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tive of the Queen, on the historic and memor
occasion of the celebration of the sixtieth year of Her Majesty's Reign;
I have requested you in a separate letter to convey my grateful acknowledgments to the Jubilee Committee, and to you, as Chairman of that Committee and as such mainly respon- sible for the success of the recent celebrations in Her Majesty's honour, I desire to tender my special thanks.-I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
WILLIAM ROBINSON, Governor. The Honourable C. P. Chater, C.M.G., Chair-
· man, Fubilee Committee. CHAIRMAN, JUBILEE COMMITTEE, TO GOVERNOR.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
[August 4, 187.
The service at St. Paul's Cathedral, though short, was very impressive. After this bere mony the procession moved on and we (the Colonial contingent) took up the rear, the bands playing the National Anthem, "Home, Sweet Home," and "Auld Lang Syne." The whole- route was lined on both sides with soldiers and volunteers and they were for miles as close to gether as they could stand. The ColonialaTM were received with deafening cheers by the public; indeed the cheers were to loud that sometimes it was impossible to hear the com mands of our officers.
bricks and mortar they listened for noises. | she turned to the opposite side where The first they heard was a tapping at the representatives of the Hongkong Regiment the back and at the side of the wrecked were stationed. The Princess of Wales and premises. Without further delay the material the Princess Christian were the other occupants round this spot was shifted and in a very short of Her Majesty's carriage. time a man was rescued. He was not much hurt and he informed his rescuers that there were other men buried near him. After clear ing away more of the debris four men crawled unassisted from underneath, and subsequently six others, including a woman, were rescued alive. Three of these men, before they were actually free, presented a sorry appearance. They had been dislodged of debris down as far as their knees, but as their legs were pinned between the edge of the flooring and a heavy beam and brickwork it was sometime before they could be got out. Singularly enough, they sustained very slight injuries. Of the two dead bodies found buried underneath the brick-work one was that of the master of the opium divan and the other of a coolie in his employ. Altogether eleven patients were sent to the hospital, two dead bodies were taken to the mortuary, and The kind expressions contained in your letter three men on being recovered were allowed will always be a source gratification to me, but to go away as there was nothing whatever the I am sure your Excellency will understand that matter with them. Of the eleven taken to the I was only too happy to bear a part in promot- hospital only three were detained. The first is ing the success of, what you have aptly termed, suffering from injuries to the left foot and a truly historic and memorable occasion.-Iwounds on the head, the second has his right have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient foot injured, and the third has several bruises servant,
about the body. Generally speaking the eight out-patients sustained only a few bruises and a cut or two,
Hongkong, 20th July, 1897. SIE, I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, con- voying your appreciation of the assistance rendered by me to your Excellency in my capacity of Chairman of the Jubilee Committee on the occasion of the celebration of the sixtieth year of the Reign of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen,
C. P. CHATER. To His Excellenoy, Sir William Robinson,
G.C.M.G., Governor, &o.
COLLAPSE OF BUILDINGS IN QUEEN'S ROAD,
TWO MEN KILLED; ELEVEN INJURED.
About 7.40 a.m. on 28th July Nos. 248 and 250, Queen's Road West collapsed, the result being that two men were killed, eleven injured, and three escaped with a slight scratch or so. The cause of the collapse is not known, but it may have been in part due to a fire which broke out in the top floor of No. 248. The ground floor of this building was used a lantern shop, the first floor as an opium divan, and the second floor was void, but it was occasionally used by the lantern shop people. The ground floor of No. 250 was a barber's shop, the first floor an opium divan, and the third floor was occupied by six families. The fire at 248 was not of much account, it having been put out before much damage had been done, but it may be that fire and water weakened the partition wall -between the two houses. After the fire the occupants of 248 went away and the building was put in charge of an Indian and a Chinese constable, who stationed them. selves outside to prevent anyone from entering pending an examination of the premises by the police. About 6.30 Police Sergeant Gauld went into the place and searched it, but found nothing in it warranting the assumption that the fire was wrongfully started. He then returned to No. 7-Police Station and had been there only a few minutes when the news was received that Nos. 248 and 250 had collapsed. Police Sergeant MacDonald and the firemen and police at No. 7 Police Station immediately turned out and with all haste proceeded with the work of rescue, being aided by a gang of coolies and later by firemen and police from
other stations.
The accident was serious enough, but it might have been much more serious but for one or two combined fortunate cir- cumstances. As we have said, the top floor of No. 250
was in the occupation of six families, but all of them, with the exception of a man and a woman, were on the verandah at the time of the occurrence, and the verandah remained intact. Another point is that the par- tition wall, which seems to have been the first to give way, did not topple over, but collapsed straight downwards, while the first floor of No. 250, where there were several men, did not break up immediately the crash came but shot off in a body and in a slanting position towards the opposite wall. These two last circums tances of course saved most of the men from being buried in considerable depth of debris.
Before the police commenced operations in the way was moving the pile of broken
The work of rescue was hard and hot and a little dangerous as the lower part of the parti tion wall did not look at all safe, while the front of the building had to be propped up in order to lessen the danger of its falling.
On 30th July Hon. H. E. Wodehouse held an killed owing to the collapse of 248 and 250. inquest on the bodies of the two men who were Queen's Road West. The evidence showed that the party wall had been poorly constructed. His Worship found a verdict of accidental death and added that there was not sufficient evidence to show the immediate cause of the collapse of the party wall.
HONGKONG POLICE AT THE DIA- MOND JUBILEE CELEBRATION.
AN INTERESTING LETTER,
The following interesting letter has been re- ceived by a European member of the Hongkong Police Force from one of his comrades who took part in the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in London :—
I saw some Hongkong residents along the line of route. They all recognised the Hongkong uniform. I forget most of the names, but amongst them were Mr. Hancock and Captain Murray, late A.D.C. to General Barker. Captain Murray was with his Regiment and although he must have been fully occupied he gave me a nod of recognition and raised his hand as we passed him.
We marched in companies. The Europeans were first, the Indians second, and the Chinese Borneo Police was just in front of us. These men were in the rear. A company of native North
are very small and we big men coming immediately behind them made them look still smaller. Everyone who spoke to us said we were a big lot of fellows and that our uniform was very smart. confess, however, that we did not look very The same was said of the Indians. I must smart by the time we returned to barracks. It was touch and go with all of us, but we Borneo native police dropped out of the ranks all stuck to our colours. Some of the North
barracks; so did some of the Malays and re- on the return journey an hour before we got to - presentatives of other nationalities. If we could have got some water during the day I do not think we should have felt so bad, but although the sun was burning hot and we were carrying our carbines we did not get anything to drink and we naturally commenced to "feel the want of some refreshment before we got back, Of course if we had fallen out of the ranks we could have got some water.
On the following morning, the 23rd, the Colonials paraded in Hyde Park in review order before Lord Wolseley. To-day we are going on the invitation of Sir Henry Irving to We have also been invited to the great waval a private performance at the Lyceum Theatre.
review at Spithead to-morrow, and on the lat July we are to attend the review of troops at Aldershot.
We are being detained here longer than we expected, and as we did not make preparations the Europeans, Indians, and Chinese being all for such a long stay we have to rough it a bit, in one room. The sergeants have a mess, but the constables have to take their food where they sleep. There have been many complaints about the treatment of the Colonials in bar racks, but with such a large number of men representing nearly every corner of the globe Colonial contingent numbers about one thous- cannot expect too much attention. The
before. They are of all colours and shades and and men. I have never seen such a crowd present an extraordinary sight with their after the review of the 1st July. various uniforms. I think we shall get away
we
al.
Chelsea Barracks, London, 25th June, 1897. Dear You will see by the heading of this letter that I am now staying at Chelsea Bar- racks enjoying a soldier's life. We (the Euro- peans) arrived here on the 20th inst. and joined the Indians and Chinese to take our humble part in the great Diamond Jubilee. Thank goodness it is now over. The day in London will never be forgotten. The Colonials had to fall in at 7 a.m. and from that hour until 3 p.m., when we returned, we could not get a drink of water. Two of our men fell sick in the ranks. One of them-Dixon-fainted and was removed to St. George's Barracks. The first medical man to receive him there was Dr. James, late of Hongkong. Dizon was all right the following morning. As you have doubtless seen from the papers we were allowed the privilege of seeing the whole of the Royal procession. Being the first to start we were drawn up at St. Paul's on both sides of Ludgate Hill, where we had an excellent view of the whole procession. The other officials who took part took up their posi- A petition has been forwarded to the Shang- tions in front of St. Paul's to receive Her hai Municipal Council through Captain Mac- Majesty. The weather was very hot indeed, kenzie, by foreign members of the Police force, the sun shining the whole day and putting us requesting that they may be placed on the in mind of Hongkong Of the processionists I same fooling as the other Municipal depart- think the Indian princes, with their gorgeous ments, so that their salaries may be paid them uniforms and decorations, made as gay an apin taels instead of dollars or practically speak- pearance as any. The whole sight was one which will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. We had a fine view of Her Ma- jesty the Queen. She looked most happy and smiled pleasantly as she glanced right and left. As she passed us she turned sharply round; probably the › Chinese attracted her attention more than we did. Then
Yours very sincerely.
ing, asking for an increase of 30 per cent. "The complaint about the low rate of exchange, says the China Gazette, is undoubtedly a convenient argument for the support of an application for increase of salary, but when the matter i dis- cussed in all its bearings it will be found that a 1st class sergeant now gets less pay than an ordinary constable got ten years ago.
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