[ { "id": 206772, "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-1973", "page_number": 49, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "The Kam Tin Gates\n\n43\n\ncomposite whole, was put forward so convincingly that it carried the vote. And so the work was completed just in time for the ceremony of re-opening.\n\nThus, on May 26, 1925, Governor Sir Reginald E. Stubbs and his entourage arrived at Kam Tin for the ceremonial return of the revered gates. They were greeted by a Chinese salute of small guns and firecrackers and were presented with an Address which stated: \"We shall always now remember, how when your royal chair did pass, children and women left all the lanes deserted to come to bid you welcome, and when your car of state did stop, the neighbourhood was filled with joy\"16 There were \"expressions of goodwill and loyalty heard on all hands\"17, and the Government congratulated itself on a fine public relations exercise.\n\nIs there anything in this episode which gives it more than a mere antiquarian interest? Perhaps it illustrates the increasing readiness of the Hong Kong Government to accommodate the wishes of the local population; certainly, Governor Stubbs intended to impress upon the Kam Tin villagers his Government's munificence. He had gone to a good deal of trouble to ensure the gates' return, and the whole operation was paid for out of public funds. The Hong Kong Telegraph commented that \"there has perhaps been no incident in the whole history of Hongkong and of the New Territories which has more eloquently and genuinely revealed the Government's friendly feeling and sympathy towards the Chinese of the New Territories\"18. Yet within a month the anti-British strike and boycott of 1925-26 had commenced, and relations with the local Chinese thence rapidly deteriorated. One can also detect in Stewart Lockhart's Papers the Special Commissioner's disapproval of Blake's appropriation of the gates. The Governor and his deputy were at odds on several matters relating to the early administration of the New Territories, and there is evidence that differences of opinion regarding policy occasioned some personal animosity. Perhaps the episode of the gates from Kam Tin was a contributing factor.\n\nNOTES\n\n1 And to correct them. According to a translation deposited in the Colonial Secretariat Library, Hong Kong, the Kam Tin villagers offered resistance to the British in 1899 because the Ch'ing Government had not previously proclaimed the fact of the New Territories lease. This is false, for a proclamation had been issued by the San On Magistrate.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207104, "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": 175, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES\n\n169\n\nSouth and North of this country; later, when the number of descendants became very many, we lived apart in the two waais T'aai Hong and Kat Hing; round both of these waais were built tall walls and deep ditches were dug round them. We think that the idea of doing this by our ancestors, was to protect our houses and guard them against robbers only. When during the 25th year of Kwong Sui of Ts'ing dynasty, on Kei Hoi year, i.e. A.D. 1899, the Government of Ts'ing leased the South part of Sham Chan to the British Government, in that time, the Ts'ing Government did not inform the people of this beforehand, so when the British army arrived, the ignorant people of the country were inflamed by some persons and arose to resist them, the people of our waais being afraid to be disturbed, in order to avoid them they shut the iron gates firmly. The British army suspecting that bad characters were hiding inside, then assaulted and made the gates open. After they went into the Waai, they understood that the people inside were all good men and women, so did not give them any bad treatment, but just had the iron gates taken away. Now, the 26th descendant, Paak Kau, represented the people of these waais to petition the Hong Kong Government, asking the Government to bring the matter before London, and have the iron gates returned, and re-hung as before. All the expenses were paid by the Hong Kong Government. We also thank H.E. the Governor, Sir Edward Stubbs for his presence at the ceremony; from this can be seen the deep kindness and great virtue of the British Government, and shows that our people are pleased and sincerely submitted, therefore we specially carve the above on the tablet, in order to remember and never forget this kindness.\n\nGreat Britain, May, 26th, 1925\n\nChinese Republic 14th year, on Yuet Hoi year the \"yuen\" 4th month, 5th, the lucky day.\n\nwe carved.'\n\nAnother ancient wall in the South district is Naam T'eng (†4) where the silver came to and where Tang Naam had his house. It is to be found to the South of Kat Hing Wai, but no houses are left inside. The North district, Pak Wai, has two villages, Shui T'au (\"The head of the stream\") and Shui Mei ( ) “the end of the stream,\" Tang K'ei Fong ( ) and Tang K'ei Wah ( ) both from T'aai Hong Tsuen were the first persons who lived in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208127, "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": 166, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "150 \n\nW. SCHOFIELD\n\nmorning visiting Nei Kwu Chau to discuss the problem of their fifteen children. They had been taught by a private teacher in the ancestral temple: but he had left, and the Education Department were asked to find someone to replace him. They had replied that the children would have to go to Cheung Chau, thus raising in an acute form the problem common in villages all over England to-day. Few if any teachers would volunteer to teach fifteen children in so poor an island as Nei Kwu Chau in those days. The problem of providing one was then found insoluble, and as the only means of transport to Cheung Chau was by junk or sampan, I fear the rate of literacy on Nei Kwu Chau must have declined badly.\n\nAnother event which affected life in Cheung Chau in 1925-6 was the change of Governor in November 1925, during the great Communist-inspired but mainly Nationalist strike which started in June that year. Sir C. Clementi increased the D. O. South's public works vote from the absurdly small figure of $400 to $1000 or more. This made it possible to repave some of the chief streets of the village with granite blocks set in concrete, which cost about $800. He also paid a State visit to the island in the summer of 1926. Flags and decorations were put up, and practically all the proceedings were in Chinese, including a lengthy prepared speech by H.E., written out in characters by (I believe) Mr. Sung Hok Pang. He walked through the main streets, keeping up conversation with the Kaifongs, and showing that despite a long absence in British Guiana and elsewhere his Chinese scholarship had undergone no observable decline. The chief impression of the day that remained with me was the heat!\n\nWhile I was District Officer South I attended two other functions of importance, both in the Northern district. In 1925 the Government had had the imagination and sympathy to restore to the Tang clan the village gates of Kam Tin, removed in 1899 because of the clan's opposition to the original leasing of the New Territory and taken, as I heard, to Sir Henry Blake's estate in Ireland. The ceremony of reopening the restored gates took place in May, just before the big Strike began: its central point was to be the opening of the gates to admit H.E. Sir R. Stubbs. As he rose up from his seat the local band struck up, and this so startled a small pig rooting in the moat that he fled for shelter over the causeway to his sty in the village, just getting ahead of H.E. and bursting through the gates! The reward for the Government's attitude was seen in the autumn", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209216, "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-1981", "page_number": 119, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920's 105\n\nChamber of Commerce, Secretary of Chamber for many years. Managing Director of Kwong Man Loong Firecracker Co. Tse Ka-po, also known as Simon Tse Yan (\n\n—\n\n1966), son of compradore of Banco Ultramarino, Macao. Established Po Kee Shipping Co. Compradore for Nippon Yusen Kaisha. A Roman Catholic. Son-in-law of Mr. Ho Kom-tong, a brother of Sir Robert Ho Tung.\n\nWong Ping-suen (1873 - 1942), member of a wealthy land-owning, merchant-compradore Hong Kong family. Compradore of Mackintosh, Mackenzie and Co., and P. & O. Steamship Co. Tong Shau Shan, manager of the San Tak Hing Lok firm on Des Voeux Road.\n\nAfter much hedging for a number of years, the Colonial Office determined to push the Hong Kong Government into drafting a bill for the abolition of the mui tsai system. The concerted efforts of concerned groups in England and the Anti Mui Tsai Society in Hong Kong were producing results. The Secretary of State minuted a despatch on March 21, 1922 instructing his under secretary that in writing to the Governor of Hong Kong, “A fairly full answer should be drafted explaining the difficulties, but making it clear that the abolition is going to be carried into effect. There is to be no nonsense about it and no sham. One year would be a reasonable time to allow”.\n\n10\n\nThe Governor was not happy with these instructions, particularly after the Chinese he depended on for advice raised strong objections to passage of the Bill. He felt himself threatened. The Colonial Office had not been altogether satisfied with his handling of the Seamen's strike earlier in the year, and now it appeared they were repudiating the position he had promoted that it was not wise to radically change the mui tsai system. The best policy, in his opinion, was to advocate the correction of certain abuses and this could well be left in the hands of the elite Chinese establishment in Hong Kong.\n\nGovernor Stubbs took a very serious view of the implications of the opposition to the Ordinance. In a letter to a Colonial Office official in September 1922, while on leave, he said:\n\nIt means that the Chinese for the first time are setting themselves against the Government. That is the beginning of the end. I told you the other day I believed we should hold Hong Kong for another fifty. I put it now at twenty at the most.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209217, "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-1981", "page_number": 120, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "106\n\nCARL T SMITH\n\nHis trusted allies had turned against him.\n\nIn his communications with the Colonial Office he was strangely silent about the support for the Bill by the Anti Mui Tsai Society and the labour unions. It seemed to be on the opinion that the only views of Chinese to be taken seriously were those of his long-time advisers, and now they were deserting him. One of the Colonial Office administrations minuted a letter from Governor Stubbs:\n\nIt seems to me the advice we have received on the general question of mui tsai has been throughout faulty and incorrect and in certain respects misleading. It seems also the Hong Kong Government does not desire to press the Secretary of State's reform on the Chinese.12\n\nOn December 23, 1922 the Mui Tsai Bill was gazetted, and on December 28 it received its first reading in the Legislative Council as \"An Ordinance to regulate certain forms of domestic service\".\n\nThe Editor of the Daily Press, a strong advocate of abolition, felt the remarks of the Attorney General in introducing the Bill reflected the reluctance of the Hong Kong Government to implement the instructions of the Colonial Office:\n\nThe Attorney General in introducing the Mui Tsai Bill can hardly be said to have shown... fully sympathy with the object of the Bill... The attitude of the local Government to agitation for abolition has been hostile all along,13\n\n13\n\nChinese Chamber of Commerce Meeting – January 1923\n\nThe members of the Protection Society had second thoughts about the approval given by four of their representatives on the joint committee to assist in drafting a bill (three did not sign the agreement). An extraordinary meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held early in January to air reservations about the proposed Ordinance. Mr. Li Po-kwai (1871-1963), a wealthy property owner, presided. Among the members in attendance the following were named:\n\nThe two Chinese Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council, the Hon. Mr. Chow Shou-son and the Hon. Mr. Ng Hon-tsz\n\nMr. Ho Fook, a former member of the Legislative Council\n\nLo Chueng-shiu, a compradore of Jardines and brother-in-law of Ho Fook\n\nHis son Mr. M. K. Lo (later Sir Man-kam Lo), a solicitor and\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210201, "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": 172, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "151\n\nHong Kong authorities saw no need to take active steps to improve the situation.\n\nParliamentary pressure over social hygiene in Hong Kong largely lapsed after 1894 once the legal framework for the licensing of prostitutes and the registration of brothels had been repealed by the Legislative Council and thereafter Hong Kong was left free to set up its new extra-legal system of control without further interference from London. But after the end of the First World War agitation on the subject revived. The League of Nations appointed an Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Women and Children which published reports highlighting the connections between state regulation of prostitution and the procurement of women. The first warning to Hong Kong of the revival of concern in Britain was the arrival in the colony in 1921 of a Commission from the National Council for Combating Venereal Disease which had been sent out to report on conditions in the Far Eastern Colonies. The Governor, Sir Edward Stubbs, had objected to any such visit and forbade government officials to give the commissioners any assistance; he also informed them when they arrived that they were not to hold any public meetings or advertise their presence in the press. In spite of this studied discourtesy the commissioners, Mrs. Neville-Rolfe and Dr. Hallam, set out upon a thorough exploration of the seedier areas of the city and various medical institutions, and were able to make contact with some business and religious groups and with some of the leading Chinese. On their return to London they submitted a scathing report to the Colonial Office on medical and social conditions. According to the commissioners, no serious attempt had been made by the government to improve the standard of health of the native population in 85 years of British rule; the infant mortality figures were disgraceful; the Tung Wah hospital was very dirty and badly equipped; the Po Leung Kuk, a place of refuge for Chinese girls, was largely used as a recruiting ground for cheap supplementary wives by members of the committee. The Colonial Office was given its first description of the working of the system of tolerated brothels, which Mrs. Neville-Rolfe dismissed as ineffective in preventing the kidnapping of girls into brothel slavery; on the contrary it was alleged that the artificial value put on the Chinese girl by the system of recognised brothels is the main inducement to the kidnappers.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210202, "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": 173, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "152\n\nR.J. MINERS\n\n28\n\nThis report was sent to Hong Kong for comment; a committee was appointed by the Governor which naturally refuted the more extreme of Mrs. Neville-Rolfe's strictures, and disagreed with her recommendations. Correspondence between the Governor and the Colonial Office on the matter continued for several years. Stubbs strongly supported the established system of regulation and the only suggestion that he was prepared to implement was the provision of free outpatient treatment for venereal diseases at the government hospital. Meanwhile in London the National Council for Combating Venereal Disease and other women's organizations continued to badger the Colonial Office to put pressure on Hong Kong, and the report by Mrs. Neville-Rolfe and Dr. Hallam provided a fine source of material for questions in the House of Commons, particularly from a small group of newly elected women M.P.s, led by Viscountess Astor.\n\nThe main focus of parliamentary attention, however, was not on Hong Kong but Singapore. The government of the Straits Settlements had repealed its contagious diseases legislation in 1894 at the same time as Hong Kong and had set up a similar extra-legal system of tolerated houses. As in Hong Kong, newly arrived prostitutes were interviewed by the staff of the Chinese Protectorate, lists of known brothels and their inmates were maintained and brothel mistresses arranged for their girls to be inspected by private doctors under the implicit threat of the closure of their premises. But this system of control had become less effective and comprehensive by the 1920s. All European prostitutes had been deported in 1916 as a wartime measure, and the Japanese brothels had been closed and their inmates repatriated to Japan at the instance of the Japanese consul-general in 1919. Their clientele then turned to the growing number of sly brothels staffed by Chinese and Malay women who were not subject to any form of control and who were, it was alleged, normally infected with disease. This led to a rapid increase in venereal disease among both the European and Chinese population. Exact figures were not available but various doctors estimated the incidence at between 50 and 75 per cent among the local Chinese and possibly at as high a ratio among the Europeans. In 1923 the Governor appointed a small expert committee of medical men to investigate the problem. After painting a grim picture of the situation the committee", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212333, "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": 275, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "252\n\n'Mountain Lodge', the Governor's summer residence. Smith was convinced the Peak Tram had a future.\n\nThe original promoters included F.B. Johnson of Britain, F.D. Sassoon of Hong Kong, C.V. Smith of Shanghai, and W.K. Hughes of Hong Kong. Capital for the new company amounted to $125,000 in $100 shares. Construction began in September 1885, when 30 to 40 families customarily spent their summers on the Peak. The Peak Hotel was opened in 1873.\n\nThe Peak Tram consulting committee included Phineas Ryrie, Findlay Smith, A. McIver, J.B. Coughtrie, and McEwen and Company. The project was completed and opened on 30th May 1888. The original tram had 30 seats, the front two of which were reserved for the Governor until two minutes before departure. The steepest gradient is one in two, at May Road, and the original steam engines were not replaced by an electrically powered system until 1926. The ten-minute journey on the cable car provided the only mechanical form of transportation to the 1305-foot high Victoria Gap until Stubbs Road was completed in 1924.\n\nIn 1905, the original firm was sold to the newly-incorporated Peak Tramways Company which included entrepreneurs such as Sir Paul Chater, H.N. Mody (Mody Road is named after this Parsee merchant), Abraham Jacob Raymond, Charles Wedderburn Dixon, and Creasy Ewens. The Kadoorie family has been connected with the Tramway since 1905.\n\nTrams and trains\n\nIn spite of the original 1883 Ordinance, mentioned above, the tramway scheme along the North shore of Hong Kong Island was delayed. It finally opened in 1904. In those early years, trams were a prestige form of travel.\n\nSimilarly, although Jardine's and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank formed a company in 1898, which was granted rights to build a railway from Kowloon to Canton, construction did not begin until 1906 and was undertaken, in the event, by Government. The British section was completed in 1910. By October 1911, the railway opened for through traffic to Canton.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214391, "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": 249, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "215\n\nthy Murphy was seconded from the Police to take charge of the twenty-three detectives in the District Watch Force. The official report of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs for that year enthusiastically noted that 'His work at once had the effect of inspiring the men to greater energy and of fostering co-operation with the Regular detectives' and 'A marked improvement in this department may confidently be expected under the new system.' In 1919 Sergeant Murphy, a Cantonese speaker, had sixteen years experience in the Hong Kong Police. The following year Murphy was promoted to sub-Inspector but despite his promotion he remained with the District Watch Force until January 1922 by which time he had attained the rank of Inspector. Of course detectives had existed in the District Watch Force before 1918. As early as 1894 a single detective appeared in the Registrar General's Annual Report. In 1910 the annual bill for allowances to 'Chief District Watchmen and detectives' amounted to $514 but it was not until 1911 that detectives' wages were listed as a separate item amounting to $1,212.\n\nTroubled Times\n\nIn 1922 the colony reeled from the disruption caused by a massive seamen's strike which spread to involve Chinese men and women in other occupations including the Governor's own domestic servants. The Governor, Sir Reginald Stubbs, commissioned Mr A.G.M. Fletcher, CBE, to investigate the background of the strike and to determine why the intimidation tactics of the strikers had been so successful. The resulting report together with a long covering letter from the Governor were forwarded to the Secretary of State in mid-March 1922. Stubbs was highly critical of the leading members of the Chinese community including members of the District Watch Committee who, he claimed, had not been of the 'slightest use' in either 'calming the fears of the ignorant populace' or obtaining information which would have enabled the Government to deal with intimidation. It was Stubbs' opinion that the information departments of both the Police and the Secretary for Chinese Affairs should be 'drastically reorganized.'20 Fletcher had harsh words for the District Watchmen and considered them to be 'entirely useless' when it came to collecting information about the causes of intimidation since the Watchmen 'must have had the amplest evidence available.' Whilst agreeing with Fletcher in principle, Stubbs downplayed the deficiencies of the Watchmen citing their lowly status as a probable reason for their poor performance. Given the critical tone", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "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 } ]