[ { "id": 204743, "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-1964", "page_number": 46, "title": "RAS-1964", "content_text": "JOURNAL OF OCCURRANCES AT CANTON\n\n35\n\nare the vessels of war who could alone defend the place. But it is doubtful if Mr. Commissioner will allow matters to get to such a length. If they do, the Governor of Macao intends to defend it to the last extremity. He has ordered all the inhabitants between the ages of 15 and 50 to hold themselves in readiness to be called upon to carry arms.\n\nWe hear of three more vessels from the east coast, the Corsair, Amelia, and Anna. There are yet there the Lord Amherst, Henry Clay, and Lady Hayes.\n\nLetters from Chumpee to the 30th have been received. 13,800 chests were delivered and no more vessels were there but the Lady Grant and Mahmoodie were in sight in their way up. It is said they have on board near 200 chests and when they are discharged we shall see if the Commissioner intends to break his word again. Weather rainy; have not had a fine day these ten days past and it is very cold for this season of the year, thermometer at 60° to 63°. Wrote to Captain Gilman and Mr. Sturgis at Macao gave the letter to the Compradore to be forwarded.\n\nSunday, 5 May 1839\n\nSome of us at last to be released but 16 foreigners are to be detained in Canton till the opium business is all settled. Under certain restrictions and surveillance any foreigner except 16 can leave Canton. This is by permission received yesterday from the Commissioner. Ships at Whampoa can be loaded and unloaded and leave Whampoa, but no ship can come in.\n\nIn the morning the Kwang Chow Foo, the Chung Hup and the Kwang Hup with attendants on horseback rode into the Square and to the Point and ordered all the military guard to withdraw from the boats, and the boats to break up the line of circumvallation with which we have been surrounded six weeks this day.\n\nThe Hong coolies also broke up their encampment on the edge of the walk and retired from below the Company's arch leaving however 70 who have stationed themselves in the middle of the Square to guard the 16 foreigners and prevent their escape. The Hong merchants have also retired from beneath the Company's verandah and things begin to look as before. No ships boats can go to or come from Whampoa yet, neither can our pleasure boats be allowed to be put into the water. But licenced passage boats are permitted to go daily as before with passengers.\n\nIn the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1964.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205052, "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-1966", "page_number": 8, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "May 24\n\nJune 21\n\nSeptember 27\n\nOctober 25\n\nNovember 22\n\nProfessor C. D. Cowan\n\nA Chronicler of Traditional Malay Society: the unpublished journals of Sir Frank Swettenham 1874-76\n\nColour Films\n\n\"Mekong\" (by courtesy of Shell Company of Hong Kong Ltd.)\n\n\"Mount Kinabalu\" (North Borneo)\n\n(by courtesy of the British Council)\n\nMr. leuan Hughes\n\nLL\n\nRecent Visit to China\n\nDr. J. R. Jones\n\n++\n\nW\n\nGiuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) Italian Artist and Architect in the Court of Ch'ien-lung\n\nSir Lindsay Ride\n\nAn Introduction to Macau\"\n\nDecember 5 Macau Tour\n\nThe Journal continues to maintain its high standard both of interest and scholarship. Our thanks are due to Mr. Uhalley and his Editorial Board for their good work in bringing out Volume V after it had been delayed owing to the editorial changes last year. Volume VI is well under way and may be expected by the autumn.\n\nOur library continues to grow. Mr. F. A. Nixon was generous again and presented two rare and valuable books, and soon we shall have the books for which The Asia Foundation made a grant of $2,850 last year. It is unfortunate that we do not yet have a room of our own in which we can house our accumulation of books and where they can be consulted and studied. Our library is at present housed in the Hong Kong University in the care of our Hon. Librarian Mr. H. A. Rydings.\n\nDuring the last six years the Council has undergone few changes. Last year we lost Dr. W. C. G. Knowles who with Mrs. Knowles had been one of the Society's firmest and most loyal supporters from the outset. When he retired last July his place on the Council was filled by Mr. Kenneth W. Robinson who", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205964, "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-1970", "page_number": 44, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "HONG KONG CADETS, 1862 - 1941\n\n39\n\nwhere the need was pressing; for often the courts could not sit at all for want of interpreters and as frequently had to adjourn owing to incorrect interpretation. Sir Hercules' plan was that 'the cadets should be under 20 years of age; that they should be chosen from any of the Colleges, and not from King's College alone, as at present in the consular service.........on arriving in China, they would have teachers provided for them; when competent, as they might be in three years.........they should be considered preferable (after a further two years of experience in administration) to any office in the Civil Service that did not involve a professional training.\" The Council liked the scheme and the Secretary of State gave his approval. Regulations governing the cadetships were then published in the Government Gazette on 12 October 1861. The Regulations stipulated that 'at the end of two years' study or as soon afterwards as they shall be declared qualified by a Board of Competent Examiners, the first three Cadets shall be appointed Government Interpreters, and be employed in such of the departments as may require their services (and that) after three years' service they will be considered eligible by the Secretary of State for promotion to the higher offices in the Civil Service of Hong Kong. As it turned out, the first three cadets never held the position of interpreter. They were in such demand and were promoted so swiftly to substantive posts that their promotion was a de facto violation of the published regulations.\n\nThe first three cadets were appointed in 1862 and arrived in Hong Kong late that year. They were M. S. Tonnochy,12 W. M. Deane13 and Cecil Clementi Smith.14 There were further appointments in 1865 — Alfred Lister,15 James Russell,16 and R. G. Starkey, but the last resigned within a year and joined the North China Insurance Company. H. E. Wodehouse17 was appointed in 1867 and J. H. Stewart Lockhart18 in 1879, after an interregnum of 12 years during which the scheme was in abeyance. Only 14 cadets were appointed during the rest of the century, among them Francis Henry May19 (1881), Reginald Fleming Johnston20 (1898), and Cecil Clementi (1899), all of whom were to distinguish themselves at a later date.\n\nThe early cadets had meteoric careers. They all received acting posts before their period of study was up. Smith became", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206288, "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": 105, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n99\n\nOn the 1859 contribution list for Chinese textbooks he appears under his usual name, Leong On.\n\nIn 1876 the London Missionary Society wished to raise funds for a proposed school in Wanchai. The Rev. Mr. Eitel called a meeting of the leading Chinese compradores to present his Society's plans and enlist their financial support. However, he encountered the opposition of Leung On at the meeting. Eitel wrote to Mission Directors in London,\n\nI explained the whole subject, especially dwelling on the point that as soon as our native church is able to provide for all the expenses connected with the chapel it shall be handed over to the native church, and that I intended to insert the same stipulation in the deed for the school building. Unfortunately there\n\na very loquacious compradore present, who lately at an interview with the Governor made himself notorious by his narrow self-conceit, a Mr. Leung On, compradore to Gibb, Livingston and Company. He proposed that we should teach the boys no religion but confine ourselves to exclusively secular teachings. When I positively declined doing any such thing, he coolly proposed that I should hand over the piece of ground to him, saying he would build the school himself and keep it going if the Bible and Christian books were excluded. Of course, I declined this proposal, and stuck to my own plans.35\n\nIt is not surprising that Rev. Mr. Eitel does not mention Leung On as one of the contributors to the school fund, though he quickly raised $585 from other compradores and felt confident that the amount could be increased to $2,500 with more extensive solicitations.\n\nIn 1883 Leung On encountered business reverses and the court appointed Trustees to administer his bankrupt estate. He died in 1890 at Canton, leaving an estimated estate in Hong Kong of $20,000. His son and his grandson succeeded to his position as compradore for Gibb, Livingston and Company, the latter dying in 1962; thus the Leung family served the company for well over a century.\n\nPage 105\n\nPage 106", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206362, "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": 179, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "HISTORY OF MILITARY VOLUNTEERS IN H.K.\n\n163\n\nfor defence and internal security purposes. This Ordinance was similar to that introduced in Britain in the early post-war years, and was equally unpopular. It was suspended in 1961, having outlasted the British one by two years. Thereafter the Force reverted to Volunteers. Apart from retaining one infantry company and a Home Guard Company, the former infantry organisation was discontinued and the Hong Kong Regiment was reorganised as a reconnaissance unit with internal security duties, companies converting to squadrons, one of them later equipped with armoured cars.\n\nVOLUNTEER PERSONNEL\n\nWho were the Volunteers during this hundred years and more of service? Generally speaking they were mostly Europeans up to the establishment of Chinese companies in 1937-38, since when Chinese have played an increasingly important part in the manning of the Volunteer Force. The names of the famous Ninety-Nine who signed the Colonial Secretary's circular on 30th May 1854 show a predominantly British group with some Portuguese, Germans and Scandinavians.\nBy 21st June following their number had risen to 127 comprising 92 British, 4 Danes and Swedes, 8 Germans, 16 Portuguese, 1 Italian, 1 Frenchman and individuals from 5 other countries. This mixture was representative of the polyglot foreign population of the time. It has been a feature of Volunteer life in the early and later periods, though not in the middle years from 1893. The Ordinance of 1862 made it easy for persons who were not British subjects to join. Volunteers needed only to be \"such and so many of the Inhabitants of Hongkong as shall volunteer and offer themselves, and as His Excellency the Governor shall approve of\" (Clause 1). Neither did the Rules and Regulations approved on 14th May 1862 make any stipulations about nationality. Christians and non-Christians alike were acceptable and could make either an oath or declaration of allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria and of faithful service during the term of enrolment (Clause VIII). There then came a change. Whilst the 1893 Ordinance, though being more specific in many things, still said nothing to exclude\n\n37 Vol, 1954, p. 21\n\n38 Vol, 1954, p. 20.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206484, "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-1972", "page_number": 32, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "26\n\nP. H. COLLIN\n\nMajor George Augustus Schomberg was then aged 36, and in command of the artillery company which accompanied the Royal Marine battalions. After staying at the Bogue for some days, the attacking forces moved up towards Canton. The authors of The Royal Marine Artillery, 1804-1923 give the general plan of attack: “It was arranged that the ships should bombard the city on its river front, in conjunction with a bombardment by a battery of heavy mortars, in charge of the marine artillery, which was placed in position on December 24th and 25th on Dutch Folly Island, opposite the southwest front of the city. Under cover of the bombardment the military and naval brigades were to land to the east of Canton and carry by escalade the eastern wall of the city. The First Brigade comprised the two Marine battalions and was led by Colonel Holloway. The mortar battery on Dutch Folly Island was manned by the Royal Marine Artillery Company, under Major Schomberg.”\n\nThe bombardment at first proceeded according to plan, though Wingrove Cooke suggests that Schomberg's battery had difficulty in finding the range of Gough's Fort which was over 4000 yards away, on the other side of the city. After the successful landing of the troops, relates the Royal Marine Artillery history, \"Major Schomberg's gunners, whose task it was to clear the way for the assailants at the point of escalade, began shelling the eastern wall between the two gates, firing across the city, at daylight. They kept up their bombardment until the moment fixed for the assault, just before nine o'clock; until, indeed, after the first scaling ladder parties had reached the walls and the foremost of the stormers had mounted to the ramparts. Major Schomberg was watching with his glass from a crow's nest above the battery, a signaller beside him, but, in spite of that, some of the leading men of the stormers, who had swarmed up the ladders too impetuously and got in advance, were hit by pieces of shell before their presence on the ramparts could be made out from Dutch Folly Island.”\n\nDetails of the casualties occasioned in this incident vary according to the source of information. Cooke simply states that \"the men had been brought up so near the walls, that the shells from our ships were falling among them\", while Fisher says \"the French escaladed on our left, but advanced to the attack a few minutes before the time agreed upon, an act of impatience which caused", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206670, "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-1972", "page_number": 218, "title": "RAS-1972", "content_text": "212\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nwith offices, belonging to Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, whose Chinese style, Tai Ku (★‡) 'Great and Ancient', gave rise to the name, Tai Ku Lau (= House) by which it was known to local Chinese. Its proper name was \"Clanmore\".† It was not a healthy site, probably the reason why the Company decided to sell the property. Father Trivière writes:\n\nThe Fathers, upon arrival, had taken measures to improve sanitation. These included general hygiene, drainage, the felling of trees, the cutting back of bush, the planting of eucalyptus and camphor trees, thanks to which an improvement in the situation was expected, bringing with it the gradual disappearance of malaria. Unfortunately, things turned out otherwise. The French fathers were not successful in driving out malaria. It was, in fact, malaria which drove them out.\n\nThe original house is no longer to be seen, but we shall walk round the site.\n\nAt this point, I had hoped to show Members the fine waterfalls inside the Dairy Farm property opposite Tai Ku Lau, but the Company regrets that it is unable to grant entry because of restriction imposed as part of measures against animal disease.\n\nWe shall return to the buses for the Wah Fu Estate (Hong Kong Housing Authority; 56,000 persons) and the Hong Kong Waterfall. This is featured in G. R. Sayer's book, Hong Kong: Birth, Adolescence & Coming of Age, published by Oxford in 1937. Sayer was a Hong Kong Administrative Cadet Officer, who served here for many years pre-war.\n\nThe flow of water in the waterfall stream was affected by the construction of the Pokfulam Reservoir (1863 and enlarged in 1876 or thereabouts) and the waterfall may be seen in its former dimensions only after heavy rain. Plans are in hand to convert the area into a public garden and sitting out area.\n\nHong Kong, July, 1972.\n\n† Jarrett. A sign post on site has 'Claymore'.\n\nJAMES HAYES", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1972.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207134, "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": 205, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n199 \n\norder to re-grant the area to the individual section holders. The Governor in Council cancelled the re-entry respecting the Temple site in 1928, and a new lease as Inland Lot 2705 was obtained by the parties who had purchased it in 1923. This time they were designated as trustees for the Kwong Yut Tong (...). Of these trustees, Ng Tsz Mei about 1930 is listed as head of a construction company; and Ng Wah, head of the Sang Tai firm, died in 1950.” \n\nThe Lo Pan Temple \n\nThis is, to my knowledge, the only temple erected to Lo Pan, the God of Carpenters, in Hong Kong. It is, suitably, a fine temple, and still in the ownership of the Kwong Yut Tong or 'Hall (Association) of Extended Gratification'. This clearly takes a close interest in its upkeep and is responsible for the annual ceremonies on the birthday of the saint which falls on the 13th day of the 6th moon each year. \n\nThe Kwong Yut Tong of Hong Kong was incorporated under the Companies Ordinance on 14th September 1962. Among the objects listed in its Memorandum of Association are the following— \n\n(a) To take over the management, assets and liabilities of the unincorporated association known as the Kwong Yut Tong of Hong Kong. \n\n(b) To commemorate our great teacher Lo Pan and to bring \n\nto light his teachings and to improve building business. \n\n[In one breath!] \n\n(c) A clause to the effect that the company will deal with all the property of the association, including sale, except Nos. 15-16 Ching Lin Terrace, named the \"Lo Pan Sin Shih Memorial Hall and Public Office\" which shall not be sold or mortgaged. \n\n(d) To explain and expand the Building Ordinance and Regulations of the Colony for the information of the members of the Association. \n\nAll the office bearers at the time of the incorporation and since have been building contractors or persons connected with the trade. \n\nFortunately for historians and other interested parties, the temple is full of tablets commemorating its origins and later repairs. Among these, the earliest dated the year of Kuang Hsu (1884-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207148, "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": 219, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\n213\n\nDealings in land and property were a major enterprise in early Hong Kong. An insight into the hazards of real estate speculation is given by George Duddell's testimony before the Land Committee in 1849. He speaks about his purchase of a lot at the south-west corner of Queen's Road West and Possession Street. As we walk along Fat Hing Street we shall be passing the south side of the lot. Duddell states regarding the purchase of the lots in 1844:\n\nThe lot was bought after unprecedented bidding for two hundred per cent on the original upset rental. The circumstances in palliation of my buying it at such a price are, the lot was airy and perfectly level with one rock only to clear it off before building could be commenced, combined with a great demand for houses, and the facility the lot offered to speedily erect them, with the fact I was outbid on all other lots the same day. The buildings were built and tenanted, but within a year they had left for other houses. These houses were void, vagrants plundering even from doors and glass from windows, every grate was stolen. I must hire a private watchman to protect useless property\n\nThe buildings were much damaged by the typhoon of 1848. In November of 1848, I surrendered them to Government. In consequence of requiring a Sailor's Home, I have by petition obtained back the lot, repaired the buildings and put my seamen into it.\n\nThe premises were known as the Circular Buildings. Duddell again surrendered them to the Government in 1850. Not long after, the land was resold to Quoke Acheong, the Compradore of the P. & O. Steam Navigation Company. He was a large land owner in this area. On this property and a section he had purchased across Queen's Road, he developed his own business enterprises under the firm name of Fat Hing. The firm gave its name to the lane south of Queen's Road off Possession Street.\n\nUpon the elevated promontory called West Point, Joseph Frost Edgar built a bungalow. In March, 1843, he was admitted as the resident partner of the firm Jamieson, How and Company. He was one of the first two unofficial members of the Legislative Council, serving from 1850 to 1857. An advertisement for the rent or sale of the West Point Bungalow, dated July 19, 1845 (Friend of China), provides a description of one of the early residences in Hong Kong:\n\nA substantial house consisting of two sitting rooms each 30 by 20 feet and in height 17 feet, separated by folding doors, five", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207290, "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-1975", "page_number": 58, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "50\n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG\n\nIt is now time to turn to Morse's account of the incident which is as follows:\n\nOn February 2nd the Committee took the extreme measure of presenting a memorial at the City gates, addressed to the Governor and the Hoppo. The memorial was taken by Mr. Parry, the junior member of the Committee, and Captain the Hon. Hugh Lindsay, the senior commander (commodore) of the Company's fleet, and\n\nin order to give the deputation a respectable appearance suited to the occasion it was accompanied by a party of Gentlemen of the Factory and of the Commanders and Officers of the Ships now in China.\n\nThe party was not obstructed at the city gate and proceeded to the Hoppo's yamen, where the memorial was received. In the evening the merchants brought it back, returned after perusal by the Governor and the Hoppo. On February 8th the Committee\n\ngave notice to the principal Mandarins thro' the medium of the Merchants that however desirous we are at all times to pay due deference to the laws of China and the regulations of the Government, we cannot much longer submit to the present injurious detention of our Ships in justification of which we are assured not a single law or regulation of the Empire can be alleged and that we shall therefore take on ourselves to dispatch the fleet even without the usual permission should the Government by protracted delays absolutely reduce us to that unpleasant alternative.\n\nOn that same day in the evening they were assured that the Grand Chops would be issued forthwith; and they were actually issued and the fleet with Mr. Roberts was dispatched on the morning of February 10th. The second fleet, with Mr. Browne on board, was dispatched without further incident on March 26th.\n\nNow, by way of amplification, let us look at Hugh Lindsay's\n\naccount.\n\nMy dear Sister,\n\nYou have requested I would give you some anecdote of my life which might be interesting. Had my first outset in the world been fortunate, and the profession which I chose been auspicious to me,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207418, "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-1975", "page_number": 186, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "178\n\nDONALD C. BOWIE\n\nhe did not explain his meaning. I concluded that the fish had probably been taken from the harbour whose waters were thoroughly polluted. Some of the fish was quite horrid and my diary recorded on 8 August 1942 that I could not touch mine. This was quite an admission for it was rare for me to boggle at any sort of food. Our cooks at first removed the fish heads before cooking but Seino pointed out to us that this was a waste. As a result we began to make what we called fish head soup; this proved to be not to everybody's taste but it did add a new if not always attractive flavour to plain boiled rice and vegetables.\n\nAdditions to the Japanese supplies of Food.\n\n(a) Gifts from Friends in Hong Kong\n\nUnfortunately I have no record to show the date on which these gifts started, but by August 1942 visitors from the City of Victoria were being allowed to bring gifts of food to the hospital on Mondays and Thursdays. The food was usually contained in gunny sacks and included tins which contained food sealed in by the makers e.g., jam, or which were filled by the donors with for example peanut butter. I have never learned the whole story about these supplies and I hope that Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke, then Dr. P.S. Selwyn-Clarke, will find it possible to relate this in detail.* A little later I shall have more to say about this remarkable man who was Director of Medical Services in Hong Kong at the outbreak of war.\n\nAs may be imagined the tins and containers became the vehicles for an exchange of notes between the hospital and citizens in Hong Kong. These notes contained personal and family items of news but very useful information came in from our friends to us suggesting methods of combating the deficiency diseases. Small supplies of important drugs were sent in by this route and information was given on methods of cultivating yeast, hop barm and other preparations thought to remedy vitamin deficiencies. Much ingenuity was expended in the hospital in making false bottoms and lids to tins and I can remember only one time when a communication was discovered. The culprit, a Hong Kong man, reacted by his cries and behaviour in a most satisfactory manner to the slapping he\n\n* Sir Selwyn's autobiography, Footprints, the Memoirs of Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke, was published by Sino-American Publishing Company, Hong Kong in 1975.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207801, "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-1976", "page_number": 189, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "174 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nproblems involving steam navigation on the Upper Yangtze may be said to have been solved, or at least understood. Only political unrest, civil wars, and the preoccupation of Britain with the First World War prevented further development.\n\nSzechwan suffered severely from the breakdown of the central government after 1915. At times trade was almost at a standstill because of civil war and organised brigandage, and to a lesser extent because of floods and famines. In spite of this, steam navigation on the Upper Yangtze flourished, a tribute to the keen business instincts and adaptability of the Chinese merchants. The first British steamer to appear on the Upper Yangtze since the Pioneer of 1900 was the Asiatic Petroleum Company's Anlan which went into service in 1918, and was followed in the following year by their Anning.* In addition to carrying petroleum products, these ships carried a few European passengers.\n\nThis heralded a period when there was a great increase in steam navigation on the Upper Yangtze, remarkable in that it took place against a background of continuing and increasing civil war, political unrest, and general trade depression.\n\nOther British companies followed the Asiatic Petroleum Company. In 1919 Mackenzie and Company of Shanghai built the famous Loong Mow at Shanghai's Kiangnan Dockyard, 196.5 feet long by thirty-one feet beam, moulded depth of nine feet six inches and gross registered tonnage of 1,112. The twin reciprocating engines and oil-fired water tube boilers were built by Thorneycroft of Southampton, and the luxurious accommodation for both Chinese and foreign passengers led her to be called \"The Queen of the Gorges\". Soon after this the China Navigation and the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company at last built their own ships for the Upper Yangtze, until then having used chartered junks flying their house flags for their Upper River trade. Then the Stars and Stripes appeared with several Dollar Line ships and some small tankers of the Standard Oil Company; and in 1925 by several steamers of the Yangtze Rapids Steamship Company. For a time this latter company operated a through service between Shanghai and Chungking. French, Italian, and Japanese steamers also appeared at this time. By the end of 1925 there were at least thirty-two steamers on\n\n*This company was the Far Eastern branch of the Shell Company.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208796, "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-1979", "page_number": 253, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "226\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\n8. The Hong's notices shall be posted at prominent places inside member's shop premises.\n\n9. When acting as a sales agent, the member should first place the consigned goods in storage. If the owner of the goods intends to transfer the stock to other companies or places, he will have to pay the goods' price at current market value plus storage and transportation fees in accordance with the company's sales regulation before such a transference takes place.\n\n10. Goods should be weighed in the presence of more than one worker, and the weight should be marked down by those present to avoid any mistake or omission. The goods should then be checked by the buyer himself.\n\n11. Goods are delivered on production of the consignors' vouchers. The consignee company bears no responsibility for any insufficiency, arrears, loss or omission. Nor is it responsible for any accidents.\n\n12. The buyer who purchases goods from any of the Hong's members should take over the goods as scheduled, or an additional sum will be charged as storage fees. He is also responsible for goods which deteriorate during storage. Under no circumstances should the buyer reduce the price or withdraw his purchase.\n\n13. An interest of $12.50 on every $1,000, i.e. 1.25%, is charged in money exchange.\n\n!r", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209264, "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": 167, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "JUAN YUAN'S MANAGING OF SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826 153\n\nThree days later, on 2 December, when official communications arrived, the British announced that Pigott had \"absconded\" during the early morning hours on the day before.32 Chinese officials were permitted to search the London (in contravention to the Company's stand in the case involving the Wabash two years before) as well as the Duke of York, another Company ship at Whampoa, secured by Chunqua. After Chinese officials left, Barrowcliff, the butcher on board the Duke of York, who had no visible connection with the case or with Pigott, suddenly went berserk and slashed his own throat. It was under these circumstances that the British seized upon the idea of selling to Juan Yüan the story that Barrowcliff had been the murderer at P'an-yü, and that his suicide had taken place because he was fearful of Chinese justice. The hong merchants, enthusiastic towards this suggestion, went together at once to the factory. By this switch, much trouble could be saved for all parties concerned.\n\nThe plan was thus communicated through the hong merchants to Juan Yuan, who, while preferring a live culprit to a dead one, \"privately\" was willing to accept Barrowcliff instead of allowing the incident to develop into a major crisis.3 Dr. Morrison had been sent for from Macau, indicating the seriousness with which foreign merchants were viewing this case. In actuality, from the Chinese point of view, the substitution of a criminal by another person was acceptable under the concept of collective responsibility. This was a case of paying for one life with another. On the other hand, Juan Yüan was not willing to let the hong merchants and foreign traders get away so easily. On 4 December, communications went out to the hong merchants for them to inform the supercargo of the Company that \"he must immediately deliver the foreign murderer, if not, then not only Cameron's ship [the Duke of York], but every English ship shall have her port clearance stopped\". This communication already indicated Juan Yuan's willingness to accept the plan of making use of the dead Barrowcliff as he had changed the name of the offending ship from the London to the Duke of York in his communication.\n\nThereupon, Chinese officials were permitted to board the Duke of York to hold an inquest of the death of Barrowcliff in the presence of the ship's captain, Cameron. Meanwhile, families and friends of the dead and the injured at P'an-yü \"were carefully instructed so that they testified to the truth and nothing but the truth, but not necessarily the whole truth\". That Barrowcliff had indeed taken his own life in a fit of remorse after murdering the Chinese at P'an-yü was accepted by the investigating officials at the inquest. Based on their verdict, legally arrived at from", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209291, "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": 194, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "180\n\nBRO TSUNG LAI SHUN IN MASSACHUSETTS\n\nA letter was sent on 14 July 1980 from the office of the librarian of the MW Grand Lodge of AF and AM of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as follows:\n\nDear Mr. Haffner:\n\nEnclosed are several items concerning L.S. Tsung, who appears in our records as Laisun Chan:\n\nrecord as it appears in the Grand Secretary's office membership list, Hampden Lodge, 1879\n\nletter to Springfield Public Library and 5 items received in response.\n\nUnfortunately, the clippings are neither dated nor identified in their files and one is incomplete.\n\nI trust these will be helpful to your records. If anything more surfaces, I shall pass it on....\n\nCordially,\n\n[signed] Roberta Hankamer, Librarian\n\nThe record card reads as follows:\n\nName Laisun Chan\n\nResidence Springfield\n\nOccupation Chinese Commissioner\n\nNativity-46 Lodge HAMPDEN Initiated 1873-4-8\n\nPassed 1873-5-20 Raised 1873-9-23 Membership 1873-9-23 Dim., Sus., Dis. Reinstated Deceased\n\nRemarks: [blank]\n\nThe meaning of \"-46\" under Nativity is presumably that Bro Tsung was 46 years old, not that he was born in 1846, as other years are given in full.\n\nThe title page of the by-laws reads, \"By-laws, of/Hampden Lodge./ F. & A.M./Springfield, Mass./(Approved March 8, 1876.)/Springfield:/ Weaver, Shipman and Company, Printers./1879.\" and under the letter L appears the entry, \"Laisun, Chan '73,\"\n\nThe Springfield City Directory and Business Advertiser for 1873-74 has three entries:\n\nLaisun Chan, Chinese Commissioner of Education, house 65 Howard street\n\nLaisun E.T., student, board 65 Howard street\n\nLaisun Spencer T., student, board 65 Howard street", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209608, "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": 265, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "243\n\n12 Feb. 1863\n\nweek.\n\n30 Apr. 1863\n\nsecond amateur performance of season last\n\namateurs gave fourth performance on Wed.\n\nsubscription: 1863/64\n\n―\n\n17 Dec. 1863\n\n1864/65\n\n―\n\n1865/66\n\n―\n\nfirst performance\n\n\"Follies of a Night\" vaudeville comedy (J. R. Planche, 1842)\n\n\"A Kiss in the Dark\" given also in 1853.\n\n6 Feb. 1864 on 4th third subscription performance and on 6th third public appearance.\n\n31 Mar. 1864- fourth and last performance of season:\n\n\"Tailor of Tamworth\" (also known as \"State Secrets\", T. Wilks, 1836) given also in 1861. \"Alladin, the Wonderful Scamp\" burlesque (T. C. Bryon, 1861)\n\n16 June 1864\n\n___\n\npublic meeting resolved the Amateur Theatrical matshed should be kept up.\n\n13 Oct. 1864\n\nmeeting of those interested in Amateur Theatricals agreed to continue them in next season in usual way.\n\n2 Jan. 1865 a visiting professional group, the Lewis Company, gave first subscription night to the subscribers of the Amateurs\n\n9 Nov. 1865 check given to movement for organizing a new Amateur Theatrical Corp by non-attendance at public meeting. To be hoped they shall not collapse in consequence.\n\n1866/67\n\n3 Jan. 1867\n\nfirst\n\nat new Club Lusitano Theatre performance of season of Amateur Dramatic Society: \"Sent to the Tower\" farce (J. M. Morton, 1850) \"Alladin, or The Wonderful Scamp\" burlesque extravaganza (T. C. Bryon, 1860) also given in 1864.\n\n―\n\n4 Feb. 1867 second subscription night of Hong Kong Amateur Theatricals:\n\n\"The Area Belle\" farce (Brough and Halliday, 1864) \"Shylock, or the Merchant of Venice Preserved\" burlesque (F. Talfourd, 1853)\n\n1866/67\n\n7 Mar. 1867\n\n1867/68\n\nHong Kong Amateur Theatricals third subscription night:\n\n\"Slasher and Crasher\" (J. M. Morton, 1848) given also in 1853.\n\n\"Raising the Wind\" (J. Kennedy, 1803)\n\n23 Mar. 1867\n\nHong Kong Amateur Theatricals fourth subscription performance.\n\n—\n\n28 Sept. 1867 Hong Kong Amateur Theatrical Society propose giving five subscription performances this season.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209908, "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-1983", "page_number": 167, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "145\n\nHe was responding to the particular activity of speech-making, and not to the necessity of promoting public relations for the interests of his company. The 'double barrel' or even 'multiple barrel' nature of the items is an inherent technical difficulty of the forced choice method. That is why it is essential to ask the respondents to explain their choices. In future replications, the group of statements on community participation should be changed so the respondents' attention will not be diverted to the making of speeches. The second way to rearrange the data is to look at consistencies in individual sets of responses. As should be expected, complete consistencies in the form of all four choices falling in one ideological set were rare. Nevertheless, nearly half of the respondents made three choices in one set, showing that the attitudinal items were regarded as related by the respondents (see Table 3).\n\nIt is thus clear that the second hypothesis that Hong Kong industrialists are profit-seeking entrepreneurs unfettered by social ethical considerations is not the self-image of the spinners. But how about the first hypothesis that Hong Kong industrialists are less likely to uphold the idea of social responsibility than Western businessmen? Again, a comparison with Nichols' findings is instructive. For the sake of comparability, I shall follow his classification scheme in placing businessmen into ideological categories. In view of the highly skewed distribution of choices,\n\n \n Table 3: Individual consistencies in the Ideological Preferences of the Hong Kong Cotton Spinners\n \n \n Ideological Set\n Laissez-faire\n Interest\n Responsibility\n \n \n \n 4 choices in\none set\n 3 choices in\none set\n 4 choices in\none set\n 3 choices in\none set\n 4 choices in\none set\n 3 choices in\none set\n \n \n Actual no. of consistencies\n 0\n 2\n 1\n 2\n 3\n 15\n \n \n Possible no. of consistencies\n 0\n 13\n 2\n 15\n 33*\n 34*\n \n \n Note: * One of the 35 respondents only reacted to two groups of\nstatements, while another reacted to three groups.\n \n \n Source: Interviews, 1978.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209916, "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-1983", "page_number": 175, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "153\n\n'When the entire company is made up of yes men, it will decline. It is not desirable to have complete tranquility.'\n\nA non-proprietary director, B24, emphasized that it was an executive's duty to speak his mind:\n\n'If the managing director said we shall go south and I thought north is the right direction, then I would explain my reasons for my belief. If ultimately he said let us go east, I should follow him eastward. The most important thing is not to be a yes man. Do not support going south just because he says so.'\n\nThe fact that the ‘yes man' was singled out for criticism seems to indicate that compliance among subordinates constituted a problem in their companies.\n\nDifferences in opinion, according to the spinners, must be contained and resolved before they deteriorate into actual conflict. They followed several rules to prevent dissent getting out of hand. Steps were taken to ensure that the interests of the key decision-makers were homogeneous. As A22 told me, 'All of our executive directors are Chinese, friends. We can argue things out'. Besides ethnic and friendship ties, kinship bonds were also used to guard against irreconcilable conflicts.\n\nIn Mill 17, a young director said that differences in opinion were settled by those at the top who would take the ultimate responsibility:\n\n'I follow the advice of my uncle and my father. My uncle has a son on the Board [of Directors]. So the four of us are of the same family. Only two other board members are outsiders.'\n\nWithin this framework, the weight of an individual's opinion was graded according to his hierarchical standing. A24 put this best:\n\n'If they are under me, I make the final decision. If they are senior to me, I explain my views to them. If they do not accept, I shall do it their way.'\n\nBut among peers of similar status and power, resolution of differences could not be so straightforward. Under these circumstances, most spinners did not favour settlement by majority vote. A27 gave the following explanation:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209922, "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-1983", "page_number": 181, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "159\n\nof a large corporation or the owner-manager of a smaller firm. The immediate financial rewards of both were more or less the same. Which option would you choose?\n\nAs Table 8 indicates, nearly two-thirds of those who indicated a preference chose to become owners.\n\nThis pattern of choice might be considered as natural if all of the respondents were owners themselves. It is logical to assume that a process of selective recruitment to the entrepreneurial role is at work, i.e., individuals who have the early ambition to be their own boss will try harder and thus have a greater chance to attain that goal. Fortunately, among my sample there were persons who derived their income mainly from salary and not profit. I shall call these non-proprietary directors as distinct from owner-directors. By non-proprietary I mean that these directors had been appointed directors before they held any company shares in their name, and that any shares they might possess subsequently were less than the average holding of individual shareholders. Eleven of the respondents, or a quarter of the sample, fell within this category. With such a distinction, we can pursue the question of selective recruitment. Did non-proprietary directors tend to favour salaried employment while owner-directors would choose to be self-employed? Table 9 demonstrates that this was not the case. There is no significant correlation between the employment status of the respondent and his preference for independent ownership.\n\nTable 8: Hong Kong Cotton Spinners' Preferences for Employment Status\n\n \n Choice\n Number\n Percentage\n \n \n Owner-manager\n 21\n 62\n \n \n Senior executive\n 11\n 32\n \n \n No preference\n 2\n 6\n \n \n No answer\n 6\n \n \n \n TOTAL\n 40\n 100\n \n\nSource: Interviews, 1978.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210218, "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": 189, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "168\n\nR.A. BOWLER, D.S.C. YANG AND A.J.E. SMITH\n\nquota was fixed for a duration of five years so that oystermen would have a chance to recover. The Chinese oyster farms are in practice allowed to deal privately and individually with Hong Kong merchants after quota deduction to sell the remainder of the crop. In order to encourage farmers to deal with official organs in selling the remainder, however, they receive a better than normal exchange rate from the Chinese government for oysters exported through the customs. As another incentive to use the official route, farmers are permitted to import tax-free personal household goods and production gear.\n\nThe official tonnages of fresh oyster meat exported (i.e. those which have passed through customs) from China to Hong Kong are shown on Figure 2. The figures provided by the Shenzhen Aquaproduct Company included some oysters in shell. These have been converted to wet-weight in Figure 2, making the assumption that wet-weight is 10% of the total weight including the shell. About double the tonnage is exported unofficially directly via direct sales to Hong Kong merchants into Lau Fau Shan by boat despite the incentives to use the official route. The reasons for the \"unofficial\" trade may stem from the following:\n\n(a) Relatively loose enforcement of import/export control on both sides of the Bay;\n\n(b) Tedious and troublesome customs procedures;\n\n(c) Various surcharges have to be paid e.g. 10% tax to aquaproduct company, 0.2% handling charge to Bank of China, and possibly others;\n\n(d) a two months delay in receiving payment; and\n\n(e) selling direct to Hong Kong merchants provides foreign exchange at the best rates.\n\nThe Chinese administration is clearly aware of the unofficial trade but apparently not prepared to take any vigorous action yet.\n\nOyster spawning and spat collection\n\nThe life-cycle of the commercial oyster can be conveniently divided into three major stages: (i) spawning, spat fall and collection, (ii) growth from first year to three or four year age, and (iii)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210346, "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": 317, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "296\n\nWONG TAK YAN\n\n(3) Superior lime (E), the finest and smoothest sort used in the curing of leather.\n\nMany farmers used lime as dressing on their land to kill insect pests. Furthermore, reservoirs and sugar works bought lime for various uses necessary to those trades. Thus it can be said that lime was used in a wide variety of ways.\n\nRaw materials used in the making of lime\n\nTo make the Superior or Fine grades of lime it was usual to use oyster shells, clam shells, or coral heads (coral heads are a sort of coral which grows in the shape of large or small balls) as the raw material. For Coarse grades the dredgings of shellfish beds were used (workers would go out in small boats to shallow waters near the factory and dredge up broken shells. These would normally come to the surface mixed with between one-tenth and one-fifth by quantity of fine sand). Another method of making Coarse lime was to take Fine lime and mix it with the right quantity of sharp sand. Oyster shells were bought from the Lau Fan Shan oyster beds. Coral heads grew in the sea off Sai Kung. Clam shells were not so commonly used.\n\nAt the time when the Government developed Victoria Park they used a French company to dredge up from the seabed the mud used for the reclamation, and the place they used for the dredging point was precisely an area of shellfish beds. As a result a huge quantity of shells came out of the dredging pipe mixed up with the sand and mud. The name of these shells is unknown. The shape of the shells was like a slightly twisted cupped hand. These shells were excellent for lime making. The local boat people competed among themselves to heap up these shells in their boats, and all the lime kiln operators sent boats backwards and forwards to buy them. At that time no-one could say there was a shortage of raw material! 3 There were many different types of shell, some were absolutely beautiful, so that they could be kept and used as decorations: unfortunately no pearls were found for the admiration of us today.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210879, "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": 230, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "213\n\npious, became more prominent.\n\nPIONEER BEHIND THE MINING TRAIL TO NEW ZEALAND\n\nThe career of Ho A-mei, the younger brother of Ho A-low, is of particular interest because he was an innovator. He introduced the first group of Chinese miners into New Zealand goldfields. He opened up lead, tin and silver mines in Kwangtung province. He was a principal in organising a company to build a telegraph line between Canton and Hongkong. He initiated a proposal to organise a waterworks company at Canton. He was the first president of a Hongkong Chinese Chamber of Commerce. I shall be writing about these and other aspects of his career in this and future articles.\n\nAfter leaving Dr. Legge's school he left Hongkong in 1858 to join his brother in Australia. Here he acquired enough capital to embark on a project to introduce Chinese labour to the goldfields of New Zealand. The details of his effort are set forth in a letter he sent in 1871 to the Otago Daily News Times in New Zealand.\n\nHe begins with an estimate of himself and his intentions. \"Sometime in the month of November 1865, being an energetic and enterprising man, blessed with the health and hopefulness of youth, and more especially animated by a spirit of speculation, I started from Melbourne for your city (Dunedin)... My object was for obtaining reliable information, and making necessary preparation previous to the introduction of Chinese labour into your goldfields, but being not a miner myself, my view therefore was to first secure the introduction of labour; then, with a hope to reap the benefit by having the full command of provisioning business, should the scheme prove a success.\n\nA-mei gives the impression that he alone was responsible for initiating the project. The account of the coming of Chinese to New Zealand given in Charles Price's book, The Great White Walls are Built, states that he had been invited to Dunedin by the Otago Provincial Council and the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210886, "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": 237, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "220 \n\nCARL SMITH \n\nFollowing the religious rites, Ho A-mei gave a short talk on the development of mines in Kwangtung. \n\nThe European contribution to the programme was an impromptu rendering of \"For he's a jolly good fellow.\" A sentiment not necessarily shared by the European community in Hongkong at all times, as we shall see. \n\nHOW A-MEI PIONEERED A MODERN CANTON \n\nIn addition to promoting modern mining in Kwangtung, Ho A-mei was also connected with other projects to introduce Western technological improvements into the province. \n\nIn 1882 he was a principal in the formation of the Wa Hop Telegraph Company floated as a public company to build a line between Kowloon and Canton. Most of the shareholders were wealthy Canton and Hongkong Chinese merchants. Kwangtung officials aided the company in overcoming opposition aroused by fears that the wires and poles would disturb the fung shui of the neighbourhoods through which they passed. \n\nAfter the line was built to Shamshuipo, just on the other side of the British-Chinese boundary, the company was refused permission to extend the line to Hongkong Island. \n\nThere were various reasons for the refusal. One was the connection the project had with the Danish-Russian backed Great Northern Telegraph Company. Its engineers had been employed to supervise the construction and certain rights had been granted to the foreign company in the use of the line. \n\nPreviously the Great Northern had tried to get monopolistic rights over all telegraph lines in China. This effort had been vigorously opposed by Britain which feared the expansion of Russia's power and influence. \n\nIn this light a Hongkong editor thought, \"the refusal to permit the line to land on British soil is an act of self-defence and the promoters of the Canton-Kowloon line ought, we think, to have", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211051, "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-1987", "page_number": 112, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "87\n\nNOTES\n\n“Wong Tai Sin” is the most common transliteration in Hong Kong of the god's name. The pinyin transliteration is Huang Daxian. For Chinese names with a conventional Hong Kong transliteration which differs from the pinyin form, we will begin with the pinyin forms followed by the Hong Kong forms within brackets. For names and places in China, and for subsequent references to Chinese names and terms used in Hong Kong (except for place names such as Hong Kong and Kowloon), only pinyin system will be used.\n\nOn the reasons for the growth in popularity of Huang Daxian in Hong Kong, especially since the late 1940's, see Graeme Lang, and Lars Ragvald, “Upward mobility of a refugee god: Hong Kong's Huang Daxian,\" The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies. Vol, 1, 1988. We have called Huang Daxian the “refugee god” both because his cult was imported into Hong Kong early in this century during a period of persecution of traditional religion in China, and also because the god's success can be attributed in part to the refugees who flooded into the area around the temple in the late 1940's. Key decisions made by the management of the temple were also very important.\n\nOur discoveries regarding the ruined temples to Huang Daxian in Guangdong, and a second visit to these sites in 1987, will be reported in a forthcoming article.\n\nThere are undoubtedly many intriguing stories about Huang Daxian which could be collected by researchers in Guangdong province. For instance, one story connecting Huang Daxian to legends about the founding of Guangzhou was related to the first author by the manager of a local company near Guangzhou, who as a child had played in an old Huang Daxian temple in the Fangcun area (on which, see the first author's forthcoming paper). According to this story, Huang Chuping of the Jin dynasty had found the way (Tao) and become a saint at Mt. Luofu. He then, it is said, shouted at five pieces of hard rock turning them into five fairy-sheep and also ordered five fairies dressed in red, yellow, blue, white and black respectively to drive the sheep. This unlikely flock descended in the midst of Guangzhou. Huang Daxian then chanted, \"I wish that Guangzhou from now on shall enjoy bumper harvests, timely wind and rain, be prosperous and at peace, and never suffer famine or disaster”. This tale was related as explaining the origin of the old names Wuyang Cheng (City of the five sheep) and Suicheng (Ear of grain city). The story is clearly modeled on the old (documented) tales of the five saints on ram-back who brought the five ears of grain to Guangzhou. It is not clear where the manager got his story, but it may have been stimulated by an obscure phrase on one of the pillars of the main gate of the old Fangcun Huang Daxian temple. In any case, we expect that there are many such tales which remain to be uncovered. The versatile Huang Daxian, with his several incarnations and his ability to absorb stories from other traditions, may continue to surprise students of his cult for years to come. In the present paper, however, we focus only on his merger with another Taoist figure at Mt. Luofu.\n\n5 Several cases of apparently similar confusion or merging of legendary Taoist figures on the basis of similar surnames have been documented in S.H. Wong. “A study of Huang Ta-hsien [Daxian].” The Journal of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, XVI, 1985, pp. 223-239.\n\nMt. Luofu, some 100 kilometres northeast of Guangzhou, is historically the most important site in the history of Taoist worship and practice in Guangdong province.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211877, "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": 292, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "267\n\nTomorrow Captain Moate and I are thinking of commencing to exercise with a pair of 18-pound shot, which for a few days will prove warm work. On Wednesday one of the men refused to go aloft to the top mast and tar the shroud on the plea of illness. But the captain made short work of it by having a rope tied round him, and hoisting him up, where he hung till the evening about eight o'clock, when he was let down, and has since been below on the sick list. The captain declares it is all sham, but I do not think so.\n\nWednesday, April 24th\n\nLast Sunday we crossed the line early in the morning. The weather was intensely hot. During the day we spoke with an outward-bound ship, the Pathfinder of Swansea, bound for Cochin in India. She had been out 39 days, and so in proportion was no better off than we are.\n\nThe hot weather makes but little difference to me. During the day the sun shines on the top of my cabin, and then at night it is like an oven, so that it is difficult to get off to sleep. I slept for some nights with no clothes on, and even now it is a trifle cooler I can only bear one sheet and the window wide open. Yet this is not nearly so hot as Hong Kong will be when we get there.\n\nWe are now going along capitally. The ship seems almost to fly through the water. We generally make about 200 miles a day. I expect now we are about 10 degrees to the south of the line. It is now 45 days since we left London. How glad I shall be when we can add another 45 to them. It begins to get rather wearisome work since it is the same thing every day, and I like a variety.\n\nThere is only one person on board, whom I can at all associate with, and that is Capt'n Moate, and he is poor company, since his views will not accord with mine. Yet I can notice a considerable improvement in him since he came on board, and once or twice I have caught him reading his Bible. I cannot help speaking out sometimes, and Capt Harper says I can never touch lightly, but I always do it with a \"regular maul\". So it shows the cap fits him.\n\nWe had rather a rough sea lately, and on Monday it made me feel rather squeamy, but today I am all right again. We have had some fine moonlight nights lately, and I have sat on the deck for hours, thinking.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212185, "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": 127, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "104\n\nPetroleum Co., and a timber ship of the Import and Export Lumber Co. Together with the large \"Ewo\" hulk we were all anchored a few miles above Nanking in a stretch of the river, designated as a \"Safe Harbour\" of which the Japanese authorities had been duly notified. The American gunboat \"Panay\" was anchored two miles lower down off the creek at the top end of Nanking, whence communication with the few foreigners in the city could still be maintained through a 'phone situated in a godown on the bank.\n\n\"The Flag Captain, Commanding Officer, and Ward Room officers of H.M.S. \"Scarab\" request the pleasure of the company of the British community, now afloat in the \"safe\" anchorage, on board H.M.S. \"Scarab\" at 11.30 tomorrow, Saturday, 11th December, on the occasion of the anniversary of His Majesty's accession.\"\n\nIt was a lively party. As you may imagine there was plenty to talk about, and the bountiful hospitality dispensed by the Navy - I naturally do not refer merely to its liquid aspect - set all in a pleasant frame of mind for a latish lunch when the gathering broke up and the participants returned to their respective ships. I have no doubt that the ensuing sense of somnolence was fairly general when, with a crash, a shell burst on the river bank not 100 yards from the nearest ship. The noise disturbed the lethargy of that Saturday afternoon. Ears pricked to discover whether there was more to come. The doubt whether that first shell was a stray or not was soon settled as two more straddled the nearest ship. Captains leapt to their bridges and called for steam. Clouds of smoke belched from the assembled funnels, marking well the whereabouts of the target. Shells began to fall regularly in the anchorage, but it was not more than fifteen minutes before the merchant flotilla, festooned with attendant small craft, was underway heading upriver. The two gunboats remained to stand-by the hulk, which was full of foreign and Chinese refugees and, having slipped its anchors, endeavoured to tow it in the wake of the other vessels. By good luck there were no direct hits on any of the ships, though some vessels were holed by splinters, and two unfortunate Chinese boatmen were killed and some others wounded.\n\nThe shelling resumed when the ships were under way a mile or two above the \"safe harbour\", the guns then appearing to be of heavier calibre. The shells came over in pairs and were very well", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212205, "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": 147, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "124\n\ninternational communities, the smaller treaty ports had come to depend for their foreign population on the few large companies which maintained organisations throughout the country. These included the British American Tobacco Company, the Asiatic Petroleum (Shell) Company, amongst the distributing companies, and Messrs. Jardine Matheson and Company generally known as Ewo, and Messrs. Butterfield and Swire, amongst the shipping companies. Imperial Chemical Industries as a rule only had offices in the larger ports. China at one time offered the largest market in the world for cheap quality cigarettes, and for kerosene (paraffin as we call it). The motorist in Britain and America paid less for petrol because of the kerosene offtake in China. It is self-evident that amongst the cuts distilled from the crude oil petrol, kerosene, lubricating oil, diesel oil, wax and asphalt the cost of production is recovered in proportion on each finished product and, if the market for one of those products is limited, then the price proportionately increases on the others.\n\n—\n\n―\n\nBut let not our Chinese friends claim that the distribution of kerosene in China was a form of oppressive dumping. It was not. A very real demand for illumination was met, where other satisfactory illuminants were missing, and at a price below that at which the locally produced and less efficient vegetable oils could be marketed. And this despite the heavy duty which was collected on the imported product for revenue purposes, so that it could be said of kerosene that in China it not only provided almost the sole source of illumination, but also a substantial contribution towards the cost of government.\n\nThe urgency of war was more evident in Kiu Kiang, though the Japanese had refrained from bombing the former Concession area. My old Chinese friends all wanted to know what was going to happen. How could I tell them?\n\nThe Club had moved from the Customs godown to our former flat, the interior of which had been reconstructed to meet the new purpose. The bar was in our former bedroom, and from behind it the same ancient retainer dispensed the drinks; even the dice boxes looked the same with their heavy yellow ivory dice. But I could not loiter to rattle these for long. There was a decrepit railway to Nanchang, the provincial capital, a hundred miles to the south, and with some difficulty I procured a seat for myself on the train, which as always in China was overcrowded.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212803, "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-1992", "page_number": 112, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "97\n\nthe barrel resting on a second man's shoulder.\n\nKang sì: a baked mud or brick bed used in northern Chinese homes, warmed in winter by hot air from the kitchen flue passing through it.\n\nKo-ino Hul #₺★ : A powerful secret society; the Elder Brother Society, membership to which was strictly forbidden by the Ch’ing government and punishable by death.\n\nKowtow : 'knock the head': The ceremony of prostration common in China, chiefly performed before the emperor, in religious ceremonies, and by inferiors to superiors as an humble apology.\n\nInternational Settlement together with the French Concession [Shanghai]: Colonial enclaves where privileges but not political control were enjoyed. The Municipal Council of the International Settlement, against which Mesny occasionally railed, eventually regarded itself as independent even of the UK and US Governments. Most foreigners regarded their presence in Shanghai, despite increasing Chinese nationalism, as in the best interests of the Chinese. Foreigners were divided socially and economically into businessmen, officials of all kinds including police officers and customs officials, missionaries and others such as be-shored seamen, refugees, later mainly White Russians and German Jews, and 'stayed-on' westerners who had married Chinese women or had nowhere better to go.\n\nLartigue railway system: Mesny would appear to have been acting as the local agent for the Lartigue Railway Construction Company in China [in 1886] though whether authorised on a retainer or on commission we shall probably never know. The Lartigue system was invented during the 1880s by Charles Lartigue, a French inventor who, having observed how camel loads were balanced on either side of the animal, invented a monorail which after a tentative experiment in France was chosen as the system to be used for the Bally-Bunion to Lisowel Railway in a remote corner of Ireland in 1888.\n\nThere is no indication that the line Mesny proposed between Wu-sung and Shanghai, ever got beyond Mesny's fertile imagination. Wu-sung, the town at the junction of the Yangtze and the river which leads up to Shanghai, was where ships first berthed before sailing up the Wu-sung River to Shanghai,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213227, "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-1994", "page_number": 49, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "28\n\nAlexander Cosman Levysohn, another founder of the firm is on the Hong Kong jury lists in 1864 and 1865. He then went to Canton to take charge of the Shameen office there. Lewis Mendel became a partner in 1875 (DP 3 Jan. 1874). He died at Hong Kong on 4 November 1895 aged fifty-one. He came to China to join the firm in 1867, retired in 1883 and returned home, but came back to Hong Kong later and established his own business as a share broker (DP 5 Nov. 1895). His will made in 1882 mentioned only his father, brothers and sisters as his heirs. His executors were Jacob Arnhold of London and Lorenz Poesnecker of Hong Kong. Mr. Mendel was a native of Altona, Germany (PRO will File No. 101 of 1896 [4/1105]).\n\nLorenz Poesnecker was an assistant in Arnhold, Karberg and Co. in Hong Kong from 1870 to 1880. He was authorised to sign for the firm on 6 June 1874 (DP 7 June 1876) and became a partner in 1880/81. When he made his will in June 1896 he gave his address as 5 East India Avenue, City of London. He left his estate to his wife and after her death to his children. He named Caesar Erdmann of Hamburg and Richard Millitzer of Hof, Bavaria as his executors. He died in London on 9 July 1897 and the administration of his estate in Hong Kong was granted to Carl Beurmann and Max Carl Johann Grote as attorneys of the executors named in the will (PRO Will File No. 20 of 1898 [4/1162]).\n\nJulius Kramer was authorised to sign for the firm in June 1888 and was admitted a partner in 1892 (DP 13 June 1888, 18 Mar. 1892). During his first years with the company he was at its Canton office. At an auction for lots in the French Concession on Shameen in November 1889 he purchased Lots 1 and 7 for $2,610 (DP 8 Nov. 1889). After being admitted a partner he moved to Hong Kong. There his wife Bertha died on 14 February 1896 at “Luginsland” on the Peak Road (DP 15 Feb. 1896). Not long after he left Hong Kong and died on 11 November 1898 at Heidelberg. Administration of his estate in Hong Kong was granted to Ernest Goetz as the attorney of Philip Arnhold (GG Probate Calendar 7 June 1898). A former street in Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon, was named after Mr. Kramer. When the Royal Dutch Oil Co. began importing oil to China by tanker in the last decade of the nineteenth century, Arnhold, Karberg and Co. acted as its agent. Oil storage tanks were built at Tai Kok Tsui. The Royal Dutch is better known as the Shell Co.\n\nWhen Philip Arnhold died in 1910 Ernest Goetz became senior partner.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214990, "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-2000", "page_number": 86, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "42\n\nbalance being formed of an interpreter, a Head Ganger (equivalent to a CSM). Some Class One Gangers [sergeants], 7 Class Two Gangers [corporals] and 16 Class Three Gangers [lance-corporals] in charge of 14 men. These were known as paitou. No military titles were used for the labourers as they were not regarded as being service personnel.\n\nThe labourers were expected to work up to ten hours a day for seven days every week, time off being allowed for Chinese holidays. This was the norm for Chinese workers back in China and therefore not considered untoward. They were employed in ports to unload/load cargoes, repair roads, lay railway lines, build huts and aerodromes. At the end of the War, they were used to level shell holes, search for and unearth unexploded bombs, roll up barbed wire and also to collect the remains of bodies and bury them in graves already dug by CLC labourers. In some areas the labourers were eventually running their own truck repair shop, smith's shop, paint shop and motor-cycle repair shop. Others maintained the artillery and serviced tanks. Some also, as a pastime, constructed items from used war material [bomb cases, bullets, grenades, etc.] as souvenirs for the soldiers, and these items formed and were eventually known as 'Trench Art.' They were also adept at making items from other materials and also modelling and carving from chalk. The Imperial War Museum, London, has on display two lions carved from chalk and also, not on display, a lion modelled from clay by a labourer no. 53279, of the CLC. Unfortunately, there are no further details about this model. (see photograph)\n\nTo provide a picture of how Chinese labourers were employed let us examine the development of their employment on tank repair over the twelve months from August 1917 to August 1918. Members of the CLC first arrived at the Tank Central Workshops on 8th August, 1917. These were located in the Ternoise Valley, on the road between Hesdin and St. Pol. Tank HQ was at Bermincourt, Central Workshops at Erin but the whole establishment later expanded to take over more of the valley and include more villages.\n\nThe 51 Chinese Labour Company, consisting of 4 officers, 12 British NCOs and 200 tradesmen, was followed, on 26th August, by an additional 270 tradesmen.\n\nA large number of the men failed the trade tests and, for those who", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215642, "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-2001", "page_number": 419, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "371\n\ndescriptions of it paint a vivid picture in inland China, of towns, villages, farming and husbandry at the end of the eighteenth century and put life to the many pictures and engravings of that period.\n\nIt was on this inland journey that Macartney was able to collect his tea plants. He says in his own words:\n\nI must not omit that the Viceroy (they had been joined by the Viceroy from Canton) observing our curiosity about everything relative to natural history, allowed us to collect seeds and fossils as we came along, and to take up several tea plants in a growing state with large balls of earth adhering to them, which tea plants I flatter myself I shall be able to transmit to Bengal, where I have no doubt that by the spirit of patriotism of its Government an effective cultivation of this valuable shrub will be undertaken and pursued with success.\n\nNo doubt the hard balls of earth were wrapped in the same casings of matting in which plants arrive from China to this day.\n\nSo far as opium is concerned, rather oddly, I cannot find that it came up in conversation at all although by then the illicit trade was well established and its use had been banned by Imperial edict some sixty years before.\n\nDr. Dinwiddie, who had accompanied the Embassy to Peking, took the plants to India on Jackall, together with tallow and varnish plants as well as some silkworm eggs, all of which were delivered to Dr. Roxburgh, superintendent of the East India Company's botanical gardens in Calcutta. Some years later indigenous tea plants were discovered growing in Assam and it is tea from these which seems more like the tea that we are now accustomed to drink. Whether there was any hybridisation between the two species I cannot say. Certainly Chinese tea retains its distinctive characteristics.\n\nThe journal of the Embassy's adventures in China is a fascinating and extraordinarily detailed account and description of a way of life and scenery which has largely disappeared. Present day Chengde is a shadow of the Jehol described by Macartney with pagodas, temples", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216149, "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": 448, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "382\n\ncoastal trading. He offered cheap fares to Chinese workers to encourage them to engage with Hong Kong. In this he was hoist with his own petard as some of the imported bandits crawled up the storm drains and burrowed into his clock and jewellery business premises, removing many valuables. He ultimately left a line of eight coastal steamers to be managed by his nephew and great-nephew.\n\nIn short, Lapraik became a wealthy merchant prince, building a castellated residence for himself and his company; he was a respected civic dignitary and benefactor, but not without his detractors. Memorials to his achievements included the presentation of a civic clock for the clock tower at Pedder Street and Queens Road, but the tower itself was demolished in 1913 and the clock itself has been lost. Much later, his nephews had an elaborate stained-glass window installed in St John's Cathedral and dedicated to his memory; it was regrettably destroyed during the WW2 occupation and few substantial records remain.\n\nAt the relatively youthful age of 48 he retired and returned to England, leaving his nephews to run the shipping business and Mr Falconer, a one-time employee, inherited the clock and jewellery enterprise. That same year he married a lady from the Isle of Wight, having settled a trust for his Chinese concubine before leaving Hong Kong. Sadly, he died a few years later of a malignancy at the age of 51, but with a smile on his face, it is said.\n\nOne of the beneficiaries of his will was a Douglas Dixson, the son of a late colleague who was a newspaper proprietor in Hong Kong and we discover circumstantially that the lady who previously owned my clock had documented connections with that particular family. So, who knows, with such slender conjecture, I may have the master's own clock.\n\nThis is but a thumbnail sketch of the life of an extraordinary man, stitched together from information provided by very many kind people both here in the UK and in Hong Kong. In the interim, I should like to thank in particular Mr Philip Kemp, related to Lapraik through marriage; Dr Dan Waters and Dr Solomon Bard of Hong Kong; and Bernard Hui of the Hong Kong Public Records Office, who made available to me some archival record cards compiled by the Reverend Carl Smith. My searches are not complete and I shall be ever grateful to receive any further anecdotal recollections about Lapraik and particularly about his clocks.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]