LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,
COUNCIL, No. 1.
THURSDAY, 24TH JANUARY, 1901.
PRESENT:
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR
(Sir HENRY ARTHUR BLAKE, G.C.M.G.).
His Excellency Major-General WILLIAM JULIUS GASCOIGNE, C.M.G, General Officer Commanding. The Honourable the Colonial Secretary, (JAMES HALDANE STEWART LOCKHART, C.M.G.).
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the Attorney General, (WILLIAM MEIGH GOODMAN, Q.C.).
the Colonial Treasurer, (ALEXANDER MACDONALD THOMSON).
the Director of Public Works, (ROBERT DALY ORMSBY).
the Captain Superintendent of Police, (FRANCIS HENRY MAY, C.M.G.).
BASIL TAYLOR, (Acting Harbour Master).
CATCHICK PAUL CHATER, C.M.G.
Ho KAI, M.B., C.M.
JAMES JOHNSTONE KESWICK.
WEI YUK.
JOHN THURBURN.
RODERICK MACKENZIE GRAY.
The Council met pursuant to summons.
The Minutes of the last Meeting, held on the 17th December, 1900, were read and confirmed. His Excellency the Governor addressed the Council as follows:-
Honourable. Members of the Legislative Council,-I have summoned you to-day to nake to you formally the saddest announcement that has ever been made during the exist- ence of this Colony-to announce to you that our revered and beloved Queen is dead. During a long reign begun before any Member of this Council was born, Her Majesty Queen VICTORIA, the purest and greatest monarch of historic times, devoted her life to the welfare of her country. Never was monarch more faithful, never was monarch more beloved. In. her letter of the 27th January, 1892, when acknowledging in touching and noble words the expression of loyal and loving sympathy from all classes of the empire on the occasion of the death of the Duke of Clarence, the Queen wrote:-"My bereavements, during the last 30 years of reign, have indeed been heavy. Though the labours, anxieties, and responsibilities inseparable from my position have been great, yet it is my earnest prayer that God may continue to give me health and strength to work for the good and happiness of my dear country and empire while life lasts.' And God has granted her prayer, for to the last the Queen preserved those marvellous powers and royal gifts of wisdom and foresight which were always exercised in the interests of the peace and progress of the world. "And now the gracious monarch of the atest nation on earth; the perfect Queen, the stainless wife, the devoted mother has entered into her rest crowned with the triple diadem of strength and truth and purity, and enveloped in the loving veneration not alone of all the peoples of her world-wide empire but of the great mass of the thinking people of the world. Within the last hour I have received the following two telegrams:-
In the name of the people of Portuguese India and mine, I present to your Excellency the respects of our heartfelt grief for the great loss which the noble British nation has sustained by the demise of the Queen Empress, Victoria of everlasting
memory.
GALHARDO, Governor."
"With the greatest regret I present to your Excellency the expressions of iny deep grief, and in the name of this Colony I accompany all the English people in their dolour by the death of Her Gracious Majesty the Queen Empress.
GOVERNOR of Macao."
For us as representing this Colony it but remains humbly to lay at the feet of their Majes- ties, whom God protect, our expressions of loyal condolence, and for that purpose I propose the following resolution :-
"That the Members of this Council have heard with profound sorrow the sad announcement of the death of Her Majesty the Queen, and desire humbly to express their most heartfelt, loyal, and respectful sympathy with their Majesties and the Royal Family in their bereavement."