C 9
More serious still was the loss of the river steamer Ying King, which went down with all hands; of the total crew and passengers, 466 in all, only 42 were saved, the lost including the Master and 3 Europeans. The destruction ashore was very considerable, and included the collapse of a number of lightly built tenement houses at Yaumati, and the loss of several lives. A pleasant feature amid so much misery was the rescue of 6 Chinese by the crew of H.M.S. Astræa's cutter. The Committee of the Tung Wah Hospital, speaking on behalf of the Chinese community, addressed a warm letter of thanks to the Government in acknowledgment of this act.
The task of picking up and burying the drowned was, as has been the custom, entrusted to the Tung Wah Hospital, all expenses being subsequently recovered from the Government. This work completed, a Relief Committee was, as in 1906, formed mainly from the Tung Wah Permanent and Annual Committees, with the Registrar General as Chairman, to investigate deserving cases and relieve the necessitous. The result of its labours was the payment of $6,645 to the owners and crew of 75 craft, of $500 to the victims of the collapse of houses at Yaumati, and of $1,000 to the Blindenheim, which had been unroofed. These sums were defrayed partly from the interest on 30,000 taels deposited with the Tung Wah in trust for such purposes, and partly from the balance of the 1906 typhoon fund, in the hands of the Government.
The year's misfortunes were crowned by one self-chosen. Acting under the belief that a business transaction blesses only him who gives the goods and not him who takes, the Chinese of Hongkong, following and improving upon the lead given then in Canton, started a vigorous boycott of Japanese goods enforced as is usual by lampoon and intimidation. The Japanese steamship lines were particularly affected. So strong was the movement that street hawkers, not the most emotional of people, have been heard to call a comrade a cold-blooded reptile for selling bananas to a Japanese. The weak point in the movement was the Chinese passion for Japanese relishes. By the surreptitious sale of these, certain merchants were drawing large profits when, as an act of vengeance and warning, the Society which fostered the movement in Canton sent a gang of about 40 ruffians to Hongkong who, on the evening of the 1st November, and on the morning of the next day, wrecked several shops. The Police at once took active measures and a number of arrests were made. The Peace Preservation Ordinance 1886 was brought into force and several persons were banished. The movement then began to subside, and by the end of the year practically collapsed, at any rate in so far as it was of a compulsory nature.
The idea of a University for Hongkong, which has been in the air for a number of years, took definite shape when, at a meeting held at Government House on 18th March, 1908, His Excellency the Governor announced that Mr. Mody had put $150,000 at his disposal for the purpose, a sum since increased to $180,000, or whatever greater sum the buildings shall cost, by the generous donor. The meeting formed itself into a committee, and a sub-committee was at once formed, to consider what minimum sum would be needed to make a start with two Chairs only, of Medicine and Engineering, upon a site provided cost-free by Government. On October 29th, and at subsequent meetings, the report of the Committee was considered; a special committee was appointed to supervise the erection of the buildings and collect funds. And it was decided that the minimum to be collected for endowment which would justify the inception of the scheme was a sum, the interest on which would be not less than £6,000 per annum.
A Chinese sub-committee was thereupon appointed for the collection of subscriptions, and by the end of the year a considerable sum had been promised.
The Chinese College of Medicine and the Technical Institute will be merged in the University.
The establishment of a Chair for Arts has since been determined upon.
20.--Staff.
Mr. Brewin left the Colony on leave on 28th March. Mr. Hutchison then acted as Registrar General for 5 days, when I took charge. The post of Assistant Registrar General was filled in succession by Messrs. Hutchison, Orme, and Wood.
7th April, 1909.
EDWARD A. IRVING,
Registrar General.