[ { "id": 210369, "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-1984", "page_number": 340, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "319\n\nSaiyingpun for the 11 a.m. Matins service. St Peter's at that time was situated at the site where the Western Police Station now stands. The site also contained a Seamen's Home. In days of old many ships berthed at West Point and the sailors attended the services there. I have but to close my eyes now and I can see the words GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON painted in brilliant letters on the wall behind the altar. The school supplied two rows of choir boys. Henry Sykes, the assistant headmaster, often filled the role of organist.\n\nBetween 2.00 and 4.00 p.m. on Sundays, the boys had to learn the Collect of the day and a portion of the Gospel by heart for repetition to the Master on duty. The Gospel was easier to learn than the Collect which, although shorter, was more difficult to master.\n\nThere followed a short rest after which the boys, with the exception of the very young ones, had to proceed to St John's for the 6.30 p.m. Evening Service. On returning to school after Evensong, after the long walk, the boys had to attend a final service held in the School Hall by the Master on duty. They were then permitted to retire to their dormitory at 8.00 p.m. Meals were frugal.\n\nSir Claud Severn, who was then the Colonial Secretary and, for brief periods, the Officer Administering the Government, took a keen interest in the Diocesan Boys' School. He would send the Governor's car, with its Crown, when he was O.A.G., to the school to fetch some of the choir boys to join the Cathedral choir. Sir Claud himself sang with the Cathedral choir. He had a strong bass voice which he employed to perfection in his rendering of Good King Wenceslas and the First Nowell in Christmas services. His singing always thrilled the boys who sang treble. According to one of our school masters Sir Claud nearly married Miss Goggin, our school matron. Unfortunately the romance ended when Miss Goggin died in January 1920. She had a brother who was shipping manager of Dodwell & Co. Ltd., at the time.\n\nThe organist at St John's in my time was Denman Fuller. In those days the Cathedral had a grand pipe organ which to my", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211366, "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-1988", "page_number": 82, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "58\n\nGovernment, but the Government had not at present a plan to create a post of Factory Inspector.\n\nThe Problem publicised in Britain\n\nMiss Pitts and Mr. Bowley both left Hong Kong for leaves in England in June 1919. During their stay they might have pushed the matter of child labour in Hong Kong, for in May 1920 there was published an article in the Child Guardian setting forth the situation of children in Hong Kong. This magazine was the organ of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The recommendations proposed by Mr. Bowley at the meeting of the Church of England Men's Society already referred to were published on the first page of an issue of the magazine. These were accompanied by the comment, “Judging from the necessity of bringing such proposals forward, it may be imagined this British Colony is a long way behind in its treatment of children”. It was noted, however, that a great many influential people in Britain were worrying the Colonial Office on the subject. The editor surmised, \"the Governor must be having quite a busy time answering the inquiries of the Colonial Office in regard to these questions“.\n\nIn November 1920 a Director of the British National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children asked the Secretary for the Colonies for an interview with Mr. Claude Severn, the Hong Kong Colonial Secretary who was on leave in England, to discuss with him the matter of the welfare of children in Hong Kong.\n\nParliamentary question\n\nDecember 1920\n\nMr. A. Davies in December 1920 asked in a Parliamentary Question if there was any legislation in Hong Kong controlling the type of work done by children, the hours they worked, or their employment in work injurious to their health. The Government spokesman replied that there was none, but the Governor was being asked for a report on the subject of child labour.\n\nAnother question was raised at a session soon after. Mr. Cope asked if the Secretary of State for the Colonies was aware that the resolution of the Sanitary Board passed in May 1919 regarding child labour had", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214392, "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-1998", "page_number": 250, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "216\n\nof these two documents, we might have expected a complete overhaul of the workings of the District Watch Committee and, indeed, the running of the Force itself. That these changes did not happen is due in no small part to differences in personalities at the top of the Hong Kong Government.\n\nIn late August 1922 Claud Severn, the Colonial Secretary who was also the Officer Administering the Colony, wrote to Winston Churchill regarding the remedial action taken by Government following the strike.22 The Acting Governor noted that an investigation into the running of the regular Police Force had found the calibre of some of the men working in the 'Chinese Police Force' to be decidedly wanting in the loyalty stakes. As a result of the inquiry a total of fifty Chinese sergeants, constables and detectives were either dismissed, ordered to retire, reduced in rank or otherwise censured. Severn noted that the situation regarding the District Watch Force was 'somewhat delicate' and one which he had discussed at length with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. Both Severn and Edwin R. Hallifax, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, recommended that, contrary to Governor Stubbs' proposal, no reorganization of the District Watch Force should be attempted. Severn stressed that any 'enquiry and action would necessarily be a matter for the [District Watch] Committee, which shows the greatest reluctance to carry the subject any further.'23 There can be no doubting the considerable power and influence exerted by the District Watch Committee at this time since the Acting Governor was worried that any 'action taken \"by order\" would certainly create unnecessary and serious trouble and might put an end to the Force, a result which is to be deprecated, since the District Watch Force is ordinarily of the greatest value to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.' Without mentioning Timothy Murphy by name, Severn concluded his letter to the Secretary of State by noting that the District Watch Force was under the charge of ‘a very efficient Inspector of Police.' Thus, Stubbs' suggestion that the District Watch Force should be revamped was discarded. It would have been most informative to know how Governor Stubbs reacted to this news when he returned from leave on 18 November 1922 but unfortunately this was not recorded in accessible official documents.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214398, "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-1998", "page_number": 256, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "222\n\nin 1913 under the Registration of Chinese Ordinance was a further example of Government's imposing its will on what was originally a private commercial concern. It is even possible that the reason for Government's introduction of the annual subsidy of $2,000 to augment the fees collected from the merchants was not entirely altruistic since this provided an additional area of Government control, albeit one which was camouflaged as generosity. What was awarded could also be taken away.\n\nHowever, it should not be thought that the District Watch Committee was a mere rubber stamp and exerted no influence of its own. We need only consider the correspondence between Claud Severn and the Home Government in 1922 to see how seriously, in later years, this Committee was regarded by seasoned Hong Kong administrators.\n\nAnother reason why the District Watch Force is important is because it provided a precedent. Some of the Chinese merchants, notably those who founded the Nam Pak Hong, undoubtedly used the District Watch Force as a blueprint for the establishment of the Nam Pak Hong's own security force in 1868. Cynics may say that civil servants cherish precedents since they provide an escape clause should things go wrong. Thus, it may be argued that the Hong Kong Government would have relished the precedent of official control over the District Watch force since this provided the Government with a ready-made vehicle for controlling the private security men who worked as detectives in the Tung Wah Hospital and the Po Leung Kuk.28 Finally, it must never be forgotten that the Hong Kong Government depended on the Chinese merchants for the prosperity of the colony. It was through their work and their taxes that Hong Kong flourished. The Government could not afford to alienate this group of people and it is possible that the need for their continued goodwill was considered by Governor MacDonnell when he agreed to the creation of the scheme in 1866.29", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214403, "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-1998", "page_number": 261, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "13 \n\n227 \n\nControl', Yeoh describes in detail how, in the late 1880s, the Chinese population in Singapore hindered the advance of Western sanitary methods by refusing to comply with the many regulations introduced by the Municipal Branch. ibid., pp. 119-125.\n\nGovernment Notification No.223, HKGG, 23 June 1883, pp.538-544.\n\n14 Yeoh, op. cit., p.110.\n\nElizabeth Sinn, Power and Charity: The Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital, (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1989), p.152.\n\n16 Registrar General's Report for 1891, Hongkong Government Legislative Council Sessional Papers, No.19/92, p.241. Henceforth HKGLCSP.\n\n17 Ibid., p.257.\n\n18 Colonial Estimates for 1870-1873, (Hong Kong, Noronha), Miscellaneous expenditure.\n\n19 \"The matter is important enough for the District Watch Committee to have authorised the extension of their system of watchmen by opening a new station in Kowloon.' Hongkong Hansard, 9 October 1913, p.71.\n\n20 Stubbs to Churchill, 18 March 1922: CO129/474, p.221.\n\n21 Ibid., (enclosure).\n\n22 Between 1912 and 1925 Claud Severn administered the colony on ten separate occasions during the absence of Governors Sir Francis May and Sir Reginald Stubbs. Hong Kong Civil Service List for 1935, pp.46-47.\n\n23 Severn to Churchill, 22 August 1922: CO129/476, p.96-98.\n\n24 E.R. Hallifax, C.Mcl. Messer and R.O. Hutchison, 'Report on the searching of passengers on arrival at and departure from Hongkong', 17 March 1917, HKGLCSP, No.8/17, p.44.\n\n25 Hong Kong Hansard, 6 November 1930, p.235.\n\n26 Police Report for 1933, Administrative Reports for 1933, p.K12. It was not only", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 } ]