To the Editor of the "Nortu-Cuma Dary NEWS" for perusal at your office, or pass LO on to the S.M.C. public if Sm,—On revisiting his home in the Hongkew Park District after an enforced absence of nearly five months, the writer was disagreeably surprised to find that apparently be had been harbouring angels unwares, so to speak, and that some bright and discriminating "collectors" had gone through the old homestead with a fine-toothed comb and had walked off with a considerable amount mentioned, these often do not have interconnecting lines, but each group its own island steamer, hence, it this letter, it is only possible to give conditions in the two groups visited so far by O.B, namely New Caledonia and New Hebrides; conditions in the other Groups are probably similar, with variations according to their geographic position, special local New Caledonia, yider French administration has good roads (streamlined cars, also cider anesd, the main port, Nou-mea, is possessed of electric lighting, telephones, Island stores with mearly every conceivable article, and enlivened by the peroxided natives blacks).
The climate in the hot season is nearly. equivalent to Shanghaip September; food is cheap, fresh meat at present being ridiculously cheap (which is not so the case of other Groups, for instance in the New Hebrides Group the meat prices are about on par with those in Shanghai); fish and shell fish are very plentiful, as, and also vegetables; deer was imported into the Island, and bred'to such an extent that it is nearly a pest, so that there is also plenty of hunting. As regard natural beauty of mountain, sea, shore and vegetation, this goes without saying; the clarity of the sea would make the S.W.W. green with envy, but of course, there are sharks and O.B. actually even saw a small sea Serpent (but not as the result of had drink). Apart from agriculture, New Caledonia is also an important mining centre for chromium and nickel. A fow hours' sail Turther north are the Loyalty Islands, the commencement of the Cocoanut Islands, but these ds are small sad few.
ie New Hebride? Group is under a joint Anglo-French Administration, termed the Condominium, the only one in existence, with joint and native Courts, and is, in such respects, similar ' to the International Settlement. The Islands are numerous in this Group, some only a few acres in area, others with areas of nearly 100 miles square. ' There are two volcanoes quite' active, and earthquakes as one of the diversions; mosquitoes and malaria exist (more or less according to locality ie, swamp, thickness of bush, river, hillside, seashore and prevailing wind and a preventative daily quinine pill is indicated); the Climate from April to November is like Shanghai's autumn, from December to April it is hot with plenty of heavy rains, but the nights always cool off and there is breeze, so the climate is by no means as trying as July and August in Shanghai, The Plantations produce copra (cocoanut palms), cocoa, coffee and scme cotton, minor products being vanilla, taro, chillies (real hot ones at that too), sweet potatoes, etc. fruits are oranges, bananas, pineapples, lemons, limes, avocado pears, custard apples, papaya, breadfruit and raspberries grow in profusion and the bushes of these are even a nuisance, and, of course. all sorts of tropical fruit.
All plantations keep cattle (good breed), horses, pigs, fowl, chickens 4nd ducks and there is also a fowl t looks like a cross between a dodo and a duck. Horses are very cheap, from about Shanghai $20 to $50. Houses ate usually of wood, with corrugated sheet iron roofs, built on concrete piles and the larger planters run to electric lighting sets, radios and refrigerators; water is either by pump or from river, but in all cases rain-water is collected from the roofs and stored in large corrugated iron reservoirs. Roads exist, in more or less good condition and allow of cars and lorries for the transport of plantation products.
Wages of plantation Boys vary from-the equivalent of Shanghai $1 to $130 per day, and in addition stipulated quantities of food must be provided, but wages vary to a certain extent with the prices of the plantation products, also the labourers, either natives (blacks) or An-remites do not hustle themselves particularly. In the main port there Gre æ couple of hotels where prices are about Shanghai $3.50 to $4 per Gay with full board (with plentifi and good cooking).
The stores carry a good stock of imported articles, at, of course, imported prices goods being from all Countriesbut mainly from Austral-jo, and there is plenty of competition between the stores and traders; there is the story of a captain of a trading schooner who used to alter his navigating- lights so that his rival would not know whether he was coming or going. Prices of locally-produced foodstuffs are, in comparison with Shanghai, and when trans-Juting Shanghai money into the local currency (francs and Australian pounds) between 10 per cent. to 30 per cent, cheaper.
There is an ice factory; telephone system and wireless in the main Island, but such modernities do not exist in the other islands and much aepehds on the effort of each individual as to the degree of comfort Obtainable, also ripe old ages seem Quite attainable by those who live modestly, like the hale planter of ^2, who came aboard, and thought nothing of crossing the 15 miles of "volcanic island on foot during the of swag.
Due possibly to the lack of adequate transport facilities, the piano, frigid claire and heavy furniture still remained in situ, although clothing, bedding, rugs, stoves anda small amount of jewelry, eic, had completely vanished into the Ewigkeit.
It is understood that the local British Consular authorities, who are so ultra-keen upon registration these latter days, some time ago advised their nationals to file a list of claims for property stolen or commandeered from abandoned homes in this district shell-shocked and schmozzled mud-flat.
At the time it was not stated just "when or against whom such claims for indemnity would be preferred by the responsible "authorities, but recalling one's experiences following the Boxer fiasco, it is highly problem magical that any recompense will be forthcoming to members of the present generation, or to those who follow, unless it be something, so nice and soul-satisfying in the form of rebuilding swanky/ collegiate luxury institutions for the Chinese, or the laying down of some similar trade ground-bait, at the expense of the victimized Hongkew resident. In this connection, it fs suggested that a goodly portion of the Lord Mayor's Fund be utilized for robbed and despoiled Britions, particularly as this protracted and indefinite support of Chinese refugees, few of whom are Pukkah residences of the Foreign Settlements, is getting rather overdone and the wells of sweet Charity will be running dry, as many a dejobbed Briton, walking the streets of this truly "Model Settlement" hungry and despairing may find to his regret.
However, in view of the five or six weeks' spell of rainy weather which is about due, the compilation of lists of the articles "swiped" from deserted residents; the haggling with the authorities or one's better half, over the respective values of the items—cost at time of purchase (some, 30 years ago) value at time of loss-cum—cost of replacement, will, it is anticipated, run crossword and jigsaw puzzles very closely as a popular indoor sport.
The present scribe regards as his greatest loss (albeit his womenfolk might deem, the theft of furs, winter clothing, rugs and jewellery of greater importance?) are five half-year): volumes of the "North-China Herald, Jan/June 1872, 1873/1873 whole year, a portfolio of irreplateable photographs of old Shanghai and the typescript of a book three-quarters completed.
Tha first half-yearly volume of the "N..CH,," for 1875, due probably to its broken binding and generally dishevelled condition, was not stolen, This volume, among many other interesting items, contains the account of the opening of the old "switchback" Garden Bridge; the difficulty experienced by the S, M, Council of that date in devising an appropriate name for the new structure replacing 'Wills' Bridge, and the reclamations in progress which were to form in perpetuity? the Bund Lawns will you, Sir, or some of your readers, kindly estimate the value of those stolen volumes. The photographs of a Shanghai which has vanished for aye are, it is feared, irreplaceable and, to the present scribe, at least, are of inestimable value, and as they numbered nearly a hundred, the fruits of many years' collecting, copying and reproducing, a thousand' dollars would not compensate for their loss.
As for the typescript of the book, as "of the making of Books there is no end and such labour is a weariness of the flesh," possibly Shanghai has been spared another minor infliction?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.