1938-10-20 — Page 30

THE HONGKONG Telegraph, Thursday, OCTOBER 20, 1938.

A WHISKY

'PYE'

AT

SUNDOWN

A drink with

SPARKLE and ZEST

and TANG.

Ly

WATSON'S

NEW H.M.V. RECORDINGS

OCTOBER RELEASE

BD-5391 You couldn't be Cuter-Quick Step. Henry Jacques Band

The Moon of Manakoora-Waltz

BD-5388 The Blue Danube Swing-Quick Step

Black Eyes-Quick Step

BD-5397

You went to my Head--F.T.

The Ballyhooligans ....Roy Fox Orchestra

I Let a Song go out of My Heart-F.T."

BD-5396 You Leave me Breathless-F.T. ....Roy Fox Orchestra

If It Rains who Cares-F.T.

BD-5390, The Whispering Waltz

Henry Jacques Band Let a Song go out of my Heart--F.T. .BD-5389 Palais Glide Medicy No. 3....Now Mayfair Orchestra BD-5393 Meet me Down in Sunset Valley-F.T.

Little Lady make Believe-F.T....Jack Harris Orch.

B- 8772 Just let me Look at you

Poor little rich Girl

..Noel Coward

B- 8779 Now we'll drink just one more.. .Comedy Harmonists

The Village Band

B- 8781

No More (Negro Folk Song) En can ta dora Maria

.Paul Robeson

B. 8780 The Wind has told me so...

...Barnabas von Geazy Orch, Kiss--Serenade (De Micheli)

B- 8771, Waltzing Matilda ......Peter Dawson with Chorus

Walata Poi (H{D})

Messrs. S. MOUTRIE & CO., LTD.

York Building

1939

PROGRAMME

Chater Road

Flying Standard

MODELS AND PRICES

Such has been the success of the present Flying Standard models that the Standard Motor Co. Ltd. have decided to continue them during the following season. You could not make a wiser nor a more economical chalce than one of these splendid Flying Standards which during the past year have acquitted themselves so brilliantly in the hands of tens of thousands of motorists.

"TEN"

"NINE"

•

£182

"NINE"

DE LUZE

•

• 192

204

"TWELVE" KUPER BALOQU . "TWELVE" #P-REAS COUPÉ

"FOURTEEN".

214

202

£202

282

286

"FOURTEEN" TOURING NALGON 307 "TWENTY" TOURING BALOON

300

"TEN" # LX.

"TWELVE"

DUNLOP TYRES

TRIPLEX GLASS

All prices delivered Hongkong.

FAR

EAST MOTORS

THE FAR EAST AVIATION COMPANY, LIMITED

20, Nathan Road, Kowloon.

Telephono 50101.

Flying Standard Cars

New Life to your Worn Tyres i

TYRE-RETREAD

Full Circle Retreading

TYRE EXPENSE SAVED

by

RELIABLE &

EFFICIENT

UP-TO-DATE PROCESS

For Particulars and Cost

apply ---

Hongkong Hotel Garage

Phone 27778/0

Personalities of Old Hongkong

Mr. Henry Charles Sirr

Few men were more pessimistic about the future of Hong- kong than Mr. Henry Charles Sirr, a brilliant if somewhat erratic Irish barrister and author, who spent a few troubled years in the Colony during its early years. He was a sincere if inexact impressionist, and his literary efforts were intended to present a picturo of life in the Far East as it was at that time.

GRIN AND BEAR IT

By Lichty

Pielity

9-74

"Before we start, I'd like to know who's going to drive-you or pour mother?"

MR.

R. Henry Charles Sirr kong as a thriving Colony and Was born in County port Not so sanguino in his hopes was Mr. Sirr, however, for Cork, Ireland about the he had been here scarcely a year year 1815. He was before the lofty expectations member of a wealthy and at the time of his arrival became influential family who saw changed to an attitude of the that he received the best greatest gloom and disgust. He possible education, sending did not seem to "hit it off" any too well with the local commu- him to the University of nity, and those who had cases Stubbs na. Dublin, where he graduated in court were wont to patronisc

B. A. in 1838. His college his brethren at the Bar. studies were intended to It was perhaps this feeling of prepare him for the profes- being isolated that embittered could bring out his book. One is speedily assured that the sion of law, and after his him, and he determined if he may wonder why, if he disliked Colony was the sole reason, for much, he did lines such as these appear in successful admission to the ever left the Colony he would living here so

Like not earlier defart for "greener the book: "We deem it 蟲 Hongkong Telegraph. go out to the Far East, lured ed in the East, Mr. Sirr was bably is that as long as

Irish, Bar, he determined to "expose" it in a book.

many others who have sojourn pastures" and the answer pro- duty that we owe our fellow-men ho to speak truthfully and plainly no doubt by those won- obsessed with an urge to write, thought there was any chance of the insalubrity of China drous tales which were and this "yen" as it would be of carning a comfortable Ilving generally, but especially being circulated about the termed in modern slang occupied here, he was determined to stay, Hongkong, for had we but one opportunities to be "found

and as soon as that failed, he sincere friend, who had told us. felt that the community was to the honest truth concerning that in Her Majesty's newly opened Crown Colony of

blame, and it was time for him charnel house Hongkong, not all to leave.

the wealth of the East would Hongkong.

The

THUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1938.

SALUTE TO CHINA'S VERDUN

More Lucrative Carcer

Gallant Tehan, Verdun of the Far East, falla after holding the might of Japan's Imperialism impotent for three

Mr. Sirr arrived here on May Whatever the outcome of the 29, 1844, in company

with Sino-Japanese War, Tehan several other young barristers

more

months.

decided that after all a far more the

cured in

the profession

BY T. PAUL GREGORY

The real reason, however, for have lured us thither." his sudden departure for-Home in 1848, was apparently the

Biased Remarks

of

downfall of Mr. *Percy Caulin- His description of Hongkong fellow has since become famous, for

court McSwyney,

巍

countryman, and like himself a there is scarcely a writer upon Mr. Sirr felt much the Colony's early history who

barrister.

sympathy for Mr. McSwyney, has not quoted his biased re-

should go down in history as a who had come to the East in all his leisure hours. He pro who in a few brief years had marks at some time or other. To name with fame enduring even search of fame and fortune. All ceeded to all note-books with all fallen from a position of wealth those who live in our present- than that gained by were armed with official com- sorts of statistics-material into a state of the most hopeless day flourishing Colony it secma Taierhchwang, where the "in China, but no sooner had they what he thought would be the ignominy. and determined to almost ludicrous that scarcely a

missions as H. B. M. Consuls to which would aid in penning vincibility" of Japan's Army arrived in Hongkong than they most "damning indictment" of "shake the dust of the Colony century ago, according to Mr. was first proved a myth.

from his feet." At any rate the Sirr, this beautiful island was Colony-which scarcely Tehan is, or was, an obscure lucrative career was to be se- twenty years later was to earn book had now arrived, and pro- fetid, broiling spot."

time for the publication of his nothing more than "an arid, little rall town on the Kiuklang law, and proceeded to throw of Britain's Eastern Posses trunkful of manuscripts he ar- further should read Mr. Sirr's But those of the proud title of being the "Gem vided with little more than a who wish to pursue the subject Nanchang Railway. Japan cap- up their government appoint- sions." tured Kiuklang 3% months ago ments and set themselves up as

rived in London. The long anti- two volumes to be found in the and boasted that the fall of practising barristera. He was

Record Of Deaths cipated expose of Hongkong's Public Library, and while they Hankow and the severing of the admitted to the practice of law

frailties was a two-volumed will be amused at his remarkable Canton-Hankow Railway would at the first sessions

The vital statistics of the in- affair entitled "China and the candour in discussing the Colony of tho

Their quickly follow,

Religion, in which they live, and amazed But obscure 1844. This was a historic occa fant Colony were his especial Chinese : little Tehan provided a defence aion, indeed, and some of these crest, and he took a rather Character, Customs, Manufac- at his ruthless condemnation of

first barristers who were

sardonic delight in recording the tures, etc.." (London, 1849), it, they cannot avoid being im- that startled and disheartened

mitted to practico at this time number of deaths which then All the minute statistics which pressed at his obvious sincerity, the invaders and roused the were associated with the legal occurred due to malaria, or he had so painstakingly collected This work, it may be mentioned, admiration of the world. Its profession for many years in the "Hongkong fever" as it was then in Hongkong appear in the work, was not the only literary attack, ultimate fall was inevitable, but Colony. Most of them, too,

called. A hatred not only of and although from a perusal the author made upon Hong- Japan's victory took three costly achieved successful careers, and Hongkong but of China gener- of the title one may be inclined kong, for in the Dublin Univer- and bloody months to achieve. their names

numbered ally consumed him, and he could to wonder what connection the sity Magazine, of July 1847, among those who had visions of scarcely bide his time until he work has with Hongkong, one may be found a rather amusing Bombarded as no city in the the eventual prosperity of Hong-1

akit on the Colony's first G. world has been bombarded be-

[0. C., Major General D'Aguilar fore, gallant little Tehan has dis-

GENTLEMAN OF THE ROAD who heroically attempted--but appeared from the face of the of any battery, naval, military|

failed lamentably-to curb the earth. Only those who control or air force establishments or I KAVE many visitors to my weel He was looking much the same as strident matutinal street calls blacksmith shop, which stands at usual, tylsh and fresh. At the and hawkers' cries which disturb Japan's purse strings know how anchorages, or of any British the extreme north of the village back of his head his hair curled up the slumbers of so many a

tinkers, beggars, vagrants, tramps, wards for the want of cutting. He much the cost of its destruction, warships, with apparatus cap-They come and they go. My roaring was shabby, but with a strong pair modern resident.

was to the invaders.

DON'T TAKE

THAT PHOTO

are

able of roproducing such de-a moth. At least, It is

fire attracts them as a candle attracts of boots on his feet. His face and

# feasible eyes were those of a meth-drinker, Unfavourable Reception

but I had never seen him under the fences may be imprisoned for a excuse for an Introduction.

Influence. It is only natural that they should

As for Mr. Sirr, he seems to month. Even the entering of pause by my ever-open door, for my small packet of tea, and asked if He took out a blackened can and

have made no more BUC- defence works without reproduc-glowing fire is the Arst thing that would boll some water for him. cess as an author than he had

meets their eyes and my roaring It is a serious offence in tion devices is an offence that bellows are the Arst thing that strikes He talked to me of things in general as a barrister. The reception of while he waited. I asked him how his book by the public did not Hongkong to sketch, draw or may net imprisonment.

their cars as they enter the village, business was with him. He said it photograph any defence works. Moral: Better to be

after having tramped miles and mitei wns good. Business was always prove as favourable as he had Sure of wonderful landscapes without see good with him because life was good. unticipated, for, all things said An Englishman, who unwitting now about that photograph than ing a living soul.

and done, the average English- ly contravened the Defences Borry later, (Sketching Provention) Ordin- TRYING TO ance of 1895, was before the

Court yesterday for taking FIND A WAR photographs at Stanley.

The

definition of Defence

- <<

Footweary and forlorn they, come,;

From my door I see them, mere he had been in inverness. That is' specks at first on the long ribbon of 150 miles from Ferth, and Perth is bad as Mr. Sirr affirmed it to be a rond, but growing rapidly larger fully 20 miles from my blacksmith or not. The world

was

too and larger, as if my fire were beckon-shop. ile walked all the way, pedd-large, and Her Majesty's posses- ing them to friendliness and comfort. ling his wures by day, sleeping sions too far flung, to worry Chinese place names add

der hedges and ledging-houses by night.

about a little dot of soll "out works in the Ordinance is such dealing with the flood of "copy" land, England, Ireland, and

greatly to the worries of editors

They come from all parts-Scot- 10 named places in the Highlands somewhere near the coast of that the authorities or

Wales. that were airange to me. He seemed civilian can effect arrests

any on the Sino-Japanese hostilities. But the majority are Scots, and when to know every road and byway of Chiney," and after all, life in for Yesterday, an unofficial source dialect from which part of Scotland eating

they speak I know at once from their righlands, and he was an inter- good old England was all that. any offence committed in the

speaker, uneducated but really mattered, Inteligent. vicinity of naval, military or air reported the capture by Japa- they come.

He had spent the previous night' Mr. Sirr when he saw that his nese troops of Sheklung, impor-

They ask a hent from my fire; or in a Perth lodging-house. He spoke literary inclinations were not force property. It is not per tant railway centre 35 miles Bght for their pipe from my are; er, spcakes of home. After all, they going to turn out any font and

a bolling of water from my fire or of lodging-housed as an immigrant missible to photograph or from Canton. sketch batteries, field works,

Half-an-hour if it is ruining, a little time by my were the only home he had known fitable, immediately sought and later another message semi-fire to dry, their shabby clothes-al-for the best part of a lifetime. fortifications, naval, military or officially confirmed the capture/ ways something from my fire,

obtained a government appoint- air force premisas, naval anchor of Sheklun. But the Sheklun from me, after my fire has introduced should he? Summer was here again, alleged to have experienced a And Invariably something more about settling down. He smiled, ment in Ceylon. Here he was. ages, or even British warship which was semi-officially cap-us, anything from a pipeful of bacey A bed in summer was cheap enough. rather checkered Photography from the Peak in tured was not the Sheklung of water to a making from a drink; A silent Highland hillside, and away after a few.short years in that practically any direction would rumoured to have been captured. be a contravention of the Regu- It was an obscure village on the begging, because with

man at Home did not care one Ikke inhabitants from another world. He told me that eight days before lota whether Hongkong was as

Intiona.

I asked him if he never thought

down?

career, and

to an old pair of boots;

ten.

from all cores. A better bed, he

made They have made perfect the art of sald, than ever woman up. part of the East, he retired to hardly an Ileather for blankets and starry his Homeland where ho died in exception and myself helping, it sky for a root. Why should he obscurity and penury at the highway to Tacncheng, which only to get rid of them. A cake of setter boiling, he made for the comparatively early age of fifty-.. Tho penalties are high. Any also fell. The Japanese claim soap is about the only commodity His person it does not matter whe- to the capture of Sheklung, the for which they never ask.

door; never even begged for a match. two-the forgotten author of ther he is British or allon-who railway city, was not officially rond who, except for

But there is one gentleman of the asked him where he was making the first book about Hongkong..

the services for, and he said Edinburgh. He was

*See the writer's article on Mr. contravenes the Regulations may confirmed up to the time the of my are, asks for nothing. He a native of Edinburgh, and liked to be fined $500 or spend three "Telegraph" went to press with lives by selling the usual smallwares look his "ain folka" up occasional

of the door-to-door hawker. I see ly. months in prison without the its First Edition to-day, him only at very irregular intervals. Gentleman of the road, with option of a fine. Even a person although original reports of the walked into my shop the other relatives in all the world, but

day, the first time for the best part trouble to anybody! found in the immediate vicinity fall appear authentic.

of a year.

Slove,

no

Percy Caulincourt McSwyney in the "Personalities of Old Hong- kong" series, in the Hongkong. Telegraph of Wednesday, July 27, 1988.

Page 30Page 31