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CARL T. SMITH
Still another son of the Rev. Ho Fuk Tong, Ho Shan Yow (ii) was a student of law. In 1897 he was a member of the ambassadorial staff of his brother-in-law, Wu Ting Fang, and became Consul-General in San Francisco, where he promoted the organization of the Chinese American Commercial Company capitalized at a million dollars.
The eldest daughter of Ho Fuk Tong, Ho Mui Ling, married Ng Choy (1) alias Wu Ting Fang (14), a young graduate of St. Paul's College. Ng Choy's father was a business man who spent some years at Singapore where he became a Christian and married a Malay woman. He returned to Canton where he put his two eldest sons, Afat and Akwong, into the Boarding School of the Presbyterian Mission. In 1851, when the California gold-fever was rampant in Kwang Tung, Ng Afat was the ringleader in stirring up the students of the school to rebel against the hold the school had over them due to bonds their parents had signed guaranteeing that their sons would stay in the school until their education was completed. The students resented being held to this agreement as they wished to try their fortune in the gold-fields. The school authorities found it necessary to dismiss Afat. He came to Hong Kong and was employed as clerk in the Police Magistracy. His brother Akwong was a more tractable student and successfully completed his course of studies. After leaving school, he too came to Hong Kong and was for a short time an Interpreter in the Harbour Master's Office, but then about 1864 became the General Manager of the Chinese edition (Chung Ngoi San Po) of The Daily Press. The Wu family was interested in promoting Chinese journalism. The obituary notice of Mr. Chiu Yu Tsun, (The Daily Press, 12 June 1908), the editor of the Chung Ngoi San Po, states that when he joined the staff of the paper in 1873 it was "under the management of the present Chinese Minister to Washington H. E. Wu Ting Fang and his brother the late Mr. Ng Chan". When Ng Chan died about 1890, Mr. Chiu succeeded as sub-lessee and General Manager.
Wu Ting Fang was only four when the family returned from Singapore. In time he became a student of St. Paul's College in Hong Kong, where he was baptized. Upon graduation he followed the pattern set by his brothers and entered Government service as chief clerk and shroff in the Court of Summary Jurisdiction.