Sessional_Paper_1893 — Page 637

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REPORT BY THE HONOURABLE T. H. WHITEHEAD.

HONGKONG, 29th April, 1893.

SIR,

I cannot concur in the unmeasured praise given in the report of the majority of the Committee, to the Pó Leung Kuk, nor can I concur in their recommendations as to the future working of the Society. I therefore submit for the consideration of His Excel- lency, the Governor in this separate report my opinions on the various points in discus- sion, and my reasons, based entirely on the evidence taken by the Committee, in support of these views.

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY.

1. With the Rules of the 5th August, 1882, before me I have no hesitation in saying that the Pó Léung Kuk as a separate and distinct Society never had an existence until 1892. It was to consist of members residents of the Colony who had subscribed $10 or upwards to the funds. It was to be managed by a Committee of ten members elected annually at a meeting of members. (It was to provide a Home for the accom- modation of destitute women and children in Hongkong,

2. There is no evidence that there ever were any subscribers to the Pó Léung Kúk as a separate and distinct Society. For 1878 and 1879 there are no lists and no accounts, the cost of providing food was borne by the Tung Wah Hospital; any other costs and expenses were borne by Mr. FUNG MING SHAN and others, the first members of the Committee, out of their own pockets. There are accounts from August, 1880, or there- abouts to August, 1892, and they show that the total receipts of the Society during these twelve years amounted from subscriptions and contributions from the Directors to $1,330. In addition there have been loans from the Tung Wah Hospital and the Man Mo Temple to the amount of $2,600, and from the Government grants or gifts of $1,050. No Home has ever been established or attempted to be established: The women and girls were housed in the Tung Wah Hospital to the great inconvenience of patients there, and to the very doubtful advantage of the women and girls themselves, and food and clothing has been found by the Tung Wah, a separate and distinct Corporation. There have been no annual meetings of subscribers to the Pó Léung Kuk, for there were none, and of course no proper elections of members of the Committee. The meetings have either been meetings of members of the Tung Wah, or of the general public, and the persons elected have been generally the Tung Wah Committee men.

It is not even certain (see the discussion between the Honourable HO KAI and the Chairman at the 11th meeting of the Commission) on what principle or how the Chairman of the Pó Léung Kuk was elected or appointed or whether there was an election or a mere nomination. A book containing the names of the original members of the Society in 1881 has been produced (see appendix 43), but there is no register of later date. It is evident that the book cannot be correct because if there were then 122 members there nust have been at least $1,220 to the credit of the Society, but in 1880-1882 nothing appears in the accounts but subscriptions from the Directors, receipts from the former Emigration Enquiry Office, and a subscription of $100 from the LAI HING firm.

3. I desire to call attention further to the facts that no efforts appear to have been made to raise subscriptions and form a fund until 1892, although the Government had frequently urged the Directors to do so, that the fund raised in 1892 was raised on the statement made to the Directors that no Government aid could be expected until the