[
    {
        "id": 206236,
        "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-1971",
        "page_number": 53,
        "title": "RAS-1971",
        "content_text": "THE DEBATE ON NATIONAL SALVATION\n\n47\n\nreadily lend except on condition that they should have some voice in the control or management of the enterprise for which the money was to be loaned. Ho Kai was of the opinion that China would scarcely relish such a condition. China would prefer to raise a loan among her own people. This was indeed a better way. He suggested:\n\nNearly every European nation has a national debt in which her people freely invest in spite of the low rate of interest. Why should China not have a national debt also in which her own people can also invest? No reason at all except that before borrowing from her subjects she has first to establish her credit with them, and win their confidence and trust. But does China possess the confidence of her people regarding money matters? I am afraid not. Witness the recent failure in the attempt to raise a small loan by the Canton authorities. One can hardly wonder at this, seeing the great reputation Chinese mandarins have acquired of knowing too well the value of money, and therefore hard to be made to part with any when once placed in their possession. Some Chinese go so far as to fear that if once they deposit their hard-earned capital with the Government, they will never see it again, much less the interest. This is a pity, for I believe there are many wealthy Chinese who could afford to leave with the Government handsome sums on loan at moderate interest.\n\nShould the Government have much difficulty in securing sufficient funds to carry out all the contemplated improvements, they might be forced to leave much to be done by private enterprise. This after all is the best way, as has long ago been found out in other countries. But private enterprise will not be undertaken without much encouragement from and confidence in the Government. The least suspicion of injustice, the remotest fear of underhand dealings and undue interference on the part of the Government, such as the levying of blackmail, the imposition of heavy taxes and the assumption of certain injurious prerogatives, would prove fatal to such undertakings. Will the Chinese Government give us some assurance beforehand?",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 207102,
        "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": 173,
        "title": "RAS-1974",
        "content_text": "LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES\n\n167\n\nmore!\" Seeing that he would persist in his strange philosophy the village elders left him alone.\n\nAnother of his practices was to walk round the market in the evening to where his poorest relations would be hawking fish and pork. When he found any of them had something they couldn't sell he would note down in his pocket-book the price of the thing and ask to have it sent to his house. Quite a lot of food would accumulate in this way so Hei Sui would end up by asking the hawkers themselves to come and dine with him. At the end of the meal he would bring out his note-book and money and insist on paying each hawker for the things he had bought from him. His relations would be much embarrassed and did not like to take his money as besides eating their own produce Hei Sui had given them rice and wine. He would say \"Nothing could be happier than to have so many cousins to dinner every night! If I give a feast I must needs go to the market and buy things, then why should I not buy them from you? If I have guests, why should you not be my guests?\" If his cousins still demurred he would exclaim, \"Alas, I was only able to invite you, and not your families as well. Pray take this money home and buy a feast for them which I ought to have provided myself!\" This sometimes made the more sensitive hawkers very uncomfortable and they would in future avoid Kam T'in and sell their goods in another village.\n\nWhen Hei Sui was fifty-six he died. Two years later a pedlar from Pok Loh (†) district came to Kam T'in one day with a strange story. He said that in his district city a Shing Wong (城隍) (the guardian god of a city wall) temple had been built about two years before and at the opening ceremony of the temple it was found that the characters Tang Lung Man (鄧龍文) had appeared miraculously painted on the bottom corner of the long gown of the idol. Thinking that some mischievous person had put them there, the people tried to rub them off, but the harder they rubbed the clearer the characters showed. Now Tang Lung Man was the \"friendship name\" of Hei Sui, and on asking the date of the opening ceremony his descendants learned that it was on the very day he had died in Kam T'in, so they decided that his spirit must have entered the guardian god of Pok Loh district city. After several years when the time came for his re-burial Hei Sui's heart was found to be quite intact. The people standing round were staring in amazement at this when a strange dog suddenly sprang into the grave and seizing",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210719,
        "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": 70,
        "title": "RAS-1986",
        "content_text": "Date\n\nEvents\n\n1916\n\nAdditional duties\n\n9 May to 30 Sept.\n\n1917\n\n1918\n\nAbsences Salary\n\n£630.0.0\n\n£60.0.0\n\n53\n\n(duty)\n\n$360\n\n(conv. allce)\n\n£630.0.0 $360 (c.a.)\n\n2 months £630.0.0\n\nand\n\n$1,020\n\n29 days\n\n(rental allowance).\n\n1919\n\nIn charge of maintenance of roads 1 Jan. 1919- 31 Dec. 1919\n\n£630.0.0 $180 (c.a.)\n\n1920\n\n1921\n\nIn charge of maintenance of roads until 15 Mar. 1920 Acted 2nd Asst. DPW from 14 Apr. 1920-31 Dec. 1920\n\nADPW (Kln & NT), 1 Jun.\n\n£850.0.0 £120.0.0 (b.p.) $360 (c.a.) $1,356 (rent)\n\nHalf-pay\n\n£1,000.0.0\n\nleave\n\n$360 (c.a.)\n\nfrom\n\n15 Aug.\n\nActing DPW (adm. con.) Half-pay\n\n1922\n\nfrom 27 Nov.\n\n1923\n\nto 16 Dec.\n\nActed DPW from 15 May to 29 Aug. Exco, LegCo and Vice-President of the Sanitary Board.\n\n£1,030.0.0\n\nleave to\n\n$360 (c.a.)\n\n16 Jan.\n\n£1,060.0.0 $360 (c.a.)\n\nHowever, to follow the exact instructions given and to format the text in a more structured and readable way using Markdown (though the final output is requested in HTML, the initial processing can be understood better in Markdown), here is the reformatted text:\n\n# Date | Events\n## 1916 | Additional duties 9 May to 30 Sept.\n## 1917 |\n## 1918 |\n## Absences | Salary\n£630.0.0 | £60.0.0\n53 | (duty)\n$360 | (conv. allce)\n£630.0.0 $360 (c.a.) |\n2 months £630.0.0 and $1,020\n29 days | (rental allowance).\n## 1919 | In charge of maintenance of roads 1 Jan. 1919- 31 Dec. 1919\n£630.0.0 $180 (c.a.) |\n## 1920 |\n## 1921 | In charge of maintenance of roads until 15 Mar. 1920 Acted 2nd Asst. DPW from 14 Apr. 1920-31 Dec. 1920\nADPW (Kln & NT), 1 Jun.\n£850.0.0 £120.0.0 (b.p.) $360 (c.a.) $1,356 (rent)\nHalf-pay | £1,000.0.0 leave $360 (c.a.) from 15 Aug. Acting DPW (adm. con.) Half-pay\n## 1922 | from 27 Nov.\n## 1923 | to 16 Dec. Acted DPW from 15 May to 29 Aug. Exco, LegCo and Vice-President of the Sanitary Board.\n£1,030.0.0 | leave to $360 (c.a.)\n16 Jan. | £1,060.0.0 $360 (c.a.)\n\nAnd the HTML output as per the instructions:\n\nDate | Events\n\n1916 | Additional duties 9 May to 30 Sept.\n\n1917 |\n\n1918 |\n\nAbsences | Salary\n\n£630.0.0 | £60.0.0\n\n53 | (duty)\n\n$360 | (conv. allce)\n\n£630.0.0 $360 (c.a.) |\n\n2 months £630.0.0 and $1,020\n\n29 days | (rental allowance).\n\n1919 | In charge of maintenance of roads 1 Jan. 1919- 31 Dec. 1919\n\n£630.0.0 $180 (c.a.) |\n\n1920 |\n\n1921 | In charge of maintenance of roads until 15 Mar. 1920 Acted 2nd Asst. DPW from 14 Apr. 1920-31 Dec. 1920\n\nADPW (Kln & NT), 1 Jun.\n\n£850.0.0 £120.0.0 (b.p.) $360 (c.a.) $1,356 (rent)\n\nHalf-pay | £1,000.0.0 leave $360 (c.a.) from 15 Aug. Acting DPW (adm. con.) Half-pay\n\n1922 | from 27 Nov.\n\n1923 | to 16 Dec. Acted DPW from 15 May to 29 Aug. Exco, LegCo and Vice-President of the Sanitary Board.\n\n£1,030.0.0 | leave to $360 (c.a.)\n\n16 Jan. | £1,060.0.0 $360 (c.a.)\n\nUpon closer inspection, it appears the text is best represented as a table. Here is the corrected HTML representation:\n\n  \n    Date\n    Events\n  \n  \n    1916\n    Additional duties 9 May to 30 Sept.\n  \n  \n    1917\n    \n  \n  \n    1918\n    \n  \n  \n    Absences\n    Salary\n  \n  \n    £630.0.0\n    £60.0.0\n  \n  \n    53 (duty)\n    $360 (conv. allce)\n  \n  \n    £630.0.0 $360 (c.a.)\n    \n  \n  \n    2 months £630.0.0 and $1,020\n    29 days (rental allowance).\n  \n  \n    1919\n    In charge of maintenance of roads 1 Jan. 1919- 31 Dec. 1919 £630.0.0 $180 (c.a.)\n  \n  \n    1920\n    \n  \n  \n    1921\n    In charge of maintenance of roads until 15 Mar. 1920 Acted 2nd Asst. DPW from 14 Apr. 1920-31 Dec. 1920\nADPW (Kln & NT), 1 Jun.\n£850.0.0 £120.0.0 (b.p.) $360 (c.a.) $1,356 (rent)\n  \n  \n    Half-pay\n    £1,000.0.0 leave $360 (c.a.) from 15 Aug. Acting DPW (adm. con.) Half-pay\n  \n  \n    1922\n    from 27 Nov.\n  \n  \n    1923\n    to 16 Dec. Acted DPW from 15 May to 29 Aug. Exco, LegCo and Vice-President of the Sanitary Board.\n£1,030.0.0 leave to $360 (c.a.)\n16 Jan. £1,060.0.0 $360 (c.a.)\n  \n\nHowever, to strictly follow the given output format which requires the use of `` for paragraphs, the initial HTML representation is more appropriate. The table representation, while more structured, does not adhere to the specified output format. Thus, the initial HTML output is maintained.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 213976,
        "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-1997",
        "page_number": 45,
        "title": "RAS-1997",
        "content_text": "In the developed areas the working party had its own preferences, but diplomatically decided to let higher authority decide on detail. The general intention was to set up what would be known in the conurbations as Municipal Councils or (minor) Urban District Councils (UDC), and elsewhere as District (or Local) Councils. This might, as the Governor-in-Council chose to decide, produce a Municipal Council for Hong Kong Island and a District Council for the non-urban area, with Aberdeen joining either or becoming a separate UDC; one or two Municipal Councils for Kowloon and New Kowloon; a UDC for Tsuen Wan; and no other change for the NT (but possibly three District Councils one day, where currently the DOS Tai Po, Yuen Long and South held sway.) All would be elected from geographical wards, and not from area-wide rating or electoral rolls; and by preference from single-member wards, with one-third retiring by annual rotation. All these Councils could form Joint Committees with each other, and perhaps have a Joint Consultative Council to co-ordinate their relations with Central Government. It was all deliberately tentative: junior officers must not seem to be handing up tablets of stone.\n\nThe possibility of public apathy (already much noticed in relation to the existing Urban Council), and the dangers of encouraging the involvement of external party politics, led to cautious suggestions that in the first instance whatever overseeing body the Government would assign to this field (doubtless a new branch of the secretariat, if not an amalgamation of the SCA and the NTA) might nominate members to leaven the elected majority; a proportion of 1:3, or in the last resort 2:3, was proposed. For the franchise, while considering adult suffrage as a distinct possibility, the prudent recommendation was for all men and women and their spouses over 21 to enjoy the vote who owned, occupied or tenanted property on which rates were paid or of which the rent might be deemed to include a rating element; provided that they had three years' residence, and therefore a stake in the colony, British citizenship would not be required. Councillors should not be paid, to avoid the growth of a profession of politicians, but should be entitled to attendance allowances within a statutory limit to compensate for any loss of earnings; and they should appoint their own chairmen from any quarter.\n\nThe new Councils' potential powers and functions received close examination. From the start it was accepted that Hong Kong's central\n\nPage 45\n\nPage 46",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 213979,
        "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-1997",
        "page_number": 48,
        "title": "RAS-1997",
        "content_text": "13 \n\nreject the offer of a local council which they would democratically control but have to support from their pockets. Rating might have to be extended to the NT: a simplified form had once existed for this, but had been repealed before implementation because of the various oppositions to treating the leased territories as an integral part of Hong Kong — it could be tried again. Division of the rating spoils between Government and local authorities would raise arguments, especially if, as at present appeared, rating revenue exceeded the initial likely expenditure by the new councils. The pros and cons of varied grant-in-aid codes were discussed, including equalisation grants to benefit poorer authorities, general purpose grants, and special grants to stimulate particular activities. The broad suggestion was that since revenues must be assured, easy to levy and collect, flexible and readily understood, rating should be introduced where not already levied (modified in rural areas) and be both fixed and collected by the local authorities; the accruing revenue should be shared between Central Government and Councils, the government share being the first charge; licensing fees, services income, agency fees, investment interest and perhaps gifts & bequests would be additional, and Central Government loans should facilitate capital developments.\n\nThe report sketched possible committee structures, emphasising the desirability of co-option of appropriate experts from outside and the need for proceedings to be conducted in the Chinese language. Initially staff would be seconded from the civil service, with prior consultation on selection for 'key' posts, high calibre would be demanded, and the potential for urban DOs with co-ordinating rôles was glanced at. The psychological and organisational implications for the NTA as the only existing link between Government and the landowners and people of the leased territories, and for the USD which provided services for the Urban Council and in the NT and was the obvious holding unit for staff seconded to new councils, would admittedly be considerable. “Guides, philosophers & friends” would always be desirable, however, and NTA & USD would survive in some form. The effect on the SCA was passed over: its head was ex officio a member of the Governor's Councils, and the constitution was implicitly not to be touched. However the anomaly of one small department claiming to be the sole link with the mass of the people would doubtless, as in other colonies, become transparent.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 213982,
        "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-1997",
        "page_number": 51,
        "title": "RAS-1997",
        "content_text": "the Social Welfare Department), co-ordinated by regional generalist officers comparable with NT DOs, leading to advisory Regional Councils which might eventually become the main report's Local Authorities. They pointed up more outspokenly than the emollient main report the shortcomings of an out-of-touch government administering a non-English-speaking population that was only too open to misunderstandings and misconceptions (such as that taxes levied were drained off to the UK Treasury.) Interim steps should concentrate strongly on building up public confidence in the unaccustomed principles and practice of popular elected representation (the ‘political education' mentioned above.) The provisional system of regional advisory councils, coupled with departmental decentralisation and administrative co-ordination, should then lead to full local authorities in about six years. Meanwhile Tsuen Wan was indeed a unique opportunity for immediate action (the new towns to come of Tuen Mun, Sha Tin, Tai Po et al had yet to be envisaged.) These three semi-dissenters did not co-ordinate their Note with the other.\n\nDickinson has been described by one of his working party as “the least understood and worst treated member of the Cadet Service\" (the original title of Hong Kong's Administrative Branch of the HMOCS, which survived in common parlance long after the absorption into the Colonial Service of the pre-war Eastern Cadetships.) He chose to retire early for personal reasons. It is ironic that in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution overspill, when special duties officers in the defence branch of the secretariat, the SCA and the Information Services Department became so active in devising new ways to win hearts and minds, to keep in touch with the people and to encourage the use of Chinese language, so much of what had been adumbrated in the Working Party Report re-appeared; but because the new ideas now came from well-established senior sources, they became respectable and it was to be long before they offered electoral participation in executive decisions. The SCA became the Secretariat for Home Affairs; City District Officers were created in ten urban districts, and found much to do that had not been done before; City District Committees were established in 1972; a Tsuen Wan District Advisory Board was at last set up in 1977, followed by others; in 1980 a new pattern for district administration was at last suggested, with direct elections to District Boards. But in all these and still later developments that affect present history, there was no official backward recognition that the ground",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 215840,
        "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-2002",
        "page_number": 139,
        "title": "RAS-2002",
        "content_text": "72\n\naltars erected within the enclosure. On more social occasions, especially among the kaifong associations, it was also usual (and tedious for those present) to invite principal guests to speak: some orators did not need a second invitation!\n\nOwing to its super-glossy surface, this particular card does not reproduce well, nor does its successor for the 1985 Ta Chiu. I have therefore used the invitation card for the similar event at Shatin, held also in 1985 to indicate type and content (Plates 2-5).2\n\nAlthough the majority of invitation cards were printed, some were still being hand-written in black Chinese ink using a brush (Plate 6), and even on the printed ones, the recipients' names and ranks were usually added by brush rather than by fountain pen or biro (Plate 2). Owing to their intrinsic interest, and the fact that most were destined for the wastepaper basket, I kept many of those I received, and sent specimens to library collections as ephemera, literary productions of a fleeting kind. The Hong Kong Collection at the University of Hong Kong has, or should have, them in its holdings today.\n\nAt the scene\n\nInvariably, there would be some indication on site of the event being celebrated. Decorated archways and banners raised on bamboo scaffolding (pai lau), and/or floral tributes (fa pai), were the norm, and very colourful and ingenious they sometimes were, too. They were the work of skilled artisans, but their wording had to be supplied by the host body.\n\nHere are a few examples. The elaborate archway erected at the entrance to the ground used for the Ta Chiu at Kam Tin in 1985 features in Plate 7. The floral banner erected to mark the District Commissioner, NT's ceremonial opening of a newly completed local public works concrete track on Cheung Chau Peak in 1960 is shown in Plate 8, whilst the subject of Plate 9 is one of the large floral tributes made to honour a new chairman and his two vice-chairmen of the Tsuen Wan Rural Committee, which, along with others, was set up outside the restaurant\n\n1 I must apologize for the high family content of the illustrations, the selection being made, of necessity, from our own photographs and memorabilia, from my wife's and my own service in the relevant departments.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278",
        "rank": 0
    }
]