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A SENSE OF HISTORY (PART II)
CARL SMITH
JEALOUSIES SURFACE IN THE JOCKEYING FOR A SEAT IN LEGCO
The year 1883 presented opportunities for Ho A-mei to become the recognised leader of the Chinese community. First, there was his election as Chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee to be followed by that of the Po Leung Kuk. These positions were honours awarded by the Chinese community to a member who merited recognition for his concern about their welfare.
Second, there was the prospect of selection by the Governor to the vacant seat in the Legislative Council created by the resignation of the Honourable Ng Choy. One of the hurdles to get across was the competition provided by other possible candidates, particularly Dr. Ho Kai, for this position of leadership.
Remarks made by Dr. Ho Kai, acting as spokesman for the Chinese, when an official deputation visited the Officer Administering the Colony in January 1883, provided an opportunity for Ho A-mei to suggest publicly that Dr. Ho Kai was not representative of the Chinese community and, by implication, not a suitable person to represent them on the Legislative Council.
Ho A-mei had been elected Chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital in 1882. In the official list of directors his name appears as Ho Hin-ping, otherwise Kwan Shan, of the On Tai Insurance Co.
The following year he became the Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk, an organisation for the prevention of kidnapping and the protection of women and children.
These offices, the highest the Chinese community in Hongkong
This instalment completes the reprinting, with the author's kind permission, of “A sense of History" that appeared in the South China Morning Post between 1977 and 1979.