Old Hong Kong-4 — Page 256

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Chief Justice) in the chair, Mr. J. Barton, Miss E.M. Bowley, Mrs. Brewin, Mrs. Seth, and Mr. L. Gibbs, the Hon. Secretary and Treasurer. Others of the original committee were Mr. Choa Lap Chee, Mr. S.T. Dunn, Mr. D.W. Craddock, and Mr. E. Osborne.

The first annual general meeting was held in the City Hall on April 12 that year, among those present being Sir F. Piggott, the President, Messrs. L. Gibbs, Choa Lap Chee, J. Barton, E. Osborne, F. Howell, A. Carter, and S.T. Dunn (Superintendent of the Botanical and Forestry Department), as well as Mrs. A. Turner, Miss Bowley, and others. In place of three retiring members of the committee, the election was proposed and confirmed of Mrs. Turner, Mrs. G.P. Jordan, and Mr. A.E. Griffin.

The revival of the Society was directly due to the interest of the Governor at the time, and in the report of the first annual meeting appears the following paragraph:

"The Society owes its origin to a proposal of His Excellency Sir Matthew Nathan that the old institution of an annual flower show should be revived."

A committee was provisionally formed in 1905 to organise the show, which was to be held, as previously, in the Botanic Gardens. This provisional committee was composed of Mr. J. Barton, chairman, Miss Bowley, Mrs. Dickson, Mr. Gibbs, Mrs. Hatton, Mrs. L.A.M. Johnston, Mrs. Seth, and Mr. Dunn as hon. secretary. In the course of making the necessary arrangements for a flower show, it was decided that it would be desirable to form a Horticultural Society which would in future take on the work of organising a show, and thus the present body had its being. A public meeting was held on December 8, 1905, when the Society was duly formed.

The flower show was held on two days, February 1 and 2, 1906, on the upper terrace of the old portion of the Botanic Gardens. The judging was undertaken by Sir F. Piggott and by Mr. W.J. Tutcher, of the Botanical and Forestry Department.

It is worthy of note that before the show was embarked upon, Sir Paul Chater, one of the mainstays of horticulture in the Colony and the introducer of many European flowers to Hongkong, had subscribed $2,000 to the guarantee fund, and the Society was able to commence its second year with a credit balance of $1,623. The original patrons were Sir Matthew Nathan, Major General Hatton, and Sir Paul Chater.

As early as 1907 the idea of publishing occasional notes was brought up and approved; the idea was to have weekly, or at least monthly, notes on gardening. Arrangements were also made for sending Home for such seeds of English flowers and vegetables as members might require. Nothing came of the "gardening notes" scheme, but Mr. Tutcher was requested to publish some of his private notes, and this resulted in the appearance of his little book "Gardening in Hongkong", which is still obtainable. The Society had agreed to pay for the cost of 250 copies of this valuable work.

As regards meeting places and so forth, it is interesting to note that one of the earliest committee meetings (on March 21, 1907) was held in the herbarium of the Botanic Gardens, and a number of other committee meetings were also held there. The annual show was for many years held in unbroken succession in the Botanic Gardens, and for a long time covered two successive days.