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I
August 16, 1902.]
In reply the following telegram was des patched by H.E. the Officer Administering the Government, Hongkong, to H.E. the Officer Administering the Government, Macao :-
"I beg to thank Your Excellency for your courteous message of congratulation on this auspicious occasion of the Coronation of King Edward and Queen Alexandra, and to assure you that the Colony of Hongkong sincerely appreciates the friendship thus testified by the Colony of Macao.”
RECEPTION AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE.
The reception held in Government Hcuse on the 11th inst, by Major-General Sir William and Lady Gascoigne was a brilliant success. The house and grounds were most tastefally lighted with fairy lamps and Japanese coloured lanterns, and the Rinaldo, Tamar and Japanese cruiser Chitose co-operated by again exhibiting their striking illuminations The upper part of the front of the house bore a most attractive and skilful design in small electric lamps, a crown with Prince of Wales's feathers beneath being outlined in the cautre with the letter "F" on one side and "R." on the other. To these were added the many torches borne by the troops in their torch-light procession. The guests were most numerous and con- sisted of all the military and civil officers of the Colony, the naval officers now here, the Japanese naval officers, members of Council, the Consular Corps. and the leading residents, and many ladies. The guests were received personally by the distinguished host and hostess as they arrived, and everything was done to make the entertainment as pleasing and as interesting as possible. Before the musical programme commenced, the company conversing and strolling about the grounds, watched the splendid display of Japanese fire- works in the harbour.
Punctual to the time arranged, the very novel programme was commenced, and the march of the troops around the front grounds
to the strains of the bands
and in the
glare of many torches was very stirr ing and entertaining. The music which followed, inters- persed as it was with trumpet fanfares, massed bugle calls, and the rattle of musketry was distinctly martial and interesting.
The tattoo was taken part in by the following massed bands, drums, fifes, trumpets, bugles and bagpipes :-Royal Welsh Fusiliers' band, drums and fifes; Hongkong Regiment band, drums and fifes; 10th Bombay Infantry band, drums and fifes; Hongkong-Singapore Battalion R.A. bagpipes; Hongkong Volunteers' drums and fifes; Trumpeters, Royal Garrison Artillery Trumpeters, Hongkong-Singapore Battalion; 300 torch bearers, Native Regiments; Firing party, Hongkong Regiment. Conductor J. H. Moir, Bandmaster, R.W.F.
The programme was as follows:→ Procession and rendezvous,
Trumpeters announce the advancing froops. 1st Post-Massed Trumpeters (Cavalry). 1st Post-Massed Bugles (Infantry). Descriptive Piece ... "Shot and Shell,"
1. Battle music. 2. The dying soldier's dream. 8. Grand march and entry of troops into enemy's camp.
Asche.
Coote.
H. Saro,
Valse
Officers"," Massed Bands. March".
"Highland," Bagpipes-H. K. & S. B. R. A, Grand Military Tattoo
1. Gun and calls in the distance. 2. Assembly of troops. 3. Grand Tattoo. 4. Creation's hymn. 5. Cavalry last post. 6. Grand finale. 7. Last post (infantry),
Torch-light Procession.
2nd R.W.F.
Overture ........... “Zampa,"
Valse
"Plui d'or,"
Barn Dance .............. "Go Bang,"
“Florodora,”.
Selection
Overture
Valse
A
10th B.I.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
Candmaster Moir and his leading assistants are to be congratulated for the excellent programme provided, which must have entailed much thought and hard work in arranging During the interval the company adjourned to the supper and refreshment rooms, where every- thing was provided on a scale which fully sustained the reputation of the host and hostess. Music again commence.l, and many made their way to the ball-room, where dancing was indulged in. The function was a most enjoyable and successful one in every respect, and was a very fitting termination to the Coronation festivities.
Herold. Waldteuful. Williams. L. Stuart.
"French Comedy,"... Kela Bela
"The Flower Show," Selection ................................ “Geisha," Galop
"Die Wilderer,”.
H.K. REGT.
*
'Santiago,"
Selection "Reminiscences of England,"
Valse
Piccolo Polka...... "Merriment," Selection......* Airs of Scotland,”.
"God Save the King."
Coote.
CELEBRATION AT MACAO.
The Portu-
The Coronation of the King was quietly but loyally celebrated by the small British commu- nity of Macao, on Saturday last. guese authorities most courteously evidenced their respect by declaring the day a holiday for all the government departments, and the troops, instead of being dressed in khaki as usual, were arrayed in full dress uniform. At 11 a.m. a reception was held in the house of Mr. Seaton, the vice-consul at Macao, which was largely attended, and was a most enthusiastic gathering, H.E. Senhor Dr. A. P. Lello, the acting governor, accompanied by numerous Portuguese officers, attended, and proposed the health of King Edward, which toast was enthusiastically drunk. Mr. Seaton thanked His Excellency, and proposed the health of the King of Portugal. which was heartily responded to by the company. The Portuguese military band also attended. The British river gunboat Moorhen was dressed and in the evening was pret ily rigged with coloured lanterns. The Portuguese gun! oat Zaire, the leungshan and Customs launches were also dressed. It had been arranged that the Coronation office should be held in the Protestant Church on the Sunday, but the absence of an Anglican clergyman made this impossible.
A PORTUGUESE TRIBUTE TO THE KING.
1
Our contemporary 0 Porvir, in its issue of last Saturday prints, with portraits of Their an address of congratulation to the King on his Majesties King Edward and Queen Alexandıa, Coronation. The address commences thus:-
1.
<
TO HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII.
Sir. Since the year 1841, the prosperous year of Your Majesty's birth, in which the island of Hongkong was added, as a beautiful pearl, to the British Crown, the Portuguese were the first to co-operate with your loyal and honoured subjects in the progress of this spot, which, from the obscure and almost unknown resort of fishermen it then was, has to-day become one of the most important commercial emporiums of the world, having now, in a name still more precious than its former Chinese name--i that of Your Majesty's august mother-a talisman beyond value, which seems to have guided it along the path of the greatest progress. At first but small, as was natural, the Portuguese population of Hongkong rapidly increased in the course of time, until there are to-day some thousands of persons employed in Your Majesty's service and in different branches of commerce and industry."
1
The address then goes on to hope that the treatment which has been the lot of the Portuguese here in Queen Victoria's reign will be continued, and concludes by offering the modest congratulations of O Porvir to His Majesty.
129
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL.
A meeting of the Legislative Council was held on the 13th inst, in the Council Chamber, PRESENT:-
HIS EXCELLENCY THE Officer ADMINIS- TERING THE GOVERNMENT, Major-General Sir W. GABCOIGNE, K.C.M.G. (Commanding the Troops).
Hon. F. H. MAY, C.M.G. (Colonial Secretary),, Hon. Sir HENRY SPENCER Berkeley, KT. (Attorney-General).
Hon. A. M. THOMSON (Colonial Treasurer), Hon. Commander R. M. RUMSEY, RN. (Harbour Master).
Hon. W. CHATHAM (Director of Public Works)..
Hon. Dr. F. W. CLARK (Medical Officer of Health).
Hon. Dr. Ho KAI, C.M.G.
Hon. WEI A YUK.
Hon. C. S. SHARP. Hon. C. W. DICKSON. Hon. G. W. F. PLAYFAIR, Hou. R. SHEWAN.
Mr. N. J. DRAYSON (Acting Clerk of Councils).
Eho Park Palace, the favourite residence of the Empress Dowager, which has been under repairs and needed renovation owing to the vandalism and ravages of certain foreign troops soon after the fall of Peking, says the NC. Jones. Daily News on the authority of a despatch from Gounod the Capital, will be ready for occupation by the 20th instant, and it is stated the Empress Godfrey. Dowager intends moving her Court there on or about the 26th. Of course the unlucky Wood. Emperor will have to follow his Aunt's train, it Godfrey. being hardly likely that His Majesty will again
be allowed to "do things" alone as in 1898.
Corbini.
The minutes of the last meeting of Council and of the special meeting held on the 9th inst., having been read and signed,
Hon. R. SHEWAN said-Sir, With reference to these minutes, I beg to move that the answer to Mr. Playfair's question be recorded in fall, and that in future the answers to questions of hon. members be recorded in full in the same manner as the questions are recorded. Mr. Playfair has asked an important question, and I cannot see why the answer should not be recorded. I am quite sure the Government are not ashamed of the answers they give to these questions, and therefore I cannot see why they should not record them. The neces- sity for recording the answers to these ques- tions is so obvious that I do not think it is neces- sary for me to say anything more
on the subject,
Hon. G. W. PLAYFAIR-I beg to second. The COLONIAL SECRETARY-Sir, the matter was carefully looked into when the hon. mem- ber made a similar suggestion before, and it was found that these minutes of the Council are prepared in quite correct form and according to Parliamentary precedent. I see no sufficient reason myself for departing from the correct form.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL-To do what the hop. member desires would be quite out of order. These minutes are merely a record of proceedings, not a detailed report of them. When a question is put, the fact is recorded that the question was put and the answer given. It is necessary to set out the question in full, or the minutes would fail in sensible meaning, but it is not customary nor is it necessary in the miantes to set out in length the answer given. For instance, the minutes simply record the fact that a bill was read the first time or the second time, and so on. The provisions of the bill are not set out in detail in the minutes, and if hou. members. desire to know what the detai's of the bill are, there is a pro-` per place to look for them. So it is with the answers given to questions, and for these reasons it would be unwise, because unnecessary, to adept the suggestion of the hon. member,
Hon. R. SHEWAN (on a sign of assent from HIS EXCELLENCY-In the first place, sir, I object to the statement-
The COLONIAL Secretary-Sir, I rise to order.
HIS EXCELLENCY—Yes, I allowed the hon. member to speak.
Hon. R. SHEWAN-I think I have a right to reply. In the first place, I cannot admit the statement of the Colonial Secretary that it would be incorrect to do as I suggest. Surely it would be more correct to place the question and the answer on record than to place the question and no answer. Then the Hou. Attorney-General said the minutes were but a record of proceedings, but I leave it to you to say whether it is a record merely to say that someone asked a question and the Colonial Secretary replied.
The HARBOUR Master-Yes. Hon. G. W. F. PLATFAIR-No.
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