RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g
TEXT OF A LETTER SENT TO THE HON. THE COLONIAL SECRETARY ON THE SUBJECT OF A NEW CITY MUSEUM FOR HONG KONG.

24th May, 1971.

Dear Sir,

A NEW CITY MUSEUM

At a meeting of the Council of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society held earlier this year, the question was raised as to whether we, as the executive committee of a Hong Kong learned society, could, with advantage to all concerned, formulate our views on the above-mentioned subject which is exercising the minds of many residents of this Colony at the present moment.

The members of the committee were unanimously of the opinion that we should do this, firstly because the main purpose in founding our Society as long ago as 1847 was to foster the preservation, and to encourage the study, of all matters concerning the history of this part of Asia; and secondly and more specifically because in the inaugural address of our first President, Governor Sir John Davis, he urged the adoption by the young Society of two practical aims in addition to the lecture and discussion programmes usually adopted by learned societies. His suggested aims were the establishment in Hong Kong (a) of Botanic Gardens, and (b) of a City Museum. A brief statement concerning what was accomplished towards achieving these aims about a century and a quarter ago was recently made by Dr. J. R. Jones, the past President of this Branch of the Society, in his letter published in the South China Morning Post on Friday, 18th December, 1970, under the title of "Sir John Davis, and Hong Kong's First Museum".

After some discussion which was purposely confined to generalities, and did not extend to the consideration of details, it was unanimously decided that we should support the proposal that the present museum should be re-organized and that the opportunity should then be taken of re-housing it in a new and specially designed building situated on a site chosen for its suitability and adaptability rather than for reasons of expediency.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h
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NOTES AND QUERIES

U.S.A. and Britain. One day, his uncle, an expatriate Chinese in New York, noticed a Water Pine in a garden bearing the Village Representative's name as donor. Mr. Man was obviously very proud of this. He also recalled that some 15 years ago the Director of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had given him ten seedlings to plant in the village, but unfortunately none had survived.

Many prominent persons have come, paused to admire the longevity of these two trees and heard of the interesting story about them. They are probably the oldest living trees of this species in the New Territories. They are valued not only for their longevity but also for their capacity as producers of viable seed. In 1969, germination tests were carried out with this seed and results showed 60% germinative capacity. Requests for the supply of seed have frequently been received from overseas by the Conservation and Forests Division of the Agricultural and Fisheries Department.

The condition of these two remarkable trees remains reasonably healthy but they will undoubtedly lose vigour with advancing age. How to perpetuate them is a matter of concern. The best way of achieving this would be to propagate seedlings and to plant them out in localities similar to their natural habitat. In the last two decades seedlings of Water Pine were planted in the Royal Hong Kong Golf Course at Fanling and at Tai Po Kau and Tai Lam Chung forest reserves, but only a few have survived. The largest surviving group is on the Golf Course where 10 trees are growing. The biggest of these is now 18 feet tall and 15 inches in girth, with an average growth rate of 0.2 inches per year over the last 10 years. In view of the rarity of the species, it is advisable to plant more of them in suitable localities throughout the New Territories and on Hong Kong Island. The species has not yet been included in the collections in the Botanic Gardens but planting stock is being made available and this omission will be rectified in the next planting season.

Editor's Note. This article is reproduced with kind permission of the Director, Agricultural and Fisheries Department, Hong Kong, from the department's publication Wildlife Conservation, Newsletter No. 12, April 1971. The bulletin is prepared for game wardens, and is in English and Chinese. Persons who are interested may be provided with copies, if available, on application to the Department. The author, Mr. Shen Dze-chia, Assistant Forestry Officer until his recent retirement, is a graduate of the University of Nanking.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063
55

THE HONG KONG BOTANICAL GARDENS, A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

D.A. GRIFFITHS AND S.P. LAU

The Victorian era in Europe was obsessed by the idea of cultivating exotic plants which had become more readily available as plant hunters explored more distant regions of the world. The culmination of this concept was the establishment of large botanic gardens where both local and exotic plants could be admired (often under unnatural conditions) by an incredulous populace eager to learn more of the distant parts of the Empire. In addition to this botanical zeal in Europe, the idea spread to various other areas of the British Commonwealth and botanical gardens soon sprang up in Rangoon, New Delhi, Madras, and Singapore, where for the first time local people were able to familiarize themselves with plants from their own as well as other regions of the world. In addition to this seemingly cosmetic role, botanical gardens also served other, more pragmatic, interests as the growth characteristics of more economically important plants could be examined for the first time under controlled conditions, enabling them to be exploited by commercial interests with an eye towards export trade.

In Hong Kong, the idea of establishing a Public Garden was mentioned officially for the first time in 1848, but even prior to that date, on March 27th, 1844, a letter of thanks from the Governor of Hong Kong was sent to the Deputy Governor of Bengal thanking him for a copy of the printed report of the Honorable Company's Botanic Gardens, indicating that the idea of a similar garden in Hong Kong had already been mooted. The first indication that Hong Kong was to be blessed with such a garden was made by Charles Gutzlaff in a statement to the Hong Kong branch of the

AUTHORS' ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the staff of the Library and Archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, the Public Records Office of Hong Kong, and the City Hall Public Library, Hong Kong, for their kind assistance.

S.P. Lau wishes to acknowledge with thanks the permission given by the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries to pursue a Ph.D. project at the University of Hong Kong, this article being a section of the thesis under preparation.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063
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ly Australian and Japanese, some also from India.”

In the first annual report (31/12/1872) Mr. Ford reported that:

"It is to be regretted that, owing to the want of skilled European assistance, a portion of these Gardens could not be reserved for strictly botanical purposes, and for the formation of a collection of plants peculiar to China, and thus make the Gardens of use to those scientific visitors who make HK a place of call, as well as students who reside in the Colony.”

The importance of the Hongkong Botanic Gardens as a repository of plants with commercial value to the area had already been stressed by Dr. Hooker in his report to the Kew Royal Botanical Garden in 1871 when he referred to them:

as a means of introducing a multitude of valuable vegetable products which are described by travellers in China, but which are totally unknown in Europe."

In the 1871 report Ford also refers to the construction of a "chunamed basin" 18 ft in diameter and 3 ft deep for the growth of a specimen of Victoria regia but there is no further mention of this eye-catching plant in any further reports. This might possibly indicate its inability to grow under Hong Kong's rather unique climate conditions. The report continues:

"The trees planted consisted chiefly of Banyans, India-rubber trees, Bamboos, Whampee, Litchi, Rose Apple (Jambosa vulgaris) and Longan which were obtained from Nurseries at Canton. A quantity of Chinese Fir Trees (Pinus sinensis) have been raised from seeds for the purpose of planting in the higher and more exposed parts of hills where other trees do not thrive. A quantity of the same kind of seeds have again been collected together with a larger quantity of Casuarina seeds, which have been matured on trees originally raised, I believe, from seeds received from the Mel-
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063
65

Bourne Royal Botanical Gardens. The Casuarinas grow moderately well on this island and are not much damaged by strong winds, which is the most important quality requisite for trees to possess in this part of the world where typhoons are so prevalent and the exposure is so great.

The problem of typhoon damage to the Botanic Gardens was stressed again by Ford in 1874 when he wrote to Dr. Hooker at Kew:

"I am afraid we should never be able to make an effective combination and groups of shrubs etc. to form a really attractive garden or landscape scenery on account of the typhoons which break and destroy subjects in such a frightful way as to entirely nullify our efforts in that direction, breaking up the picture, which we try to produce, into fragments only."

In 1876, in his second report to Kew, Mr. Ford outlined how the planting programme had been extended:

"The cultivation of trees has been extended in a new direction, the rearing and planting of Pinus sinensis on the hills. Before this was done, trees were only planted along the streets and roads for shade; but now we annually plant many thousands on hills above and surrounding the town. This tree is the one which has been found, by experience, to thrive the best of all yet tried on exposed situations; in fact, but few or none of these attempted (and experiments with other species have been made every year) will thrive at all on the higher grounds. Exposure and the hardness of soil prevent trees growing. All the trees experimented with on hills thrive well in made and sheltered ground in the gardens."

In an appendix to the 1876 report, note is made of the introduction of a new species of tree from Australia and the growth characteristics of a common southern Chinese species which was used widely.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063
77

Library and Archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England

2. C.O. No. 129 series for the years 1844 to 1865

Public Records Office, London and Hong Kong.

3. Annual Reports:

a) Gardens Department, Hong Kong Government, for the years 1872 to 1879

b) Botanical and Forestry Department, Hong Kong Government, for the years 1880 to 1939

c) Gardens Department, Hong Kong Government, for the Financial Years 1946-47 to 1949-50

d) Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department, for the Financial Years 1950-51 to 1953-54

e) Urban Services Department and Urban Council, Hong Kong, for the Financial Years 1953-54 onwards.

4. Eitel, E.J. 1895, Europe in China: The History of Hong Kong from the Beginning to the Year 1882, Kelly & Walsh Ltd. Hong Kong.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794
134

have therefore added it here for the record.

The Sowerbys were an old family of Saxon stock that can be traced back to the time of Edward the Confessor, and possibly earlier to the first kings of Kent in the fifth century AD.

Arthur de Carle Sowerby was the great grandson of James Sowerby, who died in 1822, the botanist who wrote English Botany and was one of the founder members of the Geological Society. His son in turn continued his work and helped organise the Royal Botanic Society and Gardens in Regent's Park.

On his mother's side Arthur was descended from Pierre Séguier, the Chancellor of France in the reign of Louis XIII; he was also the great grandson of Anthony Stuart, the miniature and portrait painter of the early Victorian period. Arthur's uncle was part-founder and first Keeper of the National Gallery of Portraits in Trafalgar Square.

At the end of his schooling he began his training to be an artist but soon left it for that of a scientist, working for his BSc. at Bristol. He returned to China having dropped out of College and after his arrival back in China he was appointed in 1906 in the double capacity of lecturer and curator on the staff of the Anglo-Chinese College in Tientsin.

He served in France during World War 1 as Technical Officer in the Chinese Labour Corps, and on his return to China made his headquarters in Shanghai where he remained until the end of the Second World War.

He developed an interest in Chinese Art and was impressed by the accuracy of ancient Chinese craftsmen in modelling pottery animals for the tomb, an accuracy that enabled him as a naturalist to identify the breeds of various domestic animals in use in ancient China. He wrote a series of articles for the China Journal on Birds in Chinese Art; the Owl in Chinese Art; The Flora in Chinese Art; Rocks, Mountains and Water in Chinese Art; Animals in Chinese Art; as well as Animals in the Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales of China. His interest in craftsmanship also led him to write a series of articles on Chinese arts and crafts, including four papers on the Chinese ivory industry.
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