[ { "id": 445668, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913", "page_number": 139, "title": "CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913", "content_text": "138\n\nof claim and forwarded it, together with a letter, to the Hongkong Colonial Secretary.\n\nThe reply to this not being satisfactory under the circumstances, and application to the Secretary of the Guild being impossible, I consulted Mr. Sandeman, Honorary Agent in Hongkong, and it was considered advisable to see Messrs. Wilkinson and Grist in the matter.\n\nMr. Reader Harris, of that firm, was of opinion that the case was worth further correspondence through them with the Hongkong Government. This has followed, with but little satisfactory result. The whole correspondence over the matter will, I believe, be forwarded to you by Messrs. Wilkinson and Grist.\n\nIt is somewhat difficult to say what steps might be taken to prevent these occasional piratical outbreaks. We had arms and ammunition on board the \"Tai On\", but of what use was it in the hands of three men? I had a loaded revolver over the head of my bunk, and had I thought of it I should have taken it on deck with me. What would have been the result? I might have spotted one or two of the pirates, but with their numbers they would certainly have got me, and probably have made a finish of all the Europeans.\n\nI will forward with this report a chart of the mouths of the Canton River. The piracy occurred somewhere about south of Lintin Island, two or three miles only from the line dividing British from Chinese waters. I don't credit the pirates with having the knowledge as to whether they were in British or Chinese waters at the time of their breaking out, and I maintain that it could have been carried out with equal ease and safety ten miles further east, well into British territorial waters.\n\nYou will notice from the chart that the first half of the journey, viz. from Hongkong to Wong Mun (a Chinese Customs Station) is in comparatively open water, and during that part of the voyage we had always felt every security. Needless to say, that confidence is gone now. I would remark that it is a very rare thing to see a war vessel of any nationality during the first half of the voyage.\n\nOn the second half of the trip, from Wong Mun to Kong Mun, through narrow waters, we have for some months", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-406 - Public Offices - 1913.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493083, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-476 - Acting Governor Claud Severn & Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [8-12]", "page_number": 436, "title": "CO129-476 - Acting Governor Claud Severn & Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [8-12]", "content_text": "H.B.M. Office of Works,\n\nShanghai, December 16th, 1922.\n\nSir,\n\nWith reference to your letter of November 17th, I have the honour to inform you that I have concluded arrangements with the Chinese Post Office whereby the ground floor accommodation of the former British Post Office is to be leased to them for 12 months as from 1st January, 1923, with option to renew for such period as may be desired by the Chinese Post Office at the expiration of the term contracted for.\n\nI have also made a new lease for 12 months with Messrs. White-Cooper, Master, and Reader Harris for the occupation by them of the first floor accommodation at an increased rental of Taels 200.00 per month. The rent to be paid by the Chinese Post Office, in respect of buildings only, has been fixed at Taels 8,325.00 per annum.\n\nI take this opportunity to transmit for your information, copy of a memorandum by H.M. Crown Advocate advising in regard to the Title in the Site and Property in the buildings.\n\nYou will note that in strict law \"any buildings or structure\" should on the determination of the lease revert to the lessor, a point which was apparently overlooked by the parties concerned when the Commissioners of His Majesty's Works and Public Buildings acquiesced in the valuation of the buildings in 1910.\n\nThe right of reversion having been waived,\n\nI have the honour to enquire whether the Hongkong Government will agree to the surrender as from January 1st, 1923, of\n\nThe Colonial Secretary,\n\nHongkong.\n\nEnclosure\n\n3.\n\nNOTES.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-476 - Acting Governor Claud Severn & Governor Sir Stubbs - 1922 [8-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 517804, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-514-2 Mui Tsai system- suggested regulations and possible abolition 9-1-1929 - 16-5-1929", "page_number": 205, "title": "CO129-514-2 Mui Tsai system- suggested regulations and possible abolition 9-1-1929 - 16-5-1929", "content_text": "208 \n\nThe following Leader appeared in \"THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN\" \nthe same day as the preceding letter.\n\n## A PLEDGE UNHONOURED\n\nSeven years ago Mr. Churchill, then Secretary for the Colonies, gave an assurance in Parliament that the Chinese system of child-slavery known as Mui Tsai, which had long been a dishonourable scar upon British rule in the Far East, would within a year be abolished in the Crown colony of Hong Kong. To-day, according to the evidence quoted in the letter which we print from Mr. J. H. Harris, the evil, so far from being ended, has actually spread. The Anti-Mui Tsai Society in Hong Kong, at a recent meeting, put the number of children now held in bondage at not less than ten thousand, and quoted from a case in the courts the sum of 150 dollars as the current price paid for a child. It would appear, therefore, that the Ordinance of 1922 is a dead letter, that the assurance which was given in response to agitation in this country seven years ago has never been honoured, and that we are in the invidious position of having put our signature to the League of Nations Slavery Convention while an unmistakable breach of it occurs unchecked under our rule. It is fifty years since Mui Tsai was first pronounced by the Chief Justice of Hong Kong to be repugnant to British law, though nothing was then done to end it. It is an old-established system in China by which girl children, usually between the ages of four and fourteen, are sold through agents either for domestic service or openly for purposes of prostitution. The form of contract between parent and purchaser includes such ominous clauses as \"to be disposed of as the payer thinks fit,\" and \"no inquiry as to whereabouts or in the event of death is permissible.\" Attempts to represent Mui Tsai as a harmless form of adoption and the production of evidence that in some cases the child that is bought is kindly treated do not conceal the fact that the system is a form of bondage that disposes of helpless human beings like animals and condemns them to domestic slavery if not to physical and moral ruin. Mr. Churchill spoke in 1922 of \"the difficulty of altering established custom at a moment's notice.\" But for the continuance of the system seven years later there can be no shadow of excuse, and we trust the Colonial Office will be quick to take the action that the facts now revealed demand.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-514-2 Mui Tsai system- suggested regulations and possible abolition 9-1-1929 - 16-5-1929.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 532795, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-538-1 Hong Kong University 31-12-1931 - 6-8-1932", "page_number": 35, "title": "CO129-538-1 Hong Kong University 31-12-1931 - 6-8-1932", "content_text": "51\n\nThe Head of the Department wishes to acknowledge here the generosity of an American Entomologist, stationed in the Philippine Islands and Honolulu, who has defrayed all the costs of a full-time beetle-collector in this Colony.\n\nGIFTS. The Head of the Department desires to acknowledge gifts of literature received from a number of scientific institutions. In particular from the California Academy of Sciences, the Entomological Society of the Hawaiian Islands, and the University of Michigan.\n\nSeeds and Plants have been given to the Department by the Director of Forestry, Manila, P.I.; the Director of the Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, Java; the Director of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, S.S.; Dr. A. Kerr, Bangkok, Siam; the Professor of Agriculture, Lingnam University, Canton, China; and by others. Nearly 50 packets of seeds of plants native to New Zealand have recently been presented.\n\nIn return, a few plants and seeds have been sent to Buitenzorg, Singapore, Honolulu, etc. Several of the plants introduced last year from Manila and Singapore have been successful, and plants or seeds have been distributed to friends in the Colony for more extended trials.\n\nDr. Herklots also desires to thank Captain Petroff for his interest and help in obtaining rare marine fauna from Aberdeen and other localities, also Major F. Harris, R.A.M.C., and Major R. A. Anderson, R.A.M.C., for snakes obtained from the military camps. The department has distributed a number of named venomous and non-venomous snakes to St. Stephens' College, Stanley, and elsewhere.\n\nTRAVEL. The Head of the Department visited Lingnam University, Canton, in February as the guest of the Professor of Agriculture. He gave a lecture to the Biological staff and senior students.\n\nIn June, he visited Shanghai, Nanking, and Pekin; in the last two cities, he visited 7 Universities and Institutions where Biology is taught and studied, and met a number of the leading Chinese biologists.\n\nIn July, the Head of the Department attended the 2nd Chinese Marine Biology Summer School at Amoy University.\n\n34\n\nHere at Amoy, with the aid of his two Chinese collectors from Hong Kong, he carried out a Bryological survey of the island. The mosses have been named by Mr. H. N. Dixon, England's leading authority on the group, and have proved of interest in several respects. The Reader in Biology wishes to acknowledge here the receipt of a grant covering passages to and from Amoy voted to him by the Marine Biological Association of China. Amoy contact was established with Chinese biologists from the leading Universities in the country.\n\nIn August, the Head of the Department was the guest of the Director of Forestry at Manila and at the Forestry School, Los Banos, P.I. He gave a short course of 4 lectures to all the forestry students (about 100) and one lecture to the staff and senior agricultural students. In the forest, a collection of Bryophyta was made, and the material sent to England for determination; also, a number of ferns were collected at the request of the Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, S.S., and sent to him. Dr. Herklots wishes to acknowledge here the courtesies and kindnesses shown to him by American and Filipino members of the Forestry and Agricultural Schools of the University of the Philippines.\n\nVISITORS. The Department has been honoured by the visit of several distinguished biologists during 1931.\n\nMr. W. Birtwistle, in charge of the Fisheries Department S.S. and F.M.S. (who very kindly gave a lecture to the 1st Year students). Professor A. Herre of Stanford University Cal. U.S.A., (one of the senior American Ichthyologists). Professor L. R. Jones of the University of Wisconsin. Dr. H. L. Lyon in Charge Department of Forestry H.S.P.A., Honolulu. Professor R. L. Pendleton of Los Banos (seconded to take charge of the Soil Survey of China); and several Chinese and foreign biologists from China and Japan.\n\nPUBLICATIONS. The second Volume of the \"Hong Kong Naturalist,\" edited by Dr. Herklots and Major H. P. W. Hutson, D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C., R.E., has been published. This consists of 324 pages, including nearly 200 illustrations, of which 9 are in colour. The first number of \"Occasional Notes\" of the Hong Kong Horticultural Society, edited by Dr. Herklots, was published in February.\n\n35\n\n52", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-538-1 Hong Kong University 31-12-1931 - 6-8-1932.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 579417, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-592-4 Reports on current situation- Police 14-11-1945 - 1-7-1946", "page_number": 93, "title": "CO129-592-4 Reports on current situation- Police 14-11-1945 - 1-7-1946", "content_text": "Appendix \"\"\n\nOFFICER MAKING RECOMMENDATION.\n\nVIII.\n\nMr. Chester-Woods, S.P.\n\nAdjutant Police Reserve & O.I.C. Police Food Control.\n\nOFFICERS RECOMMENDED.\n\n7\n\nK.P.M.\n\n(a) Mr. D. Loie.\n\nEXTRACT FROM RECOMMENDING OFFICER'S REPORT, AND DIARY REFERENCES.\n\n\"I would like to make special mention of the excellent manner in which Mr. D. Loie, A.S.P., Chinese Company, later organising Police Reserve, carried out his duties as Officer in Charge of the Chinese Company. He was absolutely tireless in his endeavours to keep his Unit (1,500 strong) working hard. Visiting his men at all times throughout the day and night throughout hostilities proving his ability as a good worthy leader of men,\"\n\n\"I agree with Chief Inspector Smith's recommendation made in Paragraph 8.\"\n\nVIII.\n\nChief Inspector Smith, attached to Police Headquarters.\n\nIX.\n\nInspector MacWalter, Divisional Inspector, South.\n\n(a) Chinese Sub-Inspector Fong Yik Fai.\n\nDoes not merit special distinction.\n\n(a) I.S. A154 Harris & Indians at Green Island Vital Post. Dealt with ammunition.\n\n(b) L.S. A184 Fyffe.\n\nDoes not merit special.\n\nInspector Saunders Divisional Inspector South.\n\nShamshuipo.\n\ndistruction\n\nL.S. A175 Jack.\n\nChinese seal. Inspector?", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-592-4 Reports on current situation- Police 14-11-1945 - 1-7-1946.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 } ]