RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1968
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833948d
64 

H. A. RYDINGS 

The City Hall Library continued in existence till a much later date, beyond the scope of the present article. According to Twentieth Century Impressions, by 1908 the total stock was 3,332 in the Morrison Library. However, at this same date, according to the same source, the Hong Kong Club had over 18,000 volumes in its library, so the situation had not radically altered since the days of the Victoria Library.

There is apparently only one other library in Hong Kong the history of which goes back to the early days of the Colony. This is the library of the Supreme Court, which may in fact claim to predate the founding of the Victoria Library, since it was started by Chief Justice J. W. Hulme, who in 1847 presented his own collection of law books. Yet even eleven years later Government had made no attempt to add to this collection. The inadequacy of the Supreme Court library became a standing cause of complaint with a later Chief Justice, Sir John Smale, of whom it is said that he "seldom delivered a judgment in which he did not make the time-honoured complaint as to the state of the library." Perhaps, however, he had an ulterior motive in so doing, since in 1881 Government bought part of Sir John Smale's collection to add to the Supreme Court library—and then had to keep it for a time packed away in boxes since the room used for a library was full.

Two years later it was felt that the Supreme Court had grown sufficiently in importance to require the appointment of a librarian. The position was advertised on 1st June, 1883, at a salary of $5 a week, the duties including to give general assistance as a copying clerk in the Registrar's office as well as to take charge of the library. The first appointee was Mr. E. B. Shepherd.10

The use of the Supreme Court library was not restricted to the Judiciary and Crown Law Officers, though misuse by other entitled persons resulted in the application of 'Rules for the Supreme Court Library', which were approved by the Legislative Council on 20th March, 1891. Amongst other matters, these specified that "The books shall be in the custody of a Librarian to be appointed by the Governor," surely the most high-powered appointment of a librarian that the Colony has ever known. The supervision of the Library was, however, entrusted to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, who was expected to submit an annual report on the state of the Library, including a list of books added. Books could
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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

19

influence of Sir John Davis as Governor, and J. W. Hulme, Chief Justice, both of whom were members) and the Hong Kong Branch, which has yet to solve it.

Since it was on condition that the books and apparatus of the Medico-Chirurgical Society should be handed over to "the Asiatic Society of China” (the original name of the R.A.S, China Branch) that the members of the former were to be admitted to the latter without ballot or entrance fee (17), the list of the library of the Medico-Chirurgical Society (Transactions, p. 78-9) is of particular interest to the present writer. The list is, however, by no means systematic, and has therefore been rearranged and rewritten as an appendix to this article. It cannot claim to be the first library catalogue to have been published in Hong Kong, since that of the Morrison Education Society was issued in the previous year (18). How far the Medico-Chirurgical Society succeeded in its second objective, "the formation of a Library" is difficult to judge, since the books and periodicals as recorded in the appendix to the present article were acquired over a relatively short period, and the problems of acquisition must have then been immeasurably greater than those about which present-day librarians (and their clients) in Hong Kong grumble.

Probably most of the books were gifts from members, as also were some of the periodicals, since there is some overlap in the recorded holdings of the Lancet, presumably received from different donors. Nevertheless, the Transactions include references to orders placed for various publications, e.g. (p. 57) on November 4th, 1845, five periodicals and one book (W.L. MacGregor's "Practical observations on diseases of European and native soldiers in the N.W. provinces of India," not recorded in the catalogue, and so presumably not received).

It has not been possible to trace the ultimate fate of any of these volumes. The Library of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, into which they were incorporated as already mentioned, was eventually donated to the old City Hall Library in 1869 (19). Unfortunately, however, only the Morrison Library was catalogued after this date (20), and none of the volumes listed in the appendix to the article appear to have migrated to that collection. One must sadly assume that, as the medical element in the membership of the China Branch dwindled, and as the depredations of white ant and
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