RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY 77 income of this man is then at least HK$25. It is also interesting to note that costs in the villages are often estimated in terms of British currency. 40 See e.g. Baker 1965, p. 30. 41 Marriage connections were then cast outside the standard market area of Tai Po. This is in contradiction to an assumption by G. W. Skinner (Skinner 1964/65, p. 36), who suggests that standard marketing communities were endogamous in traditional times. 42 Sometimes children by this mating were brought back to the village. In Big Stream Village there is a man whose mother was a Jamaican woman, and his features are quite distinct. However, I have the impression that he is fairly well integrated in the village. He was, for instance, the only male I saw performing ancestral rites at the graves at the Ch'ing Ming festival. He is working as a policeman in Sha Tin. Otherwise I have not come across any secondary marriages in the valley. REFERENCES BAKER, H. [1965] 'Marriage and the Family', Aspects of Social Organization in the New Territories, (Hong Kong, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch) n.d. BALL, J. DYER 1925 Things Chinese, or Notes Connected with China, 5th edn, rev. by E. C. T. Werner, (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh). BARNETT, K. A. 1957 'The People of the New Territories', Hong Kong Business Symposium, a Compilation of Authoritative Views on the Administration, Commerce and Resources of Britain's Far Eastern Outpost, J. M. Braga (ed.), (Hong Kong, South China Morning Post). 1958 'Introduction on Hong Kong Place-names', Hong Kong Gazetteer to the Land Utilization Map of Hong Kong and the New Territories, with Chinese and English Names, T. R. Tregear (ed.), (Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Press). Bot. Report 1906 1907 'Report on the Botanical and Forestry Department for the Year 1906', Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1907, (Hong Kong, Noronha and Co., Government Printers). Census 1911 1911 'Report on the Census of the Colony for 1911', Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1911, (Hong Kong, Noronha and Co., Government Printers). CHEN TA 1939 Emigrant Communities in South China, (New York, Institute of Pacific Relations). CHIU TZE NANG 1964 'Land Use in the Extreme East of the New Territories', Land Use Problems in Hong Kong, S. G. Davis (ed.), (Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Press). EITEL, E. J. 1895 Europe in China, The History of Hong Kong from the Beginning to the Year 1882, (London and Hongkong, Luzac and Co.). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY 79 NG, R. 1965 'Economic Life and the Family', Aspects of Social Organization in the New Territories, (Hong Kong, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch) n.d. N.T. Report 1900 1900 'Report on the New Territory during the First Year of British Administration', Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong 1900, (Hongkong, Noronha and Co., Government Printers). N.T. Report 1899-1912 1912 'Report on the New Territories 1899-1912", Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong 1912, (Hongkong, Noronha and Co., Government Printers). N.T. Report 1917 1918 'Report on the New Territories for the Year 1917, Administrative Reports for the Year 1917, (Hongkong, Noronha and Co., Government Printers). PRATT, J. 1960 'Emigration and Unilineal Descent Groups: A Study of Marriage in a Hakka Village in the New Territories, Hong Kong', The Eastern Anthropologists, Vol. xiii, S., D. W. 1900 European Settlements in the Far East, (London, Sampson, Low and Marston). SCPH H.K. Chinese 1965 H.K. Chinese in Britain Now Number 35,000, South China Post-Herald, Sept. 12th, Hong Kong. SIU, P. 1952 'The Sojourner', The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 58. SKINNER, G. W. 1964/65 'Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China', The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. xxiv. TOPLEY, M. 1964 'Capital, Saving and Credit among Indigenous Rice Farmers and Immigrant Vegetable Farmers in Hong Kong's New Territories', Capital, Saving and Credit in Peasant Societies, Studies from Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, and Middle America, R. Firth and B. S. Yamey, eds, (London, George Allen and Unwin). TREGEAR, T. R. and L. BERRY 1959 The Development of Hongkong and Kowloon as told in maps, (Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Press). VAILLANT, L. 1920 'Contribution à l'étude anthropologique des chinois Hak-ka de la province de Moncay (Tonking)', L'Anthropologie, Vol. 30. WILLMOTT, W. E. 1964 'Chinese Clan Associations in Vancouver, Man, Vol. lxiv. YANG, C. K. 1959 A Chinese Village in Early Communist Transition, (Cambridge, Mass, The Technology Press). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g A SHORT HISTORY OF MILITARY VOLUNTEERS IN HONG KONG JAMES HAYES* On the occasion of the disbandment of the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps in May 1866, His Excellency, after expressing his thanks for time, exertions and money spent for objects so essentially Public, went on to express his belief that the spirit which originated the Volunteer movement would be found to exist fresher and stronger than before, if any real and urgent necessity were to arise for defending, by force of arms, the rights of the Crown, or maintaining the supremacy of the Law in this Colony. The Hong Kong Volunteers would doubtless in such emergency come to the front again more numerous and efficient than ever! INTRODUCTION There have been military volunteers in Hong Kong for almost as long as there has been a Colony. Hong Kong was occupied in 1841 and the first volunteers were established thirteen years later, in 1854. However, the existence of a Volunteer force does not make Hong Kong unique. In this respect, as is shown below, it takes its place in the great movement which, in its modern re-incarnation, was created by patriotic fervour in the British Isles * Mr. Hayes is a member of the administrative branch of the Hong Kong Civil Service. He is a reserve officer of the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) and has been Hon. Editor of this Journal since 1966. 1 The Hongkong Government Gazette, 26th May 1866, G.N. No. 81. The footnotes to this article are given at the foot of each page. The following abbreviations are used:- Vol — The Volunteer, the current journal of the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force published annually since 1950. Y.B. = Year Book of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps 1934-40. S.P. = Printed Sessional Papers of the Hong Kong Government, being papers presented to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Han. Hong Kong Hansard, being the published proceedings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. These were printed in the Government Gazette and the Hong Kong Daily Press. There are bound annual volumes in the library of the Colonial Secretariat, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r YAUMATEI TYPHOON SHELTER, HONG KONG 29 So it was that on 14th December, 1903 the Honourable Gershom Stewart*, an unofficial member of the Legislative Council, rose to move the following motion- That in the opinion of the Council it is advisable to increase, if possible, the means of shelter for cargo boats and sampans during the typhoon season. In the course of a long speech Mr. Stewart said it was a fact to be borne in mind-- That the harbour is after all the reason of our existence here, from the harbour we either directly or indirectly, all of us, depend on our subsistence. We are now in the happy position of having an abundant revenue and I have now put in a plea for a humble and hard working section of the sea-faring population who have no means of advocating their own cause. He then spoke at some length on the dangers which the boat people faced in the course of typhoons with particular reference to that which had occurred in 1900, and went on to recommend his resolution to the Council on two grounds- The first being that of self-interest for we indirectly will get some benefit because we are doing something to assist trade and secondly on the higher ground of our common humanity. For I think it is right and proper that we should afford all the protection and help we can to an industrious and hard-working section of the community. For during a certain part of the year they may claim to be following a dangerous avocation, because we must remember that these people in numbers, men, women and children have nothing between them and the next world but perhaps a half inch plank when it may be blowing a hurricane in the harbour. Mr. Stewart's resolution was seconded by Mr. C. W. Dickson* who pointed out that-- * Listed in Who's Who in the Far East 1906-7 June (Hong Kong, China Mail, Publishers) as b. 1858, came out to Hongkong Bank, Jan. 1883, Exchange Broker, Chairman of the China Association. * Charles Wedderburn Dickson, listed in Who's Who in the Far East as partner in the firm of Jardine, Matheson and Co., and Deputy Chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, b. 1863, arrived in Hong Kong 1884. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 32 A. J. S. LACK had died the reaction of the Chamber of Commerce to the Governor's suggestion was not perhaps what one might have imagined. On 27th September 1906, Mr. E. A. Hewett* the unofficial member of the Legislative Council appointed by the Chamber of Commerce rose to comment upon the budget proposals for the year ahead, and in the course of his speech said— With regard to the typhoon shelter, your Excellency referred to the necessity for this which is admitted by all and went on to suggest the Chamber of Commerce might see their way to suggest the means of raising funds, I am sorry to say the Chamber of Commerce do not see their way to meet your Excellency's suggestion. For many years it has been strongly urged by all those interested in shipping that tonnage and light dues should not be levied for the purposes of general revenue. He claimed that in 1897 Mr. Chamberlain, the then Secretary of State in reply to a telegram from Sir Wilfred Robinson, “practically admitted that in future light and tonnage dues were not to be raised for such purposes." He then said, "the shelter benefits all classes of the community and should be borne by the Community and not by the shipping section, we all depend on the native craft, the merchant and the house owner as well as the ship owner and the refuge here is just as much a benefit to the merchant and the house owner as to the ship owner. Consequently, it would be manifestly unfair to ask a portion of the community to raise a large sum of money for the benefit of the whole Colony." Mr. Hewett then questioned various sites which had been proposed for a typhoon shelter and raised the possibility of the Colony incurring a loan to pay for it. Then he went on to say that he did not suppose that even had there been a shelter it would have had any effect in avoiding the great loss of life which had occurred on 18th of the month. He considered that a few boats in the immediate vicinity might have gone into the refuge, but it would not have benefitted the native shipping at large. * Edbert Ansgar Hewett, listed in Who's Who in the Far East as Superintendent, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, b. 1860, member of the Shanghai Municipal Council 1897-1901 and its Chairman in 1900-1901. Chairman of the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce since 1903. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 226 to Hawaii. CARL SMITH In calling for support of the proposal, Ho A-mei reflected that when he was a boy there was little business in Hongkong, but after emigration started better times came. Further, while the Governor called the proposed Hawaiian emigrants contract labourers, A-mei suggested that most of the members present came out to Hongkong on contract. To this observation there was a hearty "Hear, hear!” from the taipan "contract labourers" present. The resolution was passed by the meeting. There was still another matter Ho A-mei wished to present to the meeting. He proposed: "That the manufacture of salt be allowed to be carried on in Hongkong." The reason for this proposal was the Government's rejection of an application for the grant of a large waste tract along the shore near Stanley. The applicants planned to convert it into salt pans for the production of salt by evaporation of sea water. Ho A-mei did not understand why the request had been refused, as he felt it would in no way interfere with China's salt monopoly and would give employment to about 300 workers. He mentioned that Hongkong was importing salt from Indochina, but he did not refer to the large quantities of salt which were smuggled from Hongkong into China. He assured the members that the venture would be of great benefit to the Colony. Furthermore, it was the duty of the chamber to encourage all kinds of manufacture. — The chairman of the meeting, William Keswick, head of Jardine, Matheson and Co and a member of the Legislative Council and, as such, privy to certain Government decisions assured Ho A-mei that there was no more need to get sanction for the manufacture of salt than, say, for sugar. He suggested that perhaps the refusal of the land was not because of the purpose for which it was to be used. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 235 the official governing Hongkong, a matter of extreme difficulty." Ho A-mei regarded Sir Richard Macdonnell (1865-1872) as the first Governor to make any attempt to ascertain the views of the Chinese and give them some measure of impartial consideration. Though perhaps the attitudes and policies of the Governors had changed over the years, according to a letter which appeared in 1878 over the name "Chinese,” there were still giant steps to be taken if any kind of mutual acceptance was to be established. "Chinese" stated bluntly: "That we Chinese in this Colony are despised individually, collectively, and socially, and that we are ignored as a community (except in a few instances) there cannot be the least doubt. Individually we have imposed on us certain burdens peculiar to our nationality and we receive uncivility and indignity even at the hands of the police, to whom we contribute to pay largely for our protection. In European society we particularly have no status. To correspond socially with Europeans with whom we are daily brought into contact, to be admitted as favoured guests at their dinner table, to have the privilege of counting them as personal friends, are things which no Chinese, however ambitious he may be in other respects, would ever aspire to obtain. As a political body we are unknown. We are unrepresented, and it would be easier to find a fish climbing up a tree, as our adage says, than to see a Chinese Justice of the Peace, or a Chinese member of the Legislative or Executive Council in Hongkong.” Happily this situation, after exactly 100 years, is greatly altered. Though today things are different in Hongkong, a completely mutual relationship is yet to be achieved between all sections of the community. The colonial status of Hongkong mitigates against equal treatment in all areas. With the arrival of John Pope Hennessy as Governor in 1877, the Chinese had an advocate in high places. His so-called "pro-Chinese policy," however, exacerbated the tensions between the foreign and Chinese population of Hongkong. The longer he governed, the more he tried to advance the Chinese, the greater became the bitterness and hostility of the European population towards him. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 236 CARL SMITH an population towards him. This hostility surfaced publicly in the convening of a meeting in 1878 to pass resolutions regarding the increase of crime. It was this meeting that provided an opportunity for Ho A-mei to place himself before the public through a letter he sent to the newspaper setting forth the Chinese side of the events which took place at the meeting. In due time, we shall discuss this, but first as a general background for all A-mei's public activities, we might refer further to the letter of "Chinese" we previously quoted. The writer possibly might have been Ho A-mei himself, though his practice seems to have been to sign his own name to public letters. He was not the kind of person to hide his opinions behind a pen-name. "Chinese" maintained that the situation at the time he was writing (1878) was not quite as bad as he had described. There had been some changes of late years, for "we are not handled so roughly as before." He thought the changes were brought about by discussion in the press of the place of the Chinese in the Hongkong community and a growing sense of justice and fairplay displayed by government officials in their treatment of the Chinese. Suddenly, however, Chinese hopes for more improvements were given a dash of cold water by the remarks of Mr. Lowcock, an Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council. During a debate on the appointment of a Chinese as interpreter to the Governor and Colonial Secretary, he had said that “it would be almost dangerous for a Chinese to hold a confidential position." The "Chinese" writing the letter interpreted this to mean: "We Chinese, without one exception, are all treacherous and dangerous.” There was for him, however, one bright feature. Governor Hennessy had defended Chinese integrity. His Excellency observed: "I should be very sorry, if because he is a Chinaman, a ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 243 After this complication was dealt with, a vote was called on Francis' amendment. Only the proposer and seconder voted for it. Then the original resolution was put to the meeting. To this there was one additional opposition vote; all others voted for it. At this point, Ng Choy, speaking for the Chinese, called out: "The Chinese cannot hear what is going on.” To which the chairman replied: "Why do they not come forward? We must go on with the meeting,” ignoring the fact that there was no room for anyone to come forward. Ng Choy then asked for the resolution to be put again. Again he was rebuffed, the chairman replying: "I cannot put up a resolution which has been carried; we must go on with the meeting." "It is not fair," protested Ng, "the Chinese do not understand what is going on.” To which Lowcock, a member of the Legislative Council replied: “We cannot help it. I wish every Chinaman understood what was being said, but we cannot speak Chinese.” With this the Chinese walked off the field. After their departure, Forbes proposed a resolution hitting more directly at the Governor's administration, stating: "What is needed is firm and unfettered administration. Flogging in public is the only means of deterrent. It should be reinstated.' ** Granville Sharp seconded the motion with a rambling, pompous and involuted speech. He thought the Chinese who had been present were not true representatives of their community. He said: "I am able most thoroughly and heartily to protest against this party character being thrown into this loyal meeting. Gentlemen, I don't know of anyone in Hongkong who has had more to do with intelligent Chinese merchants than I up to within this day last month. I am able most thoroughly to say that resolution which was first proposed and the resolution which is now before you, have the entire and full concurrence of the most respectable and intelligent members of the Chinese community. It is quite right that in undertaking any inquiry of this kind we should guard against selfish motives.” ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 245 eration was not shown us.” There would be opportunities in the future for the two sections of the community to meet and discuss public issues. It was a gradual and slow process for the two to overcome mutual distrust and accept each other with respect. WHEN THE CHINESE CALLED ON THE GOVERNOR Ho A-mei was a member of a deputation of prominent Chinese which called upon the Acting Governor, the Honourable Henry Marsh, in January 1883. He was one of the three Chinese who spoke, though Dr. Ho Kai monopolised the meeting with a lengthy prepared speech. The deputation created considerable controversy. It released for public airing brooding tensions within both the Chinese and foreign sections of the community. It is true that it did not take much to arouse controversy. In those days, even as now, feelings could be stirred up over rather insignificant matters. But some of the discussion arising out of the 1883 visit to the Officer Administering the Colony concerned long-standing problems in Hongkong, some of which still trouble us. A secondary issue was the qualifications needed by the person who should represent the Chinese on the Legislative Council. To this honour Ho A-mei had aspirations. The issue, already under discussion, peaked because of the manner in which Ho Kai represented, or rather, as it was claimed, misrepresented the views of the Chinese in his speech. The deputation was the first official expression of Chinese public opinion since the departure of Governor John Pope Hennessy from Hongkong. Those who had been his bitter critics hailed the advent of Marsh as administrator as opening a new page in Hongkong's relation to the Chinese community. But joy over the change did not lessen antagonism towards Governor Hennessy. The Chinese deputation provided an opportunity for the old objections to Governor Hennessy's policies to be reviewed. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 249 JEALOUSIES SURFACE IN THE JOCKEYING FOR A SEAT IN LEGCO The year 1883 presented opportunities for Ho A-mei to become the recognised leader of the Chinese community. First, there was his election as Chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee to be followed by that of the Po Leung Kuk. These positions were honours awarded by the Chinese community to a member who merited recognition for his concern about their welfare. Second, there was the prospect of selection by the Governor to the vacant seat in the Legislative Council created by the resignation of the Honourable Ng Choy. One of the hurdles to get across was the competition provided by other possible candidates, particularly Dr. Ho Kai, for this position of leadership. Remarks made by Dr. Ho Kai, acting as spokesman for the Chinese, when an official deputation visited the Officer Administering the Colony in January 1883, provided an opportunity for Ho A-mei to suggest publicly that Dr. Ho Kai was not representative of the Chinese community and, by implication, not a suitable person to represent them on the Legislative Council. Ho A-mei had been elected Chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital in 1882. In the official list of directors his name appears as Ho Hin-ping, otherwise Kwan Shan, of the On Tai Insurance Co. The following year he became the Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk, an organisation for the prevention of kidnapping and the protection of women and children. These offices, the highest the Chinese community in Hongkong had to bestow, made Ho A-mei a possible candidate for the Legislative Council. Ng Choy, who had recently resigned, was the first Chinese member of the council. He had been appointed by Governor John Pope Hennessy in 1878. His nomination had been part of what the English language press liked to call "Hennessy's pro-Chinese policy." Governor Hennessy's object was to establish closer rela- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 250 CARL SMITH tions between the Government and the Chinese. He believed Chinese views on matters affecting public welfare should be known and taken into consideration in decisions made by the Government and its officials. He was a strong advocate of equal treatment of all groups within the Colony and was opposed to class legislation. These policies were not welcomed by a large part of Hongkong's expatriate population. When Ng Choy was named to the Legislative Council there were murmurs of displeasure. The choice, however, was a happy one. Ng Choy, a barrister educated in England, was a diplomat by nature. During the period he represented the Chinese on the council, he steered successfully the treacherous course of cooperation with Governor Hennessy's "pro-Chinese policy" and cross currents of opposition it aroused among the European colonials. All of his good sense, ability to relate to people, integrity of character and humour were needed, and these did not fail him. In 1882 he resigned to join the staff of Viceroy Li Hung-chang at Tientsin as a legal adviser. It was not easy to find someone who would fill the seat so capably. Ho A-mei, never backward, was willing and eager to compete for the high prize. His competitors were only a handful. Prominently mentioned were Dr. Ho Kai, Wei Yuk, Leung On and Wong Shing. Ho A-mei aspired to join their ranks. Who were these men and what were their qualifications? Wei Yuk had been educated in Scotland and was compradore of the Chartered Bank, having succeeded his father in that position. Governor Hennessy had made him a Justice of the Peace in one of his bids to tie the Chinese more closely to the Government. The editor of the Hong Kong Telegraph described Wei Yuk as "a gentleman of great intelligence besides his wealth and position, exercising vast influence in all local matters appertaining to the Chinese." He served on the Legislative Council from 1896 to 1914 and became known after receiving a knighthood as Sir Wei Po- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 251 Shan. Po Shan Road is named after him. Leung On, alias Leung Hok-chau, was a man of maturity. He was the highly respected compradore of Gibb, Livingston and Company. For many years he had been prominent in affairs within the Chinese community and had been chairman of the organising committee for the Tung Wah Hospital. His standard of English, however, was a handicap in aspiring to the membership of the Legislative Council. Wong Shing was Wei Yuk's father-in-law. He was a man of high principles, but quiet and reserved. He had been in the first class of the Morrison Education Society School in Hongkong and with three of his classmates had been taken to the United States to further his education by the headmaster of the school. His health, however, did not permit him to finish his studies. He returned to Hongkong and took up employment with the London Missionary Society, in a short time becoming manager of the society's printing establishment. For a brief period he was with the Chinese Educational Mission in the United States, but now he was looking after his properties in Hongkong and managing other business interests. He had no ambition to be a prominent public figure but when Ng Choy's successor as Councillor was named at the close of 1883, it was Wong Shing. In January 1883, however, it appeared that Dr. Ho Kai was the most likely candidate for the seat. He had left Hongkong when still a young boy to receive an education in Scotland and England. He was a brilliant student earning degrees both in law and medicine. When he returned to Hongkong in 1882 he was thoroughly Anglicised, had a beautiful English bride and wore European clothing. He was also a professing Christian. Europeans did not doubt that such a man would be sympathetic to their views about the Chinese and Chinese matters. Ho A-mei was of a different sort altogether. He had served the Kwangtung Government for a number of years in an official capacity. Page 26.8 Page 26.8 Page 26.8 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 252 CARL SMITH He had received a mandarin's degree from the Chinese Government. His education was limited to the years in Dr. Legge's school. He was not a scholar, but a promoter and financier. He sometimes expressed himself too bluntly on public occasions and was quick to engage in controversy. The hostile attitude of Ho A-mei toward Dr. Ho Kai may not have rested entirely upon his ambition to be a Legislative Councillor. It possibly might go back to the days when they met as boys in the home of the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong, Ho Kai as a son of the family, A-mei as the poor relative. Whatever the foundation for A-mei's critical attitude towards the doctor, the Chinese deputation of 1883 provided the opportunity for him to express it. The controversy within the Chinese community created by Dr. Ho Kai's remarks not only revealed that the Chinese were torn by parties and factions, jealousies and rivalries, but that Dr. Ho Kai, while eminently suitable from the foreign standpoint, might not be altogether acceptable to the Chinese as their representative and hence frustrate the purpose of having a Chinese on the council. This possibility was acknowledged by the English press. In commenting on Dr. Ho Kai's remarks to the Acting Governor, an editor said: “Granted that the learned barrister had been a most successful student, and admitting that he is a person of great attainment and doubtless of some ability, it is only fair to remember that he is a young man who can have but a very imperfect knowledge, whether of his countrymen or of the political and social exigencies of Hongkong." It concluded furthermore that the views he expressed “are merely the opinions of himself and perhaps a few of his immediate friends and supporters, but do not represent in any way the voice of Chinese public opinion in Hongkong." Perhaps it was unfortunate that Dr. Ho Kai assumed the responsibility of speaking for the Chinese before he had become thoroughly reacquainted after his long absence with the Chinese community in Hongkong. In terms of intimate knowledge of Chi- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 nese affairs and opinion in Hongkong, Ho A-mei was eminently more qualified to represent the Chinese, but other factors handi-capped him as a candidate for a seat on the Legislative Council. WHEN A BARRISTER GAMBLES ON ELOQUENCE The deputation of prominent Chinese which waited on the Acting Governor in January 1883 had several important matters to present to him. These were the increase in gambling and illegal brothels and the congestion and nuisance created by hawkers. Dr. Ho Kai, who had recently returned to Hongkong after completing his studies abroad, was the spokesman for the group. He had brought with him a reputation as a brilliant and learned man. His training as a barrister provided the skill to set forth problems in an eloquent and persuasive fashion. As to eloquence, Dr. Ho Kai brilliantly displayed it in his maiden speech as a public figure in Hongkong. But as for adequately presenting the views of the Chinese community, some felt he had dismally failed. Ho A-mei was one of his severest critics. Not long before the deputation made its formal visit, a petition bearing the chops and signatures of more than 1,000 Chinese shops, hongs and individuals had been submitted to the Registrar-General for transmission to the Governor. This widely signed petition dealt with the increase in gambling and was an appeal for action by Government to suppress the evil. The greater part of Dr. Ho Kai's speech dealt with this problem. In his remarks he set forth the manner gambling was carried on in Hongkong. There were three popular ways to gamble, tse-fa, pak-kop piu (white pigeon ticket) and fan-tan. The first two are a form of lottery. In 1883 all of these were controlled by a number of gambling societies. One of the difficulties in the suppression of the activities of these societies was the wording of the Gambling Ordinance. It Page 270 Page 271 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 races to be included...?" 257 The learned barrister may have spoken eloquently but accord-ing to his critics not wisely. GROPING TO CLOSE THE COMMUNICATION GAP The Chinese deputation which called on the Acting Governor in 1883 to draw his attention to certain concerns of the Chinese community was attacked from several quarters. Within the expatriate group in Hongkong there was a mistrust of the practice of Chinese having the direct ear of the Governor. It was felt that the previous Governor, Sir John Pope Hennessy, had manipulated such meetings to promote policies which favoured the Chinese to the disadvantage of the interests of the European population. They felt that the old established indirect approach through the Registrar General was the best way for the Govern-ment to relate to the Chinese. The Registrar General was the offi-cer responsible for matters affecting the Chinese. His modern counterpart is the Secretary for Home Affairs. Not everyone in the foreign population looked with disfavour on the idea of Chinese deputations. The senior partner of Jardine, Matheson and Company, F.B. Johnson, expressed his support. He felt it was his duty, as he said, not merely as a member of the Legislative Council, but as a resident of the Colony to be present and "to show every possible sympathy he could with the move-ment this deputation had met to advocate." In commenting on these remarks, the editor of one of the Hong-kong papers was not very kind to Johnson, describing him as "one of those eccentric and ostentatious gentlemen who will rather commit any absurdity than be debarred from a public indulgence in windy and meaningless platitudes." A species not unknown in Hongkong today. The Chinese criminal power group was also not happy about the visit, especially as it was to present matters which touched upon their activities. They were prospering under the status quo ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 263 sulting the Chinese. In my opinion the action taken by Dr. Ho Kai showed great lack of courage and judgment, as he ought, before taking upon himself to represent us, to have consulted us beforehand, and have made himself acquainted to a certain extent with our views as to what amount was likely to be raised for the memorial in question. There seems to have been not much of traditional Chinese courtesy or delicacy in these hard remarks by Ho A-mei. He was not one to exercise a tactful or diplomatic approach to a matter he felt was wrong. The three Hongkong English language newspapers each took a different view of this attack on Dr. Ho Kai. The Daily Press ignored it, the Hongkong Telegraph endorsed it, the China Mail condemned it. The editor of the Mail noted that "the green eyed monster jealousy is in the Chinese community. There is just a chance certain Chinese may make themselves extremely ridiculous over this affair." He believed that Ho A-mei felt slighted because the three Chinese named to the Kennedy memorial committee had also been mentioned as possible candidates to fill the post vacated by the resignation of Ng Choy from the Legislative Council. He commented: “Surely Ho A-mei's ambition does not soar so high. He is a pretty successful businessman, but we are not aware that anything else can be said in his favour of his having a seat on Council, while a great deal could be said on the other side." In commenting on these editorial remarks, the writer of a regular column in the Mail remarked, “Mr. Ho A-mei is evidently an individual who does not intend to blush unseen in the Colony. I know little about him but evidently it was a great mistake for the Kennedy Memorial meeting not to place his name on the committee and not to call on him for a few remarks. Seriously, I hope the 'rubbing down' you gave him last night (in the editorial) may prevent the Chinese from supporting the foolish project he has started." This project was his undertaking to raise funds for a memorial to Macdonnell and to Hennessy. The Tung Wah meeting agreed to have Leung On raise funds for the Kennedy project. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 71 1901 (see below). 36 Brewin, who was promoted to Registrar General in 1901, had also served briefly, from 1897 to 1901, as Inspector of Schools in succession to E.J. Eitel. His endorsement was, therefore, particularly valuable. He had been appointed, together with his successor as Inspector of Schools, E.A. Irving, and the Chinese member of the Legislative Council, Ho Kai, to the 1901-1902 Education Committee, the report of which contains blatant calls for the separate educational treatment of the different races and a clear recommendation, compatible with the extremes of colonialistic paternalism, that, as far as Chinese education was concerned, the Government should concentrate its efforts and finances on the education, in English, of the few who could be regarded as potential leaders. Interestingly, the Secretary of State for the Colonies at this time, Joseph Chamberlain, totally rejected this recommendation (Chamberlain to Sir Henry Blake, Governor of Hong Kong, 12th September, 1902, in CO129/311, p. 481). "For certain individuals, this explanation is something of a euphemism since the “medical and sanitary precautions" involved burning down their homes. The Plague first broke out in Hong Kong in the Spring of 1894. The death rate for the first five or six months was over 2,500, and, though, it was the Chinese population which was most affected, the Europeans were not untouched. Lady Robinson, the wife of the Governor of Hong Kong, was, for example, a victim. Dr. E.J. Eitel, the Inspector of Schools, provided details of the rumours circulating among the less educated Chinese, and their effects, in a memorandum to the Colonial Secretary on 22nd May 1894. Eitel wrote to report and explain "the panic which has suddenly decimated the attendance in the local Chinese Schools" and noted that the rumours began to spread in districts affected by the Plague on Sunday, 20th May and reached other districts the next day. The principal rumours were (a) that "the Government intended to select a few young Children from each School to subject them to a surgical incision of the liver in order to obtain bile, this being the only known remedy for curing the plague”; and, (b) that "every School would be visited by officers who would examine every child and send to the "Hygeia" anyone having the least boil or pimple on its body". Eitel speculated about the origin of the panic, attributing it to "the malicious distortion of the native medical fraternity" and concluded: “I do not think anything very effectual can be done to remove the suggestions of native malice to native ignorance and suspiciousness. Distrust of the Government is still rampant among the lower classes of Chinese. Education will remove it in time. (Memorandum No. 38 of 22nd May, 1894, by Dr. E.J. Eitel, Inspector of Schools; in CO129/263, p. 190-193). 39 In Arnold Wright (ed.), Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and the Other Treaty Ports of China: Their History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources (London: Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Company, Ltd., 1908), p. 182, for example, Mok Tso Chun, “a native of the Heungshan district" and formerly one of the directors of the Tung Wah Hospital, is described as the Chief Compradore of Butterfield and Swire. In the Anglo-Chinese Commercial Directory of circa 1915 (Chief Editor, Jan George Chance), a Mok Jao Chuen, clearly the same person as Mok Tso Chun, appears as Compradore for Butterfield and Swire, while a Choi Kung Po and a Mok Kon Sang appear as Assistant Compradores. Mok Man Cheung acted as witness to the will of Mok Tso [or Jao] Chun and the will, itself, makes it clear that Mok Kon Sang was Mok Tso Chun's eldest son. It was certainly not unusual for Compradores at this time to find positions for younger relatives. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 117 A SENSE OF HISTORY (PART II) CARL SMITH JEALOUSIES SURFACE IN THE JOCKEYING FOR A SEAT IN LEGCO The year 1883 presented opportunities for Ho A-mei to become the recognised leader of the Chinese community. First, there was his election as Chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee to be followed by that of the Po Leung Kuk. These positions were honours awarded by the Chinese community to a member who merited recognition for his concern about their welfare. Second, there was the prospect of selection by the Governor to the vacant seat in the Legislative Council created by the resignation of the Honourable Ng Choy. One of the hurdles to get across was the competition provided by other possible candidates, particularly Dr. Ho Kai, for this position of leadership. Remarks made by Dr. Ho Kai, acting as spokesman for the Chinese, when an official deputation visited the Officer Administering the Colony in January 1883, provided an opportunity for Ho A-mei to suggest publicly that Dr. Ho Kai was not representative of the Chinese community and, by implication, not a suitable person to represent them on the Legislative Council. Ho A-mei had been elected Chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital in 1882. In the official list of directors his name appears as Ho Hin-ping, otherwise Kwan Shan, of the On Tai Insurance Co. The following year he became the Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk, an organisation for the prevention of kidnapping and the protection of women and children. These offices, the highest the Chinese community in Hongkong This instalment completes the reprinting, with the author's kind permission, of “A sense of History" that appeared in the South China Morning Post between 1977 and 1979. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 119 Governor Hennessy had made him a Justice of the Peace in one of his bids to tie the Chinese more closely to the Government. The editor of the Hong Kong Telegraph described Wei Yuk as “a gentleman of great intelligence besides his wealth and position, exercising vast influence in all local matters appertaining to the Chinese." He served on the Legislative Council from 1896 to 1914 and became known after receiving a knighthood as Sir Wei Po-shan. Po Shan Road is named after him. Leung On, alias Leung Hok-chau, was a man of maturity. He was the highly respected compradore of Gibb, Livingston and Company. For many years he had been prominent in affairs within the Chinese community and had been chairman of the organising committee for the Tung Wah Hospital. His standard of English, however, was a handicap in aspiring to the membership of the Legislative Council. Wong Shing was Wei Yuk's father-in-law. He was a man of high principles, but quiet and reserved. He had been in the first class of the Morrison Education Society School in Hongkong and with three of his classmates had been taken to the United States to further his education by the headmaster of the school. His health, however, did not permit him to finish his studies. He returned to Hongkong and took up employment with the London Missionary Society, in a short time becoming manager of the Society's printing establishment. For a brief period he was with the Chinese Educational Mission in the United States, but now he was looking after his properties in Hongkong and managing other business interests. He had no ambition to be a prominent public figure but when Ng Choy's successor as Councillor was named at the close of 1883, it was Wong Shing. In January 1883, however, it appeared that Dr. Ho Kai was the most likely candidate for the seat. He had left Hongkong when still a young boy to receive an education in Scotland and England. He was a brilliant student earning degrees both in law and medicine. When he returned to Hongkong in 1882 he was thoroughly Anglicised, had a beautiful English bride and wore European clothing. He was also a professing Christian. Europeans did not ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 120 doubt that such a man would be sympathetic to their views about the Chinese and Chinese matters. Ho A-mei was of a different sort altogether. He had served the Kwangtung Government for a number of years in an official capacity. He had received a mandarin's degree from the Chinese Government. His education was limited to the years in Dr. Legge's school. He was not a scholar, but a promoter and financier. He sometimes expressed himself too bluntly on public occasions and was quick to engage in controversy. The hostile attitude of Ho A-mei toward Dr. Ho Kai may not have rested entirely upon his ambition to be a Legislative Councillor. It possibly might go back to the days when they met as boys in the home of the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong, Ho Kai as a son of the family, A-mei as the poor relative. Whatever the foundation for A-mei's critical attitude towards the doctor, the Chinese deputation of 1883 provided the opportunity for him to express it. The controversy within the Chinese community created by Dr. Ho Kai's remarks not only revealed that the Chinese were torn by parties and factions, jealousies and rivalries, but that Dr. Ho Kai, while eminently suitable from the foreign standpoint, might not be altogether acceptable to the Chinese as their representative and hence frustrate the purpose of having a Chinese on the Council. This possibility was acknowledged by the English press. In commenting on Dr. Ho Kai's remarks to the Acting Governor, an editor said: "Granted that the learned barrister has been a most successful student, and admitting that he is a person of great attainment and doubtless of some ability, it is only fair to remember that he is a young man who can have but a very imperfect knowledge, whether of his country or of the political and social exigencies of Hongkong." It concluded furthermore that the views he expressed “are merely the opinions of himself and perhaps a few of his immediate friends and supporters, but do not represent in any way the voice ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 121 of Chinese public opinion in Hongkong.” Perhaps it was unfortunate that Dr. Ho Kai assumed the responsibility of speaking for the Chinese before he had become thoroughly reacquainted after his long absence with the Chinese community in Hongkong. In terms of intimate knowledge of Chinese affairs and opinion in Hongkong, Ho A-mei was eminently more qualified to represent the Chinese, but other factors handicapped him as a candidate for a seat on the Legislative Council, WHEN THE CHINESE HAD TO CARRY A PASS AND LANTERN Ho A-mei's long residence in Hongkong was periodically punctuated by his participation in public meetings and discussion of controversial issues. There was the City Hall meeting of 1878 to discuss public security, and in 1883 the Chinese delegation to the Governor and the Chinese meeting to discuss a statue in memory of Governor Macdonnell. In 1895, only a few years before Ho A-mei retired from Hongkong, he chaired a meeting held at Tung Wah Hospital to air the grievances of the Chinese against the requirement for them to carry lanterns and passes when on the streets during certain hours. The eventual abolition of these requirements was an important step in the slow process of improving relations between the Chinese and foreigners. As background for Ho A-mei's part in pushing for the repeal, it is necessary to review the circumstances under which the 1857 ordinance setting forth these rules was enacted and also to refer to the discussion regarding “class legislation” at the time Governor Hennessy was attempting to introduce a policy of fairer treatment of the Chinese in Hongkong. The original ordinance "for better securing the peace of the Colony" was enacted as an emergency measure at a time of crisis when the foreign community was gripped by fear and panic. It contained a clause that the Governor in Council could at any time ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 140 communicate with the Chinese. The editor of the Daily Press suggested that, “it would be well, indeed, in this colony if the Chinese could be encouraged to give a fuller expression to their opinion than they have been accustomed to do, for at present the Government has to work largely in the dark and has no reliable means of feeling the pulse of the native community." "Brownie" of the China Mail also felt that the Government should be ready to listen to the real grievances of the Chinese, but only through the proper channels. "We desire to hear the real views of the respectable Chinese, but we must fight shy of any agitation which is not recognised by the Chinese representative,” meaning Dr. Ho Kai. Here, of course, was some of the difficulty. Dr. Ho Kai was in some measure out of tune with elements in the Chinese community. The Governor did not improve the position of Dr. Ho vis-a-vis the Chinese, or at least that is what I conclude from the remarks of "Brownie." He comments on "the clever way in which the Governor called upon Dr. Ho Kai to clinch the arguments," even though "the worthy doctor may not have appreciated being used as a sledgehammer upon his own compatriots, though he doubtless recognised the necessity of the operation." That he would submit to being a sledgehammer and appreciate the Governor's hard line was a high recommendation for him in the eyes of the foreigner, for "we badly need a few more Chinese who possess the enlightenment of the doctor." So thought "Brownie." An opposite view was taken by the Hongkong Telegraph. It felt that, "the Chinese are entitled to better representation in the Legislative Council than at present." The editor suggested that in Hongkong where the British principle of “no taxation without representation" is ignored, “it must be especially galling to a large section of the community like the Chinese, whose one representative in the Council is nominated by the Governor. He is, we are assured, not the chosen representative of his countrymen,” Page 165 Page 166 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 161 BLOCKADE FINDS A CHAMPION The Chinese petition to the Queen concerning the evils of what was called the Chinese “blockade” of Hongkong was followed by a public meeting held at the City Hall in September 1874, to draw up resolutions to present to the Government in Britain. The meeting began with the calamitous forecast by the chief manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Mr. James Greig, that Hongkong's junk trade was threatened with complete extinction and the acts of China in patrolling the waters near Hongkong were an outrage. He proposed the first resolution: "That this meeting regards with feelings of amazement and alarm the organised invasion by the Hoppo of Canton of the freedom and sanctuary of the port and harbour of Hongkong." There was one person at the meeting who had not been carried away by the ground-swell of indignation which pervaded the mercantile section of the community. The unofficial member of the Legislative Council and senior partner in Hongkong of Jardine, Matheson and Company, Mr. James Whittall, stated his opinion that the commerce of Hongkong was not suffering from the blockade. Indeed, he claimed that trade had improved after some recent sluggishness and was as large as it ever had been. Furthermore, China had a perfect right to levy and collect duties on cargoes. Several speakers questioned the accuracy of Mr. Whittall's estimate of the progress of Hongkong trade. One drew attention to the Harbour Master's report for the previous year which showed a decline in junks entering and leaving the harbour. But Mr. Whittall stood firm. He reminded the meeting that his company did a very large business and he ought to be fully acquainted with the situation. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 162 quainted with the state of trade between Hongkong and China. Next he hit at the root of the problem. He bluntly stated that “a great many Chinese in Hongkong smuggled.” His remark was not welcomed. Hongkong merchants were reluctant to look squarely at the source of the Colony's tensions with China. Mr. Whittall next commented on statements made in the recent Chinese petition protesting against the seizure and confiscation of a junk by the customs officials. He claimed that contrary to the impression given in the petition, the junk had been engaged in smuggling and was not an innocent victim of rapacious Chinese officials. This attitude towards the problem from the head of a firm, whose fortunes had been founded on the import of opium and its sales to smugglers, seemed out of character. By 1874, however, Jardine's had little to do with the opium trade but the firm's past associations led to an appreciation of the fact that many Chinese traders had either direct or indirect interests in smuggling. Another factor influencing Mr. Whittall's tolerant views regarding the actions of China to protect its income was Jardine's efforts to win railway and other concessions from the Chinese Government. To do this the firm needed to keep on good terms with Chinese officials. Yet still another factor in Mr. Whittall's position may have been his relation to the local Government. He may have agreed to act as its spokesman at the meeting. There were other occasions when he was charged with being the Government's mouthpiece, rather than the people's voice as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council. Mr. Whittall suggested that if the initial request of the Chinese for a consul to supervise duty regulations had been granted, the present conditions would not have arisen. He acknowledged that ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 163 he himself had opposed the appointment, but perhaps the matter should be reconsidered. He made the positive suggestion that the Hongkong Government and the Chinese authorities discuss together the problem of smuggling and the methods China employed to collect its duties. He stated, however, that he was still opposed to having a Chinese in Hongkong with the position of a consul. As far as the "blockade" was concerned, Mr. Whittall remarked that "many of the Chinese merchants had said to him that they were perfectly satisfied with the present arrangements. It was a protection to the honest merchants and only a disadvantage to the dishonest man." No view was presented by a Chinese. The foreign and Chinese communities were still too separate to discuss public issues together. In the published newspaper account of the meeting, it is stated that there were about two hundred present from every sector of the community. A list of some seventy-five names is given. Among them, there is only one Chinese, Ng Moon-koon. He was, I believe, the same as Ng Man-kwan, one of the leading Chinese opium dealers. Mr. Whittall's statement about Chinese opinion on the matter did not go unchallenged. The senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council, Mr. Phineas Ryrie, had apparently been gathering Chinese views. He reported that "some dozen" had told him it was hurting the trade. He did not specify whether the dozen were from the honest or the dishonest class of traders referred to by Mr. Whittall. The remarks of the Jardine taipan may have influenced others at the meeting, for when the vote on the resolution was taken, there were seven against it. His views having received such a cold reception, Mr. Whittall, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 174 When in July 1891, the appointment of a Chinese consul was made public, the expatriate community was angered at the manner in which it had been sprung on them. Without prior notice, the Governor had laid the notice of the appointment before a meeting of the Legislative Council. The writer of the newspaper column "Fragrant Waters Murmur” described the despatch announcing the appointment as "made in the truest Imperial style, regardless of colonial feeling or opinion." He further claimed, “that this, the Imperial will, was flashed upon the amazed residents without the slightest previous hint being given from any official source." He expressed strong objections to an Imperial policy of this kind, particularly in view of the financial demands the Home Government made on the Colony. According to "Brownie,” the author of the column, local opinion felt that, “if Hongkong is called to pay £40,000 a year as a contribution to the defence of the Empire, it is entitled to be consulted in matters which immediately concern its interests. Today if Britain takes unilateral action on certain matters affecting Hongkong, such as agreements regarding landing rights for airlines at Kai Tak, there are local murmurs about unfair treatment. In order to air the question and to have a basis for formulating a position in response to the announcements, the merchants wished to have made public the correspondence on the matter. Consequently, at the next meeting of the Legislative Council, Mr. Whitehead, an unofficial member, after due notice asked: "Will the Government lay upon the table copies of all recent correspondence on the subject of a Chinese consul to Hongkong and also copies of the correspondence on the same subject in the years 1868 to 1876?” The Officer Administering the Colony, who was presiding, was ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 180 When the Foreign Office suddenly revoked the appointment, the meeting was cancelled and the resolutions were never discussed. CONSUL ISSUE BECOMES A BATTLE FOR FACE Soon after the notice of the appointment of a Chinese consul to Hongkong was put before the Legislative Council in July 1891, an announcement was issued for a public meeting to discuss the matter and pass resolutions. The organisers of the meeting wished to get the support of the Chinese merchants and compradores and pressure was exerted to ensure their attendance. To counteract this, Ho A-mei published a letter in the Chinese press urging his countrymen not to become the pawns of the expatriate merchants. A translation of his letter appeared in the China Mail. It was inserted by the editor to show the foreign community “how little can be said in favour (of the proposal) by its supporters.” In his letter Ho A-mei made three main points: that China should have the same privilege as other nations, that the Chinese in Hongkong can be trusted, and that the Chinese should support the appointment of a consul out of national pride. China deserved the same rights as those extended to other nations. If they had consuls in Hongkong, why not then the Chinese? Were they any different? China and England were friendly nations. Therefore, there was no reason why China should not be treated as any other country which had commercial treaties with China. If they were entitled to have someone to look after their trade, so should China. There should be no question about it: "The Colonial Office ought naturally to sanction it in accordance with precedents in similar cases. There was, therefore, no reason for Britain to seek the views of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 200 JUBILEE JOY HAS A SOUR START Funds for a hall for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which was opened in 1896, were raised as a part of the celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Hongkong's planning for the jubilee was officially launched by a question raised in the Legislative Council in February of the Jubilee Year by Mr. Paul Chater, an unofficial member. In the opinion of the China Mail it was none too soon: “We have been waiting and watching for many weeks for some sign on the part of the Government or on the part of the committee who, we understand, had taken the matter in hand, but we have waited in vain, and we are thankful to Mr. Chater for saving us the trouble of losing our patience.” Hongkong was lagging far behind the rest of the British Empire in formulating plans. In India, the date for the celebration had already been fixed, and the home country was a-bustle with preparations. There had been some preliminary discussion in Hongkong by a small group of concerned loyal subjects. Their action, however, was criticised by the editor of the Daily Press. The journalists of that day were always quick to object to efforts of small groups to manage or control Hongkong affairs. The editor felt that this group was presumptuous for privately taking an initiative regarding the jubilee. Planning, the editor contended, should be a thoroughly open and public matter. Although he expressed approval of Mr. Chater's move to query the Government regarding its intentions, he felt that it would have been preferable first to have had an open meeting to discuss what projects were most popular with the general public. Such a meeting could have then appointed a committee which would have been representative of all sections of the community. This committee could then have been entrusted to co-operate with the Government in formulating plans for the cele- Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 201 brations. It was the editor's opinion that, "the matter is far too important to be left to any self-constituted or semi-private committee.” He had his own suggestion as to who should assume leadership: "While not wishing to question the good intentions and public spirit of the gentlemen, we would venture to suggest that there are certain members of the community whose position naturally indicates them as the proper parties to take a lead on an occasion of this kind. He proposed that the Acting Government, the Chief Justice, or the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council, or perhaps all three of them, call a public meeting. If these gentlemen took the lead, it need not mean that those who had already been discussing the matter would be crowded out, for they "could doubtless find a place on the committee.” As such they would be in a much better position, “having been regularly appointed and instructed, they would be able to act much more effectively." But even a committee properly appointed and instructed was no guarantee that things would run smoothly. Such an important project should engage the whole community, "for unless the demonstration be of a thoroughly popular character, heartily joined in by Her Majesty's subjects of every rank and station, it would be better to have no demonstrations at all." Herein was the danger posed by the self-constituted committee: "We need hardly say that nothing could be more calculated to render the affair unpopular than for a small clique to assume the direction of affairs without any authority from the community at large." Hongkong in the nineteenth century was very sensitive about cliques. Their all-pervasive presence disrupted community har- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 202 mony. Class and racial distinctions were sharply drawn. Self-interest and a desire for public recognition caused many to push themselves forward as self-appointed community leaders. These unpleasant features of life in Hongkong became evident as the plans for the jubilee were discussed. The press suggested what it considered appropriate official events for the celebration: a special session of the Legislative Council to adopt a congratulatory address with all the pomp and ceremony local conditions would permit, a reception at Government House to give an opportunity to pay respects to Her Majesty's representative, a general parade of troops with ships in the harbour dressed, and a royal salute both afloat and ashore. Suggestions for the festivities of the community included a general illumination for one night, a fete and fireworks at the Botanical Gardens on another, and for a third festive evening the British community might invite their friends of other nationalities to an entertainment at the City Hall with the Amateur Dramatic Club performing or the Musical Club might present an evening's entertainment of vocal and instrumental music. The Sketching Club could also contribute by holding an exhibition of its members' works. Drama, music and art could thus each make its contribution. As an alternative, a banquet was suggested. This, however, because of limitation of space, would have meant making decisions about who should receive invitations and who would have to be excluded. Obviously a situation to be avoided if at all possible. Another objection to a banquet was that it would automatically exclude the women, as in that day they did not attend public banquets. As it turned out, there was not much difficulty in deciding on a satisfactory programme to celebrate the event. The difficulty came over deciding on a permanent memorial. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 204 endow a high class school and call it the Victoria Female College." And lastly, the possibility of a statue was advanced. Already seeds were sown for divided opinions and each little group pushing its own project. Out of the resulting confusion, the Chinese emerged with their own scheme, a hall for a Chinese Chamber of Commerce. JUBILEE PLANS COMPETE WITH RACING The manner in which Hongkong should observe the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was publicly launched when Mr. C. P. Chater raised the question at a Legislative Council meeting on February 11, 1887. His preliminary remarks reflected the sentiments prevalent among colonials in a period when the British Empire was in its unchallenged glory. They were proud of the widespread dominion of their native country. Mr. Chater began thus: "Sir, the question I am about to ask, though neither of state importance, nor materially affecting the interests of the Colony, touches upon a subject which at the moment is appealing to the loyal feelings of millions of Her Majesty's subjects all over the world. "This year Her Most Gracious Majesty celebrates the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne of that great empire, the Government of which she has so ably administered; and throughout her vast dominions rejoicings are to be the order of the day. "And her subjects, of whatever race they may be, are anxious to celebrate the occasion in a manner befitting its exceptional and gratifying nature.” Hongkong, said Mr. Chater, was eager to participate in the general rejoicings. "This Colony does not wish to be behind in anything, more especially in a matter of this sort." ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 207 Here lay the difficulty, however, to get the community to agree on a definite proposal. The presiding officer volleyed the ball back into the court of the community. He explained that there had been no move by the Government to propose definite plans because "His Excellency considers that any steps that may be taken with this object would no doubt be more fully appreciated by Her Most Gracious Majesty if they were the spontaneous act of the loyal community of Hongkong," though he definitely wished to reassure the public that the Government was ready to co-operate. Hidden in the phrase "spontaneous act" was the seed of the muddle Hongkong got itself into over the jubilee plans. Behind the scenes there had been planning strategy to promote a particular scheme. The plan for the park had the backing of influential people. Many, however, considered it inappropriate and wished to promote their own proposals. There was some delay in holding a public meeting after the Government announced that it would wait for the public to make suggestions. Mr. Chater had raised the question in the Legislative Council on February 11, 1887. At the time Hongkong was caught up in racing fever. In those days the annual race meeting was restricted to three ordinary days and one off day during the last week of February. The days preceding were busy ones for owners, riders and punters. Many felt it obligatory to attend the early morning practice runs at the track. Many of the leading figures of the community were absorbed in these preparations and had little spare time for arranging a public meeting. Mr. Chater had one of the largest stables in association with his partner, Mr. Hormusjee Mody. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 211 and commerce have increased with unprecedented bounds, and the wealth of the nation has also grown in a measure totally unknown before in any similar period of our history.” With the present labour unrest in Britain, inflation, high taxes and an uncertain economic future, we are sharply reminded that the sentiments of the speaker expressed conditions of what in retrospect seem to be a golden period; that is, if we view it from an imperial standpoint which largely ignores the exploitation and racial condescension upon which the structure of Empire stood. With the extension of power to remote corners of the globe and the gathering of the profits of trade, there was also progress to be noted within the nation: "The arts and sciences also have progressed in a manner that could have been thought impossible when Her Majesty ascended the throne. Discoveries and inventions have taken place which have added most materially to the prosperity, happiness, and comfort of all classes of Her Majesty's subjects. Nor has the progress been confined to material objects. Much has been done to raise and elevate the people, the advance in education has been surprising, and especially the efforts which have been expected." There had also been advances in humanitarianism and liberalism: “Legislation has not been behindhand. Beneficent laws have been passed to mitigate the severity and harshness of former enactments, and other measures have been passed abolishing unnecessary restrictions and privileges and opening careers to many thousands of Her Majesty's subjects.” The speaker prudently did not refer to the furore created among the expatriates of Hongkong when a few years earlier Governor Hennessy had introduced measures to make more humane the punishment meted out to Chinese criminals. Nor did he speak of the strong objections raised to Governor Hennessy's efforts to introduce more equal status for the Chinese, such as the appointment of Mr. Ng Choy (Wu Ting-fang) as the first Chinese member of the Legislative Council and the Governor's wish to abolish class legislation such as the light and pass ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 216 The Honourable Phineas Ryrie, a long-time resident and senior member of the Legislative Council, spoke against the amendment of Mr. Francis. He opposed sending to England any funds raised in Hongkong. He admitted that a few years before he had not opposed sending a substantial contribution to help Irish famine sufferers, but the present object was of a different nature. Throughout his many years in Hongkong he had contributed liberally to many subscriptions. He had great faith in Hongkong's ability to raise funds for causes that had a popular appeal. He was sure that: "We are good enough in this Colony to subscribe for a memorial to Her Majesty the Queen, and we should do so. At this point the chairman interrupted. He informed Mr. Ryrie that his remarks were out of order. He had been speaking to a specific proposal, while Mr. Francis' amendment, after he had rephrased it, was general. The amendment proposed by Mr. Francis was then put before the meeting. It was rejected. Mr. Francis did not raise the question again. The fourth resolution was that of Mr. Chater proposing that the permanent memorial of the jubilee year be a park in the Wongneichong Valley to be called Victoria Park. After some other suggestions were discussed, the park scheme was approved by a small majority. Many at the meeting, however, abstained from voting. This did not settle the matter however. After the public meeting there was continued opposition to the decision. Demands were made that it be rescinded. The Chinese went off and held their own meeting and adopted a plan more to their desires. Amid all the confusion new proposals were advanced and old ones revived. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 218 resolution specifying a permanent memorial would be introduced. The memorial, which had been approved by a small majority of the planning committee, was the one Mr. Chater had mentioned in his remarks to the Legislative Council in February when he first raised the question of what Hongkong should do. He suggested that the improvement of Wongneichong Valley would make a suitable memorial. Mr. Chater had the honour at the public meeting to table the resolution that the Hongkong community express its regard for their sovereign by creating a park to be called Victoria Park. He was quite aware there were those who opposed the scheme but felt there was enough support to carry the resolution. Influential people were behind the scheme. The leaders were those who had occasion to frequent the Valley for racing. Any improvement to the surroundings would make their visits more pleasant. Mr. Chater, of all Hongkong residents, was perhaps the most loyal supporter of the Jockey Club. East Point was nearby. Any enhancement of the valley would please Jardines. It was always well to have the support of the princely Hong. The idea of improving the Valley was not new. The need to do something about it was clear almost as soon as the town of Victoria was established. The Valley contained the largest area of level ground on the north side of Hongkong Island. To some it seemed the ideal site for the business centre of the new settlement. It was soon found, however, to be a death trap for Europeans. Those who chose to build there were decimated by fever and soon the houses on the hills around were abandoned. The fever was attributed to "miasma" rising from the low-lying damp ground in the valley. Today we know the cause was the bite of the malaria-carrying mosquito which bred in the stagnant pools ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 222 erect bridges at the crossing of the brook, for these purposes the surplus funds of the meeting will probably suffice.” From the beginning Hongkong races were a paying proposition. Some forty years later at the time of the Queen's Jubilee there seemed an excellent chance that again marked improvements would take place in the Valley, enhancing the setting for the annual race meeting. Failure to take into account the interests of the whole community, particularly the Chinese, however, defeated the effort. WHY THE CHINESE OPPOSED VICTORIA PARK When Mr. Chater rose at a public meeting in March 1887, to propose that as a permanent memorial of the Queen's Golden Jubilee a park be formed at Happy Valley, he spoke confidently of its advantages. Nonetheless, he may have had some qualms about its popularity as it had already provoked strong opposition since he first mentioned it at a Legislative Council meeting in February. In affirming his confidence in the proposal, he said: “I feel sure if this park be carried out and completed it will be a source of great pleasure to the European community of Hongkong; it will be a very agreeable drive and a pleasant lounge in the afternoon.” Unfortunately those of the community who owned horses or carriages for a drive or had the leisure to "lounge" in the afternoon were a small proportion of the total population. These were activities seldom indulged in by the Chinese. Mr. Chater admitted they might not view the project in the same way as Europeans. But in justification he said: “I am equally sure the Chinese community will also approve of and appreciate it in the course of time.” Following Mr. Chater's remarks on his resolution and the seconding speech by the acting Attorney General, Dr. Ho Kai rose to speak. His views may be regarded as those of the Chinese community. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 232 nature and not well suited to act as an aggressive leader. He seldom expressed an opinion at Legislative Council meetings. He had spent most of his life in Hongkong. For a few years in the 1840s he had studied as a youth in the United States and had returned there in the middle 1870s as a supervisor of the Chinese Educational Mission. He had been a student of the Morrison Education Society when it moved from Macau to Hongkong in 1842. Through the years he had identified himself with the future of Hongkong. He reminded his audience: "The Chinese were for the present subjects, and he trusted loyal subjects, of Her Majesty, and he thought they also (as well as the Europeans) should take part in the celebration of the jubilee." Mr. Ho A-mei then arose and endorsed the chairman's remarks concerning the appropriateness of a Chinese expression of loyalty. He reminded the meeting that in 1869 on the occasion of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, the Chinese had taken a prominent part in the celebrations. It was no more fitting now that, “as traders and merchants in the Colony, they ought to take some steps to show their gratitude for the protection afforded them." The Chinese, he said, while residing in the Colony, were treated as British subjects, and “it behoved them to give some evidence of their loyalty and gratitude.” Especially, as "in no other country in the world were aliens so well treated as they were on British soil.” In the flow of good feeling, he seems to have forgotten the criticisms he had brought against British rule in his struggle to have the Light and Pass Ordinance rescinded. The long-standing problem of dual identity was expressed in Ho A-mei's statement that "they were treated as British subjects here in Hongkong, and although in reality they were not, they might consider themselves as such." Pride in the Chinese heritage pulled in one direction, identification with the community in which they lived pulled in another. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 237 joining in our manly games might as well hope to see them reducing themselves to the grade of the despised 'Tanka' or boating population by indulging in rowing; or forfeiting all claim to the calm dignity of a Chinese gentleman by masquerading in jockey costume in a horse race; or outraging all sense of Celestial propriety and decency by whirling in the sensuous waltz clasping the tender waist of some sweet thing of the opposite sex.' The first signs of a change, however, were taking place. Around the time these views on the aversion of the Chinese to European sports were being written, a Hongkong Chinese youth was being awarded the first prize at the English Public Schools gymnastic competition at Aldershot. The recipient Wei On was a student at Cheltenham College. His picture and an account of the event appeared in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News with the comment: "We do not know how it will strike the modern gymnast that a native of the Celestial Empire is able to take the tuck of all public school forms, but there is no getting away from the fact that he is a wonderfully strong and finished worker, and thoroughly well earned the silver medal." It seems the young student had not only adopted new forms of exercise but also had a new hair-style for a Chinese of his day. It was said that from the sketch in the magazine: “Wei On does not appear to wear the queue." After finishing his course at Cheltenham, the young athlete went on to study at Christ Church College, Oxford, and then in 1897 qualified to practise as a solicitor. He returned to Hongkong and was with the firm of Messrs. Johnson, Stokes and Master. He died in 1907. His brother, Sir Poshan Wei (Wei Yuk), served on the Legislative Council from 1896 to 1914. The next generation of the Wei family also produced a noted athlete. Wei Wing-lok, son of Sir Poshan and a St. Stephen's Old Boy, won the world doubles tennis championship at Forest Hills, New York. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 240 Queen had to be abandoned. Inability to proceed with the agreed plan resulted in the two subsequent meetings. These were chaired by the Honourable Phineas Ryrie. Many of the difficulties which resulted can be attributed to the manner in which he conducted the meetings. It is not a simple matter to keep a meeting in order and progress towards its goals when the atmosphere is charged with tension created by strongly held opinions and personal ambitions. The meetings chaired by Mr. Ryrie were like this. A good chairman is not only fair and impartial but also firm and decisive. He gives room for free expression of opinion but does not permit the meeting to digress into irrelevant matters or get muddled in improper procedure. To do this he must adhere to accepted parliamentary rules. Mr. Ryrie was a public spirited man who had long — perhaps too long — been prominent in public affairs. He was the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council and therefore a natural choice for chairman. His handling of the meetings, however, suggests he may have been tottering into old age. He was a man of decided opinion and also irascible, a dangerous combination. As senior partner of the firm of Turner and Company, he belonged to the small interlocking circle who sat on the boards of the leading companies and institutions in Hongkong. As such, he had presided over many meetings. These, however, were usually quite routine and required a minimum of parliamentary skill. It was a different matter to chair a meeting in which there were strong differences of opinion accompanied by a feeling of frustration over the mess in which the community was increasingly getting itself involved. The main business of the meeting was to decide on another memorial now that the idea of a park in the Wongneichong Valley was no longer feasible. Before the meeting people who wished to have a scheme considered were asked to submit them in writing. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 252 There was still, however, one more proposal before the meeting, that of the statue. It was defeated. This left Dr. Manson's sanitarium proposal as the only one not rejected outright. But the meeting was at an impasse because of the tie vote. It was now time for those who desired a committee to again come into their own. Mr. Lister spoke: “I have now much pleasure in proposing a small committee to inquire into the details of Dr. Manson's scheme and report at a subsequent meeting.” Mr. Sharp proposed the names of six men to serve on the committee. One of the persons named begged off, saying he could not possibly spare the time. Mr. D. R. Crawford was suggested as a substitute. He also declined as he was leaving the Colony shortly. Another name was put forward, but at this point the meeting suddenly dissolved. The reporter who covered the meeting for the Daily Press thought: "Probably it was the general impression the committee was appointed, but this is a matter of more surmise as the motion was never put. ** The whole affair seemed to be about to melt away, leaving behind a bad taste and a smudge on Hongkong's reputation. This would have been a dismal admission of civic incompetence as well as an insult to the Queen. As a way out, the Daily Press suggested that a plebiscite be held. Voters on their ballot could select the scheme they wanted and suggest twelve names for a committee to carry out the most widely accepted proposal. Or, if it seemed there was no possibility of the public being able by this means to come to a decision which represented a majority, the Legislative Council should take the matter in hand and invite the public to co-operate. After the meeting, the China Mail column "Fragrant Waters Murmur," as an expression of general dissatisfaction over the state of affairs, suggested "the erection in a conspicuous position of a broken column, copies of the entire correspondence to which the subject has given rise to be deposited in a receptacle in the base. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 86 wiring and piping ripped out. The ravage was so extensive that many people in the camp thought it must be part of a deliberate policy on the part of the Japanese. This I doubt: whatever pickings there were to be had the Japanese wanted for themselves, and I think the true explanation is simply that they could not at first spare enough men for effective policing. The looters were dangerous, and a party of five Swedes who were foolhardy enough to remain on the Peak were murdered. It was not long before the Japanese themselves entered into competition with the Chinese looters, but on an official basis. Foodstuffs were their first objective, followed by metals of all kinds and medical stores. Hongkong had been stocked with supplies for 6 months: it held out for only 18 days, so enormous stocks fell into Japanese hands and these were shipped off to Japan as fast as they could be loaded. Of the Hongkong Dairy Farm's herd of 1500 cattle, over 1000 had been shipped away by the end of March. All the European members of the Police Force were interned at Stanley. The Sikhs and Chinese accepted service under the Japanese. The guards round the internment camp and the gaol warders were principally Sikhs. If drawn into conversation, they would say they must work for the Japanese or starve; but Pennyfeather-Evans, the Chief of Police, told me that the Sikhs had been practically in a state of mutiny during the last days of the fighting. As regards the Chinese or semi-Chinese members of the Legislative Council, Sir Robert Hotung was, I think, in Macao when the war broke out. He subsequently returned to Hongkong, but I do not know what line he took or what became of him. Sir Shouson Chow, Mr. Kotewall, and Mr. M.K. Lo joined the "Rehabilitation Committee" set up by the Japanese and had to attend official ceremonies such as receptions for the Japanese Governor. Lo, who met A.J. Evans on the street one day shortly after the Japanese occupation, told him that he had at first refused, and that he had then been imprisoned without food till he gave way. I have no doubt similar measures were taken with the others. I have already referred to the eviction of the staff and patients from Queen Mary Hospital and the War Memorial Nursing Home. The Matilda Hospital was cleared at the same time. Japanese wounded were pouring into Hongkong from other places, and it is clear the Japanese needed all the accommodation and the medical supplies they could get for their own. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 384 亞哥剪辮 亞哥又興弟又興 新買銅鐘莫冇聲 新買銅鐘莫有聲 不怕滿州使劍刀 革命打贏哥剪辮 餓死滿州冇肚腸 餓死滿州有肚子 炸彈一去就冇毛 P.H. HASE NOTES These are the papers of a local village scholar (1874-1944) from Hoi Ha Village in North Sai Kung, and are now on deposit in the Sha Tin Public Library. Regional Council. The pamphlet is entitled "A New Three Character Classic", and has the classification number R802.81 0132. I am obliged to Mr. M.Y. Lee for assistance in transcription and translation. Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1912, (Sessional Papers), No. 11, "Report on the New Territories, 1899-1912”, para. 88, page 56 (G.N. Orme, District Officer, 9th June, 1912), and Hong Kong Administrative Reports for the Year 1911, Appendix I, "Report on the New Territories for the Year 1911, A. - Northern District”, page I, 5. (G.N. Orme, District Officer, 20th June, 1912). THE MUTUAL DEFENCE ALLIANCE (YEUK) OF THE NEW TERRITORIES It is well-known that the traditional society of the eastern New Territories was dominated by inter-village mutual defence alliances, or Yeuk, and that the political structure of the area was dominated by further, higher-level alliances, or "unions", of Yeuk. The Sai Kung area, for instance, comprised six Yeuk, which formed a single, higher-level "union" centred on Sai Kung market; the Sha Tin area was similarly a "union" of nine Yeuk; the Sha Tau Kok area one of ten Yeuk; and the Ta Kwu Ling area one of six Yeuk. These areas were, in consequence, known in the late nineteenth century as the Luk Yeuk ("Union of Six Yeuk"), Kau Yeuk ("Union of Nine Yeuk”), etc. Recently I discovered two copies of a document in the Yung Sze-chiu collection from Hoi Ha village in North Sai Kung by which a group of villages constituted themselves into a Yeuk. Because of the interest of this document, I append a copy and translation. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 186 # APPENDIX I ## Calendar of Disturbances in the Border Area, 1899-1940 (Orme = Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1912, (Sessional Papers 1912, printed by Noronha and Co, Government Printers), No 11 of 1912. "Report on the New Territories, 1899-1912” (The Orme Report), pp 43-63, SP = Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong (Sessional Papers), STJLS = Shatinjiade Lishe, op cit. AP = Administrative Reports, "Report by the District Officer New Territories", JLHG = Judonghaiguan Baoguan Dashiji op cit. Note JUHO is limited in material for 1921-1927, and AP has little to say on the border 1931-1938, except to comment on the levels of smuggling) Year Event Source 1900 Abortive Rebellion in Wai Chan Sham Chun valley in turmoil Sam Chau Ti in revolt 5 piracies in Hong Kong waters SP 1901 STJLS Orme 1901 Chinese military patrol formed on frontier SP 1902 1905 Most serious crime in New Territories caused by cross-border gangs these impeded by new blockhouses at Ta Kwu Ling Second rebellion at Sam Chau Tin Orme STJLS 1906 Market strike at Sha Tau Kok STJLS 1907 Riot against Customs at Sha Tau Kok STJLS 1911 Law Fong, Chor Uk Wai, Shu Tau Customs Stations sacked by bandits Law Fong Customs Station destroyed by bandits JLHG 1912 Fighting in area near border Increase in banditry and piracy In Hong Kong, military assistance needed by Police Law Fong, Lin Tong, Sha Tau Customs Stations sacked by bandits, at Law Fong claiming to be "new revolutionaries" Situation confused Executions in Sham Chun SP 1912 AR JLHG 1913 Nam O, Yun To Customs Stations sacked by bandits JLHG 1914 Nam O attacked and sacked by night Tai Chan, Chek Wan Customs Stations sacked by bandits JLHG 1915 Chan Hang (Siu Mui Sha) Customs Station sacked by bandits 1916 Increase in smuggling opium into China Bad outbreak of cross-border crime, due to "lack of any reasonable system of policing" on the Chinese side Yum Tin (3 times), Kai Chung, Lung Tsun Hui Customs Stations sacked by bandits (40 men attack Kai Chung, up to 200 Yum Tin, and 150 at Lung Tsun Hui) All Customs firearms removed to Hong Kong for safe-keeping (until 1932) JLHG AR JLHG 1917 Hakkas fleeing disturbances in Waichau arrive in New Territories Outbreak of crime in New Territories by "undesirables" from across border Kai Chung, Lung Tsun Hui, Sha Tau Customs Stations sacked by bandits AR JLHG 1918 Times "very disturbed" on border Outbreak of cross-border crime "half the offenders come from Chinese territory" Kai Chung, Tip Fuk, Ha Sha JLHG Customs Stations forced to close (April) Sha Yue Chung and Kai Miu Customs Stations sacked by bandits and forced to close (August) AR JLHG ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 198 commodities + The boat-building and repair sheds at Sha Tau Kok had entirely disappeared, with great loss of life. Special encouragement [from a relief fund] was given to the boat-builders at Sha Tau Kok to start all over again. "The Customs Station at Sha Tau Kok was destroyed in this typhoon - see Jiulonghaiguan Bamen Dashiji, op. cit., sub anno. In the 1945 aerial photograph, it can be seen that far fewer than half of the buildings in the old market were still standing; the site had been, effectively, abandoned even for residential purposes. Since the War, all vestiges of the old market have been removed for development, and nothing whatsoever now survives of it. - 47 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, printed by Noronha & Co, Government Printers (Sessional Papers), 1900, "Report on the First Year of Brush Administration of the New Territory, Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor” (No 15 of 1900), p. 257; 1901, "Report for the New Territory for 1900, Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor" (no 28 of 1901), p. 6; Administrative Reports for the Year 1933, App. J, "Report on the New Territories for 1933", p. J3. In 1937, the Coronation was celebrated with electric light displays in Sha Tau Kok. Administrative Reports for the Year 1937, App. J, "Report on the New Territories for the Year 1937", p. J11. 49 A party from the Basel Mission stayed in a "totally comfortless guesthouse" in the town in 1859, Jahresberichte der Basler Mission, 1859, and a noodle shop "at the entrance to the market" is mentioned in 1882 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-16, Nr. 45). 49 Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-2, Nr. 46 (1853), Doct. A1-16, Nr. 45 (1882), Jahresberichte der Basler Mission, 1859. "I do not like taking a house in a market, for you always find wicked types there - thieves, opium smokers, gamblers - festering together and leading to predictable outcomes." In 1859, Sha Tau Kok was the only market where the Basel missionaries had attempted to set up a station. Between 1899 and 1902, the District Officer was very concerned about the huge amount of gambling going on at Yim Liu Ha, with over 300 arrests in 1901, but this dropped away to "almost nothing" later, after the gambling house became available in Sha Tau Kok. Paper Land Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, printed by Noronha & Co, Government Printers, (Sessional Papers), 1901, "Report on the New Territory for 1901, Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor", App. 6, p. 20; 1902, App. 2, p. 342-344; Orme's Report, op. cit., para. 41, p. 49. 50 The route is described in 1848 (Der Evangelische Heidenbote, March 1848); 1853 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-2, Nr. 44; see P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit.); 1858-1859 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-4, Nr. 11; Jahresberichte der Basler Mission, 1859; and Jahresberichte der Rheinischen Missionsgesellschaft, 1859); 1863 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-5, Nr. 5); 1884 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-19, Nr. 35); and 1893 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-27). * 1688 Gazetteer, ch. 3 passim; 1819 Gazetteer, ch. 4, Chung Lap Pao edition, 1879, p. 51. The 1688 Gazetteer specifically mentions several of the roads over the shoulders of Ng Tung Shan (b. 1); the road from Sha Tau Kok to Shu Yue Chung (this is probably the implication of the mentioned there) - this is the "official road" from which the village of Kwun Lo Ha (Guanlouxia, "Below the Official Road") takes ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 200 not have been written at all 58 See the plan and cross-section of a typical 1853 Sha Tau Kok shop unit, taken from the drawings and descriptions of the Basel missionaries, in P.H. Hase, "The Alliance of Ten", in D. Faure and H. Siu, eds, Down to Earth, op. cit., and see also P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit. 59 D. Faure, A. Ng, B. Luk, eds, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp. 262-280 60 The Hong Kong Museum of History has a set of Po Tau equipment 61 Julonghaiguan Barman Dashiji, op. cit., sub anno. 62 P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit. 63 The Tai Po to Sha Yue Chung Ferry was also deeply involved in this trade. In 1939, the Customs came to an agreement with Tsang Sang, the leader of the guerrillas controlling the eastern side of Mirs Bay, that the Customs would treat as duty-free goods anything imported through Sha Yue Chung for the guerrilla fight against the Japanese, but, while this trade was, therefore, not smuggling, it still faced major problems from Japanese attack. 64 Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1899, printed by Noronha & Co, Government Printers, (Sessional Papers), "Extracts from Papers relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong. Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor: Extracts from a Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong" (No. 9 of 1899), p. 190, notes this boatyard as a significant business in 1898. 65 "Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart" (Sessional Papers, 1899), op. cit., p. 189 66 For the Sha Tau Kok Branch Railway, see R.J. Phillips, Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section). A History, Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 84-93 67 A. Macmillan, Seaports of the Far East, London, 1925. I am indebted to Mr. J. Lanham for drawing my attention to this description. 68 For the first two of these tablets see Faure, Ng, and Luk, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp. 262-280, and Vol. 2, pp. 376-379. The third is unpublished, and is now at the Hong Kong Museum of History. 69 A further, small, boatyard was at Kat Om in 1912: see Oime Report, op. cit., para. 76, p. 55 70 See, for instance, details on shops in Sai Kung in D. Faure, "Saikung, the Making of the District and its Experience during World War II", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 22, 1982, pp. 161-216, on Tsuen Wan in D. Faure, "Notes on the History of Tsuen Wan", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 24, 1984, pp. 46-104, and on Cheung Chau in J.W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g The terms of the Order-in-Council were echoed and further implemented in the New Territories (Exemption from Laws) Ordinance, 1899 (No 6 of 1899). The position, therefore, as regards proceedings other than land cases is that such of the laws of England as existed when the Colony obtained a local legislature, that is to say, on 5th April 1843 are the governing laws subject to two provisions, Firstly "except so far as the said laws are inapplicable to the local circumstances of the Colony or its inhabitants;” Secondly "and except so far as they have been modified by laws passed by the said legislative.” The first provision has always been construed to let in Chinese customary law when a necessity arises of preventing injustice or oppression. The passages already quoted from the Secretary of State's despatch and from the Governor's proclamation bear out that construction in regard to the application of section 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance to the New Territories. As to the date for the recognition of customary law to be applied in such cases, opinions differ. One opinion is to be found appended to the Report of the Committee appointed in 1948. The choice there offered is between custom existing in 1841, when Captain Elliot took over Hongkong, that existing in 1898, when the New Territories were leased to the United Kingdom, or that existing in 1905, when the New Territories Land Ordinance, 1905, was enacted. The anonymous author of that opinion inclined to select the latter year, but the Committee expressed no opinion on the matter. The New Territories Administration, on the other hand, has interpreted “Chinese Law and custom” to mean the law and custom of Manchu China as it existed on April 20th, 1899. For reasons given in my previous article, it is submitted that as in the Colony of Hongkong, so in the New Territories, a court should apply the Chinese customary law existing at the time that court is called upon to determine any issue. Particular support can be found for that submission in respect of the New Territories in the opinion of the Attorney General in 1898 that it was "hardly necessary...to enter into the question as to whether any and, if so, which of the laws of England in force on 5th April, 1843... should be specially included in an exempting Ordinance, because such laws were only brought into force in Hong Kong “so far as they were not inapplicable to the local circumstances of the Colony or its inhabitants.” The Government was Page 17 ... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 84 NOTES Details of the 1911 Census are in Papers Laid before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1911, (Hong Kong Sessional papers), printed by Noronha and Co, Government Printers, Hong Kong, No 17, "Report on the Census of the Colony for 1911, Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, November 23rd, 1911” (Hereafter, Census Report, 1911). This Report consists of an eight-page (49 paragraph) Report (pages 103 (1-9)), with 41 Tables attached to it (pages 103 (10-59)), together with a section of 'Notes for the Guidance of Future Census officers'. Details of the 1921 Census are in Papers Laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1921, (Hong Kong Sessional Papers), printed by Noronha and Co, Government Printers, Hong Kong, No 5, "Preliminary Report on the Census of Hong Kong, 1921, Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, 23rd June, 1921", and No 15, "Report on the Census of the Colony for 1921, Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, 15th December 1921" (Hereinafter, the 15th December Report is noted as Census Report, 1921). The preliminary Report consists of an introduction (page 41), followed by Tables of 'Preliminary Figures of the Population' (pages 42-44). The 15th December Report consists of a 19-page Report, in 7 sections (pages 151-169), with 37 Tables (many with several subtables) attached to it (pages 171-232). Thus, the Hoi Ha books which are now deposited with the Regional Council, in the Sha Tin Central Library, are the books and papers of a local doctor and teacher from the remote village of Hoi Ha, in North Sai Kung. Included in them are some notes of information on Italy and the Mediterranean Sea, which must be the record of a conversation with the priests. More specific evidence of contact is a book which the owner of the collection bound in fragments of an Italian newspaper. This evidence dates from 1910-1920. From the late 1890s, there is a deed from Hoi Ha regulating the village's relationship with the bottom-soil landlord, which states that a copy has been deposited with the priests "for safekeeping". The owner of the collection had no religious sympathy with the Sai Kung priests. Emigration is discussed in detail below. Papers Laid before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1912 (Hong Kong Sessional Papers), printed by Noronha and Co, Government Printers, No. 11, "Report on the New Territories, 1899-1912, Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, August 22nd, 1912”. (the Orme Report) para 88. Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1902, (Hong Kong Sessional Papers) printed by Noronha and Co, Government Printers, No 14, "Report of the Committee on Education, Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the officer Administering the Government", p 392. See also Sessional Paper, 1905, pages 536-7, 1907, page 514, 1908, page 339, Administrative Reports for the Year 1909, page M10; 1910, page N13, 1911, pages N7-8, 1912, page N11-12. The Yuen Long school was at Ping Shan between 1907 and 1912. The poor standards and low numbers of pupils are stressed in 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911. See also the Orme Report op cit paras. 100-102 and Appendix G, and Administrative Reports for the Year 1920, page O15. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 85 X "J Administrative Reports for the Year 1913, pages N13-17, 1914, pages N12-N13, 1915, pages O18-O19, 1916, pages 15-06-1917 page 07-1918, page 09, 1919, page O10, 1920, pages O15, O21, O29-O30, 1927, pages O17-4, O16, O22-O23, O33-O34. Scholarships were offered from these aided village schools to the Government schools in the New Territories, and from the Government schools in the New Territories to those in the City, although very few were taken up in the first few years. See RJ Phillips, Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section). A History, (Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1990), and Administrative Reports for the Year 1910, page R6, 1911, page R1. In 1911, the Sha Tau Kok light railway was opened only as far as Shek Chung Au. The extension of the light railway to Sha Tau Kok came in 1912. Administrative Reports for the Year 1910, pages P34-35, 1911, pages P40-41, 1912, page P51, 1913, pages 186-88, 1914, page P85-86, 1915, pages Q94-96, 1916, pages Q77-78, 1917, pages Q88-90, 1918, pages Q81-85, 1919, pages Q53-55, 1920, pages Q64-65, and 1927, pages Q77-78. A programme to build 6 to 8 feet wide footpaths/bridle paths had been begun in the New Territories in 1899. The footpath from Kowloon to Tai Po was completed in 1902, and that from Castle Peak Bay to Au Tau in 1911. The section from Au Tau to Fanling was completed (except for the bridge at Au Tau) by the end of 1914. No path was built between Castle Peak Bay and Sham Shui Po, or between Tai Po and Fanling in this period. This footpath construction programme does not seem to have affected traditional village life significantly, although the District Officer felt the new footpaths had made the work of patrolling and administering the New Territories easier. However, the only specific use the District Office noted for the new footpaths, other than by Government officials, was by cattle drivers sending animals to the City for slaughter. The footpaths were "justified by administrative and military needs” (the Orme Report, pages 30, 32-33, 36). The New Territories circular road was an upgrading of these earlier footpaths, where they existed, but included new construction where the earlier footpaths were lacking. Papers Land Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1899 (Hong Kong Sessional Papers), printed by Noronha and Co., Government Printers, Hong Kong, No. 9, "Extracts From Papers Relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong, Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor. Extracts from a Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong," p. 187, remarks that, in 1899, the steamers from Hong Kong to Macao called intermittently at Cheung Chau. The Orme Report, op. cit., mentions that steam ferries from Cheung Chau used to carry the fish catch to Hong Kong early in the morning (para 65). See also Administrative Reports for the Year 1913, page J12, 1915, page J9, 1916, page J12, 1919, page J12, 1922, page J12. 1 Including the choice of Cheung Chau as a place to spend weekends and the summer by numbers of European families, mostly missionaries from Canton. This began in a very small way in 1912, but only became a major feature from 1918. In 1919, a “European reservation” was formed, and a small year-round resident European community with an Assembly Hall and a 10-hole golf-course had become established by 1921. Administrative Reports for the Year 1912, page J13, 1914, page J11, 1915, page J10, 1917, page J11, 1918, page J11, 1920, page J12, 1921, page J13. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 88 "The total Northern District recorded population was 69 thousand in 1911, and 699 thousand in 1921 (including the boat-people), suggesting, at 35 births per thousand, about 2420-2450 births a year, of which half (1210-1225) would be male. The 1921 figures for women aged 10-14, 15-19, 25-29, 30-34 do not show the same pattern as the 1911 figures did for the same group a decade earlier; in 1921 these groups, namely 4,380, 3,390, 2,792 and 2,616, thus making it very likely that the differences were due to under-reporting, given the static nature of the population. The figures in Table 7 take no account of emigration from the area which would reduce the resident adult male population (particularly between ages 20 and 40). Emigration was a significant social feature (it is discussed more fully below), but does not make the very rough figures in Table 7 substantially inaccurate. 42 Death-rates, of course, differed much more on a year-by-year basis than today. Epidemic disease (smallpox especially) killed many children, but smallpox struck only one year in every 3 or 4. Malaria and dysentery, the other major killers of children after neo-natal infections, were more endemic as problems. The Census officer in 1921 discussed death-rates within the New Territories, but, presumably because he was aware of the problem of under-reporting of children, he limited himself to the death-rates of persons aged over 25, pointing out that the death rates of males between 25 and 50 were double those of England and Wales at the same date, and were 50% higher for females. Between 50 and 60, death rates in the New Territories were, he found, 1.4 times those in England and Wales and rather higher than this for females. The percentage of the population still alive at age 60 in the New Territories was less than half that in England and Wales for males, and barely half for females (Census Report 1921, page 161, para 8). 55 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1900. (Sessional Papers), printed by Noronha and Co, Government Printers, No 8, "Report of the Acting Principal Civil Medical Officer for the Year 1900. Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor", p. 253, 1902. No 37, p 729, 1905, No 15, p 266, 1906. No 14, p 350, 1907. No 27, p 459, 1908, No. 21, p 459, etc., Administrative Reports for the Year 1909, p K54-6, 1910 p L51-52, 1911 p L61, 1912, p L60-61, 1913, p. L61-62, 1914. p L63. 1915, p M57-58, etc. A short history of medical provision in the New Territories is in Administrative Reports for the Year 1932, p M103-104. 55 21 Reductions in infant, especially neo-natal, mortality in the market-towns between 1911 and 1921 were certainly less than the numbers of infants not reported to the Census, and thus are invisible in the statistics. The 4.3% reduction the loss of Tsuen Wan implied was offset, to a large extent, by the 1921 higher figures for the boat people. Between these two factors, the 1921 figures would be expected to be lower than the 1911 figures by about 1-2%. ~ Administrative Reports for the Year 1920 page O29-30 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 91 7 The Census Officer in 1931 came to this conclusion, after considering the evidence in some depth Census Report, 1937, pp. 139-141 440 Papers Laid before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1902 (Hong Kong Sessional Papers), printed Noronha and Co Government Printers, 1903, No. 14 "Report of the Committee of Education” (The Brem Report), "Land before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government”, p.392 * Crime Report, op cit para 101, and Appendix G * Administrative Reports for the Year 1913, pages N[3-17 ** Administrative Reports for the Year 1921, pages 03-4, 022-23 ** Administrative Reports for the Year 1921, page 03-4. An average of 34 years would imply about 80% of boys received some education 4 years, about 70% *The Tampo Market Girls School, the Cheung Chau Girls School, the Yuen Long Girls School, and the London Mission Society School (Co-educational) at Tsuen Wan By 1931 there were distinct signs of improvement while only 2.81% of land population females over 21 were then literate, 1.69% of those aged 16-20 were Her The withering scorn with which the Sung Report treats the content of the traditional curriculum and teaching methods of the village schools should be treated with some caution Sung was an extreme proponent of the "new methods” in education * Census Report, 1977, Tables XXXV, XXXVI, Census Report, 1927, Table XVII KH KU Census Report, 1921, para 4. The criticism of the 1921 "Occupations” statistics was repeated in the 1931 Census Report Census Report, 1921, Table XXVIII Census Report, 1927, Table XXXIVa "Census Report, 1927, Table XXIII, Part I and Part II 02 Omitting people working in agricultural occupations, fishermen, domestic servants, people working in religion, teachers/students, sailors on ocean-going ships, grass-cutters, Cartway workers, road transport workers, caddies miners and lime-burners, seamstresses and Mu Tsu "Aberdeen, Ap Lei Chau, Lam Wan and Wong Chuk Hang also show dominance of the population by males, as does Shau Kei Wan, but these areas should be considered more as market towns, with subordinate industrial villages, and thus to fall more with places like Sai Kung or Peng Chau * Census Report, 1971, Tables XII, XIII Page 120 Page 121 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 course, think about The Little Man; it can't think about little men." This is not to decry what individual officers could, and usually did, do for personal complainants in specific cases. Sir David Trench had his own ideas; thoughts from on high are less easily smothered than unsolicited disturbances from below. The received wisdom, which equally impressed most of the interlopers, was that since most of the population might want to return home across the border at some time, the electoral roll would be far too fluid to embrace a stable, identifiable and representable society; and that in any event direct elections to Legislative Council (Legco) were unthinkable, because they would be hi-jacked by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang (KMT) from Taiwan; the fundamental Chinese political battle would then be fought out in the streets and on any hustings of Hong Kong, which the Chinese People's Republic (CPR) would never be willing to stand idly by and watch being conceivably won by Hong Kong Chinese Nationalist sympathisers. However Trench recognised that Legco was not the only possible forum for expression of popular feeling. Trench had no problems with sharing some of the lifestyle of the taipans and Chinese millionaires who were so noticeable among those traditionally appointed by governors to Exco and Legco, and whose nature he did little to change; despite the familiar jibe that he ranked third, after the taipan of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Chairman of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, all knew that in the last resort he recommended the names of Executive Councillors to the Secretary of State. In his earlier days, however, he had preferred the raffish and disrespectful ambience of the multi-racial Foreign Correspondents' Club to that of the Hong Kong Club, Fanling [the Governor's official residence in the New Territories Hon. Editor] and the Jockey Club; while he enjoyed the actual sports of golf and racing for their own sakes; he never lost touch with his humbler post-war acquaintances in the Chinese community, such as his language teacher. He insisted that the introductory review chapter of one year's colonial annual report should spell out the wide sweep and valued authority of the great number of statutory, non-statutory and ad hoc committees which he believed to be a valid response to critics who would not understand why the people had no democratically elected voice in his councils. Yet his broad sympathies told him that, even so, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 13 227 Control', Yeoh describes in detail how, in the late 1880s, the Chinese population in Singapore hindered the advance of Western sanitary methods by refusing to comply with the many regulations introduced by the Municipal Branch. ibid., pp. 119-125. Government Notification No.223, HKGG, 23 June 1883, pp.538-544. 14 Yeoh, op. cit., p.110. Elizabeth Sinn, Power and Charity: The Early History of the Tung Wah Hospital, (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1989), p.152. 16 Registrar General's Report for 1891, Hongkong Government Legislative Council Sessional Papers, No.19/92, p.241. Henceforth HKGLCSP. 17 Ibid., p.257. 18 Colonial Estimates for 1870-1873, (Hong Kong, Noronha), Miscellaneous expenditure. 19 "The matter is important enough for the District Watch Committee to have authorised the extension of their system of watchmen by opening a new station in Kowloon.' Hongkong Hansard, 9 October 1913, p.71. 20 Stubbs to Churchill, 18 March 1922: CO129/474, p.221. 21 Ibid., (enclosure). 22 Between 1912 and 1925 Claud Severn administered the colony on ten separate occasions during the absence of Governors Sir Francis May and Sir Reginald Stubbs. Hong Kong Civil Service List for 1935, pp.46-47. 23 Severn to Churchill, 22 August 1922: CO129/476, p.96-98. 24 E.R. Hallifax, C.Mcl. Messer and R.O. Hutchison, 'Report on the searching of passengers on arrival at and departure from Hongkong', 17 March 1917, HKGLCSP, No.8/17, p.44. 25 Hong Kong Hansard, 6 November 1930, p.235. 26 Police Report for 1933, Administrative Reports for 1933, p.K12. It was not only ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 266 November 1889. 18 Ibid. 19 The China Mail, 23rd November 1865. 20 Although the Colonial Cemetery was referred to as 'the Protestant Cemetery' in most 19th century government notifications (starting from HKGG Notification 120 of 15th November 1856) and maps, the ordinance to set apart certain section of the cemetery to be used as a burial ground for persons professing the Christian religion only had its first reading in the Legislative Council in November 1909. See Smith (1985), NOTES FOR A VISIT TO THE GOVERNMENT CEMETERY AT HAPPY VALLEY, The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.25, pp. 17-26. The earliest Chinese name of the cemetery that could be traced is, see HKGG Notification 92 of 6th October 1859. In some 19th century tourist guides, the cemetery was simply called 'the Anglican cemetery,' e.g., A HAND-BOOK TO HONGKONG BEING A POPULAR GUIDE TO THE VARIOUS PLACES OF INTEREST IN THE COLONY, FOR THE USE OF TOURISTS (1893), Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, p. 94. The cemetery was renamed 'Hong Kong Cemetery' in the 1970s. 21 Levien, Michael (ed) (1982), NAVEL SURGEON: The Voyages of Dr. Edward H. Cree, Royal Navy, as Related in His Private Journals, 1837-1856, New York: E.P. Dutton, p. 89. Dr. Cree had also made a water-colour sketch of the funeral of Brodie which is shown on p. 90 in the same book. Both the graves of Brodie and Wilson are still lying in the Hong Kong Cemetery. 22 This burial ground in Wan Chai had been referred to as 'the old Colonial Cemetery, see HKGG Notification 447 of 2nd November 1889. A list of the tombstones removed from the burial ground in Wan Chai to the Colonial Cemetery can be found in the same notification. 23 Eitel, P. 246. 24 See Blue Book, 1845, p. 40, or HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE COLONY OF HONG KONG 1841 - 1930 (1932), Hong Kong: Government Printer, p. 4. However, one source suggests the cemetery was opened on 1 February 1844, see Hayes (1970), COACH TOUR OF EASTERN HONG KONG ISLAND 19TH OCTOBER, 1969, The Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.10, p. 190. ================================================================================