[
    {
        "id": 210688,
        "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-1986",
        "page_number": 39,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "22\n\nWALTER GREENWOOD\n\nhis expressions. On one occasion an opponent complained that his truculence in court was quite intolerable and Francis responded by saying of the opponent's speech \"such stuff as that is rubbish\". In 1883 there was criticism of his ungentlemanly behaviour when prosecuting R. Fraser Smith, the Editor of the Hong Kong Telegraph and a frequent sparring partner, for libel. The criticism may well have arisen out of disappointment at Fraser Smith's acquittal. As time went by he tended to assume omniscience and in 1887 an opponent was moved to say of him \"my learned friend appears to think that he is not only an authority on law but on every department in the colony”. Francis was minded to treat that as a statement of the obvious. However Hong Kong was well used to robust and idiosyncratic characters and indeed it had all the flavour of a frontier town. In 1859 the Secretary of State, the Duke of Newcastle, said that \"Hong Kong must be protected from the reckless libels which have so long poisoned the very atmosphere of the colony”. Francis was not only outspoken in Court. The Hong Kong Telegraph in its obituary said “his outspoken utterances estranged many persons who would otherwise have employed him professionally. But his talents were so conspicuous, his experience so great and varied, that he was bound to make his way to the front\". The China Mail said of him that “he had a ready temper but bore no malice\". A sort of verdict on him in his lifetime appeared in the Hong Kong Telegraph in 1891 in a series of articles on \"The Local Devil's Own\". It reads \"John Joseph Francis Q.C. is Hong Kong's leading counsel and one of its most prominent citizens. He served with distinction in the army and having acquired a taste for the Bar while serving Her Majesty elected to serve behind it, and by sheer hard work and natural ability succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations. It is popularly supposed that to have Francis on your side means winning a case with the special exclusive order of Hong Kong jurymen. He is a warm hearted man in his own fashion and has done a lot of good for a certain class in Hong Kong”. The only deliberate act of discourtesy by him in his professional life that I have found was when the Chief Justice of the day refused to accede to his request not to sit after lunch on a Saturday and he did not attend. Francis said later that he had an engagement he could not get out of. On an occasion when he was twenty minutes late and said he had forgotten he was engaged in court the Chief Justice",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210726,
        "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-1986",
        "page_number": 77,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "60\n\n—\n\nD.A. GRIFFITHS AND S.P. LAU\n\nand it is to be got through the Press early in the issuing year. It will form one of the series of Floras of the British Colonies published under the sanction of H.M. Government and the general superintendence of Sir W.J. Hooker.\n\nFurther, and perhaps of more relevance in getting the gardens established, it is boldly stated in answer to Query no. 4 of June 28th 1860 \"No Botanical Garden exists in the colony\".\n\nThus although the scheme to establish a public Botanical Garden had been sanctioned by the Secretary of State in 1856, the proposal was held in limbo until Nov 30th 1861 when a sum of £269..10..6 was approved \"for the formation of Public Gardens”. A further sum of £4,371..2..6 was approved by the Governor, Hercules Robinson who explained the justification for such a large sum on the difficult topography of the chosen site.\n\n\"The amount proposed to be expended in this service is large, but the only ground available for a Public Garden in a suitable locality is situated on such a steep incline as to call for very special arrangements for carrying off the water from the hills. Drainage and a boundary wall constitute the chief items of the Estimate\".\n\nIt is obvious that Governor Robinson considered the formation of a public garden both an added attraction to the rapidly expanding city and, in addition, well within the financial resources of the Colony. He continues:\n\n\"I am of opinion that a portion of the large surplus revenue at present in hand, cannot be better expended than in carrying out this undertaking, which will contribute to the embellishment of the City of Victoria and the health and enjoyment of its inhabitants.”\n\nThe Duke of Newcastle's scribbled note appended to Robinson's submission on its arrival in London states:",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    }
]