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Union Church; Dr. J. M. Atkinson, Principal Civil Medical Officer; Mr. H. N. Mody, Mr. Fang Wa Chan, Mr. Ho Tung; Mr. B. C. Wilcox, Mr. D. E. Brown, Mr. T. H Reid, Mr. E. H. Sharp; Mr.J. W. Norton Kyshe, Registrar; Mr. W. Poate, Captain Pritchard, H.K.V.C.; Mr. Ho Fook; Mr. C. Mol. Messer, Acting Registrar-General; Captain Percy Scott, C.B.; Mr. A. G. Romano, Copaul-General for Portugal; Mr. A. J. Ray- mond, Mr. E. Gompertz, Mr. P.P.J.Wodehouse, Mr. Mowbray 8. Northcote, Mr. Gershom Stewart, Dr. G. M. Harston, Mr. F. Maitland Mr. J. Leiria, and many Naval and Military officers. The Masonic deputation, dressed in full regalia, was headed by Mr E. C. Ray, Deputy District Grand Master, and consisted of Messrs. L. Mallory, E. Ormiston, H. W. Heuermann, G. L. Tomlin, Dr. F. W. Clark, Messrs. G. Piercy, F. W. Edwards, G. J. B. Sayer, ́A. O'D. Gourdin, W. J. Tutcher and F. D. Goddard, District Grand Lodge; J. Bryan, B. Brotherton Harker, Zetland; R. C. Edwards, E. H. Ray, C. W. Longue, Victoria ; W. H. Wickham, A. G. Ward. Perseverance; G. G. Burnett, H. W. Wolfe, United Service; J. A. Tarrant, H. Jewitt, W. M. Everall, S. John's; and P. C. Hyett, Naval and Military. The company having assembled and taken their places, His Excellency indicated that he was now ready to receive the Addresses.
(July 14, 1902. THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Upon the demise of Your Royal Father, a prayers with ours for His Majesty's speedy | recovery. King Edward VII is not only King | Prince universally revered. You were called, at of the vast Dominion' of Canada, and of thejan age early for such responsibility, to assume a share in the regal burlens of the state. The great Commonwealth of Australia, but he is also Emperor of India. And when we look to ready self sacrifice and the wisdom with which You responded to that dull have won, not only the great Southern Continent and find, with thankfuln ss, that the smoke of battle has the dutiful loyalty of those who live beneath cleared away, that the angel of peace has Your sceptre, but also their deep affection. And we earnestly pray thit, ander Divine descended, may we not trust that, ere long, a
Providence, Your Majesty and Your Royal loyal, united, and prosperous South Africa may form one of the most valuable of those " British C nsort will long live in health and happiness which are, fitly, to continue those beneficent works which it has Dominions beyond the Seas now included in the Royal Title 2 But, Your beeu Your constant solicitude to promote, and not forget that there to direct the destinies of the people whose glad Excellency, I must are other Addresses to be pres nted and I will homage is Your Own. not further detain you, but will, with your per- mission, now read and pres ut the Address which has been entrusted to me, and I wou'd ask, in the name of the general community of Hongkong, that Your Excellency would, in due course, kindly forward it to His Majesty the King.
the Address,
following
|
The terms:--
wa in
"
Hongkong, 26th June, 1902. TO HIS MAJESTY King EDWARD VII, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India.
[Here followed signatures.] HIS EXCELLENCY then formally accepted the Address, which was sot upon the table.
This address was in the form of a bok enclosed in gold-mounted covers and was a very handsome work of art, reflecting credit upon Messrs. Kelly and Walsh for its practical execn- 'The Its size was about 18in. by 12in. tion. covers were in Corouation red velvet and the front was set on with massive ornamentation In the centre were the in 2-carat gold. Royal Arms; the border was open-work of characteristic Chinese design, through which ran the emblem indicating wishes for long life to the recipient. At the top of the border appeared the Chinese character for "God bless you," and at the bottom another signifying congratulations. Imperial yellow silk lines the inside of the cover, on the back of which were four goll bats (good-luck), one at each corner. The Address itself was a splendid specimen of workmanship; the general scheme of colour was blue and gold, and it was print d Knowledge is lost in the dim centuries as t
Each of the pages, of which when the waters of old Cathay reflected the on art paper. spreading sails of the first argosy from the there were five in all was surrounded by an west--the bold harbinger of our fleets of mer-artistic border, hand-paint d by Mr. C. T. chaut steamships of to-day. The safety of the Letton, of Messrs.; Kelly and Walsh, iu an ocean highway is essential to our commerce exceedingly pretty and effective fashion. In it For the appeared in succession the Tudor ross. the and our intercourse with home. preservation of this, and of our property, and it thistle, the stamrock, and the leek, with the 'The Address was placed may be of our lives, we rely upon Your initials E" and "A" alternating between Majesty's forces by sea and land, sure that each emblem. their protection will not fail us as it has never failed us in the past,
YOUR MAJESTY,Whilst from every part of Your Majesty's wide empire rejoicings arise on this the day of Your coronation, we, residents in the far eastern colony of Hongkong, diverse in race, nationality, creed and class, but one in devotion to Your Royal House and Person, respectfully tender our sincerest greetings.
of the principal ports in Your dominions, and is still advancing with a rapidity perhaps unsurpassed therein.
His Honour W. ME GH GOODMAN stepped forward and said-Your Excellency,--Before reading and presenting to Your Excellency an Address to His Majesty the King, from the people of Hongkong, I would crave permission to make some few preliminary observations. As Your Excellency is aware, the date originally fixed for the Coronation of Their Majesties was the 26th June last. It was for that occasion that the Address was intended; and it was written, illuminated, signed by con- siderably more than a thousand persons, its cover of gold and velvet was designed and completed, and it was all in readiness before the sad tidings that is Majesty's illness necessitated the postponement of the Corona- tion, reached this Colony. In these circum- stances, it was thought better, and I believe
The history of our colony is almost coeval Your Excellency quite concurred in that view, that the Address should still be presented. Wo with the ever memorable reign of Her late know the keen, personal interest taken by Majesty Queen Victoria. Sixty-one years ago, His Majesty in every part of the British when the British flag was first unfurled here, Dominions, even in those portions the furthest Hongkong was a bare inhospitable rock, the removed from the mother land; and it may resort of pirates and the fear of mariners. well be that the respectful expression of loyalty The steps of its progress during this period it and devotion to the King and the Royal family, is needless to recount. Under an enlightened embodied in the Address, may be as much appre- government, dispensing an equal law, and en- ciated by His Majesty during, let us hope, his couraging and giving free scope to the enter period of convalescence, as if those expres-prise of the people, Hongkong has become one sions had been received by him some weeks after the Coronation had actually taken place There has never been a Coronation of any British Monarch since Hongkong became a Colony. The glorious reign of Her late revered Majesty, the longest known in British history, extended over such a lengthened period, that, when the mournful message of her demise was flashed to us across the seas, we could, at first, hardly realise that Victoria the Good was no more. The very keystone of the arch of the British Empire seemed to have been taken away. In such a crisis we can but faintly understand the enormous burden of responsibility that fell apon the shoulders of His present Majesty, Who could fill her place? Who but that eldest son, who for so long had stood beside her as the years increased, had helped to sustain her, had seen her courage, had watched her noble life, and her love for her people, could have worthily occupied the glorious Throne she had vacated? How valuable his life! Some thirty years ago there was a public thanks- giving at 8. Pauls' Cathedral for his deliver- ance from a terrible illness. Let us hope that, ere long, there may another similar thanksgiving
second deliverance, and for health and strength restored. When Throne, Her late Majesty ascended the het heritage was doubtless both great and noble; but, when we compare the British Empire of to-day with that which existed at the accession of Queen Victoria,_we can realise more fully how vastly that Empire and the responsibilities of its Sovereign have increased during the interval. Colonies not born when Victoria ascended the Throne have now attained' to vigorous manhood, and are joining their
for 8
be
in a camphor-wood box padded in yellow silk with the inscriptionE.R I." in gold on the lid. The gold mounting was the work of Wang Hing, Queen's Road.
!
District
Mr. E. C. RAY next stepped in front of the Governor and said-Your Excellency, as Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Hongkong and South China. I appear before you in the absence of our District Grant Master, Sir Catchick Paul Chater, accompanied by the officers of the District Grand Lodge and the Masters and Wardens of the other Lodges working un- der our jurisdiction, together with the Mastors and Wardens of Saint John's Lodge and the Lodge Narai and Military under the Scottish At the outset of Your Majesty's reign we constitution, to present you with a Masonic rejoice to see drawing even closer than before address to His Majesty King Edward VII, the bond between the mother country and her notwiths anding the fact that part of it re- dependencies; and we believe that their ever fers to His Majesty's actual Coronation, and increasing importance in the empire, graciously to pray you to be so good as to receive it recognised by Your addition of "the British on His Majesty's behalf and to forward__it Dominions beyond the Seas" to Your ancient for His Majesty's gracious acceptance. Sir, we may be permitted to hope that His Ma- title, is with Your accession beginning a new and glorious era in the history of the realm. jesty's Coronation will not be long delayed. It And our gladness is the more profound in that, has been, we trust, only postponed by the grave under Your Majesty's strong and humane admini- illness from which under Divins Providence stration, and by the valour of Your arms, peace His Majesty appears now to be happily recover- has been established within Your borders, aing, and which has caused a wave of universal peace which we are confident will bear a rich harvest of blessing, alike to the empire at large, and to the brave people who, no longer foes, have now become Your loyal subjects.
We ask to be permitted to extend our r-s- pectful and kindliest salutaions to Her Majesty Queen Alexandra, Whose many gracions quali ties have endeared Her throughout the lands of Her birth and Her adoption, and command the regard of the world. And we would also include in our congratulations His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Whose visit to our colony in that service whereof He has shewa Himself so capable an officer those of us who were then here most happily remember, and Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, and all the Royal Family. We contemplate with gratifica tion the ties of domestic relationship which unite Your Majesty to so many reigning Houses; and we regard those bonds as pledges of the amity between our nations which we trust will ever be maintained.
sympathy for England's Royal Family to flow from all parts of the earth-north, south, east, and west. The spontaneous wishes of all peoples and all nations are for His Majesty's welfare, and the brethren whom I represent desire respectfully to express to His Majesty their fraternal and happiest greetings and their heartfelt wishes for His Majesty's well-being. With your Excellency's permission I will now read the address.
Mr. RAY proceeded to read the Address, which was as follows:-
To
Hongkong, 26th June, 19 2. the Grace of God of the United Kingdom HIS MAJESTY KING Edward VII, by of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defeuder of the Faith, Emperor of India. YOUR MAJESTY,—— Within the walls of the historic Abbey of Westminster, surrounded by England's great and sacred dead and amid the plaudits of your people, your Majesty is crowned