COURTS (8) Continuation.
W. F. Reece is a partner of Mr. Evens. He is somewhat faddish and is remarkable for his white umbrella. Invariably he may be found in a brown study of abstruse legal problems.
Henry Lardner Dennys (Dennys and Mossop) another Hong-kong lawyer, is supposed to be the most level-headed of the crowd. He is Honorary Secretary to the City Hall. We have paid his firm at various times, sufficient costs to enable him to retire.
William Henry Ryan Mossop, Mr. Dennys' partner is a man with a reputation. He is a trifle hard of hearing but is a capable lawyer. He is also a well known naturalist.
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Henry John Holmes is a lawyer with decided military proclivities. He is a warm supporter of the local volunteer movement and at one time was an enthusiastic and capable officer of the Corps. He is fond of horticulture and is famous as a practical gardener. Holmes' cabbages are a renowned local delicacy. He is a keen supporter of Kowloon progress and one of the earliest pioneers of that settlement. Mr. Holmes is a careful and reliable lawyer whose good name has always been above suspicion and who is respected by all who know him.
Arthur Bernard Rodyk is the son of a distinguished successful lawyer in the Straits. His legal experience is said to be good, but much of his time is taken up with public companies.
Ho Wyson is our only Chinese solicitor. Educated in England he is a thoroughly well read lawyer but is handicapped in court practice, by bashful modesty and a deficiency in what is known as the gift of the gab. He is also handicapped in general business by his phenomenally limited office hours. It is a joke in legal circles that Wyson's hours are from twelve to three with an interval of one hour for tiffin.
John Francis Webber is at present out of practice, and but lately returned from a lengthy visit to Australia. ... noblest Roman of them all.
COURTS (9)
On June 10 and 11, two articles on Hongkong barristers and lawyers were published in these columns. The information contained in these articles was gleaned from observations which appeared in the Hongkong Telegraph on September 3, 1891, under the caption "The Local Devil's Own". Mr. Fraser-Smith, editor of the Telegraph, was the author of these "biographies in brief" and they were of necessity, re-published in expurgated form.
The valued contributor to the historical section of the H.K.C.M. Post, "Old Mortality" has now forwarded a series of articles on the same subject. In introducing "Old Mortality" I feel bound to say that his contributions are backed by many years of close contact with the legal affairs of the Colony.
John Joseph Francis came out to Hongkong in 1859 with the expeditionary forces despatched by the British Government against Canton that year. Having purchased his discharge from the Army, he was articled to Mr. William Gaskell (who was