later, you took your seat at the Legislative Council of the Colony, and in 1891 at the Executive Council. In 1894 you filled the office of Acting Colonial Secretary, and in the succeeding year took up the position of Colonial Secretary and Registrar-General, since which period you have discharged the duties of the high office which you are now relinquishing. Further, in the year 1898, you were appointed Special Commissioner to report on the extension of the Colony's boundaries, and in 1899 Representative of Great Britain for the delimitation of those boundaries. For the way in which you carried out these important functions you, upon each occasion, received the thanks of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State. On numerous Committees, dealing with matters of interest and moment to the Colony, you have served as Chairman or Secretary, and your national love of sports, especially in connection with the Victoria Rowing Club and the Hongkong Football Club, is too well known to call for more than a passing word. You are leaving us now to assume the Commissionership of Weihaiwei, the eastern advance-post of Great Britain, and we look forward with confidence to your future, in the hope and belief that there lies before you a distinguished career in positions of still greater importance than those you have been already called upon to occupy.
With regard to the various questions which had to be dealt with, from time to time, in the Legislative Council, you not only displayed both ability and tact, but you showed an unfailing courtesy to those whose opinions differed from your own. Your knowledge of the Chinese language, and the pains you have taken to make yourself intimately acquainted with the feelings and customs of the Chinese people, have greatly facilitated the harmonious official intercourse which has existed between the Government and that numerous and important section of the community. In bidding you farewell, we have desired to limit the signatories to this momento to those whose lives have been cast in the same Civil Service as your own and to the Unofficial Members of Council who have had special opportunities of appreciating your arduous work,
Hon. J. H. STEWART LOCKHART—Mr. Goodman and gentlemen, It is exceedingly difficult for me, I can assure you, to respond in any way adequately to the very kind words that you, Mr. Goodman, have used with regard to me and to the very kind wishes which are expressed in the address which you have just been good enough to read. No one, sir, can be more sensible of my own shortcomings than I am myself. It makes one sad, in looking back over the number of years I have resided in this Colony, to think what a number of opportunities one has lost and of the many things one has neglected that one might have done; but it is cheering, although one feels one's shortcomings so keenly—it is cheering to find one's friends rally round one on the eve of one's departure and wish him all the good wishes that you have wished towards me." (Applause.) I need hardly say that my regret at leaving Hongkong is very keen indeed; but the bitterness of parting is to a great extent mollified by the recollection that though I am leaving Hongkong I am leaving behind me in Hongkong loyal and trusted friends who during many years have shown me innumerable kindnesses which I shall never forget and here today is another illustration of their kindness, in meeting me and presenting me with this address and their good wishes. The members of Council and my fellow Civil Servants have all one object in view, and that object is the prosperity of the Colony. (Hear, hear.) Differences of opinion may arise at various times as to how that prosperity is to be best advanced, but our object is always the same; and so long as the members of Council and the Civil Servants co-operate heartily together there is no doubt that the prosperity of this Colony, already so great, will become greater still. (Applause.)
To the members of the Civil Service I can only say I am proud indeed to have been a member of this Service for so many years. If every Colony possesses a Civil Service like Hongkong I think they are indeed to be envied, and nothing do I more regret than having to leave behind me my colleagues in the Civil Service, who always most heartily and loyally co-operated with me when I was a junior and when I became head of a Department latterly, being promoted to the office of Colonial Secretary, and I am glad to take this opportunity to thank them all individually for their kindness to me during the whole of my period of service in Hongkong. Mr. Goodman has referred to "good fish in the sea" and the difficulty of landing really good fish. But I think in Mr. May, who is to be my successor, a very excellent fish has been landed. (Applause.) Mr. May is a very old friend of my own. I have known him during almost the whole of my service in Hongkong, and he is also well known to the community of Hongkong; and therefore it does not require any words from me to commend him to this Colony. I feel perfectly certain he will make an excellent Colonial Secretary and aid and promote every good work that has for its object the promotion of the welfare of Hongkong. You have referred, sir, to my departure for Weihaiwei. Weihaiwei is more or less at present an unknown country. I only trust that under the aegis of the British flag it will be made to prosper. I can promise you I shall do my best to make it prosper, and when the day arrives—if it ever does arrive—when it has to have a Civil Service of its own, I trust it will be as fortunate in that respect as Hongkong is today. (Applause.) I feel it is impossible for me to thank you sufficiently for all you have said to-day and all you have done in the past. All I can say, gentlemen, is I thank you from the bottom of my heart. (Applause.) The proceedings were brought to a close with three cheers for Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Lockhart, proposed by the Hon. Murray Rumsey.
BANQUET IN THE CITY HALL. In the evening the Chinese community entertained Mr. Lockhart to a banquet in the City Hall. Nearly a hundred Chinese gentlemen were present, and amongst those sitting at Mr. Lockhart's table were the Hon. Dr. Ho Kai, Hon. A. M. Thomson, Hon. A. W. Brewin, and Messrs. Tao, Lau Chupak, C. Clementi, R. F. Johnston, Ho Tung, Fung Wa Chun, Ho Fook, B. Hancock, Wei On, and Mok Man Cheng. The band of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers had been engaged for the occasion, and discoursed at intervals throughout the evening under the conductorship of Bandmaster Moir, who at a later stage in the proceedings was thanked by Dr. Ho Kai for his services.
The company having honoured the usual loyal toasts, Dr. Ho Kai called upon Mr. Fung Wa Chun, in the unavoidable absence of the Hon. Wei A Yuk, to propose the toast of the evening, that of their guest, Mr. Lockhart.
Mr. FUNG WA CHUN said, Mr. Chairman, with much pleasure I rise to propose the toast of the evening, namely, the health of our distinguished guest, the Hon. J. H. Stewart Lockhart. For nearly 20 years I have known Mr. Lockhart, and during that time I have had many opportunities of studying him, both as an official and as a private individual. The conclusion I have arrived at after these long years is that he is an able official, a worthy man, and a sincere friend. The public services he has rendered to this Colony are well known to you.