432
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
After the proposers, seconders, and candidates had spoken, all very briefly, the ballot resulted as follows :--
G. W. F. Playfair ..... E. A. Hewett
Majority
30 21
9
DEPARTURE OF THE HON.
T. H. WHITEHEAD.
he sincerely hoped that this Chamber would have a successor to Mr. Whitehead equally painstaking, equally independent and equally vigorous; and I can only say that we have to- day in one of our nominees, Mr. Robert She. wan, not only a gentleman possessing all those qualifications asked for by His Excellency but a man to represent the Chamber equal to the We heartily congratulate Mr. Playfair on occasion; and I think the Chamber is to be the result of the election, which adds to the congratulated, being as it is a body represent-Legislative Council, for the time of Mr. Chater's ing the entire commercial interests of this absence, a valuable and energetic member. Colony, in having a man coming forward as its nominee to the Legislative Council possessing Mr. Robert: Shewan's commercial ability, of his standing and reputation -(ap. plause)—a man who has the strength of mind at all times to speak his mind. I would go further and say that it has been hinted to me and some others in the Colony that if Mr. Shewan were put forward as the Chamber's nominee he would stand, if elected to the Legislative Council, as a man who had so many commercial interests in hand in which he was interested that he would never be able to speak without an axe to grind. (Cries of "No.") But, gentlemen, where is there a bigger axe in the Colony than the axe of the Chamber of Commerce, and I claim, gentlemen, that the gentleman that this Chamber nominates should be a man who has the largest connection with the com- mercial prosperity of this Colony, and I have much pleasure in endorsing the nomination of Mr. Robert Shewan as such. (Applause).
The vote was then taken by ballot, the scrutineers being Messrs. Playfair and Ormiston, At the conclusion of the counting of the votes,
The CHAIRMAN announced the result as follows:
Mr. Shewan Mr. Wilcox
58 36
22
of the result was
Majority... The annnouncement received with applause,
Mr.R.C.WILCOX-Before we disperse, gentle- men, I beg to propose a vote of thanks to the Chairman for his able conduct on this occasion -rather a trying one-and at the same time I beg most cordially to thank my friends for the kind support they have given me on this occasion, and to say that although not elected, I shall never cessD to continue my efforts on behalf of the welfare of this Chamber and for the promotion of its interests. (Applause.)
Mr. ROBERT SHEWAN-Gentlemen, I thank you very sincerely and heartily for the honour you have done me in electing me as your representative on the Council. It is a far cry from Hongkong in the 20th century to those Engle-land villages in Sleswick where we are told the English race was craill.d in the 5th century, but in spite of the distance of 15 centuries we are only repeating what our fore fathers did then when they assembled round their village Moot-hill and chose a man to repre- sent them in the Hundred Court, Gentlemen, my flag has been questioned by some one in this Colony who himself sails under an anonymous flag, I am proud to say that my flag is now and always has been the flag of the people who for 1,500 years have kept unbroken the right of freemen to elect their own representatives; and I am proud to think, too, that in spite of my anonymous friend you have in the exercise of that same right elected me to the Witanagemote of Hongkong. (Applause.) Gentlemen, we may not in that respect enjoy all the freedah of the English of those old days, but as those old Angles in their village steadings at last brought about an English Parliament the Mother of Parliaments, of which we are all so -proud--so may we some day choose all our own men and govern ourselves entirely as Britons everywhere love to do. (Applause.) |
The meeting then dispersed.
તું
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
«In the 8. Andrew's Hall, City Hall, yester. day” at 4 p.m., a meeting of the Justices of the Pence was held to elect another Unofficial Member to the Legislative Council, in the of the Hon. C. P. Chater, O.M.G. ty-one Justiose assembled. * Mr. W POATE proposed, and Mr. B. LAYTON seconded, MË. G. W. F. Phyfair.
1.
Mr. ROBERT SHEWAN proposed, and Mr. E. MITCHELL SOvonded, Mr. E. A. Hewett,
FAREWELL TIFFIN BY 8. ANDREW'S, SOCIETY. On the 31st ult. the Committee of the local Branch of the S. Andrew's Society and some other Scottish_friends entertained the Hon. T. H. Whitehead, President of the Society, at a farewell tiffin in the Hongkong Club. The chairman was Mr. H. W. Robertson, Vice- President, and the croupier Mr. Robert Shewan. On the right of the chairman sat-Hon, T. H. Whitehead, Mr. G. W. F. Playfair, Mr. Thos. H. Reid, and Mr. David Wood, Hon. Secretary; and on the left, Captain G. C. Anderson (Past President), Mr. W. Danby, Mr, D. E. Brown, and Mr. W. Donglas Graham. After tiffin, the CHAIRMAN referred feelingly to the late Mr. David Gillies, Past President of the Society. Then the toast of "The King" having been
honoured,
¦
|
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[Jùnë 71802.
in 1900, and visited New York,^«Washington, Mexico, the Pacific Coast, and the Philippine Islands in connection with the Bank's business before resuming charge in Hongkong in July, 1901. Mr. Whitehead has served on many Commissions and Committees, including the enquiry into the working of the Tung Wa Hospital, the Po Leung Kuk Society, insanitary properties, etc., and he has played polo for upwards of 20 years regularly and continuously. (Laughter and applause.) There, gentlemen, you have an outline of the life of this man of action. He has ever been in the forefront of the business world, and in the battlefront of Legislative circles, yet, despite enormous amount of valuable and lasting work he has lavished upon these and other public interests, he is no stranger to the realms of sport and goodfellowship. I have not the slightest doubt that Mr. Whitehead attributes much of his "fitness," and, possibly, consequent success in life to the game-of course I refer to polo-which, after a worrying day in office and Council, has, the next morning, brought him up smiling and ready for fresh music. (Laughter and applause) Last mail's Spectator tells of a man whose breakfast, winter or summer, invariably consisted of "s Well, I don't cup of coffee and two damne!" think he could have been a polo-player; at any rate our guest is not built on such fragile lines. Tommy" Whitehead came to the East "a lad o' pairts," quickly made his mark, and now, in the zenith of his powers, is recalled home on promotion. Gentlemen, it is not given to every "China hand" to establish such a record, and, whilst we are loth to bid Mr. Whitehead good- bye, we appreciate the fact that he turns the page of his Eastern life with great ́e. edit to himself, and with the best of good wishes for the future from the host of friends and well wishers he leaves behind. (Loud applause.) The members of the Hong- kong 8. Andrew's Society desire that their President should receive a small memento which will serve to mark their appreciation of the excellent service he has rendered the Society. On their behalf I ask you, sir, to accept a silver quaich, which, by the way, is still in the silver- smith's hands, and will be forwarded to you The members are much disappointed later on. that your sudden departure provents them from holding a public function with formal pre- sentation of the quaicb, but I feel sure that you will none the less appreciate the gift and the hearty good-will which accompanies it, Gentlemen, I give you the very good health of our President Mr. Whitehead. May good health and success continue to attend him! (Applause.)
降
The CHAIRMAN said-Gentlemen, I have the honour, and it is my great pleasure, to give you the toast of our President and guest, the Hon. Thomas Henderson Whitehead. It is hardly necessary that I should dilate upon his many sterling qualities, for Mr. Whitehead has not spent twenty years of a more than usually energetic life in Hongkong without having afforded the Colony practical proof of his marked ability as banker, councillor, and sportsman. (Applause). With your permission, I should like to read you a brief resumé of our President's! career, which, better than words of mine, shall bring home to you that he is a son of whom old Scotland may well be proud. Mr. Whitehead commenced his business career in 1867 by serving an apprenticeship of four years to the law office of a firm of solicitors in Scotland, and this was followed by eighteen months' experience in a mercantile office in Liverpool. In 1873 he joined the London office of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, and in the autumn of 1874 began, bis Eas- tern life by service with the Bombay Branch. From Bombay he went to Caloutta,
The toast was drunk with musical honours, and thence in the autumn of 1875 to Shanghai.
In acknowledgement, Mr. WHITEHEAD Baid- In 1877 he was promoted accountant, and re- turned to the Bombay Agency, where he Mr. Robertson and brother Scotchmen, Before remained throughout the crisis which followed endeavouring to reply to the generous reference the disastrous failure of the City of Glasgow made about myself, I desire to add my personal Bank. 1880 saw him appointed Agent at expression of deep sorrow at the news received Hankow, and in the autumn of that year he in the Colony a few days ago of the sudden opened a new Agency of the Bank at Yokohama, death of one of the Past Presidents of our Then followed short periods of service as Agent Society, who left Hongkong last month hale respectively in Shanghai, Hankow, Singapore, and hearty, and who, we thought, should have Saigon, Hongkong, and Foochow, and sub- years before him in which to enjoy 'his well- sequently a year's well-earned furlough at home. earned retirement from active business. Like Mr. Whitehead returned in October, 1883, and all of us, Mr. Gillies had his short-comings, but from that year until the present time the his genuine qualities largely preponderated. Hongkong Branch has had the ben-fit of Many of us here to-day feel that by his lament- his experienced management. So much for ed death we have lost a warm-hearted friend, his banking career. In September, 1890, whom to know was to respect and admire. He the Hongkong General Chamber of Com was a typical Scotsman of the old school-manly merce élected him as their representative to the and straightforward, sincere and open-handed, Legislative Council, and he would have com- active of brain and fertile of ideas, ready to pleted his second term of office in September of acknowledge worth wherever it was found. this year. Amongst the many reforms Mr. Above all, he was an honest man, and as our Whitehead has from time to time sought to national poet has said, an honest man is the initiate, I would mention the petition from the noblest work of God." (Applause.) Now, ratepayers in Hongkong to the House of Com-gentlemen, allow me to try to acknowledge the mor asking for reform and a system of over-generons remarks our chairman has been representative government. He was mainly good enough to make regarding myself, and to responsible for getting up this petition, and it thank you all for the very hearty way in which was entrusted to his care when at home in 1894- you have responded to the toast of my health. 95, where it had the benefit of his able advocacy. Let me assure you I leave Hongkong on the (Applause). On more than one occasion Mr. present occasion with very sincers regret, and Whitehead has had the honour of lecturing for reasons which need not now be entered under the auspices of the Royal Colonial into. The last words of the Institute, and when last at home he also had builder, the late Cecil Rhodes," and the an opportunity of addressing the Liver-striking figure in the moderu pool Chamber of Commerce on important British Empire, are "pecd commercial questions. In January, 1901, Mr. the local situation “ Whitehead was admitted a member of the most done." The Colony, išt Honourable Bociety of the Middle Temple, | improvements" "which" having attended the Hilary term and eaten the beneficial effect “upon” its usual number of dinners. "He left London early
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