Tientsin, Nov. 21.
The local Belgian Mission has received news of the murder of Father Hermeniide, a German Catholic missionary, in North Shansi, It appears that Father Hermenigilde was returning to the Kaoerhliu Mission, to which he had been attached, when he encountered seven Shansi soldiers, who demanded his overcoat, The Father protested, saying that it was bitterly cold, and asked to be taken to an officer. The soldiers agreed and hustled Father Hermenigilde along: then they shot him dead from behind and afterwards looted the Kaverhliu Mission, situated near by—Reuter. its usual great generosity, invited others outside its own staff to have!
'a share in celebrating the event. At a banquet given in his honour, yesterday, two hundred guests were resent, including all the foreign community and-a large number of representative Chinese. The Minister, M. lo Maire do Warzee d'Her-molle, ime. d'Hermalle, and the rest of his party were met at Tientsin by Mr, Faulkner and escorted to Tongshan. The afternoon was spent in viewing the Hospice and other KM.A institutions.
The banquet commenced at 8.30] pin, and after a sumptuous repast '8 number of toasts were drunk.
Doequier, Engineer-in-Chief, showed, his versatility by making' a most eloquent speech in French, which he afterwards repeated in English, welcoming the distinguished guests. Ina reminiscent mood, he compared, the condition of the mince now with that on his arrival twenty-one] years ago, ind generously attributed the great progress made not to! his own efforts but to the spirit of good-will and ce-operation shown by the members of his staff. Consequently, he now was able to show the Minister one of the largest and Best equipped coal-mines in the world. "He called to mind the grea work done by other pioneers of industry in. Tongshan, especially Mr. Kinder' and his suc cessor, Mr. Jamieson, of the Peking-Mukden Railway Works, and Mr. Li Shih-ming, of the Cement works, both of them the largest concerns of their kind in China, He also spoke: of the services rendered by the Tongshan University, which now had prepared one thousand railway engineers for their life-work and which was represented at the table] by Professor Eaton and Professor} Wu, Kindly reference also was made to the Methodist College.
The Minister, in reply, said he! was delighted to have been able to make this visit. He had seen many things, and hoped to see more, showing what the ce-operation of three nationalities British, Chinese! and Belgian can do. He represented country interested in Social efforts of all kinds and he was deeply' impressed with the welfare work: carried on by the company at the Hospice, the Hospital, the Primary School and other institutions for the good of the workmen. He asked the distinguished company to excuse him if, as a Belgian, he stated that he was proud of the part taken by Belgians in the administration of this great company. He was} proud to say that, after receiving hhis appointment as Minister, he was granted an audience with the King of Belgium. In the course a long. conversation, King! Albert revealed the very great interest he took in the mines and his! appreciation of the distinguished service rendered in their adminis: tration by the Belgian staff. Stil more recently, the Councillor of the Belgian Legation in Peking had been granted a similar audience, in which the king again expressed his pleasure at the progress made by the company under the expert direction of Belgian mining engi neers, 'The banquet closed with several speeches in a lighter vein, contri buted by Mfr, Valentine, Mme, d'Her-molle, Dr. Muir, and' Commandant, Gasparti, after which the hall was: cleared for dancing.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.