subject of graves. The Head of the Department that desired to enforce the rules had submitted an official minute to the local Government on the 21st of February, 1876, in which he said: "With due deference I am of opinion that the sensibility of the Natives in regard to the graves of their dead has been immensely exaggerated by historians. The same officer had recorded his opinion that reverence for the dead was not a national trait of the Chinese.
119. The rules had been drawn up by this gentleman and two other European officials, but the Chinese community had not been consulted, and knew nothing of the sweeping reform that was impending.
120. Having requested the Colonial Secretary to invite ten or a dozen of the Chinese residents that he considered to be the most intelligent and respectable to a conference on the subject, I found that the proposed sanitary rules would be far from agreeable to them.
121. Mr. Chun-A-yin, who spoke on behalf of the others, assured me that if the rules were enforced, many well-to-do Chinese would leave the Colony and settle elsewhere. He said, that though some of the rules were inconsistent with the practices of their religion, there would be no outbreak or outrage, as had occurred some years before at Macao when Governor Amaral did something of a similar kind, and that there would be no necessity for appealing to force, as they would simply go away. Amongst other objectionable rules, he pointed to rule 3: "Single graves shall not be more than six feet long by two feet wide or less than five feet deep."
122. That a grave should be at least five feet deep, Mr. Chun-A-yin and the other Chinese thought a very good provision, and one of them pointed out that it was already the law of the Colony; but that a special rule should be made to compel the Chinese inhabitants only to have graves not more than six feet long and two feet wide, they said, would render it impossible to bury Chinese in single graves in the Colony, as those graves are, according to Chinese custom, much larger and broader than such a rule would allow. They said there were Chinamen in Hongkong more than six feet high; and that Chinese coffins, which are constructed according to certain prescribed regulations, for which the people have great veneration, are much longer and broader than the coffins in use in Western nations, and that their coffins could not fit into a grave only six feet long and two feet wide.
123. An ordinary Chinese coffin measures six feet six inches in length, and at the head, it is two feet seven inches wide. The coffin of a Chinese gentleman who has received a button or decoration (such as some of the Chinese merchants in this Colony have), is enclosed in a case measuring seven feet nine inches in length, and at the head, three feet three inches in width. Even the coffin of a pauper measures over six feet in length.
124. In further conferences with these native gentlemen, they clearly explained how all the sanitary arrangements the Government might require could be secured without offending their religious customs or turning them out of the Colony.
125. In putting my veto upon the proposed rules, I requested that no Government regulations for dealing with the Chinese should be framed in future without giving the leading Chinese residents an opportunity of knowing what was proposed to be done.
Tree planting.
126. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach pressed upon my consideration the subject of the preservation and re-establishment of forests as one of great and increasing importance, in which the health and prosperity of the Colony were deeply concerned.
127. Small as my experience of Her Majesty's Colonies had been, I had long felt that there was a general tendency to under-estimate the necessity of tree planting, and that even in Colonies with apparently the most limited scope in this respect, something ought to be done.
128. Accordingly, in the summer of 1877, I advised the Officer then in temporary charge of the plantations that, on sanitary and other grounds, the operation of the so-called Forest Department should be extended. In reply to my enquiries on the subject, he had informed me that the waste lands of the Colony capable of being wooded, comprised about ten thousand acres, and the average number of seedling trees planted per annum was about 15,000. In his report of August 1877, he said: "If our planting operations were continued at their present tortoise speed, viz., at the rate of 15,000 trees a year, it would take us eleven hundred years to complete the job."
129. In laying this report before the Legislative Council in November 1877, I expressed the opinion that the time had come when the Colony should deal in a more comprehensive manner with the question of tree planting; that with an adequate annual vote for forming nurseries for seedlings and paying a regularly organized staff of tree planters, we should be able in a few years to transform the appearance of the Colony and permanently improve its sanitary condition. The Legislative Council not only sanctioned an immediate vote of $2,000, but, having watched its beneficial effect, they have allowed me to increase it from year to year, and they have now agreed to an expenditure of $10,000 a year on tree planting, instead of an annual expenditure of about $700, which had been allowed up to 1877.
130. That afforestation has been taken thoroughly in hand, is seen from Mr. Ford's recent reports. Instead of planting out 15,000 trees per annum, he has planted 781,986 this year.
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subject of graves. The Head of the Department that desired to enforce the rules had submitted an official minute to the local Government on the 21st of February, 1876, in which he said:"With due "deference I am of opinion that the sensibility of the Natives in regard to the graves of their dead has "been immensely exaggerated by historians. The same officer had recorded his opinion that rever- ence for the dead was not a national trait of the Chinese.
119. The rules had been drawn up by this gentleman and two other European officials, but the Chinese community had not been consulted, and knew nothing of the sweeping reform that was impending./
120. Having requested the Colonial Secretary to invite ten or a dozen of the Chinese residents that he considered to be the most intelligent and respectable to a conference on the subject, I found that the proposed sanitary rules would be far from agreeable to them.
--་་.
121. Mr. Chun-A-yin, who spoke on behalf of the others, assured me that if the rules were enforced, many well-to-do Chinese would leave the Colony and settle elsewhere. He said, that though some of the rules were inconsistent with the practices of their religion, there would be no outbreak or outrage, as had occurred some years before at Macao when Governor Amaral did something of a similar kind, and that there would be no necessity for appealing to force, as they would simply go away. Amongst other objectionable rules, he pointed to rule 3:"Single graves shall not be more than six feet long "by two feet wide or less than five feet deep."
122. That a grave should be at least five feet deep, Mr. Chun-A-yin and the other Chinese thought a very good provision, and one of them pointed out that it was already the law of the Colony; but that a special rale should be made to compel the Chinese inhabitants only to have graves not more than six feet long and two feet wide, they said, would render it impossible to bury Chinese in single graves in the Colony, as those graves are, according to Chinese customi, much larger and broader than such a rule would allow. They said there were Chinamen in Flongkong more than six feet high; and that Chinese coffins, which are constructed according to certain prescribed regulations, for which the people have great veneration, are much longer and broader than the coffins in use in. Western nations, and that their coffins could not fit into a grave only six feet long and two feet wide.
123. An ordinary Chinese coffin measures six feet six inches in length, and at the head, it is two feet seven inches wide. The coffin of a Chinese gentleman who has received a button or decoration (such as some of the Chinese merchants in this Colong have), is enclosed in a case measuring seven feet nine inches in length, and at the head, three feet three inches in width. Even the coffin of a pauper measures over six feet in length.
121. In further conferences with these native gentlemen, they clearly explained how all the sanitary arrangements the Government night require could be secured without offending their religious customs or turning them out of the Colony.
125. In putting my veto upon the proposed rules,. I requested that no Government regulations for dealing with the Chinese should be framed in furare without giving the leading Chinese residents an opportunity of knowing what was proposed to be done.
забра
Tree planting.
126. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach pressed upon my consideration the subject of the preservation and re-establishment of forests as one of great and increasing importance, in which the health and prosperity, of the Colony were deeply concerned.
127. Small as my experience of Her Majesty's Colonies had been, I had long felt that there was a general tendency to under-estimate the necessity of tree planting, and that even in Colonies with apparently the most limited scope in this respect, something ought to be done.
128. Accordingly, in the summer of 1877, I advised the Officer then in temporary charge of the plantations that. on sanitary and other grounds, the operation of the so-called Forest Department should be extended. In reply to my enquiries on the subject, he had informed me that the waste lands of the Colony capable of being wooded, comprised about ten thousand acres, and the average number of seedling trees planted per annum was about 15,000. In his report of August 1877, he said:"If our planting operations were continued at their present tortoise speed, viz., at the rate of
15,000 trees a year, it would take us eleven hundred years to complete the job.'
·
129. In laying this report before the Legislative Council in November 1877, I expressed the opinion that the time had come when the Colony should deal in a more comprehensive manner with the question of tree planting; that with an adequate annual vote for forming nurseries for seedlings and paying a regularly organized staff of tree planters, we should be able in a few years to transform the appearance of the Colony and permanently improve its sanitary condition. The Legislative Council not only sanctioned an immediate vote of $2,000, but, having watched its beneficial effect, they have allowed me to increase it from year to year, and they have now agreed to an expenditure of $10,000 a year on tree planting, instead of an annual expenditure of about $700, which had been. allowed up to 1877.
130. That afforestation has been taken thoroughly in hand, is seen from Mr. Ford's recent reports. Instead of planting out 15,000 trees per annum, he has planted 781,986 this year.
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