[ { "id": 205522, "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-1968", "page_number": 64, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "NOTES ON HONG KONG LIBRARIES\n\n59\n\nlater, were badly damaged by insects, so much so that one copy of the catalogue of this collection, printed in 1873, is annotated to indicate which titles had to be discarded for this reason.\n\nWe now move on fifteen years, to 1867, when the Victoria Library had fallen on evil days. No doubt a further search would reveal more of its history in the years between, but this must wait for a future article. On 21st January an editorial in the Evening Mail opens \"It seems probable that the decline and fall of the Victoria Library will afford material for the local historian during this year of grace 1867.\" The reason was apparently that the membership had fallen to 60, whereas to provide the necessary income from subscriptions 80 to 100 members were required (yet in the satisfactory report for 1851-52 already noted the membership had risen to only 66). The Evening Mail goes on to say \"There is no advantage to be derived from membership at all equivalent to the high rate of subscription.\" This rate was $2.00 a month. Although the Evening Mail praises the quality of the magazines received, it notes that there are not enough of them, and only a few of the subscribers make much use of them. Similarly so many local residents themselves subscribe to overseas newspapers that there is little demand for those taken by the Library. Of the book stock the main criticism is that it consists almost entirely of standard authors — Scott, Dickens, Thackeray and Cooper are mentioned and neglects current literature. Most people again have their own copies of the former, but would be glad to subscribe if they might be kept up to date with modern writers. The Evening Mail editorial ends with a suggested solution, to convert the library into a book club, the books purchased to be distributed amongst the subscribers instead of being retained as the property of the institution.\n\nThis solution was not adopted, and by the end of the year, after a further decline in membership, it appeared that the gloomy prognostications in the Evening Mail editorial might be fulfilled. Before coming to that situation, however, it will be interesting to examine a list of the 34 newspapers and periodicals which the Victoria Library received regularly at this time. The list appeared in the China Mail (the new name of the Evening Mail) for February 15th, 1867, and is rather inaccurately divided into “Newspapers\" amongst which are included Punch and the Saturday Review", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205525, "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-1968", "page_number": 67, "title": "RAS-1968", "content_text": "62\n\nH. A. RYDINGS\n\nfor them being devoted to publishing the quarterly catalogues.\" We may doubt whether these proposals, which were not attempted, would have worked in practice without some form of compulsion such as operates in the case of copyright deposit libraries; but it is interesting to find this suggestion of a centralised cataloguing agency at this early date, even if with different motives and to serve different purposes from those of the present day organizations of this kind.\n\nBy the end of 1867, as already noted, there had been a further decline in the membership of the Victoria Library, so that it was inevitable that some changes in its organization should be made. To decide what form these should take, a special general meeting of the subscribers was called for 4.00 p.m. on 18th December. The China Mail noted that this had unfortunately been timed to start one hour before a rowing match between English and Scottish \"fours\" organized by the Victoria Regatta Club, and feared that the attendance at the library meeting might suffer accordingly. However, in the event over a dozen of the 43 members turned up. The report of the meeting is contained in the China Mail of December 18th (the Mail was an evening paper even then). The Treasurer, Mr. Mitchell, stated that the income from subscriptions had fallen to about $1,000, whereas expenses were over $1,300 a year. He went on to inform subscribers of an offer from the Club Lusitano to provide a room in the new Club at a rent of $15 a month, no extras for light or coal, and free access to the Library for members when the Club premises were open. This seemed a most liberal offer, but was apparently made in the hope of encouraging members of the Library to join the Club also. If this offer, the best which had been made, were not accepted, Mr. Mitchell said he would recommend that the Library should be handed over to the proposed new City Hall. He concluded by proposing acceptance of the offer of the Club Lusitano for one year in the first instance. After some discussion the proposal was accepted unanimously.\n\nThe China Mail in a leading article on the following day applauded this decision, and paid tribute to Messrs. Mitchell, White, Smith and Crawford, who had formed the nucleus of working members whose efforts had kept the Victoria Library going. The Mail took the opportunity to repeat the suggestion it had", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1968.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206990, "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-1974", "page_number": 61, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "ADVENTURERS IN HONG KONG\n\n55\n\nnot serve his full sentence because he was released on grounds of ill-health. But, as Des Voeux notes, the day after his release from Victoria Gaol he was seen avidly betting at the Happy Valley Race Course. He was, clearly a great card and popular with drinking circles in Hong Kong. The Telegraph was an evening newspaper. After Fraser-Smith's death, J. J. Francis became publisher and Chesney Duncan its editor.\n\n28 John Joseph Francis (1839-1901) was educated in Dublin and intended for the Catholic priesthood. But instead of entering the Church he enlisted in the Army, coming out to China in the Royal Artillery during the Second China War. He took his discharge in Hong Kong and commenced the study of law in the office of a Mr. Owens, solicitor. He was admitted to practise as an attorney in 1869 and entered into partnership with another solicitor and soon acquired a lucrative practice. Ambitious, he gained admission to Gray's Inn and was called to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong in 1877. By 1888 he was the Colony's leading barrister. Francis was extremely touchy and truculent: in 1895 he returned to the Governor a silver inkstand, given to him in recognition of his work during the plague, on the grounds that the gift did not sufficiently acknowledge his services. He died of apoplexy at Yokohama's Grand Hotel in 1901. A fitting end: he was an apoplectic soul. Francis lived at 'Shirley House' in Bonham Road, a commodious residence with extensive grounds.\n\n29 A. Macmillan, Seaports of the Far East, London, 1923, p. 366.\n\n30 22 November, 1888. The Hong Kong Hotel, situated in Pedder Street, was originally managed by Parsees; in 1866 it came under European management and soon became a first-class hotel with all the facilities of a good West End hotel.\n\n31 7 January, 1889.\n\n32 Soulié states that Mayréna on his way to Hong Kong marooned Afong on Hainan Island but that the intrepid Chinese took passage on a junk and appeared in Hong Kong to haunt the King of the Sedangs.\n\n33 China Mail, 7 January, 1889.\n\n34 George Murray Bain (1842-1909) was born and educated at Montrose, Scotland. He joined the China Mail as a sub-editor and reporter (some say printer) in 1864. In 1875 he became sole proprietor of the China Mail and in 1879 took over the editorship of the paper himself. With N. B. Dennys he started the China Review in 1872. The China Mail was edited from Wyndham Street, a short distance away from the Hong Kong Telegraph on Pedder's Hill. Bain, unlike Fraser-Smith, appears to have been pious, temperate, and acutely respectable.\n\n35 Hong Kong Telegraph, 27 December, 1888.\n\n36 'Drey' was the name of a Sedang locality.\n\n37 China Mail, 24 January, 1889.\n\n38 Hong Kong Telegraph, 25 January, 1889.\n\n39 7 January, 1889.\n\n40 Sir Hugh Clifford, Heroes of Exile, London, 1906, pp. 69-70. Clifford states that it was the Hong Kong merchants 'who had paid his (Mayréna's) passage and had supplied his Majesty with a little ready money' and that they had been actuated partly by a desire to remunerate one from whom they had derived so much entertainment'. Sir Hugh Clifford (1866-1941), a colonial administrator, who served in Pahang from 1887 to 1899, was, apparently, in Hong Kong in late 1888; it is possible that he had taken local leave but I have been unable to confirm the fact.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209485, "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-1982", "page_number": 142, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "120 \n\nH. J. LETHBRIDGE \n\nunusual for a Chinese in those days. \n\nOn December 1, 1925 Lock gave a dinner party to celebrate his son's coming of age. This young man, Lock Ling Tam, had just returned after nine years of education in China. The evening was convivial and speeches were made in the only son's honour by both father and mother. Before his guests departed, Lock said to one of them: 'Ring me up tomorrow morning, and let me know how your daughter is' (Lock was always concerned about his friends.) In the early hours of December 2, 1925, a call came through to the Liverpool Telephone Exchange with the message, in broken English, 'I have shot my wife and child'. The mysterious caller was immediately put through to the Police and a constable recorded the words: 'Tam shot kill wife and child'. The caller further stated that he was Lock Ah Tam and that his home was at 122 Price Street, Birkenhead. \n\nThe chain of events, as reconstructed by the police and affirmed by the prosecution, was never seriously questioned by the defence. Soon after all the guests had gone, Lock Ling Tam heard his father abusing his mother and stamping his feet. The young Lock intervened and told his father to leave her alone. The father then left the room and asked the maid, a Eurasian girl, to fetch his boots. The maid caught a glimpse in a mirror of Lock loading a revolver. Next, Lock loaded his shotgun and immediately went to the kitchen where he killed his wife and youngest daughter. After that he seized his revolver and shot his eldest daughter who was cowering behind a door with the maid (the latter was not fired at). The son, terrified by the first explosion had fled the house. While he was seeking help from neighbours, Lock, as related above, phoned the police and admitted responsibility for the murders. Such were the stark facts; how to interpret them? \n\nbut \n\nAs soon as Lock's story became known in the Chinese community, his friends opened a defence fund and subscriptions flowed in from all over Britain and from other parts. Altogether, more than a thousand pounds were raised (a large sum in those days). His solicitor instructed the famous Sir Edward Marshall Hall K.C. to defend him. Marshall Hall was then probably the best-known English advocate. A flamboyant, histrionic, and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210914, "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": 265, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "248\n\nCARL SMITH\n\nIn attacking the China Mail's comments on the delegation, the pen of the Telegraph's editor fairly burned. With enflamed rhetoric, he proclaimed: \"We have seldom perused a greater farrago of contemptible drivel. . . . The impossibility of extracting blood from a stone has long been recognised, so, on the same principle, no one ever expects from a newspaper of the class of our evening contemporary anything approaching ordinary intelligence, or even common sense.\n\n\"The thing which serves as an article in the feeble organ of lower Wyndham Street is not merely devoid of ordinary intelligence, and altogether lacking in common sense; it is false in principle, inaccurate in statement, illogical in argument, ungrammatical in diction, sycophantic in tone and intention, and taken all in all, a crying disgrace to a so-called representative of public opinion which pretends to be impartial, honest and independent.\n\n\"We have no intention of trying to wean our evening print from its crooked ways, nor would it be worthwhile to preach doctrines of decency and of self-respect to the anonymous scribbler who apparently imagines he hits the foreign public taste while at the same time hoodwinking and conciliating the Chinese, by vulgar misrepresentation of matters which are within the ken of all, and spiteful and scurrilous abuse of Governor Hennessy. It would be a much easier task to endow a fool with intellect than to persuade him that he possessed either intellect, truth, or decency.\"\n\nThe journalist of that day could not expect tender treatment from his rival.\n\nThe editorials reflect that the distrust between the foreign and Chinese communities, the struggle to find some way to resolve tensions, the bitterness aroused by Governor Hennessy's policies were still boiling in the pot. To these there had been added a rift within the Chinese community. Ho A-mei was not averse to stirring the stew.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211373, "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": 89, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "65\n\ndesirable to cut down on the hours of labour done by children, there was a limit to what could be done if the children were not to be worse off after legislation than before. To restrict labour would mean cutting down the income of families that already were at subsistence level.\n\nExcept in a very few cases, he did not believe there was sweated labour in Hong Kong. He admitted \"the work is hard... but where it constitutes the alternative to starvation it should be allowed\". The children working in China were mostly worse off than those in Hong Kong and for this reason the Commission did not recommend the total prohibition of work by children.\n\nHe claimed that to institute compulsory education would attract millions from China. Mr. Chow might have been asked why so many children should come to Hong Kong for education if their lot was so much worse in China and their labour was needed to keep the family from starvation. As an alternative to compulsory education, Mr. Chow suggested voluntary attendance at evening or Sunday classes.\n\nAn editorial in the China Mail on the Commission's Report stated that registration, inspection and compulsion would only add to the sufferings of the children, not alleviate them. It took a racial line and recommended that when child labour had been permitted for or on behalf of Europeans a heavier penalty should be imposed than in similar cases among the Chinese. Rather presumptuously he added, \"We at least should get our hands clean first\". The editor's negative critique was concluded with the statement that, \"It is clear the Commission asks for more than the Government is likely to undertake\".\n\n19\n\nThe Hong Kong Telegraph expressed shock at the state of affairs: \"In many respects it is no exaggeration to say that the inquiry revealed conditions nothing less than appalling\". In its view the recommendations proposed by the Commission were “a good start upon a very difficult problem”.\n\nThe Child Labour Ordinance enacted\n\n--\n\nSeptember 1922\n\nAnother year passed before the \"Ordinance to regulate the employment of Children in certain Industries\" had its first reading in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211774, "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-1989", "page_number": 189, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "164\n\non the stage. At last Shanghai could boast a drama society that was footed on a regular basis, could give its fiftieth performance on April 18, 1876 (T.W. Robertson's School), its hundredth on March 22, 1893 (a local version of Lloyd Clarence's A Tale of Tell under the title The Tale of Tell Retold). The 150th performance went off in 1908 with James Matthew Barrie's The Admirable Crichton, and altogether the A.D.C. existed well into the 1930s.25\n\n27\n\n24\n\nIn the years preceding the A.D.C., theatrical seasons, and with it the companies, were organised annually, depending, it seems, on the interest shown by society and the availability of actors and managers. The very first amateur performances took place during the season 1849-1850,26 but no record has been left of them. In the following years more than once reference was made to a \"New Corps\" formed for the season, or that it had been \"but a few weeks since the present company had been embodied\".28 Under these circumstances it was by no means certain that the Shanghai public would be treated each winter to an evening of uncomplicated amusement. In its issue of November 27, 1852, the Herald stated that “if 'common report' be true we fear that the 'Dramatic Corps' (...) will be unable to continue their performance\" due to the \"absence from Shanghai of the 'Head and Front' of the original body, together with the retirement of some of its members\". This brought forward an outcry by a foreign lady (?) who donned herself with the name \"Phoebe Silverveil\": \"No theatricals? Dear Me! Mr. Editor, what are the ladies to do without them? The performances were so good (...) and we all enjoyed them so much!''; and then, quoting liberally the pieces of the past season (see Calendar), she ended: \"I have just put dear baby down for a minute to write these few lines as a gentle hint to the Corps; hoping that if the members are not quite Used Up, they will give us another merry Rendezvous at the Theatre and there is surely not such a Dragon amongst them as to say NO!\"29 As if this appeal were not enough, the editor added as an afterthought that this letter \"can hardly fail to have the effect of rousing the dormant energies of the heroes of the 'sock and buskin' to renewed exertions, to deserve the applause of their fair admirers. We doubt not they will take the hint\". In this way aspiring amateurs were cajoled into the formation of a new company which started its operations in January 1853 with Beckett's The Turned Head and Boucicault's Used Up. Some five years later, in January 1858, the Herald regretted that the Amateur Theatrical performances, so successful last year, have not as yet been reorganised during the present season and we think we speak with the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211795, "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-1989", "page_number": 210, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "185 \n\n* 125 \n\nagain attention was drawn to the presence of the \"beau monde”, the “beau sexe”, “all the beauty and fashion” and “our fair friends whose elegant evening costumes gave quite a brilliant aspect to the scene”. Seeing these representatives of the opposite sex on the front bench could not fail to inspire the performers with the desire to excel**. And who would disagree with that? \n\n- \n\nIt is well known that in Britain theatre audiences had for decades been heavily lacking in decorum; talking, eating, shouting, abusing the players. Things had turned to the better around the middle of the century and it seems that the Shanghai public was good mannered in so far as that can be said of any audience at all, for regular theatregoers will sadly have to admit that instances still abound today in which potentially glorious moments have been spoilt by some uneducated patrons. It may be assumed that the distraction caused by the public's behaviour in the mid 19th century was still worse than it is today. Then e.g. it was quite in order to talk during a concert or recital, albeit with a lower voice than during the interval. Real music lovers must have been driven mad by such chatter and it can hardly be imagined that it was appreciated by the performer. But, after all, such evenings were social occasions as much as artistic ones and the latest gossip had in some way to be exchanged. To be sure, such behaviour is not mentioned in the local paper, but there is little reason to believe that things were much better in Shanghai than in, say, London. \n\nT \n\n> \n\nOnly a couple of times is indecorous conduct reported in the columns of the Herald. Thus, on February 10 1864 \"the audience was riotous in the extreme and displayed the worst possible taste in exciting themselves to increase the confusion on the stage\" 127. The result was that at a subsequent performance the ladies shone by their absence** (see also: Calendar, 10.2.1864, 13.2.1864, 4.3.1864). Possibly this rowdyism was caused by the bad acting, but more likely a section of the large vagrant population which created some headaches for the ordinary residents during those years had a hand in it. Earlier the Herald had thought it wise to invoke the Earl of Chesterfield whose letters to his rascal son attempted to teach him the elements of good taste. And though the book had been published as long ago as 1774, the lessons contained in it were obviously considered still to be valid in 1858 when on February 10 the critic “noticed that several ladies on entering were kept some time in doubt as to where to find accommodation and were at length consigned to the back seats, while a lot of the 'lords of creation'\n\nPage 210\n\nPage 211", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211809, "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-1989", "page_number": 224, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "199\n\n-- it may, however, improve on further acquaintance but we had no other opportunity of judging during the evening\". The \"Turkophonini” could be heard in a solo with variations and it was deemed \"by far the most perfect and pleasing instrument of the two`. The Shanghai Redowa Waise (Redowa: a Bohemian dance) which had been \"composed expressly for this Concert and dedicated to the Ladies of Shanghai — as the programme informed us\", also performed on the Turkophonini was not thought of \"very highly”, but it convinced the reporter that \"the instrument is well adopted for that class of music\". Obviously not everyone in the audience was of the same view, for the editor wrote in the Herald of September 27: \"The critique of our reporter has been much discussed in fashionable circles and the correctness of his judgement as to the perfection of these new instruments questioned. Knowing his high attainments as a musician, we defer to his opinion. Matters of taste do not admit of dispute. De gustibus non est disputandum. We may all enjoy our own and as a second glass of wine enables us to pronounce better judgement as to its quality, so will this second performance (on September 29) by familiarizing us with the instruments enable us better to decide upon their excellence\". In Hong Kong the China Mail could not speak \"in very warm terms of praise at least as regards their suitability for solo performances\" (CM 21.8.1856). On the other hand it admitted that \"by men of cultivated taste M. Ali's talents are fully appreciated and it will be long ere those who have had the pleasure of listening to his performances will forget the sweet but powerful tones of the Turkophone or the duleet melody of the Grand Clarionet and Turkophonini\" (CM 16.10.1856). Ali Ben Sou Alle was assisted by local amateurs who played a number of pieces including two Rossini overtures on the piano; and \"very creditably\" sung Mendelssohn's \"The Fairest Flower\".\n\nThe evening was attended by a \"numerous audience, comprising the beauty and fashion of our Settlement'' (NCH 20.8.1856).\n\n29.9.1856 (Mon)\n\nA second concert by Ali Ben Sou Alle.\n\nNo review was published in the Herald, only an announcement (NCH 27.9.1856).\n\n18.2.1857 (Wedn)\n\nD. BOUCICAULT & C. MATHEWS: \"Used Up\" (1846)\n\nT: Comedietta (2 acts)\n\nJ.M. MORTON: “Box and Cox\" (1847)\n\nT: Farce (1 act)\n\nC: Amateurs\n\nF: Prologue\n\nTh: N.N. (C)\n\n―\n\nR: The season opened both under the new management of \"Peter PROTEUS\" (again: a stage name, Proteus being an old Greek who could assume different shapes, as some actors are able to; also a character from Shakespeare's \"Two Gentlemen of Verona') and with a new theatrical reviewer in the Herald: \"The Man on the Bund\" (for the current season only). And although some months later he was heavily criticized because of some strictures he made about the choice of plays, in general his articles in a highly personal style were a mere continuation of the \"nothing but praise\" attitude that so prevailed. Thus Used Up was \"rendered with unquestionable ability by Mr. Peter Proteus, the manager\" who himself played Sir Charles Coldstream; and Mr. CLAY gave the part of the forlorn, but blunt and honest blacksmith Ironbrace with much skill and effect\". Making her debut Mrs. NESBIT impersonated Lady Clutterbuck: \"One would not have thought that so much deceit could lurk under so smooth and charming a face\". She brought to this part \"not only much cleverness and knowledge of the feminine heart but a very imposing person and decided good looks; and one could not help thinking the baronet might have stumbled upon a less pretty face in his", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211826, "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-1989", "page_number": 241, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "216\n\nR: Nearly five years after his last recital in Shanghai, Martin SIMONSEN returned to the port, this time as a member of \"Mr. Smythe's troupe\". There was also the novelty of a lady singer, Miss Amelia BAILEY, who \"could not fail to render the entertainment attractive even had her voice been less excellent than it is\". This was the last night of a series for which public interest had not been particularly large; only on July 31st had there been an \"excellent house\" and in a reproaching comment, the Herald trusted that the company would \"meet with more uniform support at Hong Kong, the residents of which are reputed more willing to put up with a little heat for the sake of an evening's amusement\". (NCH 1,8,1863).\n\nOctober 1863\n\nOn October 24, the North China Herald informed its readers that \"the Circus Company announced more than a year ago as upon its way to Shanghai has at length arrived and promises to be a valuable means of dispelling the ennui inseparable from winter in China\".\n\n17.10.-23.10.1863\n\nA series of promenade concerts by Miss Amelia Bailey (singing) and Marquis Chisholm (piano), as well as the Rhenish Band.\n\nTH: N.N. (H)\n\n7.11.-13.11.1863\n\nA continuation of the concerts mentioned above.\n\nR: In spite of the meagre support met in Shanghai, the Smythe troupe ventured to return in October after a visit to Nagasaki. This time the concerts were more rewarding - financially, for in November it was noticed that “Miss BAILEY has continued to draw crowded houses\" and that she has no reason to complain of the reception she has met in Shanghai\". (NCH 17.10, 24.10, 14.11.1863).\n\n10.2.1864 (Wedn)\n\nE.B. LYTTON: \"The Lady of Lyons\" (1838)\n\nT: Romantic comedy (5 acts)\n\nC: C.R. Faylor's travelling company\n\nTh: Olympic Theatre (H)\n\nR: The port was honoured by a visit of Mr. FAYLOR's theatrical company in February and May. This was after it had toured Macao (in December 1863; see BGM 14.12.1863) and Hong Kong. There it was highly successful, but the first performance in the Yangtze city was unfortunately a failure in consequence of the ludicrous incompetence of that portion of the company which had been collected in Shanghai and pressed into service. The audience, moreover, was riotous in the extreme and displayed the worst possible taste in exciting themselves to increase the confusion on the stage\" (see also Survey, p. 22). (N.C.H. 13.2.1864).\n\n13.2.1864 (Sat)\n\nC. DANCE: \"Delicate Ground\" (1849)\n\nT: Comic drama (1 act)\n\nC. SELBY: \"A Lady and a Gentleman in a Peculiarly Perplexing Predicament\" (1841)\n\nT: Burletta (1 act)\n\nC: C.R. Faylor's travelling company\n\nTh: Olympic Theatre (H)\n\nR: It is not quite clear how many nights were given by the FAYLOR company. The Herald of February 27 states that **it still continues its performances\", but, in view of what had happened earlier, \"naturally enough has not been patronised by any of the ladies resident in the Settlement\". In May, it turns up again in the pages of the paper. (NCH 27.2.1864).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211832, "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-1989", "page_number": 247, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "222\n\nthe stage properties were unexceptionable\". (NCH 22.10.1864)\n\n15,10-21. 10. 1864\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"Fra Diavolo\" (1858)\n\nT: Burlesque burletta (1 act)\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"The Maid and the Magpie\n\nT: Burlesque burletta (1 act), and other pieces.\n\nC: Lewis A.D.C.\n\nTh: N.N. (I\n\nR: NCH 22,10,1864\n\n17.10.1864 (Mon)\n\nConcert by Mr. Desvachez (violin) and some local amateurs\n\nTh: Shanghai Club\n\nR: Another musical evening was given by Mr. DESVACHEZ in the recently completed Shanghai Club building. On this occasion \"the audience was numerous and seemed to fully appreciate M. DESVACHEZ's musical talents”. (NCH 22.10.1864)\n\n22.10.-28. 10. 1864\n\nH.J. BYRON: \"The Bride of Abydos\" (1858)\n\nT: Burlesque extravaganza (1 act)\n\nN.N.: \"The Lady of Lyons”, (No author mentioned, so it may have been original play by Lytton or the burlesque by H.J. Byron (1868)), and other pieces.\n\nC: Lewis A.D.C.\n\nTh: N.N. (l\n\nR: For some actors of the Lewis troupe the strains of appearing every evening on the stage had become too much, for in the Herald it was \"regretted that in thus making strenuous efforts to afford satisfaction to their audiences, two of the most promising members of the Company have become so severely indisposed as to be unable for some time to appear in public\" (NCH 29.10.1864).\n\n5.11.1864 (Sat) (See: Theatrical Advertisement, No. 10)\n\nAmateur concert in aid of the repair fund of the \"Hongque Free Episcopal Church”, the \"Shanghai Vocal Quartette Club\" and Mr. Marquis Chisholm, piano, Programme:\n\n1. V. BELLINI: \"La Sonnambula\", duet (presumably 'Prendi l'anel ti dono' from act I) arranged for piano and harmonium by David Hermann ENGEL (1816-1877)\n\n2. Sir Henry BISHOP: \"Foresters sound the cheerful horn\" (glee)\n\n3. Marquis CHISHOLM: \"Japanese Fantasia”\n\n4. MULLER: \"Maying\" (sic; quartet)\n\n5. Ballad \"Arleen Aroom”\n\n6. Philipp Friedrich SILCHER (1799-1860): \"The Miller's Daughter” (quartet)\n\n7. G. VERDI: \"Rigoletto\", duet ('E il sol dell' anima', act I; 'Piangi, fanciulla', act I), arranged for piano by John George CALLCOT (1821-1895)\n\n8. Friedrich Wilhelm KÜCKEN (1810-1882): **Soldier's Love\" (glee)\n\n9. Valentin Eduard BECKER (1814-1890); \"Cheer Up Companions” (choral march)\n\n10. RADETSKA: \"There's music in the air\" (quartet)\n\n11. G. DONIZETTI: \"Lucrezia Borgia\", arrangement for flute and piano by JAMES\n\n12. Heinrich WERNER (1800-1833): \"War Song\" (glee)\n\n13. CAXTON: \"Breathe soft, ye winds\"\n\n14. William HORSLEY (and not F. Mendelssohn as stated in the advertisement): **By Celia's Arbour\" (song)\n\n15. Sir Henry BISHOP: \"Sleep gentle lady\" (glee)\n\n16. William Vincent WALLACE (1813-1865): \"Lurine\", duet arranged for piano and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211894, "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-1989", "page_number": 309, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "284\n\nmarvelously well behaved, in fact quite the gentleman, though rather short and stumpy. It was cheering to see fresh faces, although I longed to be on shore and see the country far more.\n\nThe captain was very irritable, and I could see he wanted to have a small row with me about anything that might offer itself. At last he was saying what a pity we were not able to get on shore. Yes, said I, for my part, I should like it if it were only for the sake of going to church. Then he began to blow up about religious people, and swore at me, and got in a fine rage. Being Sunday I kept as quiet as I could and let him have all the talk to himself. I have made up my mind to say as little to him as possible, since he has tried to pick a hole in everything I say. He has tried his hardest to lead me astray as far as possible, and finding it is of no use he begins to hate the sight of me, and I am glad of it; for it must be a very low fellow he could respect.\n\nHowever, we got the anchor weighed about noon, and after tacking about till evening the ship ran right into a reef of rocks on the other side of Amsterdam, and there she stuck, knocking against the rocks, and could not be got off. In my own mind I almost wished the old ship had broken up, for then I should have got clear of her. I watched one of the men while steering, and noticed he was nearly 2 points off his course. I believe the sailors would have been pleased enough to have settled their account with the ship that night and got clear of the awful swearing. Every means were tried, but all of no avail. I sat on deck till past midnight, watching the manoeuvers. Madame came on deck and stayed all the time, as she has always done lately. It was utterly disgusting to hear how she went on, groaning and sighing and making the captain ten times worse than he would otherwise have been. I went below and had a comfortable nap. In the morning we were still sticking there. The ship chandler came off, as also one of his \"outrunners\", or men who go and meet ships to get their patronage.\n\nAt last about noon the ship floated, and off we went. At night we came to a stop, in sight of Batavia. In the morning after breakfast, Capt Moate and myself accompanied the captain on shore. Glad enough was I to get clear of the ship, and see her at a distance, even but for a few days. But vexed enough I was to know that the mail had left on the preceding morning, and that there would not be another mail for 15 days. Yet I console myself by thinking it was not my fault that I could not write earlier.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211902, "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-1989", "page_number": 317, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "292\n\nhas to keep up about a dozen of these servants, for each one only does one thing.\n\nOn Thursday morning weighed anchor. There was scarcely any breeze, and it was only a short distance we made, before we stopped at night. On Friday we were off again, and got a little breeze. About midnight through sheer ignorance and carelessness the ship dashed onto the Aganeiten rocks, and there was a fine crash. The captain was quite paralysed, and did not know what to do. The ship would have doubtless broken up and never been got off; but all at once the wind changed and blew her clean away from danger. Truly a merciful Providence attends us, or we should long ago have gone to the bottom. The captain evinced his gratitude when his fright was over by cursing and swearing worse than before, and bullying the men. In fact the men are continually on the point of mutiny. All I wonder at is that they have not done so before.\n\nWe reached the strait of Banca at last, after several days without wind. As we entered we passed the mail steamer to Batavia, and a Dutch ship aground. We were three days going through, on account of the wind. At night we stopped off another Dutch ship going to Singapore and Hong Kong. In the morning she was off an hour before us. Our masts are not yet only half up, so that in a few hours she was out of sight. The captain does not intend to finish the masts till he gets to Hong Kong, although that was the excuse for going to Batavia.\n\nThe breeze grew a little fresher toward evening, and at night we were going on about five miles an hour. Early in the morning, I heard the cry \"Breakers ahead\", and in another moment came another crash or two, and the ship was dashing on a coral reef. Two large rocks wedged us in, and there we were, expecting to go to pieces since the sea and wind increased and there was no chance of getting off. We were right in the middle of the Toedjoe Islands, which are considered as very dangerous. The captain did not even try to get her off. About noon however with our usual good fortune in difficulties, the water rose about 10 feet, and by sending out an anchor in the ship's pinnace, we drew the ship gradually out of danger, and got clear again. This was celebrated as before by renewed blasphemy.\n\nJuly 25th\n\nWe have now crossed the line, and are less than a thousand miles", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212237, "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-1990", "page_number": 179, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "156\n\nThe Portuguese are in considerable numbers here, since they can generally stand the climate better than the English: Many of them have come from the neighbouring island of Macao which is Portuguese. They are a swarthy indolent looking set. They have a strong Roman Catholic College, which is not far from ours.\" Their undermining influence is very strong. The students, priests and friars, etc., wander about of an evening in their long black dresses. The Catholics are very active.\n\nThe Americans are mostly men of business. The Germans are mostly Lutheran missionaries, and capital fellows they are. The French and Arabs are comparatively few in number. There is an English jail, generally full of sailors: Two of the men from the \"Prince Alfred\" I suppose were put in there. I am going regularly to visit the prisoners, Mr Irwin having wished me to do so to assist him. Then there is the Chinese jail; a wretched place. Every hour or two as I sit here, I hear a long heavy clanking of chains as a great gang of them go past in the road, carrying heavy burdens. They make them work hard on the roads, and the continual sight of them has a salutary effect on the Chinese mind. Yet crime is very common.\n\n14\n\nI come in the next place to speak of the college, and of my domestic arrangements. In my former letter\" I gave a brief description of it, which I will amplify a little. I have just made a miserable sketch, or rather ground plan of the college, just to show within a little the relative positions of each of the parts. I will now ask you to accompany me through the establishment. We enter the gateway, as you see in the plan, and go through the shrubbery. We notice it is thickly planted with trees, and here and there on the grass is a small bed with flowers. There are some gigantic specimens of cactus and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212242, "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-1990", "page_number": 184, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "161\n\nis the loftiest room I was ever an occupant of, being 15 feet high, which is the height of all the rooms upstairs belonging to me.\n\nAThe sea view is very good, though slightly interrupted by trees, which Mr Beach advises to cut down. We now come into the verandah, which has Venetian shutters, or rather doors, which open with a view of the playground, and the whole way up the Peak and surrounding hills. Many fine villas lie around. The villas in the corner of the [ground floor plan] are very fine ones indeed, and are occupied by high families. We can see them very capitally, although they are a good height above. If it were evening by moonlight we could see the dining and drawing rooms of each house well lighted up, and hear the piano, accompanied by some good male and female voices. Sometimes I have to wait half an hour before I can sleep, till they have finished.\n\nAMy bedroom has two large windows opening to the verandah, and one the other side with a sea view. I had the bed newly painted. You will see the mosquito curtain of green gauze, which however I never want to use. There is a capital barometer which I hang up inside the window; about the best I ever saw; so that I can always know the state of the weather and temperature. Over the mantel piece hangs my picture gallery of portraits, before which I spend several odd minutes, and wish often enough I had a great many additions to it, which I expect every mail. There is a mahogany dressing table, which however I do not use, so I cover it with my “deer skin”, and use it as a side board. I forgot to point out the round mahogany table in the parlour. Next allow me to show you my pantry, etc. There are two or three [meat-] safes and cupboards, a dresser, and shelves all round piled up to the top with Chinese books. The other day I had 500 large books put up there out of the way. Here all my provisions are kept, and the food that has been prepared in the kitchen below. Beyond is a spare room, which I can in emergency use as a bedroom. Indeed it was intended for that purpose, but I never want to use it so leave it locked up. Any of my friends who can honour me with a permanent visit shall be made very comfortable there I promise them.\n\n^We now turn the corner, and enter the library, which has large doors opening to the verandah, as well as the opposite end. The breeze in the daytime is generally very refreshing through the room.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216292, "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-2003", "page_number": 51, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "Update of Information\n\nIf you would like to become a member of the Volunteers, please contact the undersigned:-\n\nBob Horsnell (Consultant)\n\nc/o Antiquities & Monuments Office\n\nLeisure & Cultural Services Department 136, Nathan Road\n\nTsimshatsui\n\nKowloon\n\nTel: 2721 2015 (daytime) Fax: 2721 6216 (office)\n\nTel.: 2336 5865 (evening) (home)\n\nE-mail: argyho@netvigator.com", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]