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HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Order under section 92 (8) of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance, 1903.
Abstract showing the differences between the Approved Estimates of Expen- diture for 1926 and the Estimates of Expenditure for 1927. (Sessional Paper No. 14 of 1926).
Finance Committee
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by com- mand of H.E. The Governor, laid upon the table the report of Finance Committee No. 8 and moved that it be adopted.
THE COLONIAL TREASURER second- ed, and this was agreed to.
Registrar of Marriages
HON. SIR SHOU-SON CHOW Sir,-It is with deep sorrow that I endorse the remarks that have fallen from Your Excel- lency. My friendship with the late Mr. Ho Fook extends over a period of nearly twenty years and I always regarded him with esteem and admiration. A distin- guished member of a distinguished family, he played no small part in the social and public life of the Colony during the last two decades. At the early age of twenty- six he was made a Justice of the Peace and so highly was his worth as a public inan esteemed by the community that in 1917 the Government appointed him to be a member of the Legislative Council-the highest position to which a Chinese could aspire at that time. The outstanding characteristics of Mr. Ho Fook were sim- plicity of nature and ability to see more than one side of a question. He always brought to his official duties the sanie quiet energy and the same resourceful- ness which so distinguished him as a business man. Although he nominally retired from public life about four years ago he never relaxed his interest in all natters concerning the welfare of the Colony. It was only about ten days before his death that he took an active part in a matter affecting the Chinese community and contributed materially towards its satisfactory settlement. Truly it can be said that he served Hong Kong faithfully and well to the end. On behalf of my Chinese colleague the Hon. Mr. Kotewall and myself and in the name of the Chinese community, I sup- port the motion proposed and respected, and the Bill was read a third time and fully associate ourselves in the expression of sympathy with Mrs. Ho Fook and her family.
The motion was passed, all members of the Council standing,
Papers
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY, by com- mand of H.E. The Governor, laid upon the table the following papers:-
Order under section 7 of the Rating Ordinance, 1901, on 30th September,
1926.
Order under section 8 of the Naturaliza-
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the second reading of the Bill intituled, An Ordinance to enable the Governor to ap- point such person as he may please to be Registrar of Marriages.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY second- ed, and the Bill was read a second time.
Council then went into Committee to consider the Bill clause by clause. No changes were made in Committee and upon Council resuming,
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the third reading of the Bill.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY second-
passed.
Volunteer Ordinance
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the second reading of the Bill intituled, An Ordinance to amend the Volunteer Ordin- ance, 1920.
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY second- ed, and the Bill was read a second time.
Council then went into Committee to consider the Bill clause by clause. No changes were made in Committee and upon Council resuming,
tion Ordinance, 1902, on 7th Octo-third reading of the Bill.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the ber, 1926.
Regulation under section 3 of the Post THE COLONIAL SECRETARY second- Office Ordinance, 1926, on 7th Octo-ed, and the Bill was read a third time and ber, 1926.
passed.
next
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Hong Kong and Canton
H.E. THE GOVERNOR-Gentlemen, Be- fore the Colonial Secretary moves the first reading of
year's Supply Bill, it is proper to state that the circum- stances under which the budget was drafted differ considerably from those in which it is introduced. The budget was drafted at a time when this Colony was for no fault of its own subject to an anti-British boycott, instigated by Bol- shevik intrigue and conducted in open defiance--I will not say of treaties- but of the most elementary principles upon which civilized society is based, and as a kind of guerrilla warfare. But on the auspicious "Double Tenth," five days ago, the Canton Government declar- ed this boycott to be at an end, and all armed strike pickets were withdrawn from the frontiers of this Colony and from Canton. The information at pre- sent in my possession would not justify a statement that anti-British manifesta- tions in Kuang-tung have ceased, and the position at Swatow appears to be less satisfactory than at Canton. But it is certain that a very definite step has been taken by the Canton Government to curb the lawless activities of strike pickets, and We may reasonably hope that á determined effort will now be made by the Cantonese authorities to re-establish law and order in the territory which they control and to stamp out piracy and brigandage.
བྱུ་
58
There-
upon flourishing trade with the Liang Kuang provinces. Trade cannot flourish in these provinces unless law and order are maintained; and the maintenance of law and order postulates the existence of fore, above all else, the Colony of Hong a strong and stable government. Kong desires to see in Kuang tung and Kuang-hsi a strong, stable and enlighten- ed Government. Of such a Government staunch supporters. we should gladly be close friends and
our
Another matter which is near hearts is to see the curse of Bolshevism removed from China.
The ideas per- meating Bolshevism are wholly alien to the Chinese mind: and a moment's thought should suffice to convince the Cantonese authorities that in the deve- lopment of the Liang Kuang provinces by the peaceful and orderly processes of trade and commerce Great Britain and the British Colony of Hong Kong can give more effective and lasting assistance than can the Russian Soviet. We uphold ideals which are dear to the Chinese mind, peace, good government, commer- cial enterprise, learning and literature, loyalty to the honoured traditions of the past and an orderly advance towards all that the future promises. But th Bolshevik record is at present a blood- stained page of revolution, terrorism, The civilized anarchy and intestine war. mind recoils with horror from its con- templation; and throughout China, I am thankful to say, there is now a grow ing abomination of all that Bolshevism means. It is our earnest hope that the Chinese people may pluck out this evil by the roots and cast it from their country.
I think I may safely say that this Colony's most ardent desire is to see law and order re-established, if possible in China as a whole, but at least in the Liang Kuang provinces. There has since the downfall of the Manchu Empire been enough, and more than enough, blood-
Young China now-a-days is prone to shed in these two provinces. Civil war
neglect the classic lore of Ancient China. has raged almost incessantly throughout do well to remember the words of Sun Nevertheless the rival War Lords would their length and breadth. Pirates have Tzu ( 7 ), a writer on the war in the 5th infested the coast, the delta and the principal inland waterways.
century B.C., that "there is no instance of Brigands have been a constant danger to the high-ed warfare (ADB Ħ **ZKŮ).” a country having benefited from prolong- roads, the villages and even to large Mencius at a time when China was as now citics. Trade and travel have become divided into many warring satrapies is still hazardous. Life itself is nowhere safe. From all these horrors the Colony of who say I am skilled in warfare. I am more emphatic. He said: "There are men Hong Kong was a secure haven of refuge skilled in battle. They are great criminals. and it, therefore, prospered exceedingly. Those who are skilled in battle should sufer But prosperity due to such causes can- exemplary punishment (A Ƒ. * * SA not last, True and enduring prosperity 我善為戰大罪也善戰者服上刑)”The for this Colony can only be founded old philosopher Lao Tzu (F) wrote:-