Tuesday,
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH
December 12, 1939.
OUR TOMMIES IN MAGINOT
Charitable Work Praised By H. E. The Governor
It has not been an easy time or by any means free from anxiety. Only month or two before our inst annual meeting Canton fell: all through this
Reference to the plight of the poor! in the Colony and the steady decrease of their average income during the past eight years was made at the Annual Meeting of the Society far the Protection of Children, held at your hostilities have continued the Helena May Institute yesterday. China and since September 3 Great
the
The Hon. Sir Robert Kotowall! presided, and is Excellency Governor and Lady Northcote were among those present.
Britain also has been at war.
In
Another matter for anxiety was the inevitable zise in the cost of Imported toudstuffs owing to the war In Europe, but I am happy to say that worry on that score at least would seem now to be unnecessary.
The year has ended with a debit
Sir Robert said: In to-day's agenda. I hove allotted to myself the most congenial duty of all--that of thanking the benefactors of the Society. First and foremost among balance of $706, a figure the small- there are His Excellency the Governor ness of which I regard as amazing and Lady Northcote, who, in spite and a most wonderful token of the of the strain and stress of pressing support which the Society is accorded and exacting occupations, have con- by the public. The amount of the trived to find time to attend all our defcit is still more remarkable when one remembers that this has been a annual meetings, and to give
yeur of considerable development, every encouragement and help.
that we have dealt with more new cases than ever before and that we have embarked on now phase of the Society's work in the running of Clubs for young children at the two Kowloon centres-ans afternoon club for girls and closer and increased com operation with the Boys and Girls' Clubs Association,
You may have notleed that in the Annual Report there is no mention of the work of the Chairman of the Executive Committee, the Hou. Secretary and the Hon. Treasurer. These officers hold three of the four "key" positions in the Society, the fourth being the important office of Hon. Director, which is at the pre- sent moment vennt. you they were primarily responsible
When I teli
New Centre Opening We are also opening a new centre
for the compilation of the Annual in an area where it is very badly Report, you will understand the rea-needed this month.
son for the omission.
An Ideal Chairmen
By the kindness of Mr. S. V. Boxer, I have been furnished with a chart
The Chairman of the Executive showing the average income of each Committee Is His Honour Sir Atholl of the familles with which we have MacGregor. Sir Atholl is an ideal denit, the number of new cases dealt chairman. He presides over us with with each year and the expenditure. dignity and good humour, tact and The chart covers the period from patience. During a year of heavy 1932 to the end of this year, and and increasing public and
social while expenditure over those eight duties Sir Atholl gave himselt to the years has Increased only from $21,000 Society without siini, and his relin-to very little more than $23,000 this- quishment of the chairmanship will year, while the figure for new cases ben serious loss. Fortunately his in the past twelve months is $2,806 wise counsel and able guidance will or more than three times as many as still be available to us.
in the first of the year shown on the churt.
The office of Hon. Secretary to the Society is no sinecure. It entails a
Before I close i want to say how tremendous amount of work, but very indebted 1 liave been throughout fortunately we have in Mrs. Crozier the year to our Hon. Secretary, Mrs. -one-who-is-more-than--equui-to-it. Crozier, our Treasurer.Mr. McKellar.. Our Hon. Treasurer, Mr. MacKellar, and the ladies on the Women's Auxi- ably assisted by Mr. Kwok Chan, haslary than whom no better committee rendered yeoman service to the So-can exist anywhere! · (Applause), ciety.
Officers Re-elected
Shortly after their arrival b.the The Hon. Mr. W. N. Thomas Tam Colony, two and a half years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Caine becare members seconded the motion
earried un niinously.
which
was
of this Society, and had ever since, until, they left Hongkong, Identifled On the proposal of the Hon. Sir themselves closely with our work. Henry Pollock, seconded by Mr. A. The Society is much the poorer by jel Arcull, the Vice-Presidents. Hon. their departure.
Vice-Presidents, members of the Gen- cral and Executive Committers and other officers of last year and men- toned in the report were re-elected. The Hon. Mr. Tam was designated Chairman of the
Com-
Another helper we have lost Is Dr. Hunter who, I understand, may not return to Hongkong. She has placed us under a derp debt of gratitude not only by her whole-hearted co-opera- tion as Medical Officer in charge of mittee,
Executive
tho Violet Prel Infant Welfare Proposing a vote of thanks to His Centre, but also by her valuable Excellency and Lady Northcote, the advice as a member of the Executive Hon. Mr. M. K. Lo, said the Committee.
very
deep interest which they had taken in
On previous occasions I have had the affairs of the Society had always the pleasure of giving expression to been a great encouragement and our profound appreciation of theiinspiration to all the workers. wonderful help we have received
from the Women's Auxiliary. Year
Governor's Profe
after year these ladies have been the H.E. The Governor said: It is only mainstay of our financial fabric, being natural, I think, that all human responsible for about 30 per cent.
of our total annual revenue.
Mr. de Martin's Services
beings should take a deep interest in the work of the Society which is de- signed to help those who are most helpless and the most in need
of
..where the pun protrudes
its deadly enout,”
. Mushroonis, as they call the cupolas of observation-posts."
'... Icre was an electric train which draws trucks of ammunt- tion and supplies, and carries
passengers."
"... After lunch there were Bongs,... They all had that terrific rhythmic emphasis which the French can pive to chorus songs."
E+
the room from which the Artillery Oficer,.,directs his fire without ever seeing its objective."
LINE FORT
FOOD, BEDS, WINE ARE ALL RIGHT'
WAS introduced to the Maginot Line. That is the inevitable beginning of all stories about the French Army.
I think it also is the beginning of the end of the war. For, unless a miraculous earthquake rips it to picces, the Maginot Line will be impregnable.
Belts of barbed wire and asparagus," as the French call
the
steel anti-tank stockades,
give a vague hint of its war power.
FOUGHT
Mushrooms," as they call the WITH BARE
cupolas of observation posts, aug- gest nothing of its subterranean Immensity.
You begin to grasp something of the extent of the technical marvels of these fortifications only when you have entered a passage the size of a London underground station.
VANISHING FLOOR
It is brantly lit. I passed across a section of steel flooring which, in the in- credible event of the enemy penetrating o far, can be alld out of sight, leaving what seems to be a boltemless pit.
There was a door swung back as thick ns the side of a worship. There was a 11ft, I desconded slowly into the interior of France.
Here was an electric train which draws trucks of animunition and supplies, and carries passengers. It moved, on with n TORT, rattling aver points, ducking through archways, passing mysterious rooms, and pulling up at last close to the officers' mess.
It was in this room that the war began to take stupe, not madly and tragically, but in the sentimental fashion which anyone who knew the last war will re- member, a lusty mixture of comradeship and song addressed to that winsome skeleton, Mademoiselle from Armen-
tieres.
SINGING MAJOR
The
After lunch there were songs, major commanding the fort sang one, the chief artillery officer sang another, The doctor another.+
They all had that terrille rhythmic mphasis which the French can give to chorus songs, particularly “Lizette "—– what a girl elie was!--and "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom "what a girl she was, too!
On one wall hung a picture of yet an- other girl. It had taken the fancy of the ngineer officer, and it certainly drew the
ye.
|
HANDS
From DAVID SCOTT
FRANCE.
A COMPANY of French light cavalry, fighting sometimes with their bare fists or any odd wen- pon they could find, held off their German attackers for a day and Inally retired to order with few losses.
Their story was told to me to-day during a tour of an Army sector.
It happened in wood, on a hill, when French outposts were fighting rearguard actions to cover the with- drawal of the main body of French troops to their lines of defence,
The wood was previously held by an infantry battalion, but when this was withdrawn, the IIigh Command, not wishing to sacrifice more troops than they could help, sent up a single mounted company to cover the with- drawal.
Wrestled With Enemy
When dawn broke next day, Ger- man shells come over, followed by trench-mortar hombs, and Annily by In long burst of machine-gun fire.
The French lay low, held their fire watched the German infantry climb the long slope of a hill,
und
A whistle blew and the Germans raced for the wood, attacking the waiting French from all sides,
Some Germans fell to point-blank shots; others were killed by hastly- thrown hand-grenades.
.
But it was with slicks and atones, with bleeding knuckles and good French bout-leather, by hitting and by wrestling with the wlid spirit of Thus aplred, the engineer officer had desperate, yet courageous, men that ¡esigned a very modern bar and the the handful of French soldiers re- rtillery officer and provided n statuettepeiled this attack-and another and of yet another girl, at its culminating another—and stayed in that wond
-decoration.~~-
through babel of memories. Speeches retreated to their own lines.
Back I went to that other war, hurtling until their mission was accomplished, Then under cover of night they -the major toast to the British armiles and the French armies and the toast to The King and the President of the French Republle. And then I proceeded to come down to-perhaps it would be more accurate to say go into-earth.
UNSEEN TARGET
I was shown the room from which the Artillery Officer, who is many yards underground beneath sieci and con crete, directs his fire without ever celt his objective. This business scientifically planted that it would take a ten to hop through the opening left by his shella.
13
$0
I went up in the lift and peered through a hole in the wall where the gun protrudes its deadly snout.
I saw a beautiful field of fire, as the ariflery officer remarked, and it extended
Flood Defence
The sector of the Mnginot Line 7 suw to-day has a form of 'defence generally associated with the Flan ders battlefields.
In addition to the usual, miles and miles of anti-tank guns, spikes and burbed wire and the formidable ar- ray of huge concrete blockhouses ond frowning ensemates, It is covered by extensive floods.
Famous Voices Evacuated
for miles. It is crossed and criss-crossedHOUSANDS of priceless grame-
from the sides and from other forta.
phone records of the voices of
I would as soon attempt to attack a the ex-Katser, Florence Nightingale, mob of armour-plated prehistoric mon- aters single-handed.
Up on the surface of the riddled earth; were half-a-dozen British soldiers, who had been given the hospitality of the fort, with hair particular pleces of tech- nical apparatus.
**VERY YOUNG””
They looked very young.
Gladstone, Edison and other notabl lities have been moved by the B.B.C. to "a place of safety."
Broadcasting House has built up the finest gramophone record library in the world. More than 50,000 disca and many thousands of cylinders, steel tape and film records ure in the collection.
Herr
The
Among the most used of contem- As I have sold, the office of Hon. hotp, I note the number of children under your care hns in-
are Director is at present vacant, About coming
One who said he was 10 had na engag-porary recorda just now three years ago the Society had the creased and also the new experiment
.ing shyness. Ho said that the wine-Hitler's broadcast speeches. good fortune of securing the services of children's clubs. I hope that ex-
for they were on French rations--was B.E.C. owns a complete set of them, all right, but it took a bit of getting used One of the most historic records of Mr. G. P. de Martin for this un-periment will prosper to such an ex-
to. He thought the caffes all right, but which has been moved to safety is portant office, and he filed it with lent that the whole of Uls town will singular success and distinction. In someday be covered with a network
he missed his tea, and he thought his the original of King Edward's abdica April Iact he left for a well-earned of such clubs wherever they are are going to take their places. The sleeping quarters were all right: they tion broadcast.
were lovely and warmu. Which they holiday,
a few needed. (Applause). and on his return
fact that the Society has something should be, as the Maginot Line is cen. weeks ago he informed us, to our I am also glad to note of the close like $950 less in cash than it had a
a trally heatod profound regret, that, he was unable Heison between the clubs which this year ago is a matter for very serious His mother will be glad to know he la Society has begun and those which consideration. I do hope that the cla- feeling fine, if she can bring herself still I must not forget the good work are under the care of the Boys and quent appeal which Sir Atholl Mac- to believe in small marcies.
Gregor has voiced will succeed in
to resume office,
of the Branch Hon. Secretaries, Mr. Girls' Clubs Association. I am not drawing much larger sums from thei found a small mercy in a rabbit, which
or
L. D. Skinner, Mrs. R. C. Beavan, quite sure whether this Society Mr.. W. A. Jones and Mrs. Pearsonna
that Association takes within its public next year, After all, the total Grant, or of that of the Hon. Secre- 500pe the club which I visited some amount is not very great when you
consider the wealth of this town, tary for the Creche, Mrs. W. Park. 18 months ago in Connaught Road To them I express very warm thanks the one which Mrs. Caino started
"The figures in the report for their help,
but if it is anything like that I warm-extremely
aro interesting, though I ly congratulate the Society on having am rather puzzled by them I do not It is impossible for me to mention started it. The Social Welfare Cound say they are incorrect but statistics everyone by name, and I hope, there have these clubs closely under their are very dangerous things. Whe fore, that I may be forgiven if I thank eye, and the other day I was study-ever drew the graph and compiled collectively, as I do now, the splendid Ing an interesting plan of a building, the figures has done a public service band of workers who have given so part of which was to give accomodato the Colony in drawing attention to much of themselves to the Society tion to a club of this kind. I wis with the sole thought of alleviating struck principally by the chenpness Incomes of families with which the Visa state of affairs in which average and bettering the lot of poor and of the building and the erriail cost of Society is concerned have dropped so suffering children. (Applause).
running such an institution; I think alarmingly. It is certainly a decline it is an encouraging feature for the into which anyone holding a respon- future,
sible position should look, as I pro- Matter of Concern
An Anxious Time
"
A French soldier whom I passed had
he had caught with a long stick and con- siderable canning, thus proving himself
a specialist like all the inhabitants of the Maginot Line:
And then, from the hazy distance. came a crash, as if a giant across the frontier and slammed a door. It was repeated at casual intervals during German shelling I have heard during It flicked away any sort of sentimen
this war.
tality I may have felt.. It sounded quite
mad.
UNIVERSITY' LECTURE
A lecture, The Law of Maritime pose doing as Governor." (Applause). Capture, will be given by Mr. John
Sir Atholl MacGregor said: I am glad to have this opportunity by moving the adoption the Report "I am sorry that the Society has The meeting concluded with votes Whyatt on Wednesday, December 13, and the Accounts included therein lost so many valuable helpers in the of thanks to Messrs. Perez Smith. at 8.30 pm. In the Hongkong Univer and to give a very short account of course of the year but I feel con- Seth and Fleming, Hon. Auditors, ally Union Assembly Room. All in my stewardship during the past year, ndent that the younger generation the Press and the President.
tarosted are welcome.
COMING to the
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