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of attorney to Wei Akwong. His estate was held in trust until 1919, when the family property was sold at auction.
We have mentioned Dent and Company (it failed in 1867) and Jardine, Matheson and Company as the leading firms in Hong Kong in the early years; but if we think of the financial giants today, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank takes its place beside Jardines. The Bank was organized in 1865, and as we might expect its first compradore, Lo Pak Sheung alias Lo Chung Kong, was on Tung Wah's organizing committee. He died in 1877 and his position as compradore was taken by his son Lo Hok Pung (alias Lo Sau Ko)(44). Unfortunately, the son overcommitted himself in several speculative ventures, and not seeing any legitimate way of extricating himself from his financial difficulties, absconded in 1892 with over a million dollars of the Bank's assets; at least that is the figure reported in the newspaper accounts. An indication of his penchant for unwise investments is the $30,000 he put into the organization of the _Uet Po_ newspaper in 1885. Within a year, this had been spent, and he was forced to sell out to Lo Ping Chi, who was able to operate the paper with an expenditure of only several thousand dollars for a number of years.33
In the field of shipping, the P. and O. Steamship Company played an important role in the Hong Kong economy. They established a branch here in 1845. Their compradore was Kwok Acheong# alias Kwok Kam Cheung. The newspaper notice of his death states that he "originally belonged to... the boat people's clan, but afterwards obtained admission to Tam Achoi's clan, Tam Achoi being a Punti...."34 This substantiates my previous statement that the boat people who settled on land generally wished to lose the peculiarities of their origins. Acheong was one of the first settlers of Hong Kong, having organized a provisioning system for the Army and Navy at the time of the first Sino-British War. However, he did not receive the extensive land privileges granted to Loo Aqui for his services. When the P. and O. Company disposed of their shipwright and engineering department in 1854, it was taken over by Kwok Acheong. He developed a fleet of steamships in the 1860s, which provided keen competition to the European-controlled
CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG
97
of attorney to Wei Akwong. His estate was held in trust until 1919, when the family property was sold at auction.
We have mentioned Dent and Company (it failed in 1867) and Jardine, Matheson and Company as the leading firms in Hong Kong in the early years; but if we think of the financial giants today, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank takes its place beside Jardines. The Bank was organized in 1865, and as we might expect its first compradore, Lo Pak Sheung
alias Lo Chung Kong, was on Tung Wah's organizing com- mittee. He died in 1877 and his position as compradore was taken by his son Lo Hok Pung (alias Lo Sau Ko (44). Unfortunately the son overcommitteed himself in several speculative ventures, and not seeing any legitimate way of extricating himself from his financial difficulties, absconded in 1892 with over a million dollars of the Bank's assets; at least that is the figure reported in the newspaper accounts. An indication of his penchant for unwise investments is the $30,000 he put into the organization of the Uet Po newspaper in 1885. Within a year this had been spent and he was forced to sell out to Lo Ping Chi, who was able to operate the paper with an expenditure of only several thousand dollars for a number of years.33
In the field of shipping, the P. and O. Steamship Company played an important role in the Hong Kong economy. They established a branch here in 1845. Their compradore was Kwok Acheong # alias Kwok Kam Cheung . The news- paper notice of his death states that he "originally belonged to... the boat people's clan, but afterwards obtained admission to Tam Achoi's clan, Tam Achoi being a Punti....34 This substantiates my previous statement that the boat people who settled on land generally wished to lose the peculiarities of their origins. Acheong was one of the first settlers of Hong Kong, have organized a provisioning system for the Army and Navy at the time of the first Sino-British War. However, he did not receive the extensive land privileges granted to Loo Aqui for his services. When the P. and O. Company disposed of their shipwright and egineering department in 1854, it was taken over by Kwok Acheong. He developed a fleet of steamships in the 1860s which provided keen competition to the European-controlled
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