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far from being ungrateful to her hands.
her gentle kindness to us and
We are grateful for her courteous
TX. Our regret at parting from her is indeed very great, and her loss will be felt, we venture to think, not only by the Chinese, but by all sections of this community. We can only hope that in Weihaiwai Mrs. Lockhart will be able to find a new home and that she will be established in all health and strength to give you support in the enterprise and undertaking which you have been appointed by His Majesty to carry out in the new colony. (Applause.) With these few remarks, sir, I will crave your leave to read the address.
The address was then read in English by Dr. Ho Kai and afterwards in Chinese by Dr. Lau Chu-pak, being finally handed by the Chairman to Mr. Lockhart, who bowed acknowledgement. It read as follows:-
To the Honourable J. H. STEWART LOCKHART, C.M.G.
Hongkong, 19th April, 1902.
SIR,-On behalf of the Chinese community of Hongkong we beg to wish you a hearty and earnest farewell on your leaving the Colony, and to offer you our sincerest congratulations on your appointment to be First Civil Commissioner of Weihaiwei. It was with mingled feelings of pleasure and regret that we first received the news—pleasure at learning that one so well known to us had received the promotion that his services have merited, and regret at the thought that the ties which during the last 20 years have drawn us so closely together must at last be severed. Your promotion testifies to the appreciation in which His Majesty's Government holds your services. We on our side, can speak of the cordial relations which have existed between you and His Majesty's Chinese subjects ever since you returned from Canton in 1882 on the completion of your Chinese studies. And it has been a source of satisfaction to us and has no doubt, helped you greatly to understand the motives that influence our conduct, the feelings by which we are stirred, and the ideals which we put before us, that not content with the knowledge of Chinese which the Government so well requires from its officers you have continued to give a large share of your leisure time to the study of our literature. It would be improper for us to speak of your services to the Chinese community, and it would be incorrect to do so, but we are pleased to be able to recall that in serving faithfully your Queen, your King and your country, you have been able to bestow many benefits on the Chinese. The Po Leung Kuk, which was in its present assured position in great measure due to your energy and powers of organisation, will long remain, we hope, a memorial of you. The record of the proceedings of the Tung Wah Hospital Commission shews plainly the desire which has always actuated you that fair play should be shewn to us in our efforts to do good, however faulty and insufficient they may appear to Europeans. And though the secrets of Government are well kept, we flatter ourselves that during the last ten years we have been able more than once to trace the effect of your counsels in the action of the Government.
When we recall the names of those who have been Registrar General, we Hongkong Chinese feel, and with good reason, deeply grateful to the British Government. Your predecessors, Sir Cecil Smith, Sir James Russell, and Dr. Stewart, have left their mark on local Chinese politics. Their names are household names among us. In clearsightedness, ability and devotion to duty you have nobly carried on the traditions of the office, and it will be long before your name is forgotten in Hongkong or in the neighbouring districts.
It is now your lot to be transferred to Weihaiwei. In Hongkong you have had the footsteps of your predecessors to guide you. In Weihaiwei you will be the first of a line. It will be for you to lay the foundations of a new Colony which must in time rival Hongkong in prosperity. If the foundations are laid in the same plan as those of this Colony, if our fellow countrymen are encouraged as they have been here by equal law and equal rights, to trust their families and their property to the protection of the British flag, we anticipate a bright future for Weihaiwei.
Under your experienced guidance we feel confident that the troubles and perplexities of a young colony will be rapidly overcome and that the traditions of British freedom will be maintained inviolate. But it is not only your public merits that have moved us to present this address; we ask to be allowed to claim you as a personal friend. Some of us have grown up from youth to middle age with you: some of us you have known whilst boys at school. Your urbanity, good-nature and tact are known to all of us. Those who pride themselves on being your friends respect you for your sympathy, good counsel and benevolence. We feel that any address to you without a reference to Mrs. Stewart Lockhart would indeed be incomplete. We Chinese have always found in her a kind and sympathetic friend, and we hope that such a fitting and worthy helpmate may be long spared to you. We wish you both a hearty farewell and all prosperity and happiness in your new sphere. We hope that you will accept as a slight token of our respect and esteem the accompanying book, which may serve to remind you and Mrs. Stewart Lockhart of your many Chinese friends and admirers in Hongkong.
MR. YIP HOK SHAN then read and presented to Mr. Lockhart an address on behalf of the Po Leung Kuk.
MR. LOCKHART, who was loudly applauded on rising to reply, said—Mr. Chairman, Dr. Ho Kai, and gentlemen, I find it exceedingly difficult to find words adequate enough to reply to the very kind remarks—too flattering remarks made by Dr. Ho Kai in his speech in presenting me with this address, and for the very kind expressions contained in that address itself. I take it, gentlemen, that your real object in coming here to-day is not so much to pay a compliment to me personally as to show your high appreciation of the rule under which you have the privilege to live. (Hear, hear.) I think, gentlemen, you are quite right in appreciating the privileges of British rule, which gives freedom to every nationality, regardless of race or creed. I am very glad indeed to have had the good fortune to be that officer of the Government who for many years was placed in intimate relation with the Chinese community, and any successes that may have attended my efforts in the post of Registrar-General were almost entirely due to that hearty co-operation and ready assistance which I have received at all times from the members of the Chinese community. Without such co-operation it would be impossible for any Government to discharge in an effective manner the important affairs of a community so large, and which has customs and habits peculiar to itself like the Chinese community. I am very glad, gentlemen, that you have given me this opportunity to-day to thank you for all the kindness and assistance I have received from you in the past—kindness and assistance which have made my task an easy one, and which has enabled the Government to carry on things in a much more harmonious manner than would have been possible without such assistance and co-operation.
Dr. Ho Kai has referred to my connection with the ...
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