CO129-492 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1925 [12] - 1926 [1-5] — Page 248

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

Mr. A. Cameron and Mr. W. H. Bell. The Rev. C. B. Shann and Mr. P. Lauder.

Dr. G. H. Thomas and Mr. Keeton.

Mrs. Ring and Mrs. Faid.

Wong.

G.

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cellor took a first class in the honours school of Classical Moderations and the Boden Sanskrit Scholarship. He was W. honourably mentioned for the Hertford, Craven and Ireland Scholarships and approached very nearly us the Latin Dr. Arthur Woo and Dr. E. P. Minett, phrase had it, to the winning of the

Gaisford Mr. S. Y. Dr. D. J. Valentine and

Greek Prose prize. I dare wager that there was a time when our Chancellor was tempted to stay in Oxford and live the life of a scholar there, but Oxford's loss was Hongkong's gain. Nor has our Chancellor, since he came among us as a cadet, allowed his muse to die of departmentalism--that awful condition which a distinguished Viceroy of India, in a moment of more than usual expan- sion, diagnosed as resulting not so much from moral delinquency'

from "mental hiatus,"

Mr. A. H. Fenwick and Mr. D. W. Morley.

Dr. Lai Hsi Chi and Mr. Au Tai Tin. Dr. J. Fenton and Mr. A. S. Hett. Mr. A. L. B. Hay and Mr. A. Franklin.

Mr. A. Morris and Mr. H. G. Hughes. Dr. D. K. Pillai.

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Dr. S. W. Phoon and Dr. R. J. Wong. Dr. W. L. Paterson and Mr. W. M. Gittins.

Dr. G. W. Pope and Mr. Un Po. Mr. Chan Chak Lam and Mr. Yue Shui Chiu.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S ADDRESS.

The VICE-CHANCELLOR, addressing the assembly, said:-

AN ORNAMENT TO THE UNIVERSITY.

Sir Cecil Clementi is now a Chinese scholar of substantial repute and, besides writing the University anthem in Latin verse he has published "Cantonese Love Songs" (applause) and the "Pervigi- Tum Fencris." His Excellency once travelled from Kashgar to Kowloon and thereafter published a summary of the geographical observations recorded during the journey. He has also published a book on the Chinese in British Guiana.

Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentle- men,-Let me first explain why at the opening of these rites a departure was made from the usual ceremonial. Why we put strange garb upon our Chancellor and then hurried him away to take it off again and why the Vice-Chancellor emerg- To return from this digression, when ing from the academic seclusion in which the offer came to him in 1916, our Chan- it is his desire always to live performed cellor was then administering the Govern- He wrote for a few crowded minutes of his in- ment of British Guiana. glorious life exalted functions which ordi- accepting and expressing the hope that narily appertain to an office which belongs he would some day come back to Hong- by right to the highest in the land. Our kong to receive the honour at the Univer- To Chancellor is a man of great mental and sity's hands. That day has come. bodily activity; a man, moreover, of many us in the University, in spite of the dark- parts, albeit essentially self-contained, ness which enfolds us, it is the dawn of teres atque rotundus, yet even he shrank a brighter era. We welcome you, Your. from the acrobatic feat of conferring a Excellency, not only as our Chancellor degree upon himself. That His Excel- but as one of our graduates whose scholar-. lency was ever faced with the dreadful ship is an ornament to the University and prospect of so daring a performance came whose kindly sympathy and generous about in this wise. In 1916 the Univer-understanding will be to us who work sity of Hongkong decided to confer an here, an abiding consolation and encour-, honorary degree on Mr. Cecil Clementi, agement. (Applause.) as he then was. Mr. Clementi had done great service to the University in the critical days of its infancy and he him- self is and was a distinguished scholar. (Applause.)

Educated at St. Paul's School, London, and passing in due course to Oxford as a Demy of Magdalen College, our Chan-

Sir Reginald Edward Stubbs and I were schooled under the same ferule and in those days the scriptural maxim about the calamitous results of sparing the rod were apt to be interpreted more literally than they are now. "Is it true," agitated mother wrote in those brutal days, that capital punishment is still

an

"Dear madam,*

in vogue at Tonbridge ?" Dr. Wood, the Headmaster replied, regret to say that capital punishment is not in vogue at Tonbridge. The punish

(Laughter.) ment is purely corporal."

SIR R. E. STUBBS. Our late Governor won every scholar ship and prize which Radley could offer and passed on to Oxford as an Exhibi- He tioner of Corpus Christi College. won a first class in the honours school of Classical Moderations and a first class in the final school of Literae Humaniores. He went into the Colonial Office in 1900 and rose rapidly. In 1913 he went to Ceylon as Colonial Secretary and in 1919 he came here as Governor. Of Sir Ed- ward Stubbs' career as Governor of Hong- kong I need not speak, but as one who knew him from his boyhood I cannot refrain from saying, that the amazing quickness and tenacity of his intellectual grasp which was my envy and despair while we were at school together, con- tinued to excite my wonder and admira- tion during the 20 months that I worked with him as Chancellor of this University. In the hour of its direst need Sir Edward Stubbs saved this University; and in con- ferring on him the doctorate of the University, we are enrolling in our records not merely a faithful Chancellor and a distinguished Governor but a great in tellect. (Applause.) I understand that Sir Edward Stubbs' published works do not extend beyond the first volume of Lucas Historical Geography which he edited. But I have heard that he re- corded from time to time in the files of the Hongkong Government, utterances worthy of remembrance, if impossible of publication. (Laughter.)

MR. R. H. KOTEWALL.

Mr. Robert Hormus Kotewall was educ- ated at Queen's College and the Diocesan Boys' School, Hongkong. He entered Gov- ernment Service in 1896 after winning the first place in a competitive examination. As a civil servant he was given posts which were always before and have ever since been held by Britishers, viz :-Chief Clerk in the Colonial Secretary's Office. First Clerk in the Magistracy (a post usually held by men of legal training) and officiating Justice of the Peace. Mr. Kotewall's exploits in the soul-destroying pursuit of budget preparation were such as to attract the attention of H.M.'s

3

Mr.

Secretary of State for the Colonies. Kotewall has always taken a great in- terest in education, especially vernacular education. He is a member of the Court and Council of the University, a Univer- sity honorary examiner in Chinese, presi- dent of the Iniversity Football Club and Patron of a Roving Troop of Boy Scouts. He translated His Excellency's Latin University Anthem into Chinese verses of such erudition that it is said that no one but His Excellency can under- stand them. (Laughter.)

A

C

A lover of books, Mr. Kotewall has a fine library of Chinese and English authors. He has written on Forestry

Government " and is the author of and two Chinese plays, one of which was per- formed on the occasion of the recent visit of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. Now a director of companies and a harassed man of business (most business men ap- pear to be harassed now-a-days; I can't think why. If they have nothing to do, why not do it gracefully ?), Mr. Kote- wall somehow finds time not only to serve the public with a devotion which is liter- ally amazing, but also to attend to the troubles of his friends. And I doubt whether there is any one in the Colony who has more friends than Mr. Kotewall. (Applause.) To all of us in the Univer sity, whether teachers or students, Mr. Kotewall has ever been a friend, who has never failed us in the hours of our re- spective needs And all this has been done, and done without ostentation, in the midst of domestic anxieties before which the most public-spirited of men In might reasonably have succumbed. welcoming Mr. Kotewall into the goodly fellowship of honorary graduates, I can- not refrain from quoting what Dr. John- son wrote of his friend, Henry Thrale, the brewer :---

#

ners,

Simple, open, and uniform in his man-

His conduct was without either art er

affectation.

In the senate steadily attentive to the

interests of his king and country. He looked down with contempt on the

clamours of the multitude: Though engaged in very

business,

extensive

He found some time to apply to polite

literature:

And was ever ready to assist his friends Labouring under any dificulties,

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