of tactics was justified by a brilliant victory over Middlesex on the second day. The newspapers -are still full of letters suggesting means of preventing so many drawa matches, such as reducing the size of the bat or increasing that of the wicket. Perhaps: the difficulty might be partly z: ct, and the interest of the game for onlov.crs increased,.ifa **time limit" like that in chess. matches were introduced, so. that a player who.fsiled
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.