To the Editor of the "Noxta-Curxa Dany News."
Sir—In reply to " One Who Was There," j Who attempted, as he says, "to be a little more explicit" in your paper of the 4th inst. about a Chinese coolie who was punished at the Wukang yamen for breaking and causing others to break an official contract, please allow me space enough to set a fair-minded public right about the matter. Before any agreement was arrived at in Sangyaobu for chair coolies and carrie ers, all who visited Mokanshan were at the mercy of an opium-besotted crowd from the local hongs.
'The writer has' seen whole families (not always missionaries either) delayed for hours in the hot sun on the canal banks, while the haggling went on, and even when overlaid, the men would suit their own convenience about starting. To obviate this a rest-house was built by the associated visitors, the village gentry invited to write and the local tip aus paid to become middlemen in a fair and formal contract duly signed by the head carriers and chairmen, The rates were liberal enough, about thirty per cent advance over prices paid by Chinese passengers. The conditions were not hard, the average load for one man is in China 100 catties. If paid by weight many coolies will load up to 160 catties. Now the contract specified that Basseugers weighing up to 150 catties (ie, 200 pounds) should be carried by two stair-bearers; beyond that weight extra men should be called in. As to the chairs, they are of light constriction, from twenty to fifty pounds, so that the maximum weight for two bearers would be 250 pounds, which, of course very rarely happens. The rates printed in Chinese and English were posted so that all could know them. The arrangement worked very well until some foreigners, more liberal than to give extra pay. Then the carriers began to request and later to demand that adult passengers should get out and walk in certain places. Thoughtless people, robust perhaps, and, not Inoscing or caring for the Chinese disposition to advance further in such matters over weaker persons, would yield, and so increased the difficulties for all who came after them. Complaints did come into the Association. One mother was separated from her child in the chair, and perforce walked several miles in the mud. Another lady who did not understand Chinese was put down in the blazing sun and left there for a crowd to gather, some of them curiously and not very courteously examining her clothing, jewelry, etc., etc., until her tears moved the bystanders to urge the bearers forward.
The head men were warned repeatedly, and finally the magistrate himself called them up and threatened severe penalties, unless their behaviour improvea, The coolies cared nothing for words even from a magistrate. Now comes " this deplorable incident " related by "One, Who Was There" who seems to have only eyes and ears for one-sided facts. It appears that "the missionary doctor," with his wife, 1 who knew no Chinese, arrived at the resthouse with a party of visitors. The keeper bargained for chairs in the usual way. The doctor's weight, 175 pounds, caused no objection until all but he and an older mis-Sionary were left behind. Ah Me, a brother of Ah Yah, the head chairman, refused to go without an extra man, when the rest-house keeper, the doctor, and the other missionary went to the second chair hong. They were willing to carry the doc-for, but Ah Me prevented them from starting. The missionary doctor would gladly have paid for an extra man in order to go on with his wife at once, but was advised by the veteran missionary for the sake of all other visitors to insist on the contract price. The recalcitrant coolie, Ah Me still refusing to go, the matter was reported by the aforesaid missionary to the local military official by the name of Yang. He had Ah Me arrested and sent him to the district yamen, some five li distant. The same missionary (not the doctor) also informed the Association secretaries what had happened. They (one retiring from, and the other coming into, office) went promptly to the district yamen and were told by the courteous magistrate that he hau ordered punishment (1,000 blows) himself. Presumably, 300 for the tipao (middleman) and the other 700 for Ah Me. During a preliminary conversation with the tipan, he seemed "so cheerful over his 300 blows that there were grounds to suspect that Ah Me bad some rapid counting done in his case also. A few cash to yamen runners often gains a count of ten for each stroke of the bamboo. Consequently, the secretaries asked to see the prisoner, but word came in that he was so badly bruised that he could not walk. Then they offered to visit the gaol and inspect the sufferer, but almost instantly Ah Me came in be: tween tivo of the underlings, and his thighs exposed showed midway between hip and nee two plasters in Chinese fashion covering the place supposed to be blistered by the bamboo. He begged for liberty, but as he had made threats against the lives of foreigners, besides having a bad local reputation, the magistrate decided to keep him in safe custody, at least until all the foreigners, including " One Who Was There," could safely leave the mountain. Since then the very missionary who reported Ab Me in the first instance has written to the proper authorities asking for his release, before the insinuations from "One Who Was There " appeared in print. In China, of all places—accurate knowledge of tails, mingled with a little common sense, is needed to arrive at fair and fine conclusions.
Briefly to review the errors and state the facts of this case, it appears Ast—" One Who Was 'Mere " failed to Jearn that 'Tahsan is the name' of a peak where no houses exist as yet, while Mokanshan on Chinese otncial maps indicates the cluster or range of mountains where all visitors reside," Missionary sinners" as well as other sorts.
nd—The "missionary doctor" had nothing whatever to do with fixing the price for his chair; that was acne long be-tore he arrived there, and he was prepared to pay the full regular price. Now if " One Who Was There" paid more than "one Jone mexican" he has broken faith with the Association and is liable to an action for breach of contract, provided, of course, that he isa citizen of any civfised cause—The chair coolie (Ab Me) clearly vielated his part of a regular contract 1n rery a passenger, and himself a Chinese subject came under Chiww, and of course his penalty came hands of the regular Chinese aufrom the missionary doctor any other missionary. Bhnd prejudice "One Who Was-There" or anybody else, may fail to see tuns.
4th—The missionary doctor did not get angry and report the case tothe magistrate. The veteran missionary who tried to protect the foreign visitors in their rights and uphold the "powers that be," even when they are heathen powers, is the man to blame or praise in this matter. "One Who Was There" did not discover this point, or if he did, withheld the fact.
5th—Whatever "One Who Was There" may mean by "all is not milk and honey upon the mountains," there certainly seems to be no milk of human kindness in his attitude towards missionaries, and very likely a lack of sympathetic honey in
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.