SOIT
ET
MON
DROIT
THE HONGKONG
Government Gazette.
Published by Authority.
No. 22.
VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 1ST JUNE, 1878.
VOL. XXIV.
HER MAJESTY'S BIRTHDAY.
The following account of the celebration this year in Hongkong of Her Majesty's Birthday is extracted from the local papers :-
Monday, the 27th of May, being the day officially fixed for the celebration of the Queen's birthday, the Royal Standard was flown from Government House, Head Quarter House, the Naval Yard, and other Government establishments. All the men-of-war in harbour dressed ship and a great number of the merchant steamers and sailing vessels did the same. A feu-de-joie was fired by the troops in the morning, and at noon Royal salutes were fired from the Victor Emanuel and the shore battery. At six o'clock a solemn Te Deum was sung in honour of Her Majesty, at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, at which His Excellency the Governor and Mrs. HENNESSY were present, as well as the Foreign Consuls, and a r b of Military and Naval Officers. In the evening a ball was given at Government House whi
Lurolu attended
At the supper table, having called upon his guest to fill a bumper, His Excellency said he was only giving expression to the loyal feeling of the whole community in asking them to drink with enthusiasm the health of HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN-(applause)—now in her fifty-ninth year. was unrivalled by any Sovereign in the world in a knowledge of public affairs, in the difficult art of She government, in a single-minded devotion to the true interests of her Empire, and in the heartfelt love of her millions of subjects (loud applause). This would be a memorable year in her reign, for a national emergency having arisen she had called out her Reserves, and from the shores of England to this remote part of the Empire, the Queen's forces were being arrayed. For the first time the native troops of India had gone to the Mediterranean. The Queen's popular and gallant cousin, the DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, was going to review those troops in the South of Europe, and he (Mr. HENNESSY) believed that it would be the first time also that any Commander-in-Chief had left England on such a duty. Even in this distant Colony, they had seen Her Majesty's Forces already at work. The British Navy was to-day maintaining in the China Sea its old and famous reputation. The Squadron was on the alert, and the Naval Arsenal of Hongkong was furnishing rifled cannon from its reserves, and manufacturing torpedoes for the defence of the Island. The recent torpedo experiments in the Lyeemoon Pass showed what deadly instruments of impregnable defence the Hongkong Naval Arsenal could rapidly produce. The historic 74th Highlanders, whom they had the fortune to have in garrison this year, had, within the last few weeks, been performing somewhat unusual military duty, that of dragging twelve-ton guns to the batteries so admirably improvised in various parts of the Harbour. In those batteries our local Volunteers would have the honour of cooperating with the regular forces in working the guns if the necessity should arise. Therefore he felt he would be only doing justice to the universal sentiment of the Colony in taking this opportunity, in the Queen's name and on behalf of her subjects here, to thank the Navy, Army and Volunteers in this part of the Empire (applause). If the necessity should arise, they had full confidence in those sailors and soldiers, (loud applause.) Recent revelations respecting the Crimean war enabled us also to appreciate the fact that the interests and efficiency of those forces were sedulously guarded by their Royal Mistress, and we now know that the ultimate success of that war was due in no small degree to the administrative skill and indefatigable labours of Queen VICTORIA. In wishing her a long reign, and drinking her health, they were drinking to the best guarantee of national safety and success (loud applause).—The toast was drunk with full honours to the strains of "God Save the Queen" by the Band of the 74th Regiment.