PRESENT:―
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 125
16TH JUNE, 1911
The Executive and Legislative Councils and the Judges
of Hongkong, on behalf of Your Majesty's subjects in the
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR, SIR FREDERICK J. DEALTRY LUGARD, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O.
HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR-GENERAL C. A. ANDERSON, C.B. (THE GENERAL OFFICER COMMANDING THE TROOPS).
HIS HONOUR SIR FRANCIST. PIGGOTT (CHIEF JUSTICE).
HON. MR. WARREN BARNES (Colonial Secretary).
HON. MR. C. G. ALABASTER (Attorney General)
HON. MR. A. M. THOMSON (Colonial Treasurer).
HON. MR. W. CHATHAM, C.M.G. (Director of Public Works).
HON. DR. J. M. ATKINSON (Principal Civil Medical Officer).
HON. MR. E. A. HEWETT.
HIS HONOUR MR. H. H. J. GOMPERTZ (Puisne Judge).
HON. MR. A. W. BREWIN (Registrar General).
HON. CAPTAIN F. W. LYONS (Captain Superintendent of Police).
HON. DR. HO KAI, M.D., C.M.G.
HON. MR. WEI YUK, C.M.G.
HON. MR. H. E. POLLOCK, K.C.
HON. MR. C. MONTAGUE EDE.
HON. MR. C. H. ROSS.
MR. C. CLEMENTI (Clerk of Councils).
HIS EXCELLENCY ― Gentlemen, the Executive and Legislative Councils assemble this afternoon in order to approve of the draft Address which we propose to send to Their Majesties on the date of Their Coronation. The telegram we propose to send reads as follows:
Colony, beg most humbly to offer their loyal and respectful congratulations on the occasion of the Coronation of Your Majesty as King and Emperor, and of Her Majesty Queen Mary. We pray that the event which is celebrated to-day may inaugurate a long and glorious reign for Your Majesties and an era of happiness, prosperity and honourable peace for Your Majesty's Kingdom and Empire.
That, gentlemen, is, generally speaking, in the same terms as the telegram which was sent to His Majesty King Edward the Seventh on his Coronation. I move the resolution standing in my name that this Address should be sent by telegraph on the 22nd June next. (Applause.)
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY―I beg to second the resolution.
HON. MR. HEWETT―Your Excellency, on behalf of my unofficial colleagues and the British section of the community, I have the honour to support the resolution just proposed by your Excellency. In doing so I am assured we not only all sincerely and loyally agree with the telegram it is now proposed to despatch to His Majesty on the occasion of his Coronation, but we also fully endorse your Excellency's wish in moving the resolution. To us, members of one of the most distant outposts of the British Empire, the personality of His Majesty must have an especial attraction. A capable naval officer, having such an intimate knowledge of the needs of his over-seas possessions, His Majesty to the full realises the importance of his great estate. From year to year we see the bonds which bind the scattered sections of our Empire tightening and strengthening. His Majesty himself has done much to bring about this happy condition of affairs. There are some of us
126 HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
here to-day who remember seeing His Majesty in the Far East when on his first long voyage. Since then he has visited all the great and many of the smaller dependencies of his realm; while shortly, for the first time in history, a reigning Sovereign in his character of Emperor of India will present himself to his loyal subjects in that part of his Empire. We are sure from the great interest His Majesty has always shown in his overseas territories, and the sympathy he has invariably displayed in their welfare, that the links between us will be made yet stronger during his reign. His Majesty has entered into a goodly heritage, and we trust and pray that many long and happy years of glorious peace lie before His Majesty and his Royal Consort. (Applause.)
HON. DR. HO KAI―Sir, on behalf of my unofficial colleagues on the Legislative Council, and the various communities whom we represent, I beg most respectfully to support the resolution which has just been proposed by your Excellency. His Majesty's subjects of all races resident in this Colony yield to none in their unswerving loyalty and devotion to the British Crown, and though thousands of miles separate this little isle of ours from the United Kingdom, the immense distance serves but to intensify our great reverence and affectionate attachment to our Most Gracious Sovereign the King. In common with many of our brethren and fellow-subjects throughout the length and breadth of the empire, we are looking forward with intense happiness and delight to the auspicious day when His Majesty will assume the full state and dignity of the crown. We are glad to have the opportunity of meeting here to-day to express our loyal sentiments and united congratulations to Their Majesties the King and Queen on the joyous occasion of their Coronation, and we are gratified that the different communities in this Colony, including the large and important Chinese
community, who participate fully in our sentiments, are joining most heartily in all our rejoicings and in wishing Their Majesties a long, happy and glorious reign.
HIS HONOUR THE CHIEF JUSTICE ― Your Excellency, ― On behalf of His Majesty's Judges, I have to thank your Excellency for giving us this opportunity of joining with the Councils of this Colony in presenting this loyal address His Majesty.
HIS EXCELLENCY ― Gentlemen, when confirming by letter the telegram which you have unanimously approved to be sent on the 22nd June, I shall have great pleasure in transmitting to His Majesty through the Secretary of State the loyal speeches which have been made by the senior unofficial member of the Executive Council and the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council. The words which have fallen from both of them, I am sure, will be endorsed most heartily and cordially by every member of this community. We all look forward with well founded anticipation to the reign of His Majesty King George the Fifth being glorious in the annals of our country. There is no more loyal community, I am convinced, in the whole of the British Empire than this Colony of Hongkong. We are making every preparation to celebrate the glorious event of the Coronation fittingly in this Colony, and the celebrations which we purpose to carry out on that day will not be mere outward manifestations, but will convey the heartfelt loyalty of all sections of this community to the throne which unites the Empire in a common bond. (Applause.)
HIS EXCELLENCY then put the resolution, which was carried unanimously.
Council then adjourned.