Wz have received Hongkong papers to the 2ist inst—Mr. Armin Haupt has eon recognised as Danish Consul in Hongkong.—Mr. W. J. Gresson has been appointed an unofficial member of the Hongkong Executive and Legisl Councils—There is to be an Imperial Exhibition, with a very strong advisory committee, at the Crystal Palace in May 1905.—Mr. J. M. Somers of the Stanley Opera Ca., charged with murder, was tried before the Chief Justice at Singapore on the 6th inst., and convicted "ofa rash act not amounting to murder, resulting in death," and sentenced to nine months' simple imprisonment—Captain Mugford of the Malacca passed the threofunnelled phantom cruiser in the Straits of Malacca on the 7th inst., and next morning passed H.M.S. Talbot apparently on the look-out for the mysterious moochor,—The mercantile marine officers ling out of Hongkong have established a Marine Officers' Association there.—H. M. destroyer Hart was run into amidships by a steam launch in Hongkong harbour on the 16th, and considerably damaged.—The death occurred on the 10th inst. at Penang of the Hon. J. M.B. Vermont, 0.1.G., M.8.L.C., one of the oldest Straits residents. He came out in the early sixties as a sugar-planter, and was connected with this industry to the last.—Mr. W. R. Seymour, assistant master at Queen's College, Hongkong, died thereon the 17th in 'A 68-foot passenger launch, built by Geo Fenwick & Ca. La. for the Brit Government at Weihaiwei, made a successful trial trip at Hongkong on the 17th—Admiral E. J. Church died at Weymouth on the 18th ult, aged 62. He commanded the Curlew on this station from 1873.to 1878.—The Chines owned river steamers Taian and Kw: tung "were in collision near Whampoa on the 19th, damage to the total extent of $15,000 being done to both.—The four-masted steamer Ikbal had arrived at Hongkong from Capetown to take coolies for the Rand.—There had Deen a case of plague among. the coolies awaiting shipment at Hongkong. HM. S. Iphigenia was commissioned on the 15th ult. by Captain W. B. Fawckner at Sheerness, to relieve the Talbot on this station.—Sir Emnest Satow has been left a legacy of £1,000 by the late Mrs. Selina Eddy-Gray, of Brighton.—The notorious Hooley has been arrested again in London on a charge of fraud and released on bail of £60,000.—News had been received that the 8.8. Shawmut had been delayed, and would have to dock in Hongkong—The "China Mail" says:—"A telegram from London dated 23rd April, states that Mr. La Pere, director of the Central Industrial Loan Bank of Paris, has disappeared. His liabilities amount to £1,500,000. been arrested."—A Visdivostock editor has been imprisoned for seven days for criticising the composition of a Russian volunteer cavalry regimont.—An old Chinaman and his wife, convicted of conspiracy to obtain a Crown lease of land by false representations to the Squatters' Board, were sentenced to twelve months' hard labour each—The master of the steam launch Lai Wo, which collided with H. M. destroyer Hart in the harbour, was found guilty in the marine court of negligent navigation and non-conformity with the rule of the port; he was fined $26 or a month's imprisonment—The Punjom Mining Company again present an unsatisfactory report, in the course of which they say: "The future of the Company depends on the value of the promising reefs discovered in the northern portion of the concession. The directors are loth to advise the shareholders to abandon the property without an attempt being made to get back some of the capital sunk in the southern district." The working loss for 1903 was $43,436.80.—Mr. W. Lansdowne has obtained $400 damages from Mr. M. B. Leavitt of Leavitt's Troubadours for wrongful dismissal.
Te "Hongkong Daily Press" of the 16th inst. has the following under the title "Decadent Australia":—
The report of the Royal Commission on the decline of the New South Wales birth-rate, is a document of immense importance from every point of view. It states that since 1889 there has been a very marked fall in the birth-rate and that be tween 1889 and 1902 the decrease was no less than ten births per thousand. It is "rapid and continuous." The Commis. sion have gone carefully into the causes of the decline, They attribute it to the deliberate limitation of families, and this, again, is due to personal selfishness, "indicative of the desire of the individual to avoid his obligations to the community," and in part to the decay of religions feeling. The Commission are also inclined to attribute the fall to "restrictive regulations of trade, designed to abolish competition," which interfere with the continuity of employment and render the income of the worker precar The effect on the health of community is said on expert evidence to be grave, and there has been an increase in insanity. "Defective health, defective morals, and defective character are already manifesting themselves as a warning of more marked deterioration likely to ensue." The evidence taken shows that among women there is no sense of the wrong to the community or to themselves.
Tue following notes are from the "Hongkong Daily Press"
A telegram dated London 5th May, says:—" London County has beaten the M. C.(. by seven wickets." A later wire singapore adds that Leicestershire eaten Warwickshire by 8 wickets; Notts has beaten Kent by 3 wickets; Yorkshire has beaten Cambridge University by an innings and 18 runs; Oxford University has beaten Somerset by an innings and 45 runs.
The veteran Russian General Dragomiroff wrote to a correspondent a letter in which he says Russia has "too many hares." " Yousay yourself," observes the General, "that irresponsible advisers, such as Besobrasov, Prince Meshtsherski, Demtshinski, and others are responsible for everything. What can we do against them? 'I have bitterly deplored the fact Two of the defaulter's ce-directors have] that with a light heart we have hunted several hares at the same time; according to my estimate not Jess than six. There is the Finnish, the Polish, the Turkish, the Persian, the Indian, and finally the Manchurian hare. To these have now been added a seventh—the Transcaucasion, to say nothing of the artificiallyterior." produced ferment in the Russian in-
Tue " Hongkong Daily Press" says The following letter was not received at the Hongkong General Post Office, but its genuineness is nevertheless guaranteed. A Punjab specimen of the babu class recently reported to headquarters The Sub-Postmaster report that last evening a mice came out from behind the offico.door, and after walking a little stammered and breathed its last in the presence of the Sub-Postmaster there. As those are the prognostics of plague, I beg you will kindly arrange to have the office disinfected at an early date."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.