(18
ATA
Honourable W. KESWICK—I was only going to remark, a short time ago, that when the Museum was first started and became of any interest at all, very few Chinese came to it, and it was not until Dr. DENNYS and myself had devoted a great deal of time and attention to the creation of that Museum, that it was made attractive enough to the Chinese to induce them to come in numbers. In order to meet the Chinese views in every way, we consulted the Chinese.
We had them at meetings, we did our utmost to induce them to take an interest, to subscribe, to write to their friends in the country to supply articles of interest. We also wrote home. There was a pamphlet published and sent to manufacturers and others to see if we could get donations for the Museum, and of the Chinese, the principal men then in the Colony were invited to meet the Committee, and did meet the Committee, with a view to frame rules which would meet the views of the Chinese and at the same time preserve order and regularity. As to any class or race distinction being intended, it was the most distant possible thought to anyone who took an interest in the Museum and spent money and a great deal of time in making the Museum useful to the community, and I regret exceedingly that Your Excellency has introduced race feeling into the matter. It is not fair to do so, and it lessens the value of the institution.
The numbers of Chinese are so large that unless there were some regulation, there would be difficulty in Chinese and Europeans being accommodated together. My honourable friend on the left (Mr. NA CHOY) alluded to the roads and Public Gardens and other places. We know that in these places there is abundance of room, but it is hardly so in the Museum. At one time it was so full we had to take in the verandah, and even now the place is very small, but it is a mistake to suppose there was any feeling of race animating the Committee. It was purely a matter of order, to make the institution as useful as possible to all. No other feeling than the public good could have prompted the Committee, and by casting aspersions on the members of the Committee, His Excellency would fail to vindicate the unworthy policy he had pursued towards the City Hall.
HIS EXCELLENCY—I think it very likely, gentlemen, after the full and satisfactory discussion of to-day, the grant may yet be given for the Museum, because I have very little doubt the weighty remarks that fell from the trustee, my honourable friend Mr. RYRIE, and especially when he said, "They should have the one notice for Library and Museum, namely, that they should be open and 'without payment to all decent and well-behaved persons of every nationality without distinction,'" will be the opinion of all reasonable men interested in the City Hall.
The Bill was committed and passed, and the Council adjourned sine die.
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