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Cipta Aulozzon 1 Miss Anderson, Mrs. Milw ar 1. Mr. G. W. Playfair and Mrs. Playfair, Miss Van Buren. Mrs. Tomes, Mrs. Droeze, Mr. and Mrs. Byramjee. Mr. A. G. Romano, Mr. C. C. Platt, Mr. T. Jackson, Mr. A. B. Johnson, Mr. A. Danison: Mr. and Mrs. Mehta, Mr. C. Ford aud Mrs.
Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Cox, and Messrs. ib mei. Ho Tung, Ho Fook, Li Sing. Le、
Feng Ming San, Cheung Si Hai. ( Tax. Wai Yuk, Kwok Chik, Sin Tak, Anng Tak. Tam Chuen Shu, Lan Wei Chun. Chai, Chi Yuen, Lo Chi Ting, and many others.
The proceedings were opened by Hon. J. i. STEWART LOCKHART, the President of the Committee, who said --Your Excellency-Un behalf of the Po Lenng Kuk Society I have the honour to request you to lay the foundation stone of the new home for women and girls, and in doing so I desire to express on behalf of the members of the Society their high appreciation ¦ of the honour which your Excellency has done them in coming here to-day to perform this eremony. (Heps. Hear.)
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THE HONGFONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
we
still further indebted to the ung Wa Hospital Committee for handing over to this Society, for their new builling, a site which was granted to the Tung Wa Jommittee some years ago for You will wish to know | charitable ja poses.
how this new dome is to be paid for. I will tell you. The nese residents have subscribed amongst th selves the handsome sum of $30,000 towards it, and the Government recognizing the utility and value of the Po Leung Kuk Sciety's efforts, has a ided to that amount a further sum With that $40,(** and of 820,000). suitable buildings will be erected for the pur- poses of this institution on the site of now stand. Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad
You must to lay this stone this afternoon. agree with me in thinking that the past scess of the Po Leung Kuk Society has been very great. It would be impossible to run such en institution on European lines or under European Management. The Po Leung Knk Society has proved itself worthy of confience, and I ask you to concur with me in the hope: I now express that its future success maz be greater still, that it may be the means of minimizing, if not entirely of suppressing this disgusting traffic, and therefore may be a permanent bless. ing to the present and future generations of Chinese women and girls.
His EXCELLENCY--Mr. President of the Po Leung Kuk Society, you and your committee have asked me to lay the foundation stons of the new home for women and girls which it is proposed to erect on this site. I have the Freatest pleasure in acceding to your request and am glad to have my name in any way associated with the admirable institution you represent. Before completing the ceremony. however. I should like, for the information of the spectators and of the invited guests, to make L fw remarks as to the origin and past success of the Society. Some seventeen years ago the a'fention of the publie was called by the Chief Justice to the evi! practice of kidnapping which was rampant ia the Colony and of selling the kidnapped women and children es if they were mere chaitels. The principal Chinese residents Cill honour le to them) were so impressed with the scamlalous state of affairs in this respect that they memorialized the Governor, and through him the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and they asked for permission to form an association for the purpose of suppressing this terrible crime; of protecting women and girls, and of restoring those who had been This kiluappel to their frial or relations. porarision was grant at the Committee of the Tung Wa Hospi si indly placed at the di qosal of the Po Leung Kuk Society a por- tion of their hospital for the temporary ac cominodation of the destitute women and girls who had beeu rescued or might ie rescue from the terrible fate which was intended for them. I hold in my hand return which shows that during the four pears ending in 1891 no less than 2.751 per sous have been dealt with by the Society, and I have in my possessi
ther return which shows that froin 1882 to the end of 1895 the large wumber of 5.5B pera us have been rescued by this Society. the greater number of whom have been sent to their homes or handed over to their relatives. This deed, a record of good work. It is one wh
recommend itself to every kogest audr
→ resident in the Colony. I cannot m
gine any more use- ful, charitable, und Curistin-like work. It has ben weil said by Adelaide Procter that God bis glory when His children bring His poor odes joy and peace." Well, joy and peace must have ben brought to many a troubled house hold the restoration of girls by this Society own relatives and their own homes, o dare assert that God has not been glori thereby? And let me sayre that the rals and regulations under dich he Po Leung nk Soiety have s loag and 80 were drawn up by our Facces illy worke
nine QC, Mr. Francis, whom we are a1 glad to see muongst us again restored to healt after serious illuss. Well, ladies and gentle men, you can easily understand that with so much w to do it as impossible, and it is impos- sib, the
g Kak Society to do that work well and Rect Hy in the cramped and unsuitable premtes lea. To em so liberally by the Tung Wa Hospital Committee. I consider that the Government and the community are rauch indebtel to the Tung Wa Hospital Com. mittee for the charitable assistan hey have uk, and for so long given to the Po Len we, the Government and the community, are
to the and w
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Hou, Ho KAI then handed å silver trowel and a silver mounted mallet to his Excellency, who thereupon smoothed the mortar and the stone was placed in its proper position under the super- vision of Mr. Denison, the architect. After tapping the stone,
His EXCELLENCY said-Ladies and gentle men, I declare this stone to be well and truly laid, and I ask you now to adjourn to the Tung Wa Hospital Committee Room.
A photograph of the group was then taken, #nllion. Ho KAI called for thre chers for his Excellency, which were beartily given. The stone was inscribed as follows- "This stone was laid by Sir William Robin: on, K.C.M.G., Governor, January 18th, 1896" and contained one of each of the Hongkong coins and a copy of the day's issue of the Daily Press.
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The company having adjourned to the Tung Wa Hospital Committee Room, wine and cake were served. After glasses had been charged, HON. HO KAI said-Ladies and gentlemen, after the most interesting function over the way it is now my pleasant duty to propose for your cordial reception a toast which is generally well received by all classes of this
The health of our ex commuuity, that is, cellent and much respected Governor, His
(Hear Excellency Sir William Robinson." hear). I am confident, ladies and gentlemen, that it does not require a bug speech at any time to recommend this toast for your en- thusiastic reception-(Hear, hear) and pecially on an occasion like this I know merely for it your warm the mention will ensure
one of the approval and support. That is reasons, I suppose, why I have been selected to undertake this most light, agreeable, and congenial task. We are very much obliged to His Excellency for having come to-day to lay the foundation stone of the new home for res- cued wonten and girls. We are more grateful still to His Excellency for the noble and staunch support which he has given to the Society in times of trouble and difficulty, when the Institu- tion itself was in danger of being done away with and the useful work was much hampered and rendered less effective on account of the want of room and funds. Our gratitude to his Excellency in connection with this Po Leung Kuk Society is beyond the expression of words, and we members and supporters of this Society caely pray that his Excellency will be abun- ' blessed for all the good he has done in Connection with the Society and its work. There- ladies ad gentlemen, I ask you to drink to-day most eartily with me to the hea th and happiness of our worthy Governor, $ir William Robinson. (1 oud Applanke)
The toast
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reply,
husiastically drunk and in
His EXCEL ENCY said-I thank you very much indeed for cordially drinking the toast of my health, whh has been so felicitously pro- posed by the
on. Dr. Ho Kai. As I said just now. I have au a great deal of pleasure in laying the fudation stone of this new build- ing, becans.. in doing so, I feel I was not only
[January 22, 1896.
giving pleasure to myself. but I was doing a duty which would be expected of me by Her Majesty the Queen, whom I have the Honour to serve. All Governors of colonies are expected to take a leading part in supporting any institu tion which has for its object the advancement of the moral and social condition of the people whom they govern, and therefore it has given me very great pleasure not only on my own account, but because I have done a duty wich Her Majesty the Queen has most gra- ciously devolved upon me. (Applause.) I wish the Society every success in the future, and I thank "for the manner in which you proposed the toast of my health. (Applause.)
you
While his Excellency was speaking another photograph was taken, and at the conclusion of his reply,
Mr. J. J. FRANCIS said-Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, I have been asked to pro- pose the only other toast that is to be proposed this afternoon, and that is, prosperity to the institution the foundation stone of which we have just seen laid by His Excellency. In some sense I presided, if I may be permitted so to say, at the birth of the lo Leung Kuk Society. You have heard from His Excel- lency the Governor, in the address which he delivered at the laying of the foundation stone, under what circumstances, the Chinese resi- dent in the colony proposed to establishi that institution. When their proposals firet came before His Excellency the then Governor, they were referred to a number of gentlemen of whom I happened to be one, being at the time Acting Police Magistrate, for consideration and report. I know I was very pleased and gratified at the time by the efforts then put forward by the Chinese gentlemen who were then organising the affair, and I had very great pleasure indeed in strongly recom- mending it to the Governor, and in preparing rules for the management of the institution. You have heard from his Excelleney what has been done during the seventeen years since the institution was started by the members of it; how many women they have rescued from destitu- tion and misery; how many they have re- stored to their own homes; and it is only just to the Po Leung Kuk Society to say that that work was done under many disadvantages. You have heard from his Excellency the Governor that the room placed at their disposal in the Tung Wa Hospital was hardly suitable for their accomodation. They were not very extensively, in the first instance, supplied with funds, but through the zeal and energy of the members of the Committee, they were able to do a considerable amount of very valuable work; indeed it is difficult to say what is the real amount of rescue work that has been accomplished. It is, therefore, with very great pleasure in. deed that I propose the future prosperity of this institution. If it does not prosper after this it will be the fault of the members them- selves, because now they have a most handsome endowment and a fine building, and have been incorporated to the fullest extent by her Ma
They have been placed jesty's Government. under the superintendence of the Registrar- General. not absolutely for the purpose of con- trolling the institution, butsimply for the purpose of consulting the Committee and meeting any dif- ficulties that may arise. At the same time any- one thinking over the subject must say that the greatest prosperity which can happen to the Po Leung Kuk Society is that it may come to au honourable end by the entire cessation of xidnapping, by the cessation of those miseries which it gives rise to, and that the institution should become no longer a necessity but 1 am very much afrather that end can never be completely attain d. Lerefore I sincerely wish, and I ask you to join with me in wishing, that this institution from this day forward may be even more carefully and more zealously man aged than it has been in the past, that it may make most perfect and most efficient use of the means now placed at its disposal, and that through these means many women, many girls, may be rescued from misery and destitu- tion and restored to their families and bomes. I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, heartily to drink to the prosperity of the Po Leung Kuk Society, and I ask leave to connect with the toast the name of Mr. Leung Pui Chi. I am sure he will excuse me reading his name from