RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h
210

NOTES AND QUERIES

University Hall. The hall has accommodation for 80 students, all men. The present warden is Dr. Enoch Young, lecturer in physics at the University, through whose courtesy the Branch is able to visit this historic building today.

We shall then walk across to the Maison de Béthanie. This building, since renovated and added to, was originally constructed in the early 1870s by the French Mission.

Father Caminondo who is in charge of the Maison de Béthanie has very kindly supplied the following account:

At a time when travelling was not easy and medical care not available in many mission countries, the Superiors of the Paris Foreign Mission Society decided to put up a house in the Far East for the sick and old missionaries.

Hong Kong was chosen for this purpose on account of its climate and medical facilities available. It must be added that at that time few places in the Far East offered the political stability and religious tolerance of the Colony.

The name of Béthanie was chosen after "Bethany village" of the Holy Scripture, and the inscription above the main entrance "Lord he whom thou lovest lies sick" is part of the message sent to Jesus by Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus became sick.

Many Missionaries availed themselves of the facilities offered by the sanatorium. In 1884, for instance, 43 missionaries stayed for some time.

Apart from the delightful setting, the main interest of the Maison is its chapel. This is said to be built to the same design as the former French Cathedral in Tokyo, destroyed during the war. By kind permission of Father Caminondo, we are permitted to enter the chapel and walk round it, up one side to the sacristy behind the altar, and down the other.

The chapel is remarkable for its fine furniture and fittings which apparently date from its construction. Note the sets of altar tables, of different shape and decoration, on each side of the aisle, and the large wall cupboards in the sacristy which is, as its name implies, the repository for vestments, vessels etc. used in the chapel. There are two memorial tablets to martyred priests behind the entrance doors to the chapel.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h
medical care not available in many mission countries, the Superiors of the Paris Foreign Mission Society decided to put up a house in the Far East for sick and old missionaries. Hong Kong was chosen for this purpose on account of its climate and medical facilities available. It must be added that at that time few places in the Far East offered the political stability and religious tolerance of the Colony". 

Those words have long rung in my ears. I doubt if there could be a finer unsolicited tribute to British Hong Kong. 

I must confess, too, against that stirring background of service, and recalling the over 100 priests and high dignitaries of the Mission who were buried in the private cemetery then within the grounds, that I was moved by the inscription that can still be found over the entrance. 

Father Caminondo had continued, "The name of Bethanie was chosen after "Bethany village" of the Holy Scripture, and the inscription above the main entrance "Lord he whom thou lovest lies sick" is part of the message sent to Jesus by Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus became sick”. 

Truly memorable, at least for me. 

But enough of the past: though it enriches the present. We are a strong Society in both numbers and spirit. We aim to continue in the service of scholarship and mutual understanding in this great City for as long as may be possible. Judging by the record of the last 30 years, there will never be a shortage of willing workers and contributors, whether British, Chinese or others. With Sir David's consent, I shall now ask him to propose a toast to the Hong Kong Branch of the RAS. 

xix 

JAMES HAYES
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g
135

reminded us that "at that time few places in the Far East had offered the political stability and religious tolerance of the Colony". He also told us that the name of Bethanie was chosen after "Bethany village" of the Holy Scripture, and the inscription above the main entrance, Domine ecce quem amas infirmatio (Lord, he whom Thou lovest lies sick - John III) is part of the message sent to Jesus by Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus became sick

And from the start there were sick missionaries in abundance In 1884, for instance, 43 missionaries had stayed at the sanitarium for some time.1 Our visit that day was memorable. It showed us another, broader side of British Hong Kong, and I have never forgotten it.

Chatwan and Shaukeiwan, May 1983

This visit was of a different kind, and focussed on Hong Kong people and on important new public works. As a serving government officer, I used my opportunities to combine old and new on RAS tours, showing our members what was being done in the way of new civil engineering projects of public housing development, for instance, and providing facts and answering questions about them. The Chatwan visit was one which combined these aims admirably

On a warm May day, we left Queen's Pier in Central District by a licensed passenger boat which took us along the Hong Kong Island waterfront as far as Chatwan On the way - the reason for our going by sea we were able to view the engineering and construction work proceeding along the length of the new "Hong Kong Island Eastern Corridor". This modern highway, with its several reclamations, elevated sections of carriage way, slip roads, and grade-separated junctions and interchanges, would link Chaiwan and Eastern Hong Kong Island with the Central Business District. It was intended to ameliorate, if not solve, the long-standing congestion and delays on the existing roadways which had reached saturation point.

At Chatwan we went by coach to Tai Ping Village, one of the last remaining of the extensive squatter settlements that used to cover practically the whole of the area in the mid-1950s Next to it was a new Urban Council swimming pool complex with its main and six other pools, completed in 1978 We then went to the site earmarked for the new Eastern
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