RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d NOTES ON HONG KONG LIBRARIES 65 be removed for use within the Court, in Chambers, or the Registry, but were not to be taken further: whether this applied only to barristers and solicitors, who were privileged to use the Library subject to the rules, or also to the Judiciary and Law Officers who were entitled to use it, is not clear. Mr. J. W. Norton-Kyshe, the Registrar of the Supreme Court, whose useful history of the laws of Hong Kong is the source of the information on its Library, managed to persuade the Government in 1896 that an annual grant should be made for the purchase of books. In 1897 this amounted to $500, and in the following year it was doubled,12 Certainly the history of Hong Kong libraries in the nineteenth century is by no means restricted to those which have been considered in this article, although they are probably the most important. There must, for example, have been libraries in the various schools, both Government sponsored and others, though the condition of school libraries in the Colony even today suggests that they would not have been particularly well organised fifty or more years ago. Government departments other than the Supreme Court must also have had collections of books. All these possibilities, quite apart from the existence of private libraries, both Chinese and English, need to be investigated. What has been discovered so far, however, contributes to refute the common notion of Hong Kong as a cultural desert, and to indicate that library history in Hong Kong goes back almost as far as the history of the Colony itself. NOTES 1 V. H. G. Jarrett, under the pseudonym of 'Colonial' contributed a series of articles to the South China Morning Post between 17th June, 1933 and 13th April, 1935 on "Old Hong Kong". Typescripts of these articles were rearranged alphabetically by subject and bound in four volumes (unpaginated) in the S. C. M. P. Office. By kind permission of the Managing Director, a Xerox copy of this set is available in the University of Hong Kong Library. This extract is from the article headed "Public Library." 2 Hongkong Register, vol. 25, 1852, pp. 94-5. 3 At this date (1852) prices were normally quoted in Spanish or Mexican dollars, equivalent to about 4/2d sterling. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1968 On the retirement and return to Britain of Mr. O. P. Edwards of the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank the accounts have been kindly audited by Mr. N. N. Chan of Butterfield & Swire (H.K.) Ltd. Members will note that there is an excess of Income over Expenditure amounting to $6,970, compared with a deficit amounting to $738 in the previous year. This has largely been brought about by the increase in sale of publications, which this year amounted to $6,118 (against $1,708 last year). Such a high figure for the sale of publications cannot be expected for the future since this year's figures include the sales of 2 Journals (1967 and 1968) and the full effects of the sales of the brochure on the 1966 Symposium and Sir Lindsay Ride's booklet "The Old Protestant Cemetery in Macao". There is therefore no room for complacency, and it will be noticed that once again annual subscriptions do not cover our total expenditure, the shortfall being covered by bank interest, income from investments and the sale of publications. In December 1968 the 125 shares in the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (London Register) were sold at a profit of $9,981 and are responsible for the large current account balance ($23,736). The proceeds of this sale have since been re-invested in buying 400 Hong Kong Electric and 400 Lane Crawford, the latter now showing a gratifying increase in market value together with a rights issue of 50 shares. There has also been a recent bonus issue of 133 shares in the China Light & Power. The cost over market value of 6% Commonwealth of Australia 1977/80 can be attributed not only to the low market value of this stock but also to the effects of devaluation. The Society is expected to meet heavy expenditure in the forthcoming year. The 1969 Journal with offprints will call for an amount of $8,000 to 9,000, and it is expected that Volume I of the Journal will be reprinted in the near future, calling for another $3,000. Members are strongly urged to assist in increasing the membership of the Society not only to help towards the cost of this high anticipated expenditure but also to obtain a more satisfactory income over expenditure for the future. D. A. GILKES, Hon. Treasurer. 28 April, 1969. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 1967 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31ST DECEMBER, 1968 EXPENDITURE Sundry Expenses (printing, stationery, postage, lecture expenses) --- HK$ 2,668 1,100 Symposium Expenses + 12,670 Journal Expenses +++ HK$ 3,438 1,471 10,518 1,971 Surplus Excess of Income over Expenditure 6,970 1,190 Purchase of Library Books INCOME ... 1967 HK$ 200 Sundry Receipts 1,192 Symposium Receipts 1,708 Sale of Publications 333 Bank Interest Received 1,916 Dividends Received 580 Life Memberships 1968 10,901 Annual Memberships 1968 Annual Memberships 1969 paid in 1968 Deficit - Excess of Expenditure over Income +++ + HK$ 221 1,382 - L L 6,118 2,041 TTT 1,916 +++ +++ 1,100 11,380 210 60 738 HK$17,628 HK$24,368 HK$17,628 HK$24,368 BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 1968 LIABILITIES ASSETS HK$42,416 Surplus at 1st January, 1968 J HK$41,678 (738) Add: Income over Expenditure in 1968 Profit on Sale of Investments (Note 1) 6,970 HK$28,431 Investments at cost (Note 2) (For market value see below) Balance at Banks 15,518 7,333 Fixed Deposit $12,223 9,981 18,000 Deposit at Call ITT 526 Current Account +++ 7,152 23,736 43,111 41,678 Surplus at 31st December, 1968 12,612 Sundry Creditor-Printing Charges HK$54,290 58,629 HK$58,629 HK$54,290 HK$58,629 INVESTMENTS Note 1: 125 shares Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (London Register) Cost Proceeds of Sale (Dec., 1968) Profit on Sale + HK$12,913 22,894 HK$ 9,981 (Signed) D. A. GILKES, Hon. Treasurer. Note 2: Cost Market Value 200 shares China Light & Power HK$ 4,030 HK$ 5,800 700 shares 6% Commonwealth of Australia 1977/80 11,488 7,150 HK$15,518 HK$12,950 (Signed) N. N. CHAN, Hon. Auditor. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG 79 authority and its geographical location made it a base for pirates. One of the stories about the origin of the name of the Tai Ping Shan District on Hong Kong Island is that a pirate named Cheung Po-chai used it as his headquarters. He finally went over to the authorities and left the island. In relief the local population named the mountain side on which he had dwelt "Great Peace Mountain". Since it was easy to slip away by boat if government officials came to check on inhabitants, the islands on the edge of San On District were popular haunts for outlaws and the criminal element. At the time of the establishment of the British claim to the island, The Canton Register under date of 23 February, 1841, predicted that under British jurisdiction the island would become even more popular with these classes: "Hongkong will be the resort and rendezvous of all the Chinese smugglers. Opium smoking shops and gambling-houses will soon spread; to those haunts will flock all the discontented and bad spirits of the empire." Future developments substantiated this forecast. FACTORS WHICH IMPEDED THE EMERGENCE OF RESPONSIBLE LEADERS IN THE CHINESE COMMUNITY. Samuel Fearon, the Census and Registration Officer, in his report dated 24 June 1845, describes the origin of the first settlers of Hong Kong. The arrival of the British fleet in the harbour speedily attracted a considerable boat population, and the profits accruing from the supply of provisions and necessaries at once raised many from poverty and infamy to considerable wealth. The shelter and protection afforded by the presence of the fleet soon made our shores the resort of outlaws, opium smugglers, and indeed, of all persons who had rendered themselves obnoxious to the Chinese laws, and had the means of escaping hither. In course of time the demands for labour, for the public and other works, drew some thousands to the island, the majority of whom were Hakkas or gypsies; people whose habits, character and language mark them as a distinct race. Careless of the ties of home and of those moral obligations, the observance of which is deemed absolutely necessary ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r CHINA MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY 23 • Lancer and cross: biographical sketches of fifty pioneer medical missionaries in China, comp. by K. Chimin Wong [Shanghai] Council on Christian Medical Work, 1950, p. 14-16. Europe in China: the history of Hongkong from the beginning to the year 1882, by E. J. Eitel, Hongkong, Kelly & Walsh, 1895, p. 180. * Information on the officers and committee members during the brief history of the Society in these two paragraphs, except where otherwise noted, derives variously from the Friend of China, the Hong Kong almanack and directory for 1846, and the Hongkong register, as well as the Transactions. 9 As well as in the Transactions, p. 1-2, the record of this first meeting appears in the Friend of China, v. 14, no. 40, May 17th 1844, p. 754, and the Chinese repository, v. 14, 1845, p. 245. 10 Presumably John Williams & Co., Book Sellers & Publishers, 18 Wellington St. "next house to the Roman Catholic Chapel.". From an advertisement in the Hongkong register, v. 18, no. 40, Oct. 7th 1845, p. 162, it appears that the shop also sold everything from fowling pieces to "rare old aniseed brandy". 11 Royal Society of London: Catalogue of scientific papers, 1800-1900, London, 1867-1925. 12 U. S. Surgeon-General's Office: Index-catalogue of the Library: authors and subjects, Washington, 1880-1950. Periodical articles are entered only under subject. 13 The chronicles of the East India Company trading to China, by H. B. Morse, v. 5: Supplementary, 1742-74. Oxford, 1929, p. 101. 14 Trans. p. 27 gives June 8th, but this must be an error, as Dr. Hobson's letter was dated June 15, 15 "The history of medical education in Hong Kong" by Sir Lindsay T. Ride, in Inauguration of the Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation, 3rd March 1963: commemoration volume [Hong Kong, 1963] p. 41. 16 The medical missionary in China... by William Lockhart, London, 1861, p. 141. 17 Royal Asiatic Society. China Branch, Transactions, v. 1, 1847, p. 76. 18 Chinese repository, v. 14, 1845, p. 288-91. 19 Anonymous writer quoted by V. H. G. Jarrett in the South China Morning Post; and H. A. Rydings in JHKBRAS, v. 8, 1968, p. 63. 20 Catalogue of works in the Morrison Library, City Hall, Hongkong, including also a synoptical index. Hongkong, printed at the China Mail Office, 1873. 21 The names adopted were, successively, the Philosophical Society of China (5 Jan. 1847), the Asiatic Society of China (19 Jan, 1847), and the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (7 Sept. 1847). 22 Royal Asiatic Society. China Branch. Transactions, v. 1, 1847, p. 71. 23 Ibid. p. 23. 24 J. R. Jones, op. cit., p. 2. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 149 These local views were expressed in the dispatch of the Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, to the Colonial Office in London and in a memorial from the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce. Both reflect, as we shall see, the uneasiness underneath the comfortable life of the expatriate in nineteenth century Hong-kong. COLONIAL PRESSURE STOPS CONSUL MOVE In 1891, Ho A-mei wrote to the newspapers supporting a proposal of the British Foreign Office that a Chinese Consul be appointed for Hongkong. It was an issue which in the past had sharpened differences between Hongkong and the Home Government. The matter had first been raised in 1868. When news reached Hongkong at that time that it was being considered by the Foreign Office in London, there was an immediate outcry. The Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, rushed off a protest to the Colonial Office. He objected not only to the proposal, but also to the manner in which the British Minister at Peking had ignored Hongkong. The Governor was not on good terms with the Minister, Sir Rutherford Alcock. He complained that it had been his experience that Sir Rutherford was not concerned about the interests of Hongkong and in his negotiations with China paid little attention to Hongkong opinion. The Governor wrote to the Secretary of the Colonies that it was no surprise to him that Sir Rutherford had sent the suggestion of a Chinese Consul to the Foreign Office without consulting or informing the local government, nor had he given Hongkong an opportunity to register its opinion on the matter. When the Governor had eventually heard the British Minister's suggestion, he immediately called together his Executive Council to consider the issue. At that time all the members of the Council were Government officials. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 1} American missionary, the Reverend Elijah Bridgman,1 merely noted the formal possession of the island in its journal of occurrences; it gave no precise date nor any details.24 Another reference in the same journal in a historical review of events in China was only marginally fuller.25 The Canton Press, published at this point from Macao, expressed itself slightly puzzled by the lack of information about the event: 'On Tuesday last, the 26th January, the Island of Hongkong, the new settlement ceded by the Chinese to the English, was taken possession of in the name of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. The English colours were hoisted, and saluted from the ships; we have not yet heard any further particulars of the ceremony.' Two weeks later the incident was mentioned again, but no further details were forthcoming.26 The Canton Register made no mention of the possession of Hong Kong except in the context of Elliot's treaty with Ch'i-shan; it seemed unimpressed by the terms and referred to 'the paltry island of Hong Kong'. › 28 The two groups with the most immediate interest in the acquisition of Hong Kong for the British were the merchants and missionaries. Unlike the troops, for whom the possession of the island was just one part of a long and arduous expedition in a foreign and unhealthy part of the world, the merchants and missionaries were already operating from the area and found Chinese restrictions on their movements irksome. And unlike the British government and its officials, the traders and propagators of salvation were most cognizant of the advantages that a piece of British territory in South China would afford them. They were not politically or ideologically committed to punishing China for the 'disrespect' it had shown to Britain. It is not known whether any missionaries attended the ceremony on 26 January, but some merchants who were late to have their fortunes inextricably bound up with the colony turned up to witness its official birth. According to a study of the Indian community of Hong Kong, at least four Indian merchants were present in Hong Kong at the flag-hoisting: Cawasjee Pallanjee, the representative of Cursetjee Bomanjee and Co. of Bombay; F. M. Talati; Albert Sassoon;29 and Rustomjee Dhunjee Shaw of P. F. Cama and Co. of Bombay. James Matheson of Jardine Matheson and Co.30 went from Macao to Hong Kong precisely in order to witness the hoisting of the British flag, and afterwards, as he wrote to William Jardine in a postscript to a letter of 30 January, he circumnavigated the island.32 Thus the future character of the colony can be gauged from the type of person with most to gain from its possession by the British. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 117 Hotel, was Japanese. So were the majority of the photographers' shops. It was known that a proportion of the workers in the Royal Naval Dockyard were Japanese, passing themselves off as Chinese. Even the Chinese could not distinguish between one of their own countrymen and a Japanese after he had lived amongst them sufficiently long to speak the language fluently. There was a police regulation under which all persons entering the Colony of nationality other than British or Chinese must register. But Koreans were classed as Chinese, and so Japanese, who wished to avoid observation, described themselves as Koreans. To overcome the difficulty it would have been necessary to make registration of Chinese compulsory, and that was a task beyond the capacity of the existing police personnel; moreover, the Chinese might have resented such a regulation as a slight on their dignity. The Hongkong weekend continued much as usual. You could run your car onto the vehicular ferry, take it over to Kowloon, and drive the 17 miles to the border of the New Territory, either by the road which wound in and out amongst the bays along the coast, or by the road which followed the railway gap through the Kowloon hills; and play golf at the Royal Fanling Golf Club where there were two eighteen hole, and one nine hole, courses. Or you could bathe from one of the numerous beaches, or go on a launch picnic. These last were popular. On Sunday morning the time would be spent taking turns on a surfboard towed behind the launch, or sunbathing on top of the awning; in the afternoon a heavy lunch would offer the lazy an excuse to sleep. The Japanese were bombing the railway line between Hongkong and Hankow. In those days the confidence of air enthusiasts in regard to the results which could be achieved by desultory bombing had not yet been discounted by the hard test of experience. Moreover, we were yet to learn of the devotion and sacrifice, the skill and efficiency, of the Chinese railway repair gangs. With a minimum of equipment they performed wonders, and through traffic was seldom interrupted for more than a few hours. I was instructed to reconnoitre an alternative route for the despatch of supplies from Hongkong to Central China against the time when the railway might be finally disrupted. It was a thankless task because opinion in Shanghai continued to assume that the Chinese government would soon collapse under Japanese pressure. ================================================================================