THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1954.
Would your watch have kept A
A CENTURY OF PART-TIME
time on the sea-bed?
WEARING & Rolex Oyster Perpetual, "professor of Milan University ww for wits off Capri. But the strap-buckle was loose, asad film watch broke from his wrist, and mank to the bottom.
Without much hope, the professor naked some divers, working nearby, to keep an eye open for his watch.
Burprisingly, seven days Inter, they actually found it, and it was selli keeping perfect time.
This Rolex Oyster Perpetual la sim dar tu the one in the story. l'arantiently waterproof in ite Öyster Cow, i la given perfeet arurary by the Perpetual wouling "ter" The Koira Bad Seal Wensílios every Holes chronumele.
It is not really so incredible. For this superb watah, completely pro- tooted from water and sand by the farocum Oyster waterproof caso, is automatically wound by the for. petual "rotor" mechanists--another Ilolox invention,
lilsinthoirability to stay accurate under Buel: incredible trata of ondur nnoo that lolax watches prava tholr luununity from the moto normal it's that besat on ordinary watch,
Aftet arven days beneath the ana, d Roles peter Perpetual, brought up by daneta, iar fosenet in be utili showing the right ternet (The original ister of f'ra- Trang Vutulo can be trapected at the Jules offres, it sue du Marchi, Womens.]
ROLEX
♫ landmark in the history of Tima measurement
ROLEX Chronometer-
Ocial Timeplove of Itatingia Airlions
CPA
continue
to
offer
First Class comfort and amenities
SOLDIERING IN HONGKONG
By TOM EYTON
T
enthusiasm was sometimes quite another thing.
HE Royal Hongkong Defence Force had been practising hurd for its Centenary Parade, and everything points to the prospect of a very smart turn-out a week tomorrow when it is to be held. But jungle green, how ever you look at it, is still the carry-over of drab war- time necessity, and, though doubtless spick and span, the body of men on parade will not look nearly so gay and debonair #M did the was
for
More than one occasion in on
days.
WAY back in 1803. example, an officer of the Both Regiment,
tho enger to turn gentlemen volunteers
into efficient soldiers, kindly offered his services for musketry train- Log. He made his way to the place of training at six in the morning-to find only two men on on parade, record when there was only one a drill mon
reporting for parade. Now, every sergeant- major wants his squad to move and think as one man, but that taking t * inte 100 literally Volunteers of years ago. The Force has come a long Those
the days of way since those far-off were colourful uniforms, of gold Its fine performance in the de
of the Colony in 1041 brald and fancy trimmings! fence
testified tu the Volunteers' And us for the hats...!
worth. In the year 1863 the China Mail, whose pages of closely-set, pigny-sized type are now yellow with age, announced with gusto that the Volunteers' uniform had been completed with stylish belt and a husby hat. What a dashing figure the Volunteer of century ago must have cut!
Bet fashions change -- or, should I say, Army regulations
12
of the style Valunteurs! bat
to alter with about the same frequency ng mudy's bormots of toxiny.
Among the many styles worn the pillbox hat, which made its wearer look very much like a twentieth century page- buy, and the familiar, old while helmet, such as Stanley might
WITH
Wil
желу.
#
have been wearing when ない went looking for Livingstone in Darkest Afrien
★
The Volunteers of Hongkong have a history which is not without humorous patches, No doubt the predecessory of the young men who now train
SU earnestly all Joined up with the same zeal, but sustained
at Least Expensive Fares
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The ten years which preceded the formation of the Arst Volunteer contingent in Hong- kong had been years of unrest and alagio.
The Gunners of the Hongkong Volunteers.
The date of the photograph is uncertain, but it is thought to have baon takon in the 1890'%.
Even if mankind was not being threatened with destruction from
atomic and hydrogen bombs, the people of possible. a century ago nonetheless could get pretty excited the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny.
aver
The Government decided then to call out the Volunteers. They Junaged to restore some kind the of order, and they kept pense until tempers cooled,
to
tlons involved Malay seamen, Gunners hauled on drag ropes, mounted had their own mafoos the Police and men of the 99th and by the sweat of their brows and servants to keep things In Regiment, and there were some-
got their precious gun up shape.
The most outstanding part of thing like pitched battles being the Peak, Did they wish they
history the Volunteers' whole fought out. They resulted
were flemen then! 11
down tho was the noble role they played six murders. It seemed that no
gun Calling the attempt at a settlement between
steep slopes was again another in the defence of Hongkong contending purtles
it was against the Japanese invaders the
way
Once again dimculty. manpower that did 11. The men In 1941. The actions in which the Volunteers were concerned lowered the gun gently foot by
are now recorded in a printed foot, tugging for dear life o the strong ropes, all the while volume, which makes inspiring praying that no one would slip reading. Together with other
British
and Canadian troops weapon crashing they fought courageously to send the down the hillside.
tenaciously against overwhelm- nevertheless, Gunners, The
The Volunteers lost ing odds. At today's inflated costs, the
232 men Defence Force takes something came off best on occasions. One
were and many more and incident occurred when the men
wounded. like $2,000,000 to equip maintal yearly. It is interest- were fallen out on the Peak at for comparison, 3 a.m. to prepare for a dawn ing to note, to the newspapers wrote
teer barrage. Three men had moved Volunteer 1800 suggesting that Hongkong that when the first
away from the rest of the unit it was given the should follow
Homeside unit was formed example and raise a Volunteer the princely grant of £195 per and were huddled close together year by the Government, This for warmth when they sudden. Corps. It took two years before
that ly espied a small parcel neatly was paid on the proviso everybody could appreciate the
Wave
Hongkong was not without Its troubles, for a crime was spreading and threatened
got out of hand,
to
A resident with much fore- sight and some literary talent
In
A group of Volunteers during the Fint World War. The pictures on this page are part of the collection which will be on view to the public at St John's Cathedral Hall beginning June 1,
Ordinance, and
soundness of the idea, but once there were at least 78 efficient
men on strength. they did things moved very swiftly. In a matter of a fow The numbers dwindled, and short weeks, after
a public in 1888 when the 75 could not in the be found, the Volunteers were meeting had been held
disbanded. And they were not Governi Supreme Court, the
thero meat had passed the necessary revived till 1878 when
a unit, equipped was considered to be a Russian with three-pounder guns
and threat to world peace, and the howitzers, was in training.
Colony
felt its exposure to the the first Hong warships of the Czar, No less answered then 142 Volunteers Volunteers. Apparently
also a
rather gar- the call, and the numbers con- rulous lot, for at one Volunteer tinued to grow. dinner in the
1863 year fewer than 20 speeches
This is duly recorded in given. The Chine Mail of those days.
kong
were
were
༥
по
were
and
Lesson In The Way
To Woo
By Anne Edwards and Drusilla Boyfus
RECOMMENDED to all
chance to brush up on
a subject in which they are pretty rusty After the war, it was decided the way to woo a. girl. to reorganise the Corps. Colonel On show again is a techni
been L. T. Rido, CBE, ED, who had que that has during the war escaped from beaten the technique of camp Valentino in the film "Son to organise the British Army
Shumshulpo kiternment
Aid Group in Free China, was of the Sheik."
never
entrusted by the Government to Any man who thinks that undertake this difficult job as Rudolph Valentino is now an Commandant. The idea was
ono
amalgamate the different sec-out-dated joke has got an- tions of the former Volunteer other think coming. He is
into Corps
compact the essence of everything organisation.
that, the Englishwoman Thus the Infantry: units, re- secretly longs for -- and christened the Hongkong Regl roughly the reverse of what ment, the Hongkong Royal she is likely to get.
Naval Volunteer Reserve, the
Hongkong Auxiliary Air Force
and the women's services were
all combined into the Hong-
FLASHING TEETH
kong Defence Force. The old He is the Latin lover who Ordinance ended on February is not a cad. He is AB
28, 1949, and the new Defence
Force Ordinance сате into
being the next day,
Tho going out of effect of the
primitive as the desert, but
he has the manners of An
Old Etonian "English
old Ordinance meant that all born, but Sahara bred,” as Volunteers were freed of their the film caption says. commitments, and they need
not have Julied the new cpm-
He has a chest to batter
posite organisation. Yet many on while he ancers; white old stagers came back to put teeth to flash mockingly the Force on its feet. Their while cold steel is pressed to reward camo ΔΕΣ 1901
the lote
on the Force in
when King
His
his throat; the perfect kind Majesty George VI conferred the title of eyebrows to raise chal- "Royal"
re-lengingly; brown eyes that cognition of the Volunteers' melt and barden to let her splendid war record.
know exactly what he feels about her.
Instead of offering her a long engagement and a tiny At present the Force has *
man who total strength of about 1,700, ring he is the all fully trained for any sweeps her off her feet and emergency that may arise. Some whispers fiercely: "What I of this number were conscripted
PLC want I take."
Ho doesn't hang around, for six months while the girl wen- ders if he will ever propose. Ho gives her one of those looks across a crowded market, two minutes later says "I love you,"
wrapped and carefully hidden near one of the guns. It was the property of the sergeant-major. Needless to say, this important man lost his battle of beer and sandwiches!
The First World War in 1914 to the brought many changes
went Volunteers' ranks. Men Home to join British battalions, for- but older residents came
as a result of the coming into ward to fill the gap.
force of the Compulsory Ser- Men of the Hongkong
vico Ordinance in 1951. But Volunteer Defence Corps, as it there is no difference whether was then known, fought in
a man is a conscript or of war. many theatres
The Volunteer--he is treated allico
the undertakes Things have certainly changed names of those killed aro now and since the days when the Inscribed in the Corps Roll
thorough training. It was, admittedly, somewhat Volunteers turned up for Honour.
This training goes on through of a gala occasion, with
The annual camps which have out the year. A man is expected a parades comfortably borne
Instead of fussing about in- guests, sedan chairs, But things were
been held since 1920 have pro- to put in a minimum of 60
laws and who your father is, Picture the scene: the men in not at all times bed of roses, vided good
an training. Besides, training periods of hour when she protests: "I do not and
citizen soldiers the concerts at these their and those old
camps cach in dazzling uniforms
year, besides a even know your name," he says ladies in rustling gowns! Three sometimes had quite a lot have given the men, used to minimum of six tid days as "I am he that loves you—is not
the comforts of home, some well as two weeks' annual camp, that enough?" matsheds were put up for the put up with.
is only He For instance, when there was kind of entertainment. thoughtful occasion,
declared emelent to lull at one camp, the higher-
be if he It does not
ANIM person
these
training standing by. Flags and ever ups suddenly ordained that gun generally known nowadays that obligations. The keenness of the
men greens decorated the hall, and practice would be held on the the Volunteers once had
ls such that many put in a platform was erected special- Peak.
mounted unit. This particular much more time than ly for the ladies,
to branch of the service was com» minimum required. A series of riots created a transport a seven-pounder up monly known as the "Happy
Bounties were paid to many reign of terror throughout the to the Peak on a hot day? Man Valley Hussars,”
legend men last year for the extra time Colony in 1804. These
was the answer. The has it that the men erup- power
of the they put in.
galaxy of Important
and FA even had
a fire eart
The question was how
іл
ve
acem
and
of
T
same and slips on to her finger a spare sparkler which he happens to have handy.
the
WHAT A MAN! ZEM
Instead of making · D about walking a step to pick 20 lengues her up, he rides every day and night to meet her in the old ruins by moon- Ught.
ד.
-
What a man he is! He has no truck with a woman who lets him down and, what is more, te pays her out as well? No • softio he.When she tries to | melt, his heart by throwing him a white rose, he crushes it with ameer, while his dark-eyes glitter with contempt
But when he finds out-geho was in the clear all along, ho will take on 20 men with cut laser to win her back; he will say, he la sorry and kiss, for Inger Ups.
30
And at the end of, it fall, you feel the chances are that aner years of romantic love be wilE still be riding » home, los her through a sandstorm that, flat- Lena the palms,
They haven be found a film, Tover technique to touch it.
Misy cover?from Alan.
*** Date: 1912-14-