MR. P. RYRIE
Reference was made in Saturday's article to Mr. Phineas Ryrie, who was mentioned as a gentleman of sporting proclivities, being one of those who had, in the Seventies, let loose a number of rabbits on Stonecutters Island, with a view, presumably, to indulging in rabbit shooting from time to time. He was a personality deserving of at least a whole page to himself in any local history.
Mr. Ryrie first came out to Hongkong in 1851, to join the firm of Messrs. Turner and Company, one of the old businesses which flourished in the Colony's early days. He rapidly became a leading light in local affairs, being in due course appointed chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and in 1867, a member of the Legislative Council. He died on February 22, 1892, at the age of 63, his loss being mourned by a large circle of friends who had grown to appreciate his sterling character and independent spirit. On his death, his successor in the Council was Mr. E.R. Belilios.
Mr. Phineas Ryrie is likely to gain his niche in local affairs mainly through his championing of the rights of British merchants in connexion with the Chinese Customs, and his insistence on freedom of speech in the Legislative Council. An instance of this, in 1871, a few years after his appointment, at the time that a Chinese blockade of treaty ports was to the fore, he heard that an important document relating to the blockade question had found its way from the office of the Registrar General, Mr. C. Clementi Smith, into the hands of the Chinese Customs officers. Mr. Ryrie asked in Council for information about the matter, and Mr. Clementi Smith treated the query as a reflection upon himself, and retorted with some vehemence. Mr. W. Keswick, of Jardines, strongly supported the questioner, and demanded that the duties of the Registrar General be defined. The discussion was renewed, with equal vigour, at the next Council meeting, and a few days later the Colonial Secretary wrote to Mr. Ryrie calling upon him to substantiate his charges against the Registrar General. Mr. Ryrie, who maintained that he had brought no charge but merely sought information, resented this effort to discuss a subject of public interest brought up in Council outside the Council chamber, and demanded that his protest be heard at the next meeting. He gave notice of his protest, but no discussion was allowed; and the general public took the matter up, criticising the authorities for what they considered the stifling of free discussion. Eventually Mr. Ryrie's protest was formally read in Council, and recorded in the minutes.
Mr. Ryrie was also one of the leaders in the protest against the licensed gambling introduced here by Sir Richard Macdonnell (see 14-10-33) and in 1872 protested against the amalgamation, which was carried out for a few years, of the posts of Auditor General and Colonial Secretary. In the latter instance, however, he received no support, and the scheme went through. He served on several commissions formed about this time, such as the one in 1872 (when he co-operated with Mr. Charles May) which was appointed to enquire into the working of the opium monopoly, and that of 1875 which investigated complaints against the allegedly unfair assessment of Crown rents. In 1875 he was also on the commission which considered the substitution of a new Praya wall for the one destroyed by the great typhoon of 1874 (see 4-12-33).
His protests in Council continued whenever occasion arose, and one of the matters receiving his special attention was the need (in the early Seventies) for reform of the Police force.