[ { "id": 205951, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1970", "page_number": 31, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "26\n\nSTEPHEN UHALLEY, JR.\n\nBy this time, reads Elgin's record, \"the other vessels of the squadron were within range of the nearest forts, which opened upon them with all the vigor with which they were capable.” The English ships then \"steamed slowly by returning with considerable effect the fire directed against them.”6\n\nOf course, this account may explain more than was intended by Elgin. If the other vessels were so quickly in position to be able to return fire, then the Taiping response to this approach by the British vessels is understandable, for they apparently thought they were being attacked in force. The formation must have appeared provocative to the Taipings. The white flag, of course, had no significance for them, except as the ensign of one of the Manchu banners. Not mentioned in the Elgin account is the fact that a large Imperialist fleet lay in the immediate vicinity.7 In fact, the river at this particular place was completely in the hands of the Imperialist fleet, so that the Taipings were prepared for trouble only from that direction. Since no effort had been made by the British to communicate with the Taipings earlier, and since it had been so long (four and a half years) since British naval vessels had paid a call at Nanking, the confusion among Taiping gunners was understandable. In order to emphasize the lesson, however, the British squadron anchored for the night a short distance away, and before proceeding on their upriver course the following morning, they redescended the stream to Nanking and again bombarded the forts for about an hour and a half. The Taipings “hardly ventured a reply,” or as one of the participating Englishmen commented, \"they seemed determined not to show us any sport.\" Given this lack of response from the Taipings, Captain Barker, the chief naval officer, appears to have exceeded his authority. Elgin had given him a carte blanche on the course to be pursued, which was to \"knock the forts about the ears of the Taepings,\" but this was to be contingent upon their showing \"any more stomach for fighting.\" It seems that another consideration intervened. The British found an opportunity for, as the record reads: \"leaving our mark, and exercising our men at the best of targets for it so happened that quarterly gunnery-returns would be soon required\" so that \"we gave our men a short practice at one or two of the forts.\" Incidentally, this report testified to the advantage taken of the British assault by the Imperialists who took the occasion to press an offensive of their own.10", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205977, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1970", "page_number": 57, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "52 \n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE \n\n12 Malcolm Struan Tonnochy (1840-1882). Educated at Blackheath Proprietary School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Hong Kong Civil Service 1862; died in office while Superintendent of Victoria Gaol. Obituaries of Tonnochy are to be found in the Hong Kong Telegraph, December 14 and 15, 1882, and China Mail, December 15, 1882. The Telegraph tells us \"that yesterday the deceased was in good spirits and played tennis in the afternoon, dined out with a friend, and was in the Club until shortly after midnight\", A Chinese barber found Tonnochy dead in bed when he came to shave him in the morning. He was a bachelor. \n\n13 Walter Meredith Deane (1840-1906). Educated St. Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Hong Kong Civil Service 1862; Captain Superintendent of the Police, 1866-1891. Deane was severely wounded on duty in 1878 and resigned in 1891 on account of ill-health. \n\n14 Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916). Educated at St. Paul's School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Hong Kong Civil Service 1862; promoted from Colonial Treasurer, Hong Kong, to Colonial Secretary, Straits Settlements, 1878. Administered Government 1884-85; appointed Lieutenant-Governor and Colonial Secretary, Ceylon, 1886; Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements, 1887; H. M. High Commissioner and Consul-General for Borneo and Sarawak, 1889. \n\n15 Alfred Lister (1843-1890). Educated at University of London. Hong Kong Civil Service 1865; prepared detailed index to the Ordinances of Hong Kong in 1870; Colonial Treasurer 1883-90. Died on board ship near Yokohama while on sick leave, Lister held the office of Treasurer as an adjunct appointment only, and with an almost nominal salary, in conjunction with his substantive appointment of Postmaster-General, Lister left a wife and four children in England. See Hong Kong Telegraph, 15 June, 1890. Governor Des Voeux referred to Lister as an \"excellent officer\". \n\n**\n\n16 Sir James Russell (1843-1893). Educated at Queen's University, Belfast. Hong Kong Civil Service 1865; private secretary to Governor Sir Richard MacDonnell 1868; Police Magistrate 1870; Chief Justice of Hong Kong 1888. The Hong Kong Telegraph, 4 September, 1893, in an editorial entitled \"Sir Judas' Russell: His History\" declares \"You could not have been much of an expert in the Chinese language two short years after your appointment to a cadet-ship, yet in 1867, you were Government ‘Interpreter'\". The editorial referred to Russell as \"the Gargantua of Hong Kong social life\" and \"the Jeffries of the Hong Kong Bench\". The writer of the editorial was the atrabilious Robert Fraser-Smith, who founded the Hong Kong Telegraph in 1881. Since Fraser-Smith had been jailed several times for libel, he had reason to dislike the Chief Justice. (See Frank H. H. King and Prescott Clarke A Research Guide to China-Coast Newspapers, 1822-1911, Cambridge, Mass., 1965). Russell, a bachelor like Lister, died at Strathpeffer, Scotland, shortly after resigning from Government. \n\n17 Henry Ernest Wodehouse (1845-1929). Educated at Repton School. Hong Kong Civil Service 1867; retired on pension as Police Magistrate in 1898. One son, Peveril, was the first baby born on the Peak and brother of P. G. Wodehouse, the novelist. Wodehouse was the last of the batch of officials originally appointed to the Colony in the capacity of student interpreter. \n\n18 Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart (1858-1937). Educated at King William's College, Isle of Man, Watson's Academy, Edinburgh (gold medallist), and Edinburgh University (Greek medallist), Hong Kong Civil Service 1878; attached to the Colonial Office for one year; Registrar General 1887; Colonial Secretary 1895-1902; Special Commissioner to Inspect and Report on the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong, 1898; representative of Great Britain to delimit the boundaries of the extension of Hong Kong; first civil Commissioner of Weihaiwei, 1902; retired 1921.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207488, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1975", "page_number": 256, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "248\n\nDONALD C. BOWIE\n\nThere was no lift. By now we were caring for 15 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis. The medical officer staff was slightly different from what it had been in Bowen Road (See Appendix C) and contained one new member, Captain Coombs. The changes had been made by the Japanese and I was not consulted, though Coombs was a valued and welcome member of the staff.\n\nThe building was arranged in two wings, and looked at from the front the left hand wing was given over to Japanese quarters. In the centre was a large Assembly Hall while our hospital occupied the right hand wing. The Assembly Hall was out of bounds to us except on special occasions. I had hoped to get a member of the Hong Kong Volunteers to come with us from Sham Shui Po as a rice cook, but he did not turn up, and Corporal J. O'Grady took charge. Our practice was now to cook all our food in bulk and not by wards and messes in their own containers as in the past. The kitchens had shallow rice boilers and our rice from now on improved considerably. The electricity generator had been damaged during the move but repairs were started by our engineers. The church was sited in the Central Clock Tower room. Saito gave us a Hongkong News from which on the 14 April we learned of the death of President Roosevelt and we held a memorial service for him on the following day.\n\nA refrigerator was converted to act as a steamer, steam being delivered through the top, and the cooks baked some very good so-called cake and made some experimental bread without flour which turned out to be excellent when judged by our standards. We even began to fry the bread sometimes when we had enough oil. On 19 April four blinded men and two old men arrived, the former with attendants to look after their needs. On 20 April Colonel Tokunaga made an afternoon inspection and we were ordered to remove all beds from verandahs and all staff except the steward and one cook were required to sleep in the barrack room. Visitors arrived to deliver parcels the same day but they had to leave them for collection by us some distance away from our front door. With 134 patients and no beds on verandahs our space was pretty crowded. By now our non-medical staff was building up and we had one shoemaker, two tailors, one barber, two cooks, three rice grinders, four vegetable men and three wood men. We also used two men for pots and pans and two appear in my diary as having duties connected with beds though I cannot now remember", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208197, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1977", "page_number": 236, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "220\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nThe borrower then pays that amount weekly until his loan is paid off, while the other depositors reduce their weekly payments by the amount of interest. However, their share value remains.\n\nThe bidding occurs at a meeting to which all depositors are invited. If no one bids, the banker finds a single borrower from the list of depositors and the funds are thus dispersed. Borrowers must have another person vouch for their integrity and be considered solvent themselves, but no loans are secured by property or recorded in courthouse files as liens.\n\nAfter the loan is made, regular deposits resume until a new round of bidding occurs. After a period of time agreed to by the group, the \"bank\" stops making loans. After all loans are paid back, the depositors receive their money, and the bank is closed. Then a new one is formed and the process begins again.\n\nIn this system there is no policing as such. The operation is run by a \"banker\" chosen by the organizers. The banker accepts deposits, keeps the books (usually handwritten in Chinese characters), keeps the money in a safe place (invariably cash, never in a regular bank account), dispenses the loans and ultimately pays the depositors.\n\nWhen it came time to close the four banks in late 1976, the money was not there to pay the depositors. The lack of that money, according to those involved, is related to the financial difficulties of [name] one of the bankers and head of the local Chinese Free Masons.....\n\nThis interesting piece was supplied by one of our Members, Captain Charles S. Mill, United States Marine Corps. The account by Eugene Meyer, Washington Post Staff Writer, clearly relates to the traditional Chinese money loan association, not something \"created long ago in this country by enterprising Chinese immigrants\" as Mr. Meyer supposed. Accounts of it as practised in China may be found in J. Dyer Ball's Things Chinese, 4th edition, Kelly and Walsh, Hong Kong 1903: 632-645 and as Appendix E to G. N. Orme's Report on the New Territories [of Hong Kong] for the years 1899 to 1912 in Hong Kong Government's Sessional Papers, 1912.\n\nTWO LETTERS FROM WARTIME CHINA\n\nThe two letters which follow were passed to me by the late Walter Schofield (Hong Kong Civil Service 1911-1938) They are from the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214989, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2000", "page_number": 85, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "41\n\nhis contingent of coolies via the Panama Canal for New York and ahead of them was the Empress of Asia which was torpedoed, so they headed for the safety of Jamaica. From his memoires I cannot ascertain a date. He held a high opinion of his coolies and stated that the greatest aid to maintain discipline was to retain his sense of humour under all circumstances. He also believed in seeing that they were properly cared for when ill and, most important of all, when selecting coolies for promotion, to prefer the old man with character with the slow moving brain to the smart young town coolie.\n\nDaryl Klein, who joined the CLC as a 2Lt in late 1917, assisted in escorting a large contingent by sea, leaving Qingdao in about February 1918, sailing via Japan where they coalled ship and on to Canada where they stayed for about ten weeks. They were then conveyed in June 1918, with some Canadian soldiers, on HMT Empress of Asia, this ship being used to convey troops and others, via the Panama Canal to Kingston, Jamaica and, after refuelling in New York, on to France. This contingent consisted of 13 officers [of whom one was an ex-banker, one an ex-officer from Russia and one an ex-missionary], 4,200 coolies with five interpreters and one medical assistant. During the voyage, Klein interviewed two First Class Gangers [or sergeants], Sgt Tang Chi-chang, aged 27 and previously a school teacher in Nanjing and a graduate of Weixin University; he was also a Christian. Sgt. Sen Shin-lin, aged 26, had served in a warlord's army for six years.\n\nAs Halifax, in Canada, had been so badly damaged by the accidental explosion of an ammunition ship in harbour, G. E. Cormack and his contingent had to stay at Victoria, British Columbia and whilst there he had to look after a coolie who had been admitted to hospital for a severe operation, which was successful. Later a deputation came to see Cormack and presented him with a carved wooden panel, which they had made, representing two stags fighting. This was their way of showing appreciation of his attention to their sick comrade. This carved panel is now held in the Imperial War Museum, London, and, at the time of writing, is not on display. [see photograph]\n\nWorking in France\n\nIn a Company of about 500 men, there would be 24 British officers and NCOs, lead by a major or captain; 476 Chinese labourers, with the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 } ]