RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p
PRESIDENT'S REPORT: 1982-83

Tonight I have pleasure in reporting on the Society's activities during the year. I will also comment on some other events of the period which will be of interest to you as members.

Lectures, Film Shows, and Tours

During the year our lectures as usual covered a wide range of topics relating to our area, and were delivered by specialists based in Hong Kong and visiting from overseas. There were two film shows, and one local and one overseas tour.

Our programme opened in March with a slide presentation of early photographs of Hong Kong with commentary given by Mr. Ian Diamond, Government Archivist, and entitled "Hong Kong in Victoria's time." In April Mrs. Rajeshwari Ghose, a specialist in the history and sociology of religion in India, spoke on the functions of the Hindu temple. We also showed two films made by Mr. Hugh Gibb, the well-known local film maker. The films, both made in collaboration with social anthropologists, were "Dragons on the Sea" which depicted the life of the traditional floating population of Hong Kong; and “Dajiu” which showed the Taoist rites of renewal of this name, that take place every ten years in the New Territories village of Ha Tsuen and its dependent group of hamlets. The first film was made with Miss Barbara Ward, and the second with Dr. Hugh Baker. We were pleased to welcome many members of the public to these films which were very well received and gained us some new members.

In May Dr. Peter Wesley-Smith of Hong Kong University's Law Department spoke on Francis Taylor Pigot, Chief Justice in the early part of this century; Mrs. Peggy Craig, a well-known organizer of highly original tours of India showed films she had taken on two tours in which members participated: the Pushkar Camel safari and "Meet the Maharajas"; and Frank Iklé Professor of History at the University of New Mexico spoke on the role of women in Japan.

In June Mr. Melvin Thatcher of the Genealogical Society of Utah spoke on the Chinese genealogies his society had acquired from public collections, and in July Dr. David Faure of the

Vill
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579
155

Asiatic Society has really been a “labour of love" and James has described the Branch as the "Joy of his life". Although now living "Down Under", he likes to stress he is "only a fax away". He makes regular visits back to Hong Kong.

Following Dr Hayes as President was David Gilkes. Almost all his nearly 30 years as a member of the Branch in Hong Kong was spent as an office bearer.

In addition to Dr Hayes the Reverend Carl T. Smith, at present as Honorary Vice-President, an American, is another Branch member with an international reputation. He has made major contributions to local history with many publications to his credit. One of his greatest achievements was working through all the records in the Hong Kong Public Records Office (Smith 1995: 315). As a result the "Carl Smith Card Index System" has been microfilmed by the Utah Genealogical Society and a copy of the system is in the Public Records Office where it is known as the "Smith Collection",

Other Hong Kong RAS present or past members of note include J. D. Romer, normally known to the Chinese as the “Snake King”. In Cantonese, this expression has a double entendre. Romer was, however, certainly not a lazy person! Worldwide, the Romer Tree Frog (Philautus romeri) is found only on one or two of Hong Kong's islands. It is little bigger than an adult's thumb nail and was first identified by Romer (Dudgeon 1994: 168),

There is also Keith Stevens, now an overseas member living in England, where his house has a large “god room". His personal collection, said to be the largest private collection of Chinese gods in the world, consists of about 1,500 images of deities (Stevens 1997).

The future

A well attended seminar was held in May 1987, the purpose of which was to look at the future of the RASHKB. At the time, a questionnaire was also issued to all members. Since then, the future role of the Branch has been discussed at various Council meetings.

It was quoted in a publication entitled, A Handbook to Hong Kong,
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