12.
THE QUEEN'S MESSAGE.
The following is a copy of the telegram which His Excellency the Governor received on Tuesday evening:-" FROM MY HEART: I THANK MY BELOVED PEOPLE. MAY GOD BLESS THEM. VICTORIA."
THE GOVERNOR'S REPLY. The following reply was sont by the Governor: "To Her Majesty the Queen, Buckingham Palace. May it please Your Majesty, I have had the honour to receive your Majesty's most gra- sious message and shall at once publish it for the information of this loyal community of Hongkong. I can assure your Majesty that the greatest respect and veneration for your Majesty is entertained by the people of this colony, and that the completion of the sixtieth year of your Majesty's Glorious Reign is being celebrated here most worthily and with universal enthu- siasm. ROBINSON, Governor. Hongkong, 22nd June, 1897."
WEDNESDAY'S PROCEEDINGS.
THE NEW HOSPITAL, FOR WOMEN AND
CHILDREN.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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To Commemorate the Completion of the Sixtieth; Year of the Reign of Her Most Gracious Majesty QUEEN VICTORIA.
22nd June, 1897. -
In asking His Excellency the Governor to lay the stone the Hon. C. Þ. CHATER said- Your Excellency, as Chairman of the Jubilee Committee, a very pleasaut duty has fallen to my lot on this notable day. I have to ask your acceptance of this mallet and trowel, and with them I beg you will lay the foundation stone of the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children. I shall subsequently pray your Excellency to lay a stone to mark the commencement of the Victoria Road. These two works have been selected, out of numerous projects and after much consideration, to commemorate the com. pletion of the sixtieth year of Her Majesty's long_and_glorious reign, the longest reign in English History, the one most pregnant with progress and prosperity. Ten years ago we cele brated the Jubilee of Her Majesty's reign, bat at that time it was still surpassed, in point of years, by those of two of her royal predecessors. To-day we rejoice in the fact that the reign of Queen Victorta has excelled in du- The weather was really delightful on Wednes- ration even that of her venerable grandfather day and a better Hongkong June day could George III., while it immeasurably transcends not have been wished for. The sun blazed it in importance both for the uation and the forth unobstructed, its intense heat being most sovereign. It is right and fitting therefore pleasantly toned down by a bracing easterly that we should regard this as the reddest of breeze which put everyone into the best of red latter days, not only in the history of Great spirits. It was an ideal day for out-of-door Britain, but also of that of the Greater Britain functions and two most important ones were on which the sun never sets, and of which this fixed to take place. The first was the laying rocky isle forms one of the sentinel out-posts. of the memorial stone of the Victoria Hospital The subjects of Her Majesty here gathered for Women and Children by His Excellency and they embrace almost every race and creed the Governor at ten o'clock in the morning. and the sojourners within our gates (friends The hospital will be situated in very pleasant of all nationalities) have joined most heartily surroundings, the well wooded hill at the back together to do honour to the gracious Lady of the site, the western outlook to the harbour, who for so great a span of years has and the close proximity of the well-built swayed the sceptre of a mighty Empire with nurses' quarters to the west and the Govern-
a tact and wisdom never surpassed in the ment Civil Hospital to the north, form history of mankind. (Applause.) We have re- ing on the whole a pleasing view. A large solved, not only to make the anniversary number of ladies and gentlemen witnessed the memorable by the jubilations of the people ceremony, amongst them being, in addition to and the fêtes to be held, but we have, to His Excellency the Governor, His Excellency the best of our ability as a community, deter- Major-General Black, Hon. J. H. Stewart mined to perpetuate the Jubilee by permanent Lockhart, Hon. W. M. Goodman, Hon. T. memorials which will remain, in all the years Sercombe Smith, Hon. C. P. Chater, Hon. to come, to attest our glad appreciation of an F. H. May, Hon. W. Chatham, Hon. E. R. unparalleled event and an incomparable reign. Belilios, Hon. J. J. Bell-Irving, Hon. Ho Kai, (Applause). I will now, with your Excellency's Hon. Wei Yuk, Commodore Holland, Colonel permission, very briefly refer to the circum- O'Gorman, Colonel Elsdale, Captain Phillips, stances which led to the choice of a Hospital for A.D.C. to the Governor, Captain Long, A.D.C. Women and Children and a Road round the Is- to the General, Rev. R. F. Cobbold, Rev. W. land as the permanent memorials of the sixtieth Musson, Mrs. Lockhart, Mrs. Phillips. Miss year of the reign of Queen Victoria. As you Hancock, Mrs. Belilios, Mrs. May, Mrs. Mehta, are aware, the Committee had a variety of pro- Mrs. Thomson, Mrs. Braidwood, Mrs. Duggan.posals to consider, and a Sub-Committee was Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Atkinson, Dr. Thomson, Dr. appointed to ascertain, as far as practicable, the Bell, Dr. Wright, Mr. R. M. Gray, Mr. J. J. wishes of the community. This was done very Francis, Mr. H. Smith, Mr. D. R. Crawford, thoroughly, and it was found that opinion was Mr. Mody, Mr. Ritchie, Mr. F. Brown, Mr. G. nearly divided in favour of the establishment Piercy, Dr. Wright, Mr. W. Danby, Mr. G. C. of the Hospital and construction of the Road. Cox, Mr. Braidwood, Mr. Tutcher, Mr. Fung The funds likely to be subscribed were not then Wa Chuen, Mr. Duggan. His Excellency the expected to prove sufficient to permit of both Governor and suite were escorted to the site by projects being undertaken at once, but by Your a body of mounted Sikh policemen and on Excellency coming forward and promising to reaching the temporary mat-shed which had help with an amount equal to the sum subscribed been erected the Hon. C. P. Chater, Chair- by the general public, then estimated at abont man of the Committee, and the Hon. W. | $50,000, and engaging to carry on the Hospital Chatham, briefly explained what was pro-in conjunction with the Civil Hospital, this diffi- posed to be the outline of the new building.culty was entirely and successfully surmounted, After this explanation the Hon. C. P. Chater presented His Excellency with the trowel and imallet and asked him to lay the stone. The trowel is of handsomely carved silver with an ivory handle and the inscription reads as fol- lows Presented to H.E. Sir William Robin- 800, K.C.M.G., by the Committee, on the oc- casion of the laying of the foundation stone of the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children, to be erected in commemoration of the comple- tion of the C0th year of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria. Hongkong, 23rd June, 1897." The mallet is of solid ivory on which is engraved His Excellency's crest. Both the trowel and mallet are the gifts of the Hon. C. P. Chater. The stone bears the following inscription:
VICTORIA HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN. This Stone was laid by H:E. SIR WILLIAM ROBINSON, K.C.M.G., Governor,
[July 1, 1897, plause)—to adequately honour our Queen and maintain the credit of the colony for liberality and good feeling. (Applause). I now beg to call upon your Excellency to lay the foundation stone of an institution which will, we hope, always worthily fulfil the benevolent object which Her Majesty has so much at heart,
His EXCELLENCY-Mr. Chairman and gen- tlemen of the Jubilee Committee, ladies and gentlemen, I consider myself very fortunate in being the representative of Her Majesty in this colony upon the occasion of the celebra- tion of the sixtieth year of Her Most Gracious Majesty's reign. The Queen at this hour rules over a more numerous people than that of any monarch on the globe. With Her Majesty the old Spanish boast is true-" On her dominions the sun never sets." The most illustrious attribute of Her unexampled empire is that its principle is benevolence. Its spirit is at once
Glory to God and goodwill towards men." (Applause.) We all honour and love Her Majesty not simply as Queen and Empress, but on account, amongst other things, of her personal qualities, and especially of her deep sympathy with distress of all kinds and of the gift of charity" with which God has so plentifully endowed her. (Applause.) In laying this foundation stone. I am laying the first stone of an institution which will heartily commend itself to Her Majesty. On this site will soon bé erected a Hospital for Women and Children to be known as the Victoria Hospital. It would have been impossible to have devoted money to a better object, or to one which I believe would have been more in accordance with Her Majesty's wishes could she have been consulted. (Applause.) God grant that this Hospital, and the institu- tion for training nurses which will be combined with it, may in the future be a blessing to many women and children in the colony, and that it may be the means of alleviating much sorrow, pain, and sickness amongst those for whom its ministrations are intended. Queen! (Lond Applause.)
God save the
The Hon. W. CHATHAM, Acting Director of Public Works, then placed a glass bottle con- taining the local papers and coins in the stone, and the mortar having been spread the stone was lowered. His Excellency tapped it with the mallet and said-I pronounce this stone to be well and truly laid.
The Rev. R. F. COBBOLD then offered up the following prayer. O Lord God Almighty, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth, we thank Thee that Thou hast put it into the heart of our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria always to sympathise with the suffering, and to encourage the art of nursing; we thank Thee also that Thou hast put into the minds of other Thy servants to found this Hospital for Women and Children, and this institution for the training of nurses. We pray that of Thy great good- ness, Thou wilt so bless this our work, that all who suffer here may, by thy power, be mer- cifully relieved; that those who teach may impart to others a knowledge of thy. wonderful Works; and that those who are trained to nurse the sick may learn to labour in love for the relief of those who suffer and for the Glory of thy Holy Name; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Hon. C. P. CHATER called for three cheers for Her Majesty the Queen; they were vigorously (Applause.) I am proud to say, your Ex-given and the company then dispersed.
THE ROAD ROUND THE ISLAND. cellency, that our estimate of the total subscrip-
On leaving the site of the new Hospital for tion has been greatly exceeded; it has indeed, thanks to our worthy and energetic Honorary Women and Children His Excellency the Treasurer-(applause)--and indefatigable Hon. the Governor, His Excellency Major-General Secretary-(applause)-assisted by Mfr. Fung Black, and the Committee proceeded to the Wa Chnen, who worked most strenuously Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown amongst the Chinese, been nearly doubled, the Company's Wharf at West Point, where they amount contributed by the whole community- embarked on a launch to be present at the British and Foreign and the Chinese-being laying of the stone to commemorate the upwards of ninety thousand dollars. (Ap. commencement of the Victoria Road, while planse). To this fund the residents of every subscribers embarked on board the Heungshan, nationality have subscribed ungrudgingly, which was kindly lent for the occasion by the everyone giving what he could afford, and when Hongkong, Canton, and Macao Steamboat the form of the memorial was decided, the ad- Company. The Committee's launch arrived at vocates of other schemes were as unanimous in the specially constructed jetty leading to the the movement as the rest. (Applause). The stone at eleven o'clock, but it was a long time It was colonists have responded nobly to the call; they before the steamer hove in sight. have proved themselves equal to the occasion; suggested by one member of the Committee aud, cosmopolitan as the population undoubtedly that the Heungshan had gone round the island
n. order r to give the subscribers a is, it has shown itself heartily loyal and sym- pathetically British in its determination-(ap- | iea trip, while a gallant gentleman on the
pleasant