1904-1919
HONG KONG, 1908.
129
23
It is intended that the proposed Hong Kong University shall have at the outset two Faculties, viz., Medicine and Engineering, and that the existing College of Medicine, the Technical Institute, and the local branch of the Sanitary Institute shall be incorporated in it. It is hoped that an Arts Course may be added. A Committee has been formed, with myself as Chairman, to promote the undertaking.
On the 6th May, a telegram was received from your Lordship to the effect that His Majesty's Government had decided "that steps must be taken to close opium dens in Hong Kong, as they recognise it is essential in dealing with the opium question in Hong Kong we must act up to the standard set by the Chinese Government." As the result of this telegram the opium question was debated in the Legislative Council on several occasions during the year, and careful investigations were made by the Government. It had not, however, been decided by the end of the year what steps should be taken in the matter, as the result of the International Opium Commission to be held in Shanghai was awaited.
In the month of June there were very serious floods in the valleys of the West and North Rivers, causing distress and famine in many districts of the Kuangtung and Kuangsi Provinces; and on the 2nd of July the Legislative Council unanimously adopted a resolution conveying the deep sympathy of the Colony to the Governor-General of the provinces concerned, and authorizing the payment of a sum of $30,000 from the general revenue as a donation for the relief of the sufferers. A cheque for that amount was handed to the Governor-General by H.B.M.'s Acting Consul-General at Canton on the 15th July, and transmitted by His Excellency to the Charitable Guilds to whom the distribution of organized relief was entrusted. In addition to this donation, there was collected by the Tung Wa Hospital the sums of $91,528 locally and $371,069 from abroad; while a Chinese bazaar held in the Colony in aid of the Flood Relief Fund realized $81,690. The bazaar was interesting as being the first of the kind organized and managed entirely by the Chinese community; Chinese ladies took charge of the stalls and both Chinese and European firms sent large quantities of goods, free of charge, to the Bazaar Committee for sale.
A sum of $1,000 was subscribed by the colonists of Saigon for the relief of the distress caused by the severe typhoon of the 18th September, 1906, and it had originally been the intention of Sir M. Nathan to appropriate this sum for the erection of a memorial to the French sailors of the French destroyer "Fronde" who lost their lives in this harbour during that typhoon. As, however, the Committee of the Typhoon Relief Fund unanimously decided that it was not within their power to make any grant from the funds for this purpose nor to appropriate thereto the sum of $1,000 received from Saigon, that money having gone into the general fund, a special subscription of $2,550 was raised to defray the cost of erecting an obelisk in Gascoigne Road, Kowloon, as a memorial to the French sailors in question. The ceremony of unveiling the memorial took place on the 14th of
1904-1919
HONG KONG, 1908.
129
23
It is intended that the proposed Hong Kong University shall have at the outset two Faculties, viz., Medicine and Engineering, and that the existing College of Medicine, the Technical Institute, and the local branch of the Sanitary Institute shall be incor- porated in it. It is hoped that an Arts Course may be added. A Committee has been formed, with myself as Chairman, to promote the undertaking.
On the 6th May, a telegram was received from your Lordship to the effect that His Majesty's Government had decided
"that. steps must be taken to close opium dens in Hong Kong, as they recognise it is essential in dealing with the opium question in Hong Kong we must act up to the standard set by the Chinese Government." As the result of this telegram the opium ques- tion was debated in the Legislative Council on several occasions during the year, and careful investigations were made by the Government. It had not, however, been decided by the end of the year what steps should be taken in the matter, as the result of the International Opium Commission to be held in Shanghai was awaited.
In the month of June there were very serious floods in the valleys of the West and North Rivers, causing distress and famine in many districts of the Kuangtung and Kuangsi Provinces; and on the 2nd of July the Legislative Council unanimously adopted a resolution conveying the deep sympathy of the Colony to the Governor-General of the provinces concerned, and authorizing the payment of a sum of $30,000 from the general revenue as a donation for the relief of the sufferers. A cheque for that amount was handed to the Governor-General by H.B.M.'s Acting Consul- General at Canton on the 15th July, and transmitted by His Excellency to the Charitable Guilds to whom the distribution of organized relief was entrusted. In addition to this donation, there was collected by the Tung Wa Hospital the sums of $91,528 locally and $371,069 from abroad; while a Chinese bazaar held in the Colony in aid of the Flood Relief Fund realized $81,690. The bazaar was interesting as being the first of the kind organized and managed entirely by the Chinese community; Chinese ladies took charge of the stalls and both Chinese and European firms sent large quantities of goods, free of charge, to the Bazaar Com- mittee for sale.
A sum of $1,000 was subscribed by the colonists of Saigon for the relief of the distress caused by the severe typhoon of the 18th September, 1906, and it had originally been the intention 'of Sir M. Nathan to appropriate this sum for the erection of a memorial to the French sailors of the French destroyer "Fronde" who lost their lives in this harbour during that typhoon. As, however, the Committee of the Typhoon Relief Fund unani- mously decided that it was not within their power to make any grant from the funds for this purpose nor to appropriate thereto the sum of $1,000 received from Saigon, that money having gone into the general fund, a special subscription of $2,550 was raised to defray the cost of erecting an obelisk in Gascoigne Road, Kowloon, as a memorial to the French sailors in question. The ceremony of unveiling the memorial took place on the 14th of
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