16
T. C. CHENG
Dr. Ho died in September 1914 at the age of 55 leaving over ten sons and daughters by his second wife who was a Chinese.
The fourth Chinese to serve on the Legislative Council was Wei Yuk, son-in-law of Mr. Wong Shing. He had another name Wei Bo-shan17 and Po Shan Road is named after him. He was born in Hong Kong in 1849 of a wealthy family, his father, Wei Kwong, being compradore to the Hong Kong branch of the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China (now the Mercantile Bank Ltd.). After many years of Chinese studies under private tutors, he entered the Government Central School. In 1867, at the age of 18, he proceeded to England to attend the Leicester Stoneygate School. In 1868 he went to Scotland and studied for four years at the Dollar Institution. After a European tour, he returned to Hong Kong in 1872 and then worked in China for a short period. When his father died in 1879 he succeeded him as compradore to the bank. He was a very public-spirited citizen, well-known for his charming manners and pleasant personality. In 1880 he was elected a director of the Tung Wah Hospital and in 1887 became its Chairman. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1883.
Wei Yuk's appointment to the Legislative Council was additional to and not in replacement of Ho Kai, and came about as follows.
During 1894, the Governor, Sir William Robinson, forwarded to the Secretary of State a petition signed by the Honourable Messrs. Thomas Whitehead, Paul Chater, Ho Kai and other residents in the Colony, asking for unofficial membership in the Executive Council; "free election of representatives of British nationality in the Legislative Council"; "a majority of such representatives in the Legislative Council"; and freedom of the official members to vote according to their conscientious convictions.18
The Secretary of State, Lord Ripon, criticized the petitioners' demands as lacking in clarity on the ground that the petitioners "asked for the free election of representatives of British nationality without reference to the qualifications of the voters". Thus if the petitioners intended that only those from the British Islands should vote and be eligible for election, this would exclude the Chinese who comprised nine-tenths of the entire population. He dismissed the claim to have a majority of elected representatives,