252
CARL SMITH
He had received a mandarin's degree from the Chinese Government. His education was limited to the years in Dr. Legge's school. He was not a scholar, but a promoter and financier. He sometimes expressed himself too bluntly on public occasions and was quick to engage in controversy.
The hostile attitude of Ho A-mei toward Dr. Ho Kai may not have rested entirely upon his ambition to be a Legislative Councillor. It possibly might go back to the days when they met as boys in the home of the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong, Ho Kai as a son of the family, A-mei as the poor relative. Whatever the foundation for A-mei's critical attitude towards the doctor, the Chinese deputation of 1883 provided the opportunity for him to express it.
The controversy within the Chinese community created by Dr. Ho Kai's remarks not only revealed that the Chinese were torn by parties and factions, jealousies and rivalries, but that Dr. Ho Kai, while eminently suitable from the foreign standpoint, might not be altogether acceptable to the Chinese as their representative and hence frustrate the purpose of having a Chinese on the council.
This possibility was acknowledged by the English press. In commenting on Dr. Ho Kai's remarks to the Acting Governor, an editor said: “Granted that the learned barrister had been a most successful student, and admitting that he is a person of great attainment and doubtless of some ability, it is only fair to remember that he is a young man who can have but a very imperfect knowledge, whether of his countrymen or of the political and social exigencies of Hongkong."
It concluded furthermore that the views he expressed “are merely the opinions of himself and perhaps a few of his immediate friends and supporters, but do not represent in any way the voice of Chinese public opinion in Hongkong."
Perhaps it was unfortunate that Dr. Ho Kai assumed the responsibility of speaking for the Chinese before he had become thoroughly reacquainted after his long absence with the Chinese community in Hongkong. In terms of intimate knowledge of Chi-
252
CARL SMITH
He had received a mandarin's degree from the Chinese Gov- ernment. His education was limited to the years in Dr. Legge's school. He was not a scholar, but a promoter and financier. He sometimes expressed himself too bluntly on public occasions and was quick to engage in controversy.
The hostile attitude of Ho A-mei toward Dr. Ho Kai may not have rested entirely upon his ambition to be a Legislative Council- lor. It possibly might go back to the days when they met as boys in the home of the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong, Ho Kai as a son of the family, A-mei as the poor relative. Whatever the foundation for A-mei's critical attitude towards the doctor, the Chinese deputation of 1883 provided the opportunity for him to express it.
The controversy within the Chinese community created by Dr. Ho Kai's remarks not only revealed that the Chinese were torn by parties and factions, jealousies and rivalries, but that Dr. Ho Kai, while eminently suitable from the foreign standpoint, might not be altogether acceptable to the Chinese as their representative and hence frustrate the purpose of having a Chinese on the coun- cil.
This possibility was acknowledged by the English press. In commenting on Dr. Ho Kai's remarks to the Acting Governor, an editor said: “Granted that the learned barrister had been a most successful student, and admitting that he is a person of great at- tainment and doubtless of some ability, it is only fair to remember that he is a young man who can have but a very imperfect know- ledge, whether of his countrymen or of the political and social exigencies of Hongkong."
It concluded furthermore that the views he expressed “are merely the opinions of himself and perhaps a few of his immediate friends and supporters, but do not represent in any way the voice of Chinese public opinion in Hongkong."
Perhaps it was unfortunate that Dr. Ho Kai assumed the re- sponsibility of speaking for the Chinese before he had become thoroughly reacquainted after his long absence with the Chinese community in Hongkong. In terms of intimate knowledge of Chi-
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