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Extract from the "Hongkong Daily Press" of 18th. March, 1912.
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SIR FREDERICK LUGARD'S FAREWELL.
TOUCHING SCENES.
On Saturday, Sir Frederick and Lady Lugard bade farewell to Hongkong, and the regret felt by the community as well as by Their Excellencies in having to say good-bye" was deep and poignant, cul- minating in scenes which were most touch- ing and most impressive. The regard and affection in which the occupants of Government House have been held by the entire Colony is perhaps unprecedented in the history of Hongkong, and while their departure was viewed with sadness it was also tinged with sympathy-- sympathy for Lady Lugard in the long and trying illness which has afflicted her here, and sympathy for her husband, whose domestic grief was not allowed to interfere with the discharge of the many duties which His Excellency saw in his high office. Thus it was that the depar- ture of Their Excellencies on Saturday had a solemn aspect; it was more impres- sive than many where a
24 good send-off" was given. The occasion was too sad even for the cheers which were called for in the City Hall. Most throats felt too husky to allow of that volume and ring which should characterise such compliments. Everybody was sorry, and none more so than Sir Frederick and Lady Lugard.
races.
PRESENTATION OF THE ADDRESS.
The regret of the Colony at the depar ture of H.E. the Governor and Lady Lugard and its appreciation of their beneficent stay here was expressed in the Address presented to Their Excellencies on Saturday morning.
The ceremony took place in the City Hall, where attend- ed most of the leading residents of all The route from Government House to the Hall was lined by troops drawn from the K.O.Y.L.I. and the R.G.A., and on the arrival of the gubernatorial party at the Hall they were met by Sir Paul Chater, C.M, G., Sir Kai Ho Kai, C.M.G., Hon. Mr. Rees Davies, K.C., the Hon. Mr. E. A. Hewett, C.M.G., the Hon. Mr. H. E. Pollock, K.C., the Hon. Mr. E. Osborne, the Hon. Mr. Wei Yuk, C.M.G., and Messrs. C. Montague Ede, N. J. Stabb, W. Dixon, T. F. Hough, G. H. Medhurst, J. W. C. Bonnar, Murray Stewart, E. Shellim, and others including many ladies.
Lady Lugard, whose presence at the City Hall was hardly expected in view of her illness, was carried upstairs in a chair, and when she was assisted out of it to take her seat in the chair alongside her
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husband on the red carpetted dias the audience was deeply affected by the tough-
ing scene. Her Ladyship, however, APR 12)
wont, smiled on the gathering, and so far as appearances went gave little indication of her suffering. There was a good colour in her cheeks, but this was probably the flush of excitement. She was fashionably attired in a cream satin costume with black revers and wore a black picture hat with large upstanding ostrich feather. She carried a bouquet of red roses. When the gathering was seated,
Sir PAUL CHATER, addressing His Excel- lency, said:-We have asked you to come here to-day, Sir, to present to you on your departure from the Colony which you have served so eminently an address of fare- well from the community. That the duty of reading that address has fallen upon me is an honour of which I am vastly proud. With your permission, Sir, I shall now read the address.
To His Excellency SIR FREDERICK JOHN DEALTRY LUGARD, Knight Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George, Companion of the Bath, Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. Your Excellency:
His Most Gracious Majesty the King having summoned you to serve as His Representative in another part of the Em- pire, we, residents in the Crown Colony of Hongkong, desire, on this the occasion of your departure, to testify to our ap- preciation of the advantages which we have derived from your tenure of the high office of Governor and Commander-in- Chief.
That high office you assumed nearly five years ago, and, ever since, we have been learning to realise more and more your merits as an administrator. The fame of these was world-wide before you came among us, but it rested upon success achieved in dealing with administrative probleme different from those arising bere. The problems which arise here demand from the Head of the Administra- tion not only firmness; not only a high sense of duty; but also broad sympathy with, and wise consideration for, the thoughts, the feelings, the customs and the faiths of our heterogeneous popula- tion.
In dealing with our administrative prob- lems you have displayed that sympathetic insight which is the secret of their effec- tive solution. Especially was sympathetic insight needed to solve the problems pre- sented to you on arrival, arising out of the state of the law relating to the pre- servation of the public health. The need for revision had been already acknowledg ed. and the work begun, but upon rou fell the task of completing it, and of in- sniring confidence that all unnecessary rigour in carrying out necessary reform would be systematically avoided. The as- qurances given by your Excellency in the Legislative Council, together with the ex- ample of your earnest endeavours to secure efficiency without inflicting hard- ship. earned the gratitude of the com- munity in general, and of the Chinese ser- tion of the community in particular. (Ap- plause.)
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