The British Consul, who lives at Hoihow on. the island of Hainan, has just paid us his third visit in five months, in spite of the recent endeavour to cut down expenses by reducing the number of his visits to two in one year. This time, however, he travelled on H.M-S. Bluebell, which fired an official salute of guns on arrival, thereby greatly scaring the inhabitants, who hur-nedly closed their shops, thinking that an enemy was bombarding the 'n, an event which they are anticipating any day in these troublous _times! The business which brought the Consul here this time was the recent. seizure of a ship flying the British flag, for transporting soldiers to Canton. The ship was re linquished after protests had been made by the Commissioner of Customs and the French Consul, and got away after a delay of about 12 hours, which has been the subject of a claim for compensation. The Consul has now succeeded in getting the claim recognised and compensation paid to the—ship-owners. Perhaps the necessity" for these frequent visits will induce the Consular authorities to reopen the Consulate in Pakhoi, and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.