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NOTES AND QUERIES
joined and added one share, making the total six shares as they are now. For each share 25 silver dollars were paid to establish the Sheung Ue tung ferry for the convenience of passengers. [The operation of] the ferry has been given to the highest bidder by auction each year. [Money received] is kept for interest so that sacrifices may be paid for. Sacrifices should be paid for in accordance with former regulations. [Sheung Ue tung was another name for the Sheung Shui area, and the ferry in question took villagers across the river to Sham Chun Market as we found out in interviews in Fan Ling and Lung Yeuk Tau. The passage is, of course, not as clear as it could be. It would seem that except for the half share held by Loi Tung, other shares held before 1908 counted for something in the reconstitution of the yeuk in that year. This something was not necessarily much more than a right to re-join, and Loi Tung was thus effectively barred from re-joining.]
3. Management for the year should be rotated in the following order
First, the Hau surname, Ping Kong, Ho Sheung Heung, Kam Tsin, Yin Kong;
Second, Lung Shaan heung;
Third, Tai Hang, Tai Po Tau;
Fourth, Fan Ling heung;
Fifth, San Tin heung;
Sixth, Sheung Shui heung.
4. Each share [in the alliance] is to keep a book, and in the year it is in charge, ten days before [the sacrifice], it should send invitations to the shan-sz in the villages. There must be no delay.
5. On the occasion of the celebration on the 1st of the Sixth Month, each share is to send four shan-sz to worship the gods. There should also be sufficient masters-of-ceremony and managers. [We know for a fact that some of the member villages of the New Alliance did not have degree-holders: the term shan-sz in this clause, must therefore include people without a degree.]