316
CORRESPONDENCE.
[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.} THE VICTORIA JUBILEE ROAD.
"" "DAILY PRESS. DEAR SIR, Mr. Ormsby's letter in your last issue on the subject of the Victoria Jubilee Road will be read with some surprise by those of your readers who take an interest in the scheme for a road round the island.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE
Mr. Ormsby claims to be intimately acquainted with the matter in all its bearings, but as he was not in the colony at the time of the dis- cussion on the subject he is naturally unaware of the interest which the public took in it at the time and of the searching criticism to which all projects for celebrating Her Majesty's Jubi. lee were subjected.
1
The resolution of the Jubilee Committee of the 26th April was arrived at after mature con- sideration, and after a free expression of public opinion had been invited. There seems no rea· son why that resolution should be termed unfor- tunate. It may not meet entirely with Mr. Ormsby's approval, but whether it is unfortunate or not is a matter of opinion. Mr. Ormsby's predecessor, Mr. Cooper, did not deem it unfor tunate, or he would have entered his opinion in opposition to it at the time, being quite free to do so had he been so disposed. I had an inter- view with him on the subject and found him in no way unfavourably disposed to it.
It will be quite within the recollection of the older residents in the colony that the idea of a sea-level road round the south side of the island
is by no means a new one. An earnest attempt for the same object was made on the 50th anni- versary of Her Majesty's reign and commanded a large amount of public support, but the time was apparently not then ripe and the project was postponed.
When the auspicious event of Her Majesty's 60th Jubilee gave it again a chance of being reopened, the scheme met with hearty and spon- taneous support and 192 names were affixed to the requisition for the road in a very short space of time. This number could have been easily increased if time had permitted, and a large number of Chinese names could have been added had occasion required it.
The scheme was put forward in competition with many others and received cordial and general support, resulting in the resolution of the 26th April. It was understood at the time that the completion of the scheme in its entirety would be a matter requiring some time. It was also known that the amount of money in hand would be insufficient to pay for the completed road, but the deficiency was promised at the time by the then Governor Sir William Robin- son. The crux of the whole thing lies in the idea of making a sea-level road available for all in the most convenient locality. It is apparent that an improvement at Shaukiwan, however desirable in itself, is of little advantage to the teeming population of the western part of the city, who would have to spend a considerable sum of money to get there at all, and it is only fair to remember that the large subscriptions received from the Chinese were for the road from Kennedytown to Aberdeen. The hospital
scheme did not recommend itself to them.
The Road as originally proposed gires to the Chinese, huddled together as they are now, a cheap and easy means of fresh air and exercise. Any one who has seen the Babbling Well Road at Shanghai, or the Chinese driving about at Penang and Singapore, must admit that when the opportunity of locomotion is afforded them they freely avail of it. If people have to ascend to the level of Pokfolam, about five huu. dred feet, the number who will use the road in hot weather will be reduced to a minimum, Whoever saw any one use the present road in summer except a stray Europeau who is devoted
to hard exercise ?
Any amelioration of the gradient would exercise but little attraction on a hot night, whereas a level road along the Sulphur Chanuel would be largely patronised, as during the S.W. monsoon a breeze is constantly drawing through there.
Is it not too late in the day to tamper with daly considered and approved project? As
THE HỌNGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
for the objection on military grounds, which we now hear of for the first time, had it been worth serious consideration we would have had it raised by the military authorities during the discussion at the Jubilee. If the money in hand now is insufficient to complete the work let it at least be expended in accordance with the agreement arrived at. Any deviation from that course gives a loophole for alterations and delays at once vexatious and unnecessary. It would be a departure from a given pledge which might bereafter be used as a dangerous precedent.-I remain, Dear Sir, Your obedient
G. STEWART.
servant,
Hongkong, 12th October, 1898.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE
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DAILY PRESS.
SIR-I have read Mr. Ormsby's letter of the 11th instant on the subject of the road; round the island with interest. The object of his letter appears to be to suggest that in view of altered circumstances a meeting of the sub- In scribers to the fund should be convened. this I fully conenr, seeing that the Jubilee Committee have never called a meeting of such The Jubilee Committee were subscribers.
appointed by the Governor, not by the sub scribers, and for some reason best known to themselves they did not see fit to convene a public meeting at which the varions projects could be discussed. The resolution referred to by Mr. Ormsby was also the resolution of the Jubilee Committee and not a resolution passed by subscribers.
I addressed a letter to Mr. Chater as the Chairman of the Jubilee Committee on the 16th June, 1897, in which I asked the Committee to once more consider the utility of that portion of the proposed road to run round Mount Davis and whether it was desirable to commence the road from such a distant point as Kennedytown and carry it round Mount Davis rather than to improve the present Pokfulum Road by easing its gradients. I also begged that Mr. Chater and the Committee would take steps to ascertain whether the wishes of the subscribers to the Jubilee Fund were really in favour of carrying the proposed road round Mount Davis irrespective of cost and reminded him that the Jubilee Committee, who were nominated by the Governor, had not discussed the question of a road round the island with the public at a public meeting and suggested that it behoved the Committee to be quite certain they represented the wishes of the public, or at any rate the majority of the subscribers to the Jubilee Fund, before causing a large sum of money to be spent on a road round Mount Davis when the same object, viz., improved road accom- modation, could be more cheaply and expedi. tiously obtained by adhering to the present road as far as Aberdeen with improved gra- dients. :
My letter, which appeared in the local papers of the 16th and 17th June, 1897, was not, so far as I can remember, in any way acknow- ledged by Mr. Chater.
*4
Now if from lack of funds it is unlikely that the Government (to quote from the resolution of the 26th April, 1897) can commence forth with and carry on the remaining portion of the road until completed" surely it more than ever behores the Jubilee Committee to call meeting of the subscribers and ascertain their
wishes under the altered circumstances.
8
Te Hongkong Telegraph, in their leading article on the subject which appeared in the issue of the 12th instant, stated that “Mr. Ormsby's appeal to the public seemed to them very de- cidedly out of order and, considering that there was a Jubilee Committee and Sub-Committee in existence, an impertinence."
With that statemet I do not think many per- sons will agree.
|
[October 15, 1808,
Turning to Mr. Stewart's letter, I venture to predict that the result of the construction of a road from Kennedytown round Mount Davis will not encourage locomotion amongst the Chi- nese. Shanghai and Hongkong are very dif. ferent places and the class of Chinese who drive along the Bubbling Well Road in Shanghai and those who inhabit the Western portion of Vic- toria differ very considerably the one from the other.
Mr. Stewart asks, "Is it not too late in the day to tamper with a duly considered and ap- I say no, not too late in the proved object." day for the subscribers to be given an oppor- tunity of considering the question under an altered state of circumstances to those supposed to exist when they were asked to subscribe their money, with the possible result of pre- venting the commencement of a road leading, at any rate for several years to come, from the extreme western part of the island to nowhere in particular,
As would-be subscribers were never called together and consulted by the Committee, who were appointed by the Governor, the only al- ternative left to any who did not approve of the resolution in toto was to decline to subscribe
at all.
I venture to suggest, however, that others besides myself preferred to subscribe, hoping that mature consideration would cause a recon- sideration of the matter and that part of the resolution would not be blindly followed if cir- cumstances intervened to prevent the whole of the resolution being carried out within a reason- able period.
It would be interesting to learn whether the resolution of the 26th April, 1847, appeared upon the subscription lists circulated for signature. For the purposes of this letter I am assuming that it did, aud, further, that such resolution was present to the mind of each subscriber when he signed, but I should like the Jubilee Com. mittee to enlighten the public upon the point.
With apologies for trespassing at so great length on your valuable space.—I am, sir, yours faithfully.
GODFREY C. C. MASTER. Hongkong, 13th October, 1898.
HONGKONG HOTEL CO., LIMITED.
" DAILY PRESS,' DEAR SIR,-The second leading article in your issue of Saturday, the 8th instant, requires an answer from me. I therefore beg you to be good enough to insert this letter. in your next
TO THE EDITOR OF THE
edition.
You say that I was wrong in the statements I made at the recent extraordinary meeting of the Hongkong Hotel Co., Limited, Will you permit me to explain that I was not wrong, and that I never stated, in the way you men tion, that the shareholders in a limited company are not legally shareholders unless they sign the articles of association ?
The statements I made at the meeting were based solely on the articles of association of the Hongkong Hotel Co., Limited, which contain a special clause providing for two classes of share- holders, namely (1) those who are registered only and can as such transmit a title to the shares they hold to others, and nothing further; and (2) those who can exercise the rights and privileges of shareholders, expressly limited to those only who have actually signed the articles of association. (See clause 28.)
This clause is not common to articles of association in Hongkong, and the reason for its insertion was, no doubt, because the artioles provided for an increase of capital and it was thought desirable to excludé those shareholders from-voting who took no permanent interest in the Company,
This article has never been amended or modi. What now suggest is practically a repeti-
fled since the first formation of the Company tion of what I suggested before, viz., that the
but remains one of the regulations of the Com- Committee should set to work and ascertain what are really the present wishes of the ma-pany to this day, and must therefore be taken jority of subscribers, having regard to altered into consideration in ascertaining whether a circumstances, and that the committee should special resolution of the Company has been ascertain such wishes by calling a meeting of duly passed or not, the subscribers and, if it is found that a majority are in favour of altering the resolution of 26th April, 1897, that it should be altered in accord- ance with the wishes of the meeting. Any dis- sentient subscriber should, however, if he so wished, be able to obtain his money back.
Another point was that the articles of asso- ciation of the Company requires ths of the nominal capital to be represented by at least 3/5ths of the shareholders present at an extra- - ordinary meeting to carry a special resolution. This article also has never been modified jor
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