CO129-294 - Governor Sir Blake - 1899 [10-12] — Page 519

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Enclosure 1.

The Daily Press.

HONGKONG, November 27th, 1899.

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THE TUNG WA HOSPITAL EXTENSION.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR LAYS

THE FOUNDATION STONE.

Considerable interest was aroused in the Taipingshan district on Saturday afternoon by the laying of the foundation stone of the exten. sion to the Tung Wa Hospital in Po Yan Street. His Excellency the Governor (Sir Henry Blake, G.C.M.G.) had kindly promised to per- form the ceremony. and his arrival was eagerly awaited by the residents of the locality, who crowded to their windowa in gcores, As soon as His Excellency and party appeared he was accorded a typical Chinese! greeting-gongs were beaten, Crackers were let off, and above all were heard the quaint strains of a Chinese baud. Accompanying the Governor were Lady Blake, Miss Blake, Vis- sount Sairdale (Private Secretary). Lieuten- ant Blake, A.D.C., and Captain Sanders, A.D.C. They were met by Mr. Ho Tung, who conducted them to a large mat-shed mar- quee, which had been most elaborately de- gorated with flags, plants, and banting. large gallery had also been erected for the accommodation of the general public. Those present included, in addition to many ladies, Hou. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, C.M.G., Colonial Secretary; Hou, W. Heigh Goodman, Asting Chief Justice; Sir Thomas Jackson, Colonel the O'Gorman. the Hon. F. H. May, C.M.G., Captain Superintendent of Police, Hon. E. R. Belilios, CM.G., Hou, Dr. Ho Kai, Hon. R. D. Ormsby, Hon. T. H. White- bead, Dr. Hartigan, Dr. Gibson, Dr. Bate. aon Wright, Dr. Atkinson, Mr. F. J. Bade. ley. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr. Roansevelle Wildman, U.S. Consul-General; Sr. Volpicelli, italian Consul; Mr. A. G. Roma- no, Portuguese Consul-General; Messrs. W. Whiley, C. W. Duggan, J. Plummer, W. D. Braidwood, G. C. Anderson, J. R. Michael, J. Dyer Ball, G. Piarey, jan., R. C. Wilcox, CA. Tomes, J. J. Francis, Q.C., A. Seth, F. Browne, J. Lemm, D. R. Crawford, J. J. Leiria, &o.

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Mr. Ho. Tung, who acted as chairman, pre- sented Lady Blake with a bouquet of flowers, ene being also handed to Miss Blake by Miss Ho Kom Tong, the Chairman's nice.

MR, HO TUNG ON THE HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL,

Mr. Ho TUNG said-Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, You have kindly condescended to be present here to-day to assist at a function which, it is hoped, will mark a distinct epoch in the history of the Tang Wa Hospital. The laying of the foundation stone of the proposed Dow building to meet the fast growing needs of the hospital on the other side of the read marks an esout of uo insignificant importance to those for whom the Taug Wa Hospital was primarily founded, With the completion of the building on this site will be seen the adop tion of the plan so felicitously suggested by Your Excellency for the botter accommodation

of women patients, sinoe. it is proposed to em. brace within its wails wards for the treatment of midwifery cases and an operating room for the more general handling of surgical gazes. Lest I should relegate to a later moment the expression of great indebtedness in which the Directors of the Hospital have been placed by the very liberal response accorded to their appeal for the funds of this institution, permit me now, first of all, to publicly thank Your Excellency for that "hearty desire to assist" which was no sooner promised than fulfilled.

For

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940

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For it is duë” “"to" Your” Micellenej wilt "THE ↑ Chinese community have obtained this valu- able site from the Government free of cost. Nor are they less grateful to you for opening the subscription first with your generous donation. An example wo oonspicuously set was sure to be fruitful of good results. In this the Directors have cause for much grati- fication. The community, regardless of race or cread, came forward with their contribu- tions, with a liberality truly remarkable, and within three months no less an amount than $80,000 has bean subscribed. To all those who have so generously subscribed we say in the words of the Shi-King "ou yon hence forth shall ceaseless blessings bide.' Having regard to the fact that one of the conditions of this free grant of land, which Your Excellency has been instrumental in obtaining, is that the building should be completed within 18 months from the date of the grant, the Directors feel that withont so much substantial aid from one and all it would have been practically impossible for them to have been successful in carrying ont the proposed enlargement of the hospital now so sorely needed. It would be ungracious of me were I to omit the individual names of cer-i tain gentlemen who were particularly energetic in their assistance with the suboription list. I, therefore, desire to mention the names of Messrs. Lo Chi-tin, Li Youk-chuen, Chau Pik- tsuo, Li San-hin, Ho Fook, and Ho Kom-tong in this connection. The Directors remember that when they had the honour of being pre- seated to Your Excelleucy early this year, you stated that you recognized the difficulty of securing that change which means progress and improvement among a people so tenacious of their customs as the Chinese. I think that were we to look back into the history of this institution there can be little reason to doubt that Example is better than precept." for, however deep-seated native sentiments mayght | be in favour of nascientific medical treatment, the results of skill and superior methods as practised by western nations, though slow- ly, have surely found their way into the Tang Wu, and this furnishes an excuse for giving a short sketch of its history. In 1851 a temple was erected for the reception of ancestral tablets. It soon, however, developed into a kind of native hospital to which Chinese were „taken in a moribund condition, and the subse- quent history of the Tsz, as the place was then called, is one of neglect and misery, which happily

• gave way in 1861 to the revival of a plan which had been mooted before for the establishment of a Chinese hospital. Then, as now, the matter was very warmly taken up by the leading Chinese residents, and without difficulty a sum of $30,000 was subscribed by the Chiness. Proliminary difficulties having been overcomo Earl Granville (1869) approved the expenditure towards levelling and preparing a suitable site for the hospital. And so it was the site of Taipingshan this hill of universal peace' was made a gift of the Queen to the Chinese Community." Oa the 14th February, 1872, the Hospital was opened with great pomp and ceremony, Gover- nor sir Richard Graves McDonnell, who hon- oured the proceedings by his presence, charac- terising it as an event of extreme interest not only to the Chinese commuuity but to the com. muuity generally. In the concluding portion of the dispatch to the Secretary of State send- ing an account of the ceremony, the Governor prophetically said that be looked forward with cheerfulness and hope to the future of the Hospital." It would have been matter of extreme satisfaction could this Father of this Benevolent Institution have ¿liveal to witness to-day the vast development of the good work in the iuauguration of which he took so leading a part. From its establish- ment the Tung) Wa Hospital appears to have paraned the oron tauor of its way until the year fof the first outbreak of bubonic plague in Hong- koug. It was in 1894 that the Tung Wa was brought so much into prominence and with it the alleged maladministration of the institution. So vigorous was the campaign that was waged against this hospital that for a time it occupied much of the attention of the Executive as well as of the Legislative Council. Ultimately, & Commission of Inquiry was appointed in

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1896