RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d mainly to have more permanent venue for lectures, council meetings and even possibly a library—we are inhibited from expanding our book collection mainly from lack of space. The raised subscription for Society membership to $50 was in response to the cost of our membership of the Centre. So far our membership has already brought tangible benefits in the form of increased publicity and joint presentations and it is expected this trend will continue. The Society has also had a representative (your Treasurer) on the Management Committee and he has been in a position to ensure that the Society's interests are taken into account in all decisions about functions and facilities. There have been several constitutional changes in the Hong Kong Arts Centre, details of which need not be elaborated here: suffice to say that the Hong Kong Arts Centre is now established under an Ordinance with a board of management, and that the Committee structure is now more clearly defined. The Hong Kong Arts Centre is now being built and is expected to be completed by early 1977 depending on the financial situation. Your Society hopes to be in a position to rent a small room in the Centre for members to use and to house our library. We are continuing to keep a watch on developments. THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY One of our newest ventures has been the photographic survey of old buildings and scenes representing the traditional cultural life of the Colony. A comprehensive report has been tabled at this meeting. Your Council, particularly your Hon. Secretary, Mr. Ian Diamond who provided the impetus for this project, initiated the survey to provide as coherent a pictorial record as possible of the main visual features of urban and rural Hong Kong. It is hoped it will be of value to research workers. The survey has been undertaken in close cooperation with members of the Photographic section of the South China Athletic Association which has not only given generous financial assistance but supplied many volunteers from among its members to undertake the photographic work involved. I would like to take the opportunity of expressing our thanks to them now. A small exhibition consisting of a selection from among the photographs taken during the year has been prepared for this meeting. We hope you will find it interesting and a worthwhile project for us to engage in. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 300 NOTES AND QUERIES J. A. Prescott H. A. Rydings C. T. Smith Photographers South China Athletic Association, Photographic Group: Butt Chak-yu 畢澤宇 Hoh Wing-chan 何永燦 Jimmy Kwok 郭天志 Lai Yat-fung 賴一峰 Lau Cho-chak Tam Yee-yin 譚以仁 Tong Wai-hang Royal Asiatic Society: H.A. and J.W. Rydings H. Werle Hong Kong, 1975. H. A. RYDINGS BOAT PEOPLE'S CEREMONIES OBSERVED AT ISLAND HOUSE ON 5TH AND 31ST JANUARY, AND 16TH NOVEMBER, 1975* The following notes were provided by Mr. David Akers-Jones, Secretary for the New Territories and a member of this Society, whose residence is at Island House, Tai Po. The island Yuen Chau Tsai (AMA), connected by causeway to the main road, has long been a centre of the boat population. Ed. (I) 5th January, 1975 A motorized sampan motored slowly round Island House from the bridge to the shelter used by the small in-shore fishing boats on the other side of the Island House causeway. On board a group of six young women were pretending to pole the boat along, wearing plaited red wheel-hats. Another girl was beating a gong, creating a tremendous noise, another standing in the bow facing aft was beating a drum in a frenzied manner, and on the roof of the Plate 18 illustrates these notes. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 225 OBITUARY Ian Diamond, M.B.E., F.I.M., M.A., Hon. Fellow, HKBRAS (1924-2004) Our former Hon. Secretary and Vice-President Ian Diamond, died recently at his home in Adelaide, aged 80. He was also an Hon. Fellow of our Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, an honour he greatly prized. Ian was educated at St. Peter's College, Adelaide, and at the University of Adelaide (M.A.). After working as an archivist in Australia, he went to the then British Colony of Fiji where he served from 1958, establishing and running the Central Archives of Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commission until he transferred to Hong Kong in 1971 to set up the Public Records Office there. Ian's service to the RAS was noteworthy. He was our Hon. Secretary 1974-78, Councillor 1978-82, and Vice-President 1983-85, when he retired from the service of the Hong Kong Government. He then returned to his native Australia, with his wife Ishbel, another fine contributor to the good of Hong Kong during their stay in the former Colony. For much of Ian's time on the RAS Council, it used to meet in his office in the Public Records Office, then located on the first floor of the Murray Road Multi-storey Car Park at Lambeth Walk. This was but a stone's throw from the appropriately named Bull and Bear, which served as our meeting place when Ian was on overseas leave and his office temporarily unavailable to us. Ian was determined to record the remaining old buildings in Hong Kong, before the developers moved in. Together, Tony Rydings (our Hon. Librarian), Rev. Carl Smith, Dr. Solomon Bard, and Ian completed a photographic survey of fast disappearing parts of the old urban area. Ian did the researching, surveying, and note-taking, and Tony was the main photographer, with timely help from the Photographic Group of the South China Athletic Association. The recorded areas included the historic Western District of Hong Kong Island and (later) Yaumatei in Kowloon. Out of the over 2,000 ================================================================================