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December 16, 1897.]
LOSS OF THE STEAMER "TANCRED"
13th December. Messrs. Harling, Buschmann & Menzell in- form us that the Norwegian steamer Tancred, on a voyage from Cebu to Yokohama, went ashore near Port Cockburn, Iriomoto Island, on or about the 30th ult. Farther particulars are unknown.
15th December.
Messrs. Harling, Buschmann & Menzell, the agents, inform us that they have received the following telegram from the captain of the steamer Tancred from Nawa:-
"Tancred sunk Iriomato;` 6,600 bags sugar sent Nagasaki."
THE DIAMOND JUBILEE.
PRESENTATION OF MEDALS.
On Saturday, 11th Dec., His Excellency the presented medals to a number of gentlenen who rendered assistance in connection with the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee in Hong. kong. The ceremony took place in the drawing room of Government House.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
distant future pass it down as an heirloom, so that your family in after time may be proud to think that one of their kith and kin bore such a distinguished part in one of the most romantic and soul stirring episodes of the Victorian era. (Lond Applanse.)
Refreshments were then served in the dining room, where His Excellency remarked that he had forgotten to mention in the course of his address that the Secretary of State for the Co- lonies had approved the wearing of the medals in this colony and he (the Governor) had specially
all the recipients of the decoration could show wherever they went that they were members of the great federated British Empire.
465
H.E. THE Governor AND THE
TUNG WA HOSPITAL.
On the morning of the 14th Dec. the mem. bers of the Committee of the Tung Wa Hospital attended at Government House in order to be introduced to His Excellency the Governor, Sir William Robinson.
Co-
Hon. C. P. CHATER-Your Excellency, on be- half of the members of the Jubilee Committee, I have to thank you very much for the decora HIS EXCELLENCY said-Gentlemen. I am tions you have presented to us, and which I am
very glad to meet you here to-day and I desire sure we shall always value as pleasant mementoes of that most auspicious occasion. Allow meat the election of new Directors of the Hospital for to express my satisfaction at the result of the
same time to assure your Excellency that our services were rendered most freely and most you with whom I am not personally acquainted, the ensuing year. Though there are some of loyally without the least thought of reward or I know that you are all gentlemen of position recognition beyond the knowledge of the and influence among the large Chinese com- success I am proud to say was achieved. (Ap-munity of this colony. I am glad to see among plause). For that success every one worked you Mr. Fung Wa Cheun, who rendered such with a will, and to no one was it more con- excellent services on the occasion of Her spicuously due than to your Excellency, without Majesty's Jubilee and whose intimate knowledge whose personal interest and energy such a gratify of English and whose acquaintance with Euro- ing result could not have been attained. (Ap- pean ideas and customs will be of great use to plause.) The interesting celebration of the sixieth year of the reign of Her Most Gracions affairs of the Hospital. You are all aware that, you and to the Government in dealing with the Majesty will always be associated with your ever since my arrival in Hongkong, I have Excellency's administration, and will hereafter taken a great interest in the Tung Wa Hospital constitute a most pleasaut link between yourself and have tried to increase its usefulness and this colony which no distance or time can by introducing into it very necessary re- dissever. (Applause.)
forms. I am pleased to learn that the His EXCELLENCY-Gentlemen, I am PX- Directors during the past year have tremely grateful for the kind words which H.E.operated with Dr. Thomson, whom I appointed the General and Mr. Chater have spoken with regard to the part I took on this auspicious oc- improvements, which have placed the Hospital as visiting surgeon to the Hospital, in effecting casion. I can only say that my name will be in a more satisfactory condition than it has ever found upon these medals, and I esteem it a very been before. For their exertions the Directors, great honour indeed to have been Governor of during the past year, deserve the thanks of all this interesting and prosperous colony during those who are interested in the care of the in that event. I can assure you that the medals digent sick among the Chinese community. I will, as both the General and Mr. Chater said, trust the new Directors will not only follow the from a link in connecting me with this colony, good example set by their predecessors but will over which I have now presided for over six years. (Applause.)
press on rapidly the good work of reform. There is still room for improvement and I desire to call the attention of the new Directors to the following matters, which I trust they will deal with without delay, The Hospital is still with- out a steward. No Hospital can be kept in a really satisfactory condition without the services of such an officer, and I, therefore, desire you to appoint a steward as soon as you are able to secure a suitable person. The floors of all the six wards on the ground floor of the Hospital are paved with brick. This is not a satisfactory style of flooring; wood should be substituted. The Ko Fong wards still remaining are not worthy of the Hospital. They should all be removed with the exception of one row, which could be used for isolation wards. Instead of the Ko Fong wards, which should be removed, two blocks, each two storeys high, making four new wards, should be erected on the nothern part of the site. The fire-places in some of the wards are not arranged in such a manner as to give sufficient heat. This should be rectified by abolishing the present fire-places and placing stoves in the middle of the wards. The water-carriage system should also be intro- duced into the Hospital. My attention has been called to the great mortality from fevers in the Tung Wa Hospital during the present year. I understand that formerly quinine was not used to any great extent in the treatment of fever patients, but that it has been used more frequently of late. I hope that you will make a point of seeing that a plentiful and regular use is made of this valuable drug, and I have instructed Dr. Thomson to furnish me with returns showing the extent to which quinine is used. The matters I have just mentioned require immediate attention and Ï trust to hear shortly that the new Directors bare commenced their term of office by taking steps to have these improvements introduced. To carry them out money will be required. I trust the funds of the Hospital will be sufficient to cover the expense, but, if extra funds are necessary, sure that some of the many rich Chinese re- sidents in Hongkong who have made or who are making comfortable fortunes in this colony, under the protection of the British flag, will come forward with subscriptions sufficient to meet the necessary expenditure, and thus earn for themselves a reputation for being men who rejoice in good works and whose charity extends to the poor and the sick. Gentlemen, I am very glad to have had the pleasure of meeting you. This is the last time we shall meet in this colony as I leave you on the 1st February next. I feel sure that under your
A photograph of the company was afterwards
taken.
His EXCELLENCY said-Gentlemen, I have asked you to come here this morning in order that I might have the pleasure of presenting to you in person the medals which I have had struck off to commemo. rate the Jubilee which took place on 20th June last. Medals have been struck in Trinidad, Ceylon, and other colonies, and it occurred to me that Hongkong would not like to be left in the lurch in a matter of this sort. The object of these medals is to show that the Government appreciated most fully the services rendered by everyone connected with this Jubilee, and especially by the Committee. Of course, it has been somewhat difficult to decide who should have a gold medal and who should have a silver medal, but I trust in this case you will look at the medal not on account.of its intrinsic value, but on account of the honour which is conveyed by it upon all who were connected with this auspicious event. I will read out the names of the recipients of the gold medals:-H.E. Major-requested that it be authorised elsewhere, so that General Black, C.B., who was responsible for the fine display of troops; Commodore Swinton C. Holland, A.D.C., who made the arrange ments for the Naval display; Hon. C. P. Chater, C.M.G., the Chairman of the Jubilee Com- mittee; Hon. W. Chatham, who was Acting Director of Public Works; Mr. W. Danby, who assisted us so greatly in music; Mr. Fung Wa Chuen, to whom we are very much indebted as representing the Chinese community; Mr. Thomas Jackson, who was Treasurer; Hon. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, Secretary; Hon. F. H. May, who was responsible for the excellent way in which the Police did their work that day; Mr. H. L. Mody, who represented the Parsee community Hon. Commander R. Murray Rumsey and Hon. H. E. Wodehouse, C.M.G., to whom we were very much indebted for the I lighting and procession. The recipients of silver medals are-Hon. E, R. Belilios, C.M.G., Mr. W. G. Bentley, Lieutenant Buzzard, Mr. J. G. T. Buckle, Mr. G. Murray Bain, Mr. G. C: Cox, Mr. Chesney Duncan-all the newspapers gave us the greatest assistance possible, and for their interesting articles I am sure the whole community were very much indebted-Mr.`A Coxon, Mr. D. R. Crawford, Mr. N. J. Ede, Mr. J. J. Francis, Q.C., Mr. D. Gillies, Hon. Dr. Ho Kai, Mr. Ho A Mei, Hon, J. J. Bell Irving, Mr. V. Lawford, R.N., Mr. H.. Ling, Mr. Ho Tung, Mr. Li Sing, Mr. A. P. Maco Ewen, Mr. H. M. Mehta, Mr. R. M. Moses, Lieut- Col. the O'Gorman, Mr. C. C. Platt, Capt. G. F. Phillips, A.D.C.,. Mr. A, G. Raymond, Mr. H. A. Ritchie, Mr. H. Smith, Mr. J. Thurnburn,
Hon. T.-H. Whitehead, and Hon. Wei A Yuk. H.E. Major-General BLACK said-Your Ex- cellency, we thank you for the kindly words that accompanied the presentation of these medals, and we prize these medals as a graceful and very liberal recognition of the part great or small which we played on that occasion of national rejoicing. But we think it would be an anomaly if the chief actor in that rejoicing were left without a medal, and we therefore hope that you will receive one of these medals, and we hope you will long continue to wear it as a golden link connecting you with your Eastern Governorship, and that you may in the far
With each medal there was also presented a letter signed by His Excellency the Governor enclosing a certificate of award, on vellum, read- ing as follows :--
1837-1897.
JUBILEE GOLD MEDAL.
Hongkong, 22nd June, 1897. This is to certify that one Jubilee Gold (or sil- ver, as the case may be) medal has been presented to-
for services rendered in connection with the celebration in Hongkong of the Six- tieth Anniversary of Her Most Gracious Ma- jesty Queen Victoria's Reign.
WILLIAM ROBINSON,
Governor.
The medal is about the size of half-a-crown. On one side is a portrait of Her Majesty Queen Vic- toria surmounted by a crown and bearing the in- scription Victoria Regida et Imperatrix." On the reverse side there is the colony's coat of arms, together with the following inscription :-
HONGKONG.
SIR WILLIAM ROBINSON, G.C.M.G., GOVERNOR. TO COMMEMORATE SITTY YEARS OF HER MAJESTY'S REIGN 1837--1897.
The Singapore Free Press of the 1st Decem. ber says:-The Lady Furness left Kutchinotsu on the 9th November for Singapore with a cargo of coal for the Borneo Company and the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha. The vessel is now overdue, and there are apprehensions that on her way down to Singapore she got into the typhoon that so badly ki ceked about the steamer Siam and other vessels, and has not succeeded in living through the storm. The Lady Furness left on the evening of the 9th, at the same time as the Norwegian steamer Borg, which has safely arrived here. The Agent of the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, Mr. Fujisa, wired a few days ago for news of the Lady Furness, and the reply was that none had been received.
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