RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 16 T. C. CHENG Dr. Ho died in September 1914 at the age of 55 leaving over ten sons and daughters by his second wife who was a Chinese. The fourth Chinese to serve on the Legislative Council was Wei Yuk, son-in-law of Mr. Wong Shing. He had another name Wei Bo-shan17 and Po Shan Road is named after him. He was born in Hong Kong in 1849 of a wealthy family, his father, Wei Kwong, being compradore to the Hong Kong branch of the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China (now the Mercantile Bank Ltd.). After many years of Chinese studies under private tutors, he entered the Government Central School. In 1867, at the age of 18, he proceeded to England to attend the Leicester Stoneygate School. In 1868 he went to Scotland and studied for four years at the Dollar Institution. After a European tour, he returned to Hong Kong in 1872 and then worked in China for a short period. When his father died in 1879 he succeeded him as compradore to the bank. He was a very public-spirited citizen, well-known for his charming manners and pleasant personality. In 1880 he was elected a director of the Tung Wah Hospital and in 1887 became its Chairman. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1883. Wei Yuk's appointment to the Legislative Council was additional to and not in replacement of Ho Kai, and came about as follows. During 1894, the Governor, Sir William Robinson, forwarded to the Secretary of State a petition signed by the Honourable Messrs. Thomas Whitehead, Paul Chater, Ho Kai and other residents in the Colony, asking for unofficial membership in the Executive Council; "free election of representatives of British nationality in the Legislative Council"; "a majority of such representatives in the Legislative Council"; and freedom of the official members to vote according to their conscientious convictions.18 The Secretary of State, Lord Ripon, criticized the petitioners' demands as lacking in clarity on the ground that the petitioners "asked for the free election of representatives of British nationality without reference to the qualifications of the voters". Thus if the petitioners intended that only those from the British Islands should vote and be eligible for election, this would exclude the Chinese who comprised nine-tenths of the entire population. He dismissed the claim to have a majority of elected representatives, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d CHINESE UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF COUNCILS 23 merchants in this Colony. In all necessary measures to that end, I know that I can rely upon the whole-hearted support of this Council". At the same meeting, the Senior Unofficial member, Sir Henry Pollock, paid the following tribute to Sir Shouson Chow and Robert Kotewall; "During the last seven months, in particular, we have felt indebted not only to Sir Shouson Chow but also to his Chinese colleague on the Council. We, Sir, behind the scenes, can appreciate perhaps more fully than the general public the work of the Chinese members of this Council during the period I have referred to”. On 9th July 1926, Sir Shouson Chow was also appointed the first Chinese member of the Executive Council, following the death of Sir Paul Chater who had served on that Council since 1896.26 Although the appointment was made on personal grounds, it was evident that political considerations also came in, viz., to pacify anti-British sentiment in China and to further encourage the loyalty of local Chinese towards Hong Kong. Sir Shouson Chow served on both Councils until 1930, when he resigned from the Legislative Council. He continued, however, to be a member of the Executive Council until he retired in 1936. He died many years after the war, in 1959, When Lau Chu-pak retired from the Legislative Council in 1922, he was succeeded by Ng Hon-tsz who was born in 1877 and was compradore to Shewan, Tomes, Ltd. He was a director of the Tung Wah Hospital in 1907 and was a founder of the Tsan Yuk Hospital. He was at various times a member of the District Watch Force Committee, the Sanitary Board and the Council of the University of Hong Kong. He served in the Legislative Council for only two years and died in 1923 while in office. After his death, Sir Henry Pollock remarked at the Legislative Council meeting held on 10th May 1923 that Mr. Ng had always been a "wise, sound and faithful councillor”. Mr. Robert Kotewall, who succeeded Ng Hon-tsz as a member of the Legislative Council in 1923, was born in Hong Kong in 1880. Educated at the Central School as well as the Diocesan Boys' School, he was a noted English as well as Chinese scholar and was a very good speaker. After a distinguished career in the Hong Kong Government until 1916, he turned to business and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d and 1860s. Like Hung Shing, its image is taken out in procession on the major festivals and placed in the seat of honour at opera performances given on the island and in neighbouring Aberdeen. Members also visited a soy sauce factory, a shipyard specialising in fishing boats and a fishing store. In November, Miss Werle arranged another visit, to a ceramics factory at Yuen Long, and to the single lineage village of Sam Tung Uk in Tsuen Wan, a joint excursion with the Hong Kong Ceramics Society. In January this year, I arranged a visit to the Sikh temple, with the kind cooperation of Mr. Pritham Singh, who is an active member of the temple. Sikh religion is a revisionist movement from within Hinduism, founded formally at the close of the seventeenth century as a reaction to what the Sikhs saw as the ritual and social excesses of orthodox Hinduism. There are some 2,000 Sikhs in Hong Kong. The occasion this time, we had a previous visit last year, was the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), the last Guru of the Sikhs. Members of the Society attended part of the religious service at which members of the congregation came up to the altar to sing sutras, give comments or make observations relating to their religion, or play musical instruments and sing. We were then invited to the vegetarian curry luncheon prepared and served by members of the congregation for the congregation. Finally, in March, we were invited by our Council member M. Geoffroy-Dechaume, the French Consul-General, to his house in Old Peak Road. This is one of the few surviving old houses on the Island. Built in 1895 by Messrs. Leigh and Orange, still one of the large architectural firms in the Colony, on a piece of land acquired by Sir Paul Chater, it was named Victoria Lodge and has been the home of successive French Consuls since the earliest part of this century. Tea was kindly provided by Madame Dechaume. FILMS Most of our film shows were arranged by Miss Werle and shared with members of the Hong Kong Arts Centre, with which Miss Werle is professionally associated. In May, we had an evening of Japanese films, one on Noh drama, one on Kabuki and one on Japanese print-making, all in English and supplied by courtesy of the Information and Cultural office of the Consulate-General of Japan. A highlight of our film programme was a film made by Mr. Hugh Gibb, an old friend and member of the Society, whose ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 244 LIFE MEMBERS: THOMPSON, P. J. THROWER, Prof. L. B. THROWER, Dr. S. L. TON, Mrs. Chen Chu-ching TORRIBLE, G. H. WATSON, K. A. WAUNG, Dr. W. S. WEINREBE, H. M. WERLE, Ms. Helga WESLEY-SMITH, Dr. P. WHITELEGGE, D. S. WILLIAMS, R. A. WILLIAMS, Mr. & Mrs. W. D. F. WINKLER, Mrs. E. WONG, Peng-cheong WONG, Kwok Fong WOLF, J. YEUNG, Walter W. T. YOUNG, Miss Pauline LIST OF MEMBERS Johnson, Stokes & Master, 10th & 11th Floors, Alexandra House, Chater Road, Hong Kong. Flat 6B, University Residence No. 6, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. Flat 6B, University Residence No. 6, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. St. Paul's Convent School, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Hong Kong Club, Hong Kong. Lammert Bros., Pedder Building, Hong Kong. 1903 Hang Chong Building, 5 Queen's Road, C, Hong Kong. Weinrebe & Pennell Ltd., Room 805 Bank of Canton Building, Des Voeux Road, Hong Kong. 3, Wood Road, 6th Fl., Hong Kong. Dept. of Law, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. 58, Mount Nicholson Gap, Hong Kong. Dept. of Extra-Mural Studies, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. 1, Riante Rive Apartments, 144 Milestone, Castle Peak Road, N.T. Flat 402, 12 May Road, Hong Kong. Wong, Tan & Co., Chartered Accountants, South China Building 3/F, 1 Wyndham Street, Hong Kong. 92A, Pokfulam Road 1st Fl., Hong Kong. P.O. Box 147, Hong Kong. 60B Conduit Road G/F, Hong Kong. The Peak Road, Plunketts Road, The Peak, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 204 NOTES AND QUERIES lict until demolition commenced in November 1953 and a block of government flats was erected. This more modern and far less attractive building was originally to be known as "Marble Hall Flats" but is now called Chater Hall. What seems to be some of the brickwork associated with Sir Paul Chater's home can still be seen near the site. Hong Kong, June 1979 A Note on Sources PETER WESLEY-SMITH The photographs were contained in the Governor's despatch to the Colonial Office written when the gift of Marble Hall to the Hong Kong Government seemed to be about to take effect. See Clementi to Amery, No. 475, 23 Nov. 1926: C.O.129/498. Also included with the despatch were extensive plans of the house and a description provided by the Public Works Department, Hong Kong. Short biographical notices of Sir Paul Chater appear in Arnold Wright (ed.), Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai etc. (London: Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Co., Ltd., 1908), pp. 107-8 (there is a photograph of Marble Hall at p. 156) and W. Feldwick (ed.), Present Day Impressions of the Far East etc. (London: The Globe Encyclopedia Co., 1917), pp. 518-20. See also Nigel Cameron's brief history of The Hong Kong Land Company Ltd., published in 1979. Further (though scanty) information can be discovered in the various reported cases on Chater's much-litigated will; see (1927) 22 H.K.L.R. 80; (1927) 22 H.K.L.R. 89; (1930) 24 H.K.L.R. 43; (1936) 28 H.K.L.R. 1; (1937) 157 T.L.R. 376 (on appeal to the Privy Council); (1949) 33 H.K.L.R. 283. Chater was authorised to embark on pier and wharf schemes by ordinances Nos. 4 and 19 of 1884. After his death, the Chater Masonic Scholarship Fund Ordinance (No. 25 of 1929, now cap. 1007, L.H.K. 1975 ed.) was passed. His collection of pictures is catalogued in James Orange, The Chater Collection: Pictures Relating to China, Hong Kong, Macao, 1655-1860 (London: Thornton Butterworth Ltd., 1924). I am much indebted to Mr. J. F. G. Marshall, of the Public Works Department, Hong Kong, for information he painstakingly gathered several years ago on the postwar history of Marble Hall. Hong Kong, September, 1979 PETER WESLEY-SMITH ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 186 CARL SMITH ments for the charter had been made originally. Mr. Bonney came down to Hongkong and quickly sorted things out, so that the ship could leave with its load of emigrants. A-chick left well supplied with letters of introduction from the bishop and Mr. Bonney to church people in San Francisco. Strangely enough his dismissal from Government service and his connection with the young brothel girl did not seem to put him out of favour with the Christian community. On June 29 1851, he and two of his fellow students at St. Paul's College had been baptised by the bishop. On his arrival at San Francisco A-chick lost no time in using his letters of introduction. The one from the bishop he presented to the Rev. Dr. Van Mehr, rector of Grace Church Episcopal. Dr. Van Mehr wrote to the bishop about his meeting with A-chick. "It was with no ordinary degree of pleasure that I made the acquaintance of a young Christian convert called A-chick, who brought an excellent letter of introduction from you. And I presume you feel deeply interested in his welfare. ... He came to see me as soon as he had arrived and has visited me almost daily. "Knowing the spiritual temptation of this life-killing place, the very seat of Mammon, I have advised him to prepare for communion... As far as I can see, he is a converted man and promises to remain faithful. I shall do what I can to fulfil God's design with this redeemed soul, until he returns under your immediate care.” Missionaries and clergymen were quick to seize upon any Chinese convert who showed signs of interest in the church. Unfortunately, for the hopes of Dr. Van Mehr, this was only a passing phase in the life of Tong A-chick. It was not long until the general welfare of the Chinese community in California was of more interest to him than the affairs of the church. WHY A-CHICK STOOD OUT FROM HIS COUNTRYMEN With his letters of introduction, interest in Christianity, knowledge of foreign manners and fluency in English, Tong A-chick was ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 199 teenth century. The initial intention was for the entire community to unite on a proposal for the celebration, but it ended with the Chinese going their way and the foreigners another way. The Chinese were able to agree about the manner in which they wished to permanently mark the event. The expatriates were torn by different factions each promoting its own project. The manner in which the jubilee plans were handled illustrate the difficulty of uniting a community rigidly adhering to social and racial distinctions. In the British Parliament the question was raised as to whether the Government was going to initiate plans for the celebration by the nation. The Government spokesman replied that “all celebrations of this kind will probably possess greater value so far as they arise from the spontaneous action of the public.” The local Government shared this view. Eventually, after the Jubilee Year had opened, an informal meeting was held by a group of citizens and an unofficial committee was organised to discuss plans. One of the committee, Mr. Paul Chater, who was also an unofficial member of the Legislative Council, announced that at the next meeting of the council on February 11, 1887, he would put to the Government the question: "Whether it is the intention of the Government to co-operate with the public in celebrating Her Majesty's Jubilee Year in a manner befitting the occasion.” There was criticism that the unofficial committee had heretofore acted in a semi-private manner and had not taken the public into its confidence. There was general approval, however, of Mr. Chater's move, for, as an editor commented, "his question will effectively set the ball a-rolling, and public action will no doubt follow." ================================================================================ 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-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 224 twelve o'clock gun firing is due to the liberality of Mr Magniac (a partner) of Messrs. Jardine Matheson and Company, who, when the Home Government ceased to provide this small return for the heavy Military Contribution forwarded annually from this Colony, purchased a gun, etc. and had it fixed up at Messrs. Jardine's, where it is fired daily. Although their gun is still at East Point, not far from where Jardine's started trading in 1841, their head office moved to Central District as long ago as 1864. It has been said there is not one field of commerce in which it does not hold a prominent position and its 'tentacles' extend to interests in many other firms. Hong Kong Land The Colony's leading businessmen have usually had considerable interests in land, and it was thus fitting that two of them, Paul Chater (later Sir Paul) and James Johnstone Keswick, should be prime movers in the Hong Kong Land Investment and Agency Company which was incorporated in 1889. The latter, as Taipan of Jardine's, following in the footsteps of his great-uncle William Jardine, was also founding chairman of Hong Kong Land. James was the first of six Keswicks, spanning five generations, to hold the position. The company soon began buying sites and erecting office buildings. Between June 1904 and December 1905 it erected Hong Kong's first 'skyscrapers', five major buildings each of five or six storeys, which dwarfed the two and three-storey structures surrounding them. Hong Kong Land acquired Humphrey's Estate and Finance Company, which owns residential property in Mid-Levels, in 1972, and for 14 years 'Land' had a controlling interest in the Dairy Farm, Ice and Cold Storage Company. Today, the latter is once again an independent public company. In its centenary year Hong Kong Land owned some six-million square feet of commercial space of which five-million is in the so-called 'Core Central' area. The firm has been described as "... perhaps the most valuable property company in the world and certainly in the region ...." Whether this is true is not known. Certainly, today, some Japanese companies hold considerable interests in real estate on a global scale. L ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 52 establish a branch there of the new Deutsch Bank. Mr. Mammelsdorf to take charge in Yokohama. A special branch will be opened in Hong Kong. Both of these gentlemen were formerly in the Comptoir as was also Mr. Wallach who will take charge at Berlin. Mr. Probst, formerly of Pustau and Co. takes the branch at Hamburg. At Bremen will be Mr. Van der Heyde, formerly of Behre, Meyer and Co Singapore." At the same time as the Deutsch Bank was in the process of opening offices in China, the Deutsche National Bank of Bremen was organised and appointed Melchers and Co. their agent in Hong Kong and Siemssen and Co. their agent in Shanghai (DP 29 June 1872). The Deutsch-Asiatische Bank was registered at the Imperial German Consulate in Shanghai on 15 May 1889. In 1905, M. Hemann, the manager of the Hong Kong branch of the Bank was succeeded by Hugo Suter (DP 17 July 1905). The Bank redeveloped in 1913 the property on Queen's Road which it had occupied since 1901. The building, of modern renaissance style "on chaste and simple lines", was occupied for only a few months before it had to shut its doors with the outbreak of hostilities between England and Germany (SCMP 14 Aug. 1913, HKT 6 Jan. 1914). The building was purchased from the liquidators in 1917 by Sir Paul Chater for $355,000 (SCMP 14 Aug. 1917). From the time of the organization of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1864 to 1914 there were Germans on the Board of the Bank. Woldemar Nissen of Siemssen and Co. was on the Provisional Committee. Another member of the Provisional Committee was Waldemar Schmidt, whose name sounds German, a partner in the English firm of Fletcher and Co. In May 1868 Julius Menke of William Pustau and Co. joined the Board. With the failure of William Pustau and Co. in 1877 the firm was no longer represented. But in the meantime Hermann Melchers of Melchers and Co. was elected to a seat on the Board in 1872. The bank was watchful that the British interests should not be swamped by German and American, Arnhold, Karbegg and Co. had a representative on the board from 1888 and Carlowitz and Co. from 1875. In 1914 all the firms mentioned, but William Pustau and Co., had a partner on the Bank (Dr. King's detailed history of the bank has lists of the directors for each year). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 454 had eight (some say nine) concubines. In 1928, the house was passed on to his son, Mr. Mok Hing Shung. Up until the 1950s and 1960s, there were several palatial mansions standing in their own grounds in the Mid-Levels. Some had tennis courts. One splendid example was Marble Hall, at 1 Conduit Road where Chater Hall now stands. Marble Hall was built by Sir Paul Catchick Chater, a wealthy Armenian merchant and philanthropist. It was said in his days: "What Chater does today Jardine does tomorrow." The general design of Marble Hall was similar in many respects to the old mansion at 41 Conduit Road. In addition to the photographs hanging in the entrance lobbies of the five blocks at Realty Gardens today, there is an artist's embellished impression of No. 41 in the Hong Kong Museum of Art at Tsim Sha Tsui.1 From 1951 to 1961 the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC), a period some members describe as its heyday, was ensconced in the splendid building at No. 41. One could drive to the Club then and either drive up the slope or, alternatively, there was space for about three cars to park at the Conduit Road level. One could then take the lift (the first installed in a private dwelling in Hong Kong) up to the main entrance. There were nine bedrooms on the upper floor and the fireplaces were of Italian marble. The whole house had a wonderful ambience. With a little stretch of the imagination one can almost picture Han Suyin sitting under a cupola on the roof partaking of afternoon tea. The FCC was offered the lovely old building for a mere HK$250,000 in the 1950s, but the political situation was considered too precarious at the time to contemplate purchase. I first came to live in Conduit Road in March 1955, at the previous (then newly completed) block at No. 56. I frequently walked past the old Foreign Correspondents' Club, sometimes when boisterous parties were in full swing. On Saturday nights it was considered the place to be. The FCC had its own band but it also hired bands from the armed forces. Private parties were common there as well as diplomatic corps and airline lunches. But, in spite of the noise emanating at times from No. 41, Conduit Road was generally quiet and peaceful. At the western end especially it was almost like a country road, with trees and undergrowth, and one ================================================================================