October 6, 1902.]
five minutes to seven o'clock and she steamed to her berth about an hour later. Several launches went up the Harbour to meet the steamer, and no sooner was she at the buoy thau many other launches put off with friends of the members of the Contingent anxious to shake hands at once and impatient of delay; while Blake Pier was soon crowded with people, the white dresses of the ladies and the brilliant uniform of the band of the Hongkong Regiment lending the necessary picturesque effect to an animated spectacle. The drum and fife band of the Volunteer Corps was also in attendance to receive the Contingent. It was twenty minutes to ten when the launch conveying the Contingent steamed alongside | Blake Pier. Among those on board was Major Pritchard, the Commandant, who had gone off to the Empress to meet his men. On the Pier the Contingent were met by Major Denny D.A.A.G., Chief Staff Officer. As the party disembarked they were immediately surrounded by friends and acquaintances and hand-shaking was the order of the day. But little time was available at this stage, for almost immediately the command was given "Fail in." and headed by the combined bands the Contingent marched off to the New Parade Grouud, followed by a large crowd of spectators,
There the Contingent were lined up and a preliminary inspection was made by Colonel L. F. Brown, R.E., Officer Commanding the Troops, accompanied by Major Denny and Major Pritchard. H.E. the Governor, Sir Henry A. Blake, G.C.M.G., with his A.D.C. (Captain Arbuthnot, M.V.O.) and Lady Blake, arrived at a quarter past ten and was received with a royal salute and the National Anthem and met by the Officer Commanding the Troops and Staff and the following officers:-Colonel Johnson, C.M.G., C.R.A.; Major Pritchard; Major Barger, Commauding H.K.R.; Captain Morris, H.K.S.B.R. A.; and Lient. Walker, R.E. The Contingent was under the command of Major Chapman, H.K.V.C., with him Lieut. Armstrong; and Subadar Major Sardar Khan Bahadur, C.I.E., oom- manded the detachment of the Hongkong Regiment, and with him was Jemadar Afzul Khan, recently promoted from non-commis- sioned officer. The numbers were: H.K.V.C., 2 officers and 36 men; H.K.S.B.R.A., nou- commissioned officers and men; H.K.R., 2 officers, 13 non-commissioned officers and men; H.K. Sub-mining Eugineers, 6 non-commis. sioned officers and men.
Having inspected the party,
who had
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPÓRT.
race.
to
253
Death and enabled him to take and ber his part ourselves that, in comparing our financial in that fatiguing, great ceremony with which | position to-day with what it was a year ago, it for a thousand years the Kings and the Queens | is practically a case of "as you were.' of England have been crowned.
The S. You who have Andrew's Ball of 1901 passed off with éclat, seen all these things will rember whenever thanks you hear the National Authem that God has energetic Hon. Secretary and the members of the untiring efforts of our in leed saved our King from his extremity and the various sub-committees. The concert, held will all the more heartily in the future He may give His Majesty long life.
pray that on the anniversary of the birthday of the im- You mortal Robbie, earned equal praise, and our best have also seen something of that great Dominion thanks are cordially tendered to those who of Canada and its vast plains, its maguificent warbled so beautifully that evening, as also to mountains and rivers, its boundless possibi- those who were responsible for the initiation of lities and its grand population of men and the concert and its mugmut throughout. women who show the best qualities of our Gentlemen, death his bien basy in our mi lst. And here in this little island of Hong- Since our last annual meeting no less than nine kong you feel, as we feel, that while our lines may be cast for the present in the very extremity Past President Gillies, or 1st Treasurer. Mr. of our membys he joined th› greit majority. of the Empire, we are all part of one great | Crawford, an l Mr. A. G. Aitkan ran col among whole, identical in interests, in spirit and in loyalty. To the employers who have given and Mr. Crawford were original members of the our most senior members. Indeed dr. Gillies leave to the Volunteers and who have borne so Society. We rezogais, one aad all of us, how patiently their prolonged absence, the thanks of heartily and loyally their services, helpful advice. the community are due; and you will return and practical work wars ever at the Society's to your avocatious none the less heartily disposil. that you have had
It is almost saddar to think of a good holiday. I ain the deaths of
men lik, Commander Burd sorry that the conuection of one of your naits and Mr. Hugh Matheson Brown, both so with Hongkong is soon to be severed, as the terribly suddenly cut off in their prime Hongkong Regiment is about to be disbanded ere they had opportunity of reaping th full -a regiment that during its short career has reward of the marked abilities that each un- earned nothing but praise and admiration.doubtedly possos d Our sin er sympathy is And now once more I wish you all; a welcome with the near relatives and friends of those home, and I am sure that your eventful journey members whos deaths are recorded in the to London for the Coronation of the King will report now before us. have in the future for every one of you a plea- Whitehead, as you are
Our President, Mr. aware, was recalled sant memory.
home on promotion before he had completed his year of office. I wish he was with us to-day to personally receive our thauks, and I feel sure you will wish me to record our great appreciation of his services to the Society. You will agree with me that the Hongkong S. Andrew's Socisty loses much by the absenco from its active rauks of men like Mr. White- head, Mr. Fullarton Headerson, Mr. Stewart Lockhart, and Mr. J. J Bell Irving, all of whom have left the Colony during the pist year. Gentlemen, I shall not detain you longer accounts now presented to you. (Applause.) and beg to move the a loption of the report and
|
At the conclusion of his address, His Excal- lency lifted his hat and gave the order to dismiss the parade. E ich uait afterwards marched off to its respective head-quarters.
The detachment of the 1st Chinese (Weihai- wei) Regiment disembarked at Shanghai.
HONGKONG S. ANDREW'S SOCIETY.
ANNUAL MEETING.
Society was held on the 29th ult. in the City The 21st annual general meeting of the above
Hall. Mr. H. W. Robertson, Vice-President, presided over a large attendance.
The HON. SECRETARY (Mr. David Wood, submitted the report and the statement of which showed that during the year a larger accounts for the year ended 31st August, 1902,
number than usual of applications for assistance from the Charitable and were received, and after full investigation grants-in-aid were given, amounting in all to $674.55 as against $142.80 in the previous year. Situations were found for 7 more applicants, and 4 cases were assisted privately by members. The balance now to the credit of the Society is $2,320.85 as against 82,6 1.28 last year. 41 members joined Day, 1901, was celebrated by a ball in the City the Society during the year. S. Andrew's
Hall, which was very successful socially. A Scotch concert was organised for 25th January, the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, and proved a success in every way. Messrs. T. F. Hough and R. L. Richardson resigned their places on the Committee on their departure from the Colony, being replaced by the Hon. Robert Shewan and Mr. D. E. Brown. Mr. Andrew Forbes replaced Mr. Peter Dow as Hon. Treasurer, on the latter leasing the Colony. The Committee were indebted to Messrs. A. R. Lowe and B. E. Hanson for kindly auditing the accounts. The Committée deeply regretted to have to record the deaths of the following members: A. G. Aitken, Lt. Com. Baird (R. N.), H. M. Brown, A. W. R. Cobban, David R. Crawford, David Gillies, Joha Kennedy, G. Tayler, and W. M. Thomson. Messrs. Crawford and Gillies were original members, and did excellent work for the Society. The CHAIRMAN-Gentlemen, I, have much pleasure in moving the adoption of the annual report and accounts for the season 19 1-2. These documents have been in your hands for some days past, and clearly set forth our position. You will have noticed that $1,000 have been withdrawn from fixed deposit ac- count, but against this you must remember that we started the year with a debit balance on general account of nearly $100, and that by over $50 the disbursements on same account for the year previous. I think we may congratulate
HIS EXCELLENCY said-Major Chapman, officers and men of the Hongkong Coronation Contingent, I am glad to welcome you home from your long journey to London as repre- senting at the Coronation of the King the local Volunteer and Military forces. And it is pleasant to hear that during your absence in London the conduct of every member of the Hongkong Coronation Contingent has been everything that could be desired. It was my good fortune to be in London and to S00 you at that great parade at the Horse Guards, when from every quarter of the earth, paraded by the Prince of Wales and inspected by the Queen, were representatives of over a quarter of a million of Volunteer and Colonial troops of various races, but all united by a com- mon loyalty and readiness to fight for that old flag that has been, and is, wooed by the breezes of every zone. I observed on the breasts of many present the South African Medal, and I remembered with pride that among the first to volunteer for service in the great war now so happily ended were fifty men of the Hongkong Volunteer force. You have had a great op portunity of seeing the centre of the Empire at a time of thrilling interest and of observing that loyalty to the Throne is the very warp and woof of the character of the British people. You have seen London ablaze with decorations, at the very summit of affectionate and loyal anticipation and filled with the representatives of every potentate on earth to take part. in and do honour to that great central incident in the life of our King. And you have seen Lonion with hopes orashed and you have seen with what fortitude the people bore their great sorrow while His Majesty the King lay in extreme danger-agrauts-in-aid have exceeded danger faced by him with a calm courage that led him safely through the Valley of the Shadow of
|
Mr. R. MITCHELL seconded, and the motion was unanimously agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN said the next business was to consider how best thy could celebrate 8. Andrew's Day,
Hou. G.W. F. PLAYFAIR remarked that, from the elaborate statem 'nt which the Hon. Secre- tary had compiled, it was very evident that the S. Andrew's Ball on the basis on which they had been having them for the last ten years was finished (applause), and that if they were to have a S. Andrews's Ball at all it must b on a different basis altogether. Before, they paid a 310 subscription, $10 for the first guest, and $5 for the next, and had a very large free list of
seemed to him that they could not have this married people, officials and military, Now it
Ball without a radical change-a minimum of $25 subscription. Let each person nominate one guest or married couple as their special guests and let the official free invitations be reduced to a miniman; he should say taking the Army as an instance-ant below the rank of Major. Personally he would suggest the rank of Colonel, but probably Major would be a sufficient compromise. He very much doubted if a $25 subscription for guests would be sufficient. But it was a matter for the members to consider whether it should be put at $25 with one free guest or a married couple to each person; also whether they should cut down the official guests to a minimum and try to reduce the Ball within smaller I mits. A Ball of 800 or 900 was ample but he was not wrong, he thought, in saying that in recent years there had been as many as 1,200 present ?
The Hon. SECRETARY-That is 80,
.
Hon. Mr. PLAYFAIR went on to say that the amount of crushing at recent Balls was 8 little too much for comfort. Consequently he thought that members who wanted a Ball must go on something like the lines he had indica ed. The subscribers last year numbered 153. Well, unless there were very many new subscribers they might take it, allowing for the discount that at $25 there would be about 10 subscribers-the Hon. Secretary put it down at 135, But if there were 100 that meant $2,590. They had got to find the remaining $3,500 unless the Ball
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.