October 20, 1902.]
years in this beautiful Colony, and we hope that your Excellency and residents will remember the Hongkong Regiment as long and as well as the Hongkong Kegiment will always remem- ber you. (Applause.)
Three cheers were then given for T. M. the King and Queen, followed by three for H.E. the Governor and the Residents of Hongkong, and three more for 1.E. Major-General Sir William Gascoigne, after which the Regiment returned to quarters.
THE REGIMENTAL, COLOURS. The ceremony of delivering the colours of the Hongkong Regiment into the charge of the Church of S. John the Evangelist, Hong kong, took place on the 11th inst. A much larger congregation than usual assembled in the Cathedral, amongst whom were many Army and Navy officers, H.E. the Governor and Lady Blake, Hon. F. H. May, C.M.G., Colonel L. F. Brown, R.E. (Senior Officer Com- manding the Garrison), an Colonel Denay, D.A.A.G. A few minutes before 11, two com- panies of the Regiment with fixed bayonets, guarding the colours, and headed by the bands, marched up. At their head were Major Berger, the commander, and all the English officers and the native officers. The detachment formed up facing the west-door, whe e at the time fixed for the commencement of the service they were met by the chaplain and choir. A Royal sainte was given, and then the choir, chaplain and all the officers, with the colours, marchel iu procession up the central aisle, the choir and congregation singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" to Sul- livan's stirring tune. The guard, in the The meantime, departed for their barracks. officers, English and native, were seited in the chancel, and the spectacle if a descrip tion be permissible was certainly pictur; esque and impressive. The English officers sat in the front row of chancel seats. There were about fourteen native officers,
including the опе especially decorated recently for bravery, and the two who
went home
what extent.
with the Coronation con- tingent, and they appeared to take much interest in the service, though, being characteris tically impassive, it was not possible to judge to They looked splendid fellows in their striking uniforms, and adjoining them was the surpliced choir. In the background was the altar with its flowers and red hangings, and above it the beautiful east window, through the stained glass of which streamed rays of subdued sunlight. Тие native officers certainly seemed to realise the sacred character of the service, the object of their presence, and the sincere feelings of the congregation towards them.
This was empha- sised by the fact that men of the regiment who were off duty crowded the west-door and the west-gallery, to which they were admitted, and gazed wonderingly on the service below.
The service was the ordinary one for the day. The musical portion of it was most carefully rendered by the rge choir-now up to its full strength agaia! The responses were Ferial: the Te deum was Baker in F. The Rev. F. T. Johnson, M.A., the chaplain, preached at some length, and made special reference to the event, and after the offertory, Lieut. Moberley advanced with the King's Colour and Sabadar-Major Khan, C.I... with the rich yellow regimental ensign, and handed them to the Chaplain at the altar rails, who said:
On behalf of the Church Body of this Cathedral Church of S. John the Evangelist I receive these colours of the Hongkong Regi- maat to be preserved in this Church as a memorial of that Regiment for ever.-In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
!
Special prayers were then said of which the first two were the following
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose grace Thy servants are enabled to fight the good fight and ever prove victorious: we humbly beseech Thee to inspire the soldiers of our King, especially those of this Regiment whose colours we now humbly present before Thee, that they may yield their hearts to Thine obedience and exercise their wills ou Thy behalf. Help them to think wisely, to speak rightly, to resolve bravely, to act kindly, and to live purely. Bless them in body and soul and
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
make them a blessing to others. Wherever they may be, may they ever seek the extension of thy Kingdom. Let the assurance of Thy presence support them in life and comfort them in death. O Lord, our God. accept our prayer | for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
|
Blessed be Thy name, O Lord God, for that it hath pleased Thee to have Tay habitation among the sons of men and to dwell in the midst of the assembly of Thy saints upon earth. Accept we bessech Thes these our services this day and grant that these colours, now set apart in this Church to Thy glory, may ever- more be a sign unto us of lofty conrage. of devotiou to duty, of loyalty to country and to King and that Thy Holy Name may be wor- shipped in truth and purity to all generations; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
The choir then sing "Lead Kindly Light," after which the Chaplain pronounced the Benediction and the service closed.
The colours will be hung on each side of the chancel.
SENHOR CASTELLO BRANCO.
As we have already aunounced, H.E. Senhor Castello Branco, Portuguese Envoy Extra- ordinary to Peking, has telegraphed to Macao, stating that he has signed a treaty on behalf of Portugal by which that country obtains com- mercial advantages from Chin: what these advantages may be, it is impossible yet to ascertain, but it is of course agreed between the
Powers and China that whatever commercial
A
privilege is granted to one Power shail also be extended to the others. Sr. Castello Branco has wired t Sr. A. J. Basto, President of the Municipal Council of Macao, congratulating the inhabitants of that city on the treaty. meeting of the Cou cil will be couroked to issue an invitation to the Portuguese Envoy to visit Macao on his way home via Hongkong to Lisbon, which he expects to reach before the meeting of Parliament next January.
Sr. Castello Branco has great political in- some of the fluence in Portugal, has won highest decorations and held most important posts, including the Civil Governorship of Lisbon and the Directorate of Public Instruc-
the a nephew of Portuguese novelist, Camillo Castello Branco, and began life as an army su gen, bat soon afterwards adopted a parliamentary career.
tion. He is
celebrated
297
price of the lime at the time he made the estimate, but at afterwards. He paid about $20 per hou10 for red earth to mix with the lime for making mortar. That represented simply the labɔur of digging the red earth and carrying it to the site. Asked whether the mortar na «d in all the houses was erictly the same, witness replied that he gave directions to the bricklayers to work according to specification. The amount of lime in a specimen of mortar taken from No. 2 should be the same as in a specimen taken from No. 30. The specification provided for a foreman being constantly on the works. Ng Leung, his partner in the contracting firm, was the foreman on the works under the specification; thore Was no other forem în. With reference to the northernmost wall on Lot 1,108, witness first noticed signs of weaken- ing in the first moon of this year. That was between the level of the first floor and the second floor. The wall was taken down and rebuilt, the re-erection being completed about the third or fourth moon. The wall was in good con- dition then. Now there were in it one big crack and two small cracks. The suthernmost wall of house No. 2 on K. I. L. 1.107 showed cracks after th August typhoon, and had been taken down and rebuilt. This was also the case with the west wall of Lot 1,108, two of the kitchen walls being damaged by the same typhoon on 1st August. The damage was made good, and the wall was now in good con- dition, developing no outward tendency. Some of the plaster might have fallen out, though. No cross tie-rods had been put in between the party walls of houses Nos. 36 and 38, so far as witness knew. He was unable to say, however, whether or not cross tie-rods had been placed between the party walls of any other houses ou the lot. Beyond some plaster having fallen out, there was nothing wrong with the west or back wall of Lot 1,107, and it had no outward tandency. The brickwork of neither of the back walls of the blocks on the two lots was softened by rain; they might have got wet in the typhoon, but the mortar, witness thought, was not squeezed out. He had built the No.
of 1 godown the Hongkong and Whampoa Wharf & Godown Co., and the front wall of that had cracked and been shored up; the wall facing the Praya was also cracked, and some of the plaster had fallen out, Four of 22 Chinese houses witness built for the Godown Company hal slight cracks in their walls; iron rods hal been put in, on the instructions of the architects. It was not the
ENQUIRIES INTO COLLAPSES OF case that the gable wall of any of these 22
HOUSES.
KOWLOON CITY ROAD.
The official enquiry into the fatul collapse of houses Nos. 30 au4 32, Kowloon City Road was resumed at the Magistracy ou the 14th inst, before His Worship Mr. F. A. Hazeland and a common jury. Mr. H. L. Dennys, Acting Crown So- licitor, appeared for the Crown; Mr. H. W. Looker, solicitor, for the architects, Messrs Leigh & Orange; and Mr. E. J. Grist, solicitor, for the contractor, the Long Cheong firm.
houses was cracked. Regarding the collapse, wituess was of opinion that the wall of
од
hit No. 32, which No. 30 fell first and
tɔ No. 30. The collapsed outwards typhoon brought down the wall of No. 31, but how could witness explain why the wall should fall because of the typhoon? no one could explain the wind, he said. It was equally inexplicable why the typhoon should blow down one house and not another. The material used in the building of the fifty houses was good, and witness had no complaint as to the way in which Tam A Liug, contractor, one of the members the various sub-contractors carried out their of the Loong Cheong firm, went into the box work. Since he had been in Court the other day, and gave further evidenc He said, in he had formed no idea as to whether he made examination by Mr. Dennys, that besides a profit or lost on the contract for the housea; this contract for 50 houses he had other the accounts had not been made up. Dedacting contracts in hand, including sundry work. the insurance, there was still due witness from The 50-houses contract was in a separate the Laud Investment Co. for the building account; the others were not. With reference to of the houses a sum of $19,000. That would the materials used in the construction of these amount altogether to not more than $145,000, 50 houses, the lime was purchased from a the contract price. By the price of materials number of firms in Samsuipo and Macao and going down, witness hid made a profit of $870; also in various small quantities for cash. further than that, he could not say whether be Witness here produced a book showing the had lost or profited. During the building of the amounts purchased and the prices paid, except
houses he visited them two or three times a in the case of the smaller amounts bought for week, and saw the material actually used in cash. These latter he could tell by reference to their construction. Witness's partner was on big cash-book. In his estimate for these 50 houses, the job every day and all day, broadly speaking. he estimated the cost of lime for 30 of them at Regarding Andersen, the overseer, witn988 $2,500; he had not written down the estimate generally saw him when he visited the houses, for the remaining 2, but it would come up to which were also visited by Mr. Leigh, one,
thre two, or
times a w.ok. about the sime price, as these houses were
All these
that the material
WOS higher and deeper. That made a total of about people could
ased. Witness sometimes saw Mr. $5,000. This was the cost of the lim, used for being bending the brickwork and in the plaster. All Crisp, the inspector of buildings, at the job, this lim should have been give to Tse A Po, and the latter told him to use good mortar and The construction of all the 50 houses was tɔ boud the bricks properly. completed in the fifth or sixth moon of this year, but he could not say whether he had made a profit or a loss on the lime. He knew the
see
By a juryman-The contract was based on an estimate for high-class bri ks, and high-class There was a trade bricks were purchased.
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