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SQUATTERS' AMENDMENT ORDINANCE. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the third reading of the Bill entitled, "An Ordinance to amend the Squatters' Ordinance, 1890."
"THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM
The COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the THE Bill was read a third time and passed. LIQUOR LICENCES ORDINANCES AMENDMENT. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL- Sir, before I move the third reading of the Bill entitled, "An Ordinance to amend the Liquor Licences Ordi- nance, 1898, and the Liquor Licences Extension Ordinance, 1908, and to repeal the Liquor Licences Amendment Ordinance, 1902." I beg to move that the Bill be recommitted, as I have a few formal amendments to make.
The COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the motion was agreed to. Council then went into Committee on the Bill, and on resuming,
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved that the Bill be read a third time.
The COLONIAL SECRETARY seconded, and the Bill was read a third time and passed,
HIS EXCELLENCY-Council sine die.
will adjourn
FINANCE COMMITTEE.
A meeting of the Finance Committee was then held, the COLONIAL SECRETARY presid- ing. The following votes were passed :-
JUDICIAL AND LEGAL.
The Governor recommended the Council to vote a sum of three hundred dollars ($300) in aid of the Vote, Judicial and Legal Departments, B.-Magistracy, Other Charges, Now Terri- tories, Incidental Expenses.
POLICE AND PRISON VOTE.
The Governor recommended the Council to vote a sum of Forty-four thousand one hundred and twenty-one Dollars ($44,121) in aid of, the Vote, Police and Prison Departments, Special Expenditure, Fire Brigade, Floating Fire Engine.
DES VŒUX.
CAREER.
[December 20, 1909.
of extradition have been faced and not evaded' and an important step has been taken towards putting the matter upon a satisfactory basis. Your Excellency yielded at once to the popular HONGKONG CHAPTER IN HIS demand for greater publicity in the transactions of the Financial Committee of the Council, and
you have at all times shown yourself ready and willing to receive and entertain represen- tains made to you, whether in Council or outside, on all subjects of public interest.. You have taken these representations into con- sideration without needless delay, and what we honour you for most, you have never hesitated preconceived views or to surrender your opinions and to admit that you have been in error when those representations have thrown new light upon the subject or brought fresh argument to hear upon your Excellency's mind. There are still many important ques- tious awaiting settlement. Your Excellency has studied them all more or less, and we hope and pray that you will return to us after a short absence in renewed health and strength to com- plete the work you have so well begun and reorganise and remodel in many ways the gov ernment of the Colony.
It is eighteen years since Sir William Des Voeux left Hongkong, but there are still many residents in the Colony by whom he is well remembered and who will regret to read the announcement of his death published in the Daily Press of the 17th inst, Sir William Des Voux resigned the Governorship of Hongkong owing to ill-health, and this step marked the termination of his Colonial service, which he commenced in Upper Canada in 1861. From 1863 to 1869 he was magistrate in British Guiana. His next appointment was as Adminis- trator and Colonial Secretary of St. Lucia, a position he filled for eleven years. In 1880 he became Governor of the Bahamas, but in the same year he was chosen for the post of Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner of the Western Pacific. In 1886 he was transferred to Newfound and, and he was appointed to Hongkong the following year.
also. had
In 1903 Sir William published in two volumes a record of his Colonial Service, in the course of which he has given an account of his social and private life here as well as of the administrative duties he was called upon to discharge. In less than two years after his arrival in Hongkong, Sir William's health became so bad that he not only had to make a short trip to Japan, but
to go Home on leave. On that occasion. His Excellency was presented with a public address, which we may here reproduce, as it succinctly enumer tes the various works undertaken, dur- ing Sir William's administration. The address, which was presented by the Hon. Mr. Phineas Ryrie, as the Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council, was as follows:-
"We, the undersigned merchants, bankers, The Governor recommended the Council to vote a sum of Eighty-one thousand three hund-professional men and traders, representing all Faces and classes in this community, are assem- red and fourteen Dollars ($81,314) în aid of the
bled here to-day, in the first place, to do you Vote, Post Office, Hongkong Post Office, other
honour as the representative of our Sovereign Charges, for the following items:
lady the Queen-Empress; in the second place, Carriage of Mails:-
Share of Mail Subsidy
to acknowledge and thank you heartily for the Transit Charges
good work you have done for us and for the Colony during your stay among us, and to Light
express to you and Lady Des Vœux our extreme regret that the severe labour you have imposed on yourself on our behalf and in our service, and the cares and anxieties of government, during the last two critical years have so seriously affected your health that you have
POST OFFICE.
Total ..
ww
$34,214 47,000 100
$81,314
The CHAIRMAN-The vote is largely due to the increased popularity of the Siberian route.
Hon. Mr. HEWETT-You get the same post-been advised to leave us at so early a period in age on the Siberian route?
The CHAIRMAN-Yes, four cents. Hon. Dr. Ho KAI-Is it just that those who make use of the Siberian route should have their excess cost borne by the ratepayers who do not
make use of it ?.
The CHAIRMAN-It is imperial policy,
THE COLONY'S FINANCES.
The financial statement issued by the 'olonial Treasurer for the month of September shows a balance of assets and liabilities on 31st August of $481,083.73, and this, plus the revenue for Sept mmber, $389,699.10, gives a total of $870,782.83. Deducting the expenditure for September, $193,167.25, the credit balance stands at $677,615,58.
The
the term of your government. Your Excellency introduced yourself to us as a man of deeds, not words, and during the two and a half years which have elapsed since then you have fully instified the promise contained in the phrase. You have not only performed most diligently the duties which properly fall to the head of the Executive, but when death, or absence, or illness has left a vacancy in the official ranks and there have been many such you have worked double tides in order that the public service might not suffer. But you have not only worked hard, but you have put the crown on your work by bringing many things about which we were almost in despair to a successful termination. Victoria College has been opened after many years of promises unfulfilled. important question of the Gap Rock Light, after a long period of fruitless negotiations, was taken in hand and brought to a definite settle. ment by your Excellency's vigour and determina- The troublesome question of praya extension in front of the naval and military reservations, a matter involving so many and conflicting interests, has been finally adjusted or put in the way of an early and satisfactory settle- ment. The general question of reclamation along the foreshore of the Colony, that in other hands would probably have been debated for years, A Selangor Government Gazette Extraordin- has received frem you prompt attention and ary notifies a change in the import duties on vigorous treatment, and has been brought to opium. From December 1, the duty will be a definite conclusion. The, Wong-nei-Chong $1,600 per chest of forty balls, and $1,600 per Valley has been at last filled up and made use chest or packet weighing 120 catties. The imful, and the latest suggestions for its improve- port duty on opium has hitherto been 560 per ment, have been readily accepted by your Excel- chest of forty balls. The average yield of purelency and have been put in train for accomplish- chandu from one ball of opium is estimated at 28 ment. The constantly recurring difficulties tahils or 371⁄2 ounces,
with the Chinese authorities on the subject
The statement of the Colony's assets and liabilities places the total assets at $978,812.81 and the total liabilities at $301,197.23. The reimbursement due by railway construction account on December 31st, 1908, is $1,356,136.5 and with the credit balance for 1909 deducted it stands at $1,004,567,39. Adding the previously mentioned credit balance of $677,615.58 the balance of assets (General Account) now stands at $1,682,182.97.
tion.
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We wish your Excellency, Lady Des Voeux, and your children a very pleasant and prosperous voyage Home, a hearty welcome on your arrival in England, and a speedy restora. tion to perfect health. We promise your Ex- cellency on your resumption of this government
an
enthusiastic reception and our loyal and hearty co-operation.
An address from the Chinese was presented by Dr. Ho Kai, who, in his speech said: On occasions like the present, your Excel- lency is probably aware that there is often a great deal of conventionality and some- you times almost insincerity, but I can assure that on the present occasion there is nothing of the kind. "
5
It was,
At the end of 1890 Sir William returned to the Colony, but had not been long back before the state of his health reluctantly compelled him to offer his resiguation of office, more than two and a half years before the expiration of the ordinary terin of six years, needless to say, a very severe disappointment that a career which had been so far unusually successful should have been thus prematurely brought to a close. It had been for some years,' he wrote, "the object of my ambition to obtain the Government of one of the Indian provinces or of the Cape of Good Hope, the latter having special attractions for me on account of its difficulty. But fate ordered otherwise and had to be borne with equanimity."
"
Sir
Before he left Hongkong, however, William had a serious difference with the Legis- lative Council over the subject of the military contribution, and he wrote of it as "an episode which cast a shadow upon some of my last days in Hongkong. "Writing of his departure from the Colony, Sir William saithing
18 **
Wishing to avoid anything like a public demonstration, we did not make known the hour of our departure, and succeeded in getting away in comparative quiet. But a great number of the colonists came on board the Oceanic to bid good-bye," among whom I was glad to see the members of Council who had been most prominent in the recent attacks upon me. And while referring to this subject, I may mention the gratification with which I observed that when their leader, Mr. Whitehead, as President of the Chamber of Commerce, was some years afterwards commenting upon my acceptance of the office of President of the China Association in London, he, after acknowledging his dif- ference with me in the last months of my career in the Colony, used the most complimentary ex- pressions respecting my administration as a whole, and referred to the loss which the Colony had sustained by my premature departure. He thus showed that when the heat of the moment had subsided, the recollection of what I had done for the Colony had outweighed all tother feelings.".
The Russian Government, it is announced, has handed the Chinese overnment 600,00 roubles as compensation for the losses which the Chinese merchants in Vladivostock suffered during the Russo-Japanese War. It is said that the Chinese will get back about 20 per cent. of their loss...
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