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stone was inscribed as follows-"This stone was laid by Sir William Robinson, K.C.M.G., Governor, January 18th, 1896" and contained one of each of the Hongkong coins and a copy of the day's issue of the Daily Press.
The company having adjourned to the Tung Wa Hospital Committee Room, wine and cake are served. After glasses had been charged, HON. HO KAI said-Ladies and gentlemen, after the most interesting function over the way it is now my pleasant duty to propose for your cordial reception a toast which is generally well received by all classes of this community, that is, "The health of our ex- cellent and much respected Governor, His Excellency Sir William Robinson." (Hear hear). I am confident, ladies and gentlemen, that it does not require a long speech at any time to recommend this toast for your on- thusiastic reception (Heur. bear)-and es pecially on an occasion like this I know merely the mention will ensure for it your warm approval and support. That is one of the ressons, I suppose, why I have been selected to undertake this most light, agreeable, and congenial task. We are very much obliged to His Excellency for having come to-day to lay the foundation stone of the new home for res ened women and girls. We are more grateful still to His Excellency for the noble and staunch support which he has given to the Society in times of trouble and difficulty, when the Institu- tion itself was in danger of being done away with and the useful work was much hampered aud rendered less effective on account of the want of room and funds. Our gratitude to his Excellency in connection with this Po Loung Kuk Society is beyond the expression of words, and we members and supporters of this Society can only pray that his Excellency will be abun dantly blessed for all the good he has done in connection with the Society and its work. Thore- fore, ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to drink to-day most heartily with me to the health and happiness of our worthy Governor, Sir William Robinson, (Loud Applause).
The toast was enthusiastically drunk and in! reply,
His EXCELLENCY said-I thank you very much indeed for cordially drinking the toast of my health, which has been so felicitously pro- posed by the Hon. Dr. Ho Kai. As I said just now, I have had a great deal of pleasure in laying the foundation stone of this new build- ing, because, in doing so, I feel I was not only giving pleasure to myself but I was doing a duty which would be expected of me by Her Majosty the Queen, whom I have the honour to serve. All Governors of colonies are expected to take a leading part in supporting any institu tion which has for its object the advancement of the moral and social condition of the people whom they govern, and therefore it has given me very great pleasure not only on my! own acevant, but bocanse I have done a daty which Her Majesty the Queen has most gra- ciously devolved upon me. (Applause.) I wish the Society every success in the future, and I thank you for the manner in which you proposed the toast of my health. (Applause.)
While his Excellency was speaking another photograph was taken, and at the conclusion of his reply,
Mr. J. J. FRANCIS said-Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, I have been asked to pro- pose the only other toast that is to be proposed this afternoon, and that is, prosperity to the institution the foundation stone of which we have just seen Inid by His Excellency. In some sense I presided, if I may be permitted so to say, at the birth of the Po Leung Kuk Society. You have heard from His Excel- Jency the Governor, in the address which he delivered at the laying of the foundation stone, nader what circumstances the Chinese resi- dont in the colony proposed to establish
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that institution. When their proposals first camo before His Excellency the theu Governor, they were referred to a number of gentlemen of whom I happened to be oue, being at the time Acting Police Magistrate, for consideration and report. I know I was very pleased and gratified at the time by the efforts then put forward by the Chinese gentlemen who were then organising the affair, and I had very great pleasure indeed in strongly recom- mending it to the Governor, and in preparing rules for the management of the institution. You have heard from his Excellency what has been done during the seventeen years since the institution was started by the inembers of it; how many women they have resoned from dostitu- tion and misery; how many they have re- stored to their own homes; and it is only just to the Po Leung Kuk Society to say that that work was done under many disadvantages. You have beard from his Excellency the Governor that the room placed at their disposal in the Tung Wa Hospital was hardly suitable for their accomodation. They were not very extensively, in the first instance, supplied with funds, but through the zeal and energy of the members of the Committee. they were able to do a considerable amount of very valuable work; indeed it is difficult to say what is the real amount of rescue work that has been accomplished. It is, therefore, with very great pleasure in- deed that I propose the future prosperity of this institution," If it does not prosper after this it will be the fault of the members them- selves, because now they have a most handsome endowment and a tine building, and have been incorporated to the fullest extent by her Ma- jesty's Government. They have been placed under the superintendence of the Registrar- General. not absolutely for the purpose of cou- trolling the institution, but simply for the purpose of cousulting the Committee and meeting any dif ficulties that may arise. At the same time any- one thinking over the subject must say that the greatest prosperity which can happen to the Po Leung Kuk Society is that it may come to an honourable end by the entire cessation of : kidnapping, by the cessation of those miseries | which it gives rise to, and that the institution should become no longer a necessity; but I am very much afraid that that end can never be completely attained. Therefore I sincerely wish, and I ask you to join with me'in wishing, that this institution from this day forward may be even more carefully and more zealously man- aged than it has been in the past, that it may make most perfect and most efficient use of the means now placed at its disposal, and that through these taeans many women, many girls, may be rescued from misery and destitu- tion and restored to their families and homes. I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, heartily to drink to the prosperity of the Po Leung Kuk Society, and I ask leave to connect with the toast the name of Mr. Leung Pui Chi. I ara sure he will excuse me reading his name from a slip of paper, because it has always been an impossibility for me to remember names for any length of time. May I also ask you, in conclusion, though it is not germane to the subject of the toast, to permit me to tbank bis Excellency for his kind words just now respecting my recovery. Ladies and gentlemen," Prosperity to the l'o Leung Kuk Society." (Applanse.)
The toast was responded to by Mr. Loung Pui Chi, who said-your Excellency, Mr. Francis, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Po Loung Kuk I thank you very much for the kind manner in which you have just received the toast. The Society is pleased that its work is progressing and they will try to do their best to continue that work, and they hope it will be supported by every person in Hongkong, regard. less of nationality. (Applause).
Th proceedings then terminated.
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