WHE
THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1959,
Dreamt I Dwelt In
Marble Halls
THEN I first arrived in the Colony, and hopes: of a braye new world were high, I was pushed to serve on a committee that was discussing a new city hall. These discussions were marvellous, wonderful for people with nothing more to do.
I left for Shanghai and upon word. Since those earlier days, my return, one of the first tele- I have served upon no commit
to tce. phone calls I received was know whether I should like to Boirone of other represent upon the City Hall Committee.
To which I replied with one short sharp and entirely derisive
is
It is Interesting to recall then,
tury ago, people were meating
A provisional Committee was formed with the idea of push- ning along the scheme two years 1 later, in 1803.
JOHN LUFF
end A further publle meeting was theatre
assembly room tho was discussed, and as B cob-
held is August 1860, when fender for the construction of sequence, a committee of re-
that
"Plans for the
waters.
Page
The electric telegraph was which the miniature toy to Sir Richard roferred. THIB did not go beyond the Colony but, connected Jardino's towns house to their East Point pre- mists in 1883.
So Inspiring is the spoken word that in the mouth of some people it has a kind of magic, for I is light of all I say, that a cen- found after a time that somehow we had and reporting, and committesing on a proposed City Hall. But la erected a huge palatial edifice, a stately pleasure- these days, they were more of And we became the kind of men I for one prefer, dome decree, all by words.
.men like Mr Robert Jardine involved in all sorts of arguments, for in a City who would say in effect: "Cut
The former City Hall vlowed from the cricket ground; demolished to make way.
for the Hongkong and Shanghai Bonk Building. Hall not yet built, we erected a huge restaurant, the cackle, here's fifty thousand and had got down to brass tacks as to what kind dollars, get on with the job."
The City Hall was completed the building was accepted. The sidents was appointed to make those of the residents more better break in here to explain spray into the Hongkong mʊbn-
foundation stone was laid on preliminary arrangements. of livery the waiters should wear and upon what on June 20, 1800, and was
It must have looked open d by I.R.A. Prines February 23, 1807.
projected especially connected with them a few references mudo by Sir light. floor in this non-existent building the newly Albert, Duke of Edinburgh.
the contemporary very beautiful then, and per- In 1913, as the life of the City buildings were exhibited in the by ties of local interest and Richard to
hops often n ata returning The idea of a formed Sino-British Club should find habitation.
City Hall Hall was drawing to a close, autumn of 1802. The name, great commercial investments, affairs of his timej
"He felt this strong as ho Sir Richard mentioned the reveller might have bathed his originated in 1801, and a meet- there was public agitation for "City Hall," and the combina-
tion in one building of a theatre, walked down that morning to firm of Dent.
In searching up aching head in its cooling ing was held at the Hongkong Improvement for the building.
A speech made at the time Ubrary and a suite of assembly the site of the new building for strords I And they were in Club to discuss the project.
might rooms having been agreed upon, when he fooled to the west be trouble a few years after the much preserves
tres could almost discern that noble time referred been lost re- the Government made
this article. otherwise have
Institution, the Sailors' Home, I make brief mention of them in garding the early days or the grant of the alte in 1864.
and from the same place, on the article "Feed My Sheep, ..project.
turning to the east could view when St Paul's College lost their the equally valuable and hand- funds invested with Dent's. some bullding, the Seamen's Hospital, both founded by the munificence of the great house of Jarding, Matheson. subscriptions and concerts; that a further sum of $80,000 being required, shares had been offered at $100 each; that Mr Robert Jardine had "Who therefore WES
up $50,000; especially entitled to take a pro- generously taken and that there remained shares minent part in an undertaking to the face value of $30,000 to like the present as the present be taken up by the public. respected representative of the "Eventually a body of trustees house, more particularly when it was appointed and when the was entirely owing to necessary funds were found, the, generous contribution of the building was erected and was same frm that the funds had opened on November 2, 1869 been completed, which enabled by H... Prince Albert, Duke them to inaugurale that day of Edinburgh."
the commencement of the City Hall. (Hekr, hear).
At the moment, the City Hall
once again in the air, In metaphorical, sense, and, so am told, is koon to take crete form.
-$100
.
A report was issued to people concerned in 1884.
the
Beauty Or Brains?
"It was with the close of the 1801 that tho crection of #
Emperors Were Her Slaves
Cleopatra used Mark Anthony as she had used Julius Caesar-and brought shame on them both.
LEOPATRA's legendary charms made slaves of
CLE
But a coldly Rome's greatest generals. calculating brain ruled her heart, Passionate in love, the Queen of Egypt was even more ardent in the pursuit of her political ambition,
Her dream was to make Egypt the greatest kingdom of her age, with herself as its head. That she lacked an army or military genius to enable -her to supplant Rome as the ruling power of the
world did not for one moment deter her.
hatin Oclavian, she Boally mach Wit enough to gain her end by thun who could resist her making others do her fighting, To him she was the adven- The orders
given by turess who had betrayed his were
rival generals who fell victim to her gallant
Anthony. the devastating charms.
courtesan who had destroyed the happiness of his alster, She induced Jullus Caesar to Intervene when her brother Anthony's legal wife,
Cleopatra, born in 67 B.C..
dethroned her. And when Caesar was the eldest of King Ptolemy died, she used his successor, Merk Anthony, and his Reman Auletes' four
children. But
Army to conquer the rich lands though she was the product of of. Asia Minor she had always generations of in-breeding, she goveted.
was physically perfect and in- tellectually brilliant.
She bore her lovers' children, bul even while he was their mistress, she offered her faveurs
*
to other men who stood between She succeeded
to the throne
by
REX LOPEZ
Empire. Under the pretence of
*bc-
with her that he flaunted their her twins. But Cleopatra bad no more love for him than affair, in the heart of the Roman
she had had for his predeces presenting her to the Senate, he Dor Caesar.
Rumours about their invited Cleopatra and her pan to
rome and there to the fica haviour and Antony's Cum- humiliation of his wife Cal palgns in Syria and Cyprus--all purnia, received them at his almed at expanding Cleopatra's skilla on the brake of the Tibes, domain beran je jesshed
Xon and ofMOSCA when Cactar was stabbed on enen by Anthony's neglect of his
the the steps of
Forum, duty, the Senate declared war Cleopatra, who was kill -, on Egypt and sent Octavlan to ing in his villa, had only one deal with Anthony. thought-to convince the
To Cleopatra, Romans that her son was the made-to-mecsure opportunity. It Emperor's rightful heir.
Anthony could beat his co-ruler, The Romans, however, would he Roman Empire would be
and, hers. not be convinced the danger of pressing her claim. Cleopatra left the city-secretly, she re- Driven from Rome,
alene turned to Egypt to rulé
But it was not long before until Merk Anthony's arrival in. Cleopatra's calculating brain told Alexandria three years later her that her lover was on the revived her dream of power. loging side, and she laid her
this
☆ ☆
Mas
Although nearing 10,
her and re power the craved, as joint ruler with her young She had mel Anthony before, plans accordingly,
Once she tried to seduce brother, Piolemy, on the death when he was a leutenant in Herod the Great and narrow- of her father. Auletos had will- Caesar's army. She remember- was still a seducitve woman. ly escaped decapitation. It they should marry and rule ed the desire his eyes expressed was only Herod's admirailon as one, in.
tradition for her lover, Anthony-ana Egypt's rulers for more than at their last meeting.
-the fact that be would have found it hard to expiala his sation to the Roman general
that prevented him killing ber.
་་
...
from
dr-embillon wes -unquench-
1,500 years.
the
of
Cleopatra:WIS then in her late twenties, an age when most Cleopatra was 10 and her weren of her day were cca- brother 10 when they ascended sidered undesirable, But her the throne. But their joint beauty was ageless. Anthony, reign 'svas short-lived. Her then in his early terlies, was brother's advisers persuaded him, easy prey.
to depose Cleopatra and assume sole .control..
Exiled to Syria, Cleopatra Bot
about farming on army to march
feminine Might
not her charms, which had 30 effectively enslaved Caesar and Anthony, work again on
Cetoolant
But before she could put this question to the test she had do rid herself of her lover. Becall- ing that they had made a pact that if one.dled, the other would not remain alive, she locked hor- Cleopatra slage-tranaged an self in mausoleum and had
bis
able, and it made her ruthless even, towards her own family on Egypt, but it was Jullus impressive meeting. She came word edit to 'Anthony that she Whon her sister, Arsenae, dove- Caext, cngaged in his great to aim in a galley, dressed as hod committed suleido. Anthony loped into a beautiful woman confict with Pompey, who in- Venus, redining on a couch true to the pet, ordered Cleopatra had her executed. vaded Egypt Ant. Cloupatra under a gold owning and at servant to kill him with his feating, she might become a seized her chance. She had her endod by cupids..
own 'sword self wapped in a carpit, and Simeo Cesur ac
death, Anthon? Now Cleopatra prepared lo For no reason that has ever krauguded Into Caeria's presence and Octavian hd guled jointly, receive his muccessor. She bathed been discovered, the poisoned relying on her considerable and now Anthony had come to In penture and dressed liico, the her-own brother, who, in the theme to beguile the con- esk Cleopatrato ; finance a Goddam of Isis. But to no avail. manner. of ancient Egyptian queror.is B
campaign to oust
co-z Not only was Colavien not; im- Torally was sloo her hubband In this, she was completely Emperor,“
2 pressed, but his had sworn Patented her dream of power: "Kabaffered beyond re- palty Cleopatra, killed-bar-
ing the pacti she had made "with" AnthoRY,
The And Ewhen; the Roman Senatoruósentul, Not only dia But this ambition was no revenge, A
desired war on Egypt and sent - Cassar restore her to power match for Cleopatra's. He be- Octavian to deal with Anthony, * in Egypt, but he bemme › her came time lover, and - stayed to Cleopātis tejched, tiễn Tovar into...), layer and falker of her, diilid, be her slave, committing fuckte in the hope Cleopatra had little love for that his death" and hoë charus the great solglor-statesman, who, would place to the soyader, Brat die bla puet, i was no infatuated
Infatuated beyond Anthony "Byed with Cleopatra - for many years, and rathered
"At a public meeting shortly afterwards, it was stated that a sum of $20,000 had been obtain el by donations,
the
A newspaper report of February 25, 1867, takes us right "Indeed, if they stepped out back to the time, the foundation side the enclosure, they would storie was led by His Excel- see within a few yards of the lency Sir Richard MacDonnell, spot where they were assembled on Saturday, Felnuary 23, 1887.. the massive foundation stone "A large party, among which presented to the City, by one were several ladies, assembled loved and respected by them at the parade ground about one all, and whom, ho was sure, o'clock on Saturday afternoon they hoped might long continue to witness the ceremony of lay- to enjoy the high position ing the comer stone of the new amongst the Merchant Princes City Hall.
of the East, which the head of Shortly after one, His Excel- the House of Dent & Co. had Icncy the Governor, necom- 50
long occupled (Loud panied by Lady MacDonnell and cheers), thetr guests, His Royal Highness the. Dake de Pentheivre, the foreign community from Macuo "He regarded the fight of the Count' dé Beauvoir, Captain to the shelter of this harbour Fauvet, and Lieutenant Brinkly,
arrived, and the party at once previous to its cession to Great proceeded to the north-east end Britain, us constituting the true of the enclosure, where a scaf- epoch of its birth. folding was erected over the rapidly educated up to the ..."Slace then it had been trenches in which the founda- standard of modern enlighten- tion stone was to be laid.
"Here the corner-stone was suspended on a pair of shears directly over its resting place.
∙ment,
The house of Jardine had instructed it in the electric telegraph, a miniature toy, a5 yet. It had subsequently learn- ed to use gas, and hereafter, when there would be dimeulty "Mr Rennie, the chairman of in obtaining a cat of the Kow- the committee, and His Excel- loon and Canton Raliway, ho luncy then descended into the would regard Hongkong trench, and the stone was having graduated, and taken its lowered and duly cemented in position amongst advanced and its place, and the Inaugural step adult communities. (Laughter). In this noble enterprise was de- clared taken, upon which His Excellency turned and offered
MA
Mr Rehnie his congratulations. "At the same time, he did not "Under the stone was placed expect to remain here long the usual copy of local papers enough to assist at the opening. дид
of Hongkong and of that railway, although, by the number Chinese colns of different
way, he had a strong induce- denominations,
1
ment to pass the remainder of "The party next adjourned to his days hore, having recently booth erected at the entrance invested the funds necessary to
of the enclosure and sat down constitute him a life member tu timin, after which Mr Hennie of the Fusio Association. proposed the toast of The (Laughter).. Queen," and to the Governor "They had, however, already for whose good masonry today witnessed many stirring and im- we oro Indebted for the solidity portant epochs In their history, of vitr foundation could upwards of-two-
His Excellency on rising said millions of tons of foreign ship- they must all agree on the pro- ping entering and leaving their
imtescent which maniaconih ebony ma
him to hddress the hy was adopendent of seated at their ease round the thousands of Chinese craft free well appointed tables before quenting their. waters
and them, instead of from the pit which, he was happy to say, whence he had just been ex- despite all prophecles, to the
where tricated, but
their contrary, were now as numerous foundation stone had been well as ever. (Hear, hear) and truly fald, deeply and
"In fact, Hongkong had be come the indispensable turning permanently.
an undertaking Identified corner of the great commerce of so intimately with the progress the East, and its position must of the City, he could not but continue to centralise in itself feel that his claims to laying the the most important lines of foundation stone of their City traffic, round China whether to Hall were trivial compared with the West or the North," "I had
CATHAY PACING AIRWAYS
..
Outside the City Hall was fountain, given to the people of Honghong by Mr John Dent, to whom the Governor referred to head of the house of a great
The City of Victoria; Hong- firm of Merchant Princes, kong, was first lighted with gas The centro of the fountain in the year 1863, also mentioned was ornamented with draped by Sir Richard MacDonnell in temale figures. The few stopa speech, leading up to it were guarded at the four corner by couchant Governor mentions
Rather a prophecy when the the forth. hons. I had a tablet to tell the coming Kowloon and Canton people of Hongkong that it was Railway, but a bit out in Dent In 1864.. presented to them by Mr John anticipated reckoning. Tho rallway, as it happened was not destined to be completed, until 1011, and by that time tha motor taxla were beginning to "Hongkong didn't give a hang push the old home cabs off the for it after the passing of years, ranks of the London Railway and when water became problem, it no longer functioned.
a Stations,
I know nothing of a Rio Duke of Gloucester visited the in 1857.
In 1929, when H.R.H. the Association which existed here Colony, there was talk of get- Sir Richard's 'reference to a ting the old fountain to play commercial, depression is in again, but as there was a teresting. The threat of boy- pften. drought at the time, the idea cotting Hongkong was was dropped
made, but it ta certainly Banking Corporation's imposing 2,000,000 tons of foreign ship- The Hongkong & Shanghai interesting to find that by 1867. a facade now stands whero ping was yearly visiting the this fountain once threw its harbour,
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