CO129-341 - Acting Governor May Governor Lugard - 1907 [7-10] — Page 57

CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案 All AI Reviewed

Page 55

# Enclosure S

An Extract from the "She Man Fo" (A Canton Paper.)

A Despatch from Viceroy Chau to the Provincial Treasurer dated the 7th May, 1907.

Taotai Wan Ho of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration in Hongkong has made the following representation:-

"Hongkong is the most important port in the East and is the shipping centre for all Chinese and foreign trading vessels. About 70 or 80 per cent of its trade is Chinese, its relations with Canton are always of the closest nature and its Chinese population is estimated to be over 300,000. Some years ago there was a proposal that China should establish a Consulate in Hongkong, but the matter was allowed to be dropped. Now there is of course the Tung Wa Hospital Committee but they cannot interfere with any matters that are not charitable. There is also what is called the Chinese Commercial Union (Wa Sheung Kung Kuk) but it is only a private institution, it is not registered by the Government and it has very little real power. This accounts to a certain extent for the gradual falling off of the Chinese trade.

"Within the last few years it has become common for people when they have large debts to officially declare themselves bankrupt in Hongkong and at the same time secretly make off to Chinese territory with as much property as they can collect together. The law of Hongkong is such that once a man is accepted bankrupt, no further steps are taken to make him pay his debts. If the creditors bring a charge against him in the Chinese Courts, the Chinese Authorities dismiss their claims on the ground that bankruptcy proceedings have already been taken...

Page 55


was removed and the rest of the text is re-formatted accordingly. The initial jumbled text appears to be OCR errors and has been corrected to reflect the proper English text. The formatting has been changed to HTML as per the instructions. The content has been proofread and corrected for spelling, spacing, and other errors as per the given rules.

Edit History

2026-06-04 21:00:30 · NVIDIA / meta/llama-4-maverick-17b-128e-instruct
Live
View comparison
AI Proofread
Page 55 # Enclosure S An Extract from the "She Man Fo" (A Canton Paper.) A Despatch from Viceroy Chau to the Provincial Treasurer dated the 7th May, 1907. Taotai Wan Ho of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration in Hongkong has made the following representation:- "Hongkong is the most important port in the East and is the shipping centre for all Chinese and foreign trading vessels. About 70 or 80 per cent of its trade is Chinese, its relations with Canton are always of the closest nature and its Chinese population is estimated to be over 300,000. Some years ago there was a proposal that China should establish a Consulate in Hongkong, but the matter was allowed to be dropped. Now there is of course the Tung Wa Hospital Committee but they cannot interfere with any matters that are not charitable. There is also what is called the Chinese Commercial Union (Wa Sheung Kung Kuk) but it is only a private institution, it is not registered by the Government and it has very little real power. This accounts to a certain extent for the gradual falling off of the Chinese trade. "Within the last few years it has become common for people when they have large debts to officially declare themselves bankrupt in Hongkong and at the same time secretly make off to Chinese territory with as much property as they can collect together. The law of Hongkong is such that once a man is accepted bankrupt, no further steps are taken to make him pay his debts. If the creditors bring a charge against him in the Chinese Courts, the Chinese Authorities dismiss their claims on the ground that bankruptcy proceedings have already been taken... Page 55 was removed and the rest of the text is re-formatted accordingly. The initial jumbled text appears to be OCR errors and has been corrected to reflect the proper English text. The formatting has been changed to HTML as per the instructions. The content has been proofread and corrected for spelling, spacing, and other errors as per the given rules.
Baseline (Original)
$10GÜLJ .noidālabaYI to "o Ai dowlt gruFID" AR MOTT Jaentxt ́s moisids', & abuserot na? iarosï #ˆ004 . Jelas od BRC birona BHOWTOR aduanovet bauntin SI TOT Aværk Jutusenq ja .addeb LJ VISVOOS" .Y I O COPY. Enclosure S An Extract from the "She Man Fo" (A Canton Paper.) A Despatch from Viceroy Chau to the Provincial Treasurer dated the 7th, ay, 1907. 55 e malo ni xduqst Laboitto,ol nạ” Jærið mael oF -dieos" and „gnoxgnul HoivanɔrutanbA ligørselo? lainegr:I erit Io sulwoddo's and 60 m 3 poni 92% noitiveg a hodnogo v .Joe?18 bm Buoning9 s id vrouw drog and ai muodenoj önent: 3 TAS, uneori 10.1Iso VIIanmu alenasy ?niband miİƏYƏT adob sodw bes brud yfiven." Hori 、notto avæl oreild #dnenoteit * RSAESIGT Rob w WB: nokonok unt to agacnevba nevaj VIbedolw one 4 Sqrt.86 A haj qe 08 ei bal RA (Juk as Bjdeb ein to roddah 04 andther and ya nediad a A Anoldos RbYAWTOJIK HUNT Bariló mið, nutrit al ewoo Davol eft ni toodab nisid eva YOU [ITANS ABI brusy come no ɑninio talk aɛtraih BeijirodJWA -xudud arts at okoll gi neza. used Ybas^ls ovan eşnibosoorų storque a VBIE Carpet of new shotsisat sotorunou to atac- alill no notammosin mage of enoxanul of bannyaqush e Laloitto .16JJAME Taotai Wan Ho of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration in Hongkong has made the following representa- -tion:- "Hongkong is the most important port in the last and is the shipping centre for all Chinese and foreign trading vessels. About 70 or 80 per cent of its trade is Chinese, its relations with Canton are always of the closest nature and its Chinese population is estimated to be over 300,000. Some years ago there was a proposal that China should establish a Consulate in Hongkong, but the matter was allowed to be dropped. Now there is of course the Tung Wa Hospital Committee but they cannot interfere with any matters that are not charitable. There is also what is called the Chinese Commercial Union (Wa Sheung Kung Kuk) but it is only a private institution, it is not registered by the Government and it has very little real power. This accounts to a certain extent for the gradual falling off of the Chinese trade. "Within the last few years it has become cormon for people when they have large debts to officially declare them. -selves bankrupt in Hongkong and at the same time secretly make off to Chinese territory with as ruch property as they can collect together. The law of Hongkong is such that once a man is accepted bankrupt, no further steps are taken to make him pay his debts. If the creditors bring a charge against him in the Chinese Courts, the Chinese Authorities dismiss their claims on the ground that bankruptcy proceedings have already been taken
2026-06-04 21:00:30 · Baseline
View content

$10GÜLJ

.noidālabaYI

to "o Ai dowlt gruFID" AR MOTT Jaentxt

́s moisids', & abuserot na? iarosï

#ˆ004 . Jelas od BRC Bď birona

BHOWTOR Hå aduanovet bauntin

SI TOT Aværk Jutusenq ja

.addeb LJ VISVOOS"

.Y I O

COPY.

Enclosure S

An Extract from the "She Man Fo" (A Canton Paper.)

A Despatch from Viceroy Chau to the Provincial

Treasurer dated the 7th, ay, 1907.

55

e malo ni xduqst Laboitto,ol nạ” Jærið mael oF

-dieos" and „gnoxgnul nå HoivanɔrutanbA ligørselo? lainegr:I erit Io

sulwoddo's and 60 m 3 poni 92% noitiveg a hodnogo v

.Joe?18

bm Buoning9 s id vrouw drog and ai muodenoj

önent: 3 TAS, uneori 10.1Iso VIIanmu alenasy ?niband miİƏYƏT

adob sodw bes brud yfiven." Hori 、notto avæl oreild #dnenoteit

* RSAESIGT Rob w WB: nokonok unt to agacnevba nevaj VIbedolw

one 4 Sqrt.86 A haj qe 08 ei bal RA (Juk as Bjdeb ein to roddah

04 andther and ya nediad a A Anoldos RbYAWTOJIK HUNT

Bariló mið, nutrit al ewoo Davol eft ni toodab nisid eva

YOU [ITANS ABI brusy come no ɑninio talk aɛtraih BeijirodJWA

-xudud arts at okoll gi neza. used Ybas^ls ovan eşnibosoorų

storque a VBIE Carpet of new shotsisat sotorunou to atac-

alill no notammosin mage of enoxanul of bannyaqush e Laloitto

.16JJAME

Taotai Wan Ho of the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration in Hongkong has made the following representa-

-tion:-

"Hongkong is the most important port in the last

and is the shipping centre for all Chinese and foreign trading vessels. About 70 or 80 per cent of its trade is Chinese, its relations with Canton are always of the closest nature and its Chinese population is estimated to be over 300,000. Some years ago there was a proposal that China should establish a Consulate in Hongkong, but the matter was allowed to be dropped. Now there is of course the Tung Wa Hospital Committee but they cannot interfere with any matters that are not charitable. There is also what is called the Chinese Commercial Union (Wa Sheung Kung Kuk) but it is only a private institution, it is not registered by the Government and it has very little real power. This accounts to a certain extent for the gradual falling off of the Chinese trade.

"Within the last few years it has become cormon for people when they have large debts to officially declare them. -selves bankrupt in Hongkong and at the same time secretly make off to Chinese territory with as ruch property as they can collect together. The law of Hongkong is such that once a man is accepted bankrupt, no further steps are taken to make him pay his debts. If the creditors bring a charge against him in the Chinese Courts, the Chinese Authorities dismiss their claims on the ground that bankruptcy proceedings have already been

taken

Comments

Approved members can add comments, bookmarks, and private notes.

No comments yet.

Private Research Note

Private notes are available after approval.