Kennedy went from here to take up the governorship of Queensland, and was given farewell addresses and a public dinner, reflecting the general esteem in which he was held by local residents. He wrote a farewell address to the whole community, published in the Government Gazette at the time of his departure and when news reached the Colony in 1883 of his death (while in the Red Sea on the way to England) a public meeting was called which decided to subscribe for the statue to his memory subsequently erected in the Botanic Gardens.
The Hongkong Telegraph of July 4, 1883, has the following:
"Sir Arthur Kennedy veteran of more than half a century's service under the British Government, died while on his way Home to England from Australia his body being consigned to a sailor's grave. The deceased gentleman was very popular in Hongkong but although a fine, genial old fellow and not without administrative abilities, he was a long way removed from being a practical statesman of the highest class. He was Governor of Queensland from 1877 until shortly before his death." And on July 16 that year the paper reports that a well-attended meeting was held in the City Hall, when the subject of the erection of a memorial in honour of the late Sir Arthur Kennedy was discussed, more than 200 persons being present. As a result of this meeting, it was decided to erect a statue in his memory.
This brings us to the end of our list of names, and we might again refer to the presence, on the map of sixty years ago, of Ice House Street and Lane (see earlier historical notes on 6-9-33). I take the following from a leading article appearing in the Hongkong Telegraph of June 13, 1883:
"It appears that many years ago, the Hongkong Government granted the temporary use of a piece of ground in what is now known as Ice House Lane to the Ice Association of Hongkong for the purpose of erecting a store-room for ice and on the express condition that the Association would always keep on the premises a supply of ice for hospital purposes.
In course of time, this privilege passed to the Tudor Ice Co. which for the purpose of storage - in those days, the ice was not manufactured in the Colony but came by sailing vessels from America and subsequently it had to be stored in immense quantities erected a large and unsightly structure which is now in possession of the Hong Kong Ice Co.
In March 1883, the Government offered the lot of land on which the Ice House stood to Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., general managers, Hongkong Ice Co., on a Crown lease of 999 years on condition of the payment of a premium of $12,500. To this offer, the Hongkong Ice Co. demurred saying that the building was unsuited for any other purpose than that of an Ice House, being so damp that articles deposited therein were quickly destroyed. This dampness, it was stated, was caused by the foundations of the building being below the level of Ice House Street. They stated that had a lease been granted when the ground was first built upon some thirty years before, a small premium would have been charged for the ground. Under the circumstances, the Hongkong Ice Co. asked the
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