1941-01-20 — Page 126

CHINA MAIL, PAGE 78

HONG KONG CENTENARY NUMBER

1841

Leading Hongs Then--and Now

IN these days of rapid develop-

ment, Hong Kong has not lagged behind. Hills have been demolished to fill land reclaimed from the sea. Now, where even until 1925 ships anchored, the busy street roars. Several hun- dred miles of rst-class roads have replaced foot-paths that not a hundred years ago knew only the bare feet of Chinese peasants and fisherfolk.

nonethe-

Less spectacular but Jess progressive has been the steady advance of trade by com-· panies whose founders bure the burden and heat of the day. A tribute must be paid to these early. pioneers working against climatic conditions, now much eased by modern invention.

In 1878 Mr William R. Loxley began business in Hong Kong of his own account under the title of W. R Loxley & Company. in 1898 Mr. John M. Beattie, who had arrived in the Colony in 1802, acquired the business from Mr Loxley. In 1899 Mr Beattie Wal.. joined by his brother Andrew.. and in 1904 by lus brother Mat - thew. A partnership between the three brothers was formed in 1911, the name of Loxley having been retained. The business was de- veloped very considerably during the ensuing years, branch offices being opened in London in 1900 and in Canton in 1911, and the business continued to expand and

prosper.

MINING ACTIVITIES Early in 1919 the partnership of J. A. Russell & Company, Kuala Lumpur, F.M.S., with large min- ing and commercial interests there, desired to expand their ac- tivities, and in September of that year Mr. D. O. Russell came la Hong Kong, and Messrs. J. A. and D. O. Russell, early in 1920, took over the business as from April, 1919 In 1933 Mr. J. A. Russell, the senior partner, died, and in 1934 all Loxley interests acquired by Mr. D. O. Russell. who formed the Hong Kong busi- ness into a private limited com- pany under the name of W. R. Loxley & Co., (China) Limited, operating in Hong Kong and Can- ton. The branch in Canton oper- ales from "Loxley House" owned by the Company.

were

From 1920 to 1932 the

Hong Kong company was under the management of the late Mr. M. L. Pattenden, who was also a direc- tor of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. In 1932 Mr. T. A. Mitchell

was appointed

nanager, and until his death in September, 1937, he was a direc- tor of several other companies. The

present Managing Director, Commander J.

Petrie, O.B.E., D.S.C., is also Commanding Officer of the Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

The London office, which had also been acquired by the Russell brothers, was situated at 36, Lime Street, and later was moved to 106, Fenchurch Street. In 1935 that company was formed into a private limited liability company under the name of W. R. Loxley & Co. (London) Limited. Other associated companies are Perrin, Cooper and Co., Limited and the North China Wool Company, Limited, both in Tientsin. EXPORT OF NATIVE PRODUCE

The house of Loxley has con- fined itself throughout its long existence to serving the needs of Hong Kong. Its business is :0 merchant one; representing

and Importing from British and. for- eign manufacturers and merchants of proprietary and general mer- chandise. Distribution is made to wholesalers and retailers in Hong Kong, and in normal times to the China Coust and, through the Canton Branch, to the interior of South China.

was

The firm of John D. Hutchison & Co. has an unbroken connec- tion with the import and export trade of Hong Kong extending back for over sixty years. The Chinese name for the firm, Wo Kee, represents the Cantonesc pronunciation of Walker, a British merchant whose business taken over by Mr. John D. Hut- chison about 1873. Mr. Hutchison remained associated with the firm until his death in 1920, but for some years previously he had resided in Shanghai, where he had opened a branch of the firm. The Shanghai branch was formed into a separate concern in 1917. when Mr. T. E. Pearce, the pre- sent senior partner, obtained controlling interest in the Hong Kong business. Mr. Pearce had been associated with Mr. Hutchi- son since 1903, and became partner in 1913. Mr. P. S. Cassidy joined Mr. Pearer in partnership in 1927

The agencies carried by the firm cover a wide range of vety varied interests including some of the finest brands of cigarettes, jams, chocolates, biscuits, soap, perfumes, paints. varnishes, tennis gear toffer, and other articles whose are household words throughout the world.

names

"Fixed Price"

Whenever there have been obstacles to progress, resistance to reforms in Hong Kong in the course of its history, it is all Lombard Street to a China orange that somewhere in the background there will be found "Chinese sus- ceptibilities" and "olo custom."

of

One can take it for granted, therefore, that it took a great deal

courage

and conviction 41 years ago to inaugurate a business under Chinese control and man- agement that was to proclaim th introduction of the "Axed price! principle by which protracted bar- gaining, 50 traditional among Chinese merchants and customers, would be eliminated.

The policy was novel indeed for that time and age, and it is a tribute to the founder of the Sincere Company, Mr. Ma Ying- piu, that he carried his idea and purpose through to a triumphant conclusion.

Beginnings were tar from en- couraging. Customers were so ac- customed to bargaining that it was difficult for them to assimilate the proposition that they were getting full value for

money without haggling. The result of the first year's operations, in these circum- stances, were so disappointing that many of the shareholders favour- cd immediate liquidation, Mr. Ma Ying-piu stood out tenacious'y, however, and, by the, end of the second year it was manifest that Sincere's had turned the corner.

the

From that time onwards, business developed by leaps and bounds. The present five-storied structure was erected on the site of twelve

shops between Des Voeux Road Central and the waterfront, and the large Chinese- department store, which has be come a feature of retall trading not only in Hong Kong but throughout the treaty ports of China, came definitely and finally into its own.

From its modest beginnings, the Sincere Company to-day has a paid up capital of $10,000,000 and gives ngreenble employment to thousands of workpeople. It can truly be said that Sincere's have played a very important part. in the uplift of the Chinese in Hong Kong, both commercially and so.. cially.

wards the end of the XIXth cen- tury. The writer stated at the time: "No un dreamed 53 years ugo (in 1841) of the opening of the West River. stu-

(Continued from Page 76.) nor." To celebrate the event Dr. Canilie gave a dinner party 10 more than fifty people at the Mount Austin Hotel. Sun Yat-sen was one of the successful dents. Cantlle was anxious that the first graduates of the College of Medicine. should be.received by His Excellency Li Hung Chang, the great Viceroy, but this was nut practicable. The Viceroy, consented, however, to be Patron of the College.

University of Hong Kong

To Sir James Cantlie, one of whose first schemes was the for- ma ton of a branch of the St. John Ambulance

Brigade in Hong Kong, great credit is due for the success of the College of Medicine, which served as the foundation for the University of Hong Kong. The College was incorporated in the University of Hong Kong in 1912. How the Universi y has grown a matter of common knowledge. The light which radi- ales from "Tai Hok Tong," "The Great Hall of Learning," as the Chinese call the University, is shedding its influence in the cause of humanity and the relief of sur-

IS

It is now that there seems a likelihood of Hong Kong becoming an industrial cen- tre that the smallness of its avail- able building area will be felt. The contingency has, however, been measurably provided for. By the Peking Convention of 1860 China ceded us a bit of the op- posite mainland. This has proved useful already, and it is likely to prove more useful still now that the demand for level ground seems about to increase. The industrial movement is not absolutely new. There are already in Hong Kong extensive sugar refineries, a rope factory, steam sawmills, glass, match. and soap facturies, brick and cement and other works. But if there is an industrial boon Hong Kong will overflow on to Kowloon. The colonial authorities will do well to take this into con- sideration and devise easy term: and long leases for intending oc- cupants of land. The Colony has been created by individual enter- prise, and depends on that enter- prise for future development. Men

Happy Valley in 1845.

fering, for which the teeming mil- lions of China will have cause fo be grateful.

Kawloon

No matter in what direction one Juoks the, growth and prosperity of Hong Kong have been pheno- menal. It is to Kowloon and the New Territories, however, that one must turn to see the building of that "Greater Hong Kong" that must be achieved before the end of the first decades of the new century Hong Kong is entering in- to to-day.

According

ac-

to all reliable counts Kowloon, and its hinter- land have to-day a population of close on one million. inhabitants. The Peninsula was, very sparsely populated in 1858, when a small strip of the mainland was Arst. leased to Great Britain, From land which was considered not suited assumed proportions beyond the for cabbage, gardens Kowloon has

wildest dreams of the early pioneers. The splendid cooperative efforts between the colonising gen- ius of the British and the industry and frugality of the Chinese have combined to produce roads, build inge, factories and gardens that are the admiration of visitors from near and far.

.

who purpose to invest large capi- tal want to see a century ahead. and are entitled to every facility that the Government can give."

This last piece of advice is so true and sound that, even at this late day. Government might take to heart its wisdom and act on it for the benefit of the Colony at large. The Chinese Products Ex- hibition recently held on the Salis- bury Road square was an eye- opener to most people and went to show the limitless possibilities of Kowloon as an industrial cen- tre of first-class importance.

Conclusion

These notes, compiled in a hasty retrospect, may be concluded ap- propriately with a quotation from an article recently con'ributed to the "Crown Colonist" by His Ex- cellency the Governor, Sir Geof- fry Northcote. In drawing atten- tion to the fact that Hong Kong will be celebrating its centenary as a British Colony to-day, His Excellency wrote:

"Her dearest hope to-day is tha, when that day arrives, the. long been forgotten, and that in troubles of the present will have

a peaceful Pacific she may again be trading happily with both the great nations which have their homes by that: Ocean, themselves reconciled in an honourable peace."

Hong Kong is a free port, and it is a peculiarity of British methods that merchants of any country in the world may be tle and trade The fulfillment of His Excel- here on the same terms as Eng-lency's hope has, unfortunately, to llshmen. It is comforting and en-be deferred to-day; but it may couraging to recall the prophetic remarkts of a writer in the Lon- don "Times" when the West River por's were opened, by Treaty to-

confidently be stated that every citizen of the Colony will fervent- ly renew that hope and pray that peace will

soon be restored.

1941