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of the Chinese shops in Hollywood Road Hongkong, on the north side and close to the Alice Memorial Hospital; or to Chinese shops in Singapore. In front of these, placed on stalls, are to be found hundreds of very artistic varieties; but of course it is necessary to buy the box of matches which only costs 1 cent. The proper price which a native would pay is 3 copper cash— ten of which go to one cent-or forty to a penny. But the wily "Celestial" shopkeeper knows the popular mania, and ascertains at once the object of the buyer, wisely discriminating between the consumer, who generally requires a package, and the collector who only wants one box; and is very apt to charge accordingly. Trust a Chinaman for making the most of an opportunity, and he can hardly be blamed for doing so. One enterprising match. seller in Hollywood Road Hongkong, placed in a conspicuous position outside his shop the following notice:

KLECTORS CAN BIE NUMBA ONE MATCH PIKTUR THIS SIDE
COME LOOK SEE.

When I am collecting match-stamps, I buy a packet of one dozen of the most attractive and artistic sort I can find, and, keeping a couple out of the lot, exchange the rest with other collectors for specimens I want. This is a plan I can highly recommend being safe and economical. As it is always best to have a number of duplicates to exchange, I used to carry a pocketbook full of them about with me for this purpose, and gained a few rare patterns in this manner.

It is strange that match-label collecting is so little known and pursued in England, it would soon become an attractive pastime, particularly to globe-trotters; and would somewhat relieve the monotony of Postage Stamp Collecting. Therefore I shall feel amply repaid for thus endeavouring to advocate the pleasures of this comparatively unknown hobby, if it is the means of inducing and recommending it to my fellow countrymen abroad and at home. I may add that, to artists who make corner-piece etching for the magazines a speciality, a good collection of these labels would form an invaluable and exhaustless source from which to draw the most quaint and artistic designs.

XXX. THE RULERS OF CHINA. *

WE

E can only liken the Manchoo-Tartar administration unto a huge octopus, its numberless feelers extending to the uttermost parts of the so-called "Celestial Empire," in the shape of avaricious time-serving mandarins, each one sucking away at the substance of the nation, cramming himself with ill-gotten gain, feeding the insatiable core at Pekin with the smallest percentage allowable, and keeping for himself as much as he possibly can keep with any degree of safety.

These mandarins receive only a nominal salary, but are given. carte blanche to obtain unlimited emolument, which they most ingeniously contrive to do by submitting the unfortunate civilians to a system of undue taxation, or "squeezing," as it is very appropriately termed in "pidgin-English." As a writer on Chinese characteristics wisely observes: "No wonder the naturally astute Chinese appear so particularly cunning and deceitful to Europeans! The possession of money is a sure attraction for the mandarin vultures; so that, beyond the pale of the foreign settlements at the Treaty Ports, throughout the country every native merchant and civilian is bred up to habits of mendacity, and particularly to conceal his real income and condition."

In consequence of the unlimited power of these mandarins, most of whom are of Tartar extraction, China, under its present rulers, will never be a safe or fruitful field for missionary enterprise. Missionaries are regarded by these officials as the pioneers of

*This originally appeared in the columns of "St. Paul's", August 24th 1895.

civilization, and the harbingers of reform and enlightenment. They pave the way for commercial pursuits, and once the hated fang-quai-"foreign devil "-introduces the "barbarous" inventions of the West, the mandarin will no longer be able to levy his taxes and live in princely opulence on the ignorance and credulous stupidity of his servile subjects. So he teaches them to regard our ingenuity as witchcraft, to strenuously oppose the doctrines of our enterprising missionaries and to drive them from the land. Most of the anti-foreign riots originate thus. Every high official is supposed to keep a certain number of well-trained soldiers ready for immediate service, if required, and he is allowed by the Government to withhold a large sum from the revenue for this express purpose. In nine cases out of ten, he keeps the necessary number of uniforms and arms, generally the most primitive weapons, bought by the gross as old iron, but dispenses with the soldiers, only retaining a limited staff for his yâmen, and pockets the amount that should be expended in their support. Should he be notified of a visit from some high official or censor, or be required to despatch a military expedition, against the Japanese, for instance, he sends out his petty mandarins, runners, and "braves" to raise a regiment, or even an army, as the case may require. This they do by pressing into the service a number of coolies, who are then equipped and driven away like sheep; and when sent to the front to face an enemy are verily butchered like them.

The further north an official is stationed the more soldiers he is obliged to keep; the reason of this is obvious, and requires no explanation. The pay of an ordinary Chinese soldier is from three to four Haikwan taels (about nine or twelve shillings) per month, out of which he must board himself. But by the time the money has filtered down through the fingers of the officials to the poor "brave" there is rarely more than a half left, if so much. He cannot obtain redress or even seek it without endangering his life, hence the many rebellions and resulting massacres we repeatedly hear of, especially in the north of China. The numerous secret societies are thus strengthened by the continuous enrolment of members inured to hardship and incensed against

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