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474
A PRESS VISIT TO MACAO,
**
On Boxing Day and the following day, the 26th and 27th inst., it was proposed to hold in Macao a grand charity bazaar and al fresco fete in aid of the funds of the convents of the town. The locality chosen was the well known San Francisco gardens on the Praia Grande; and to make the affair a success the officials and leading residents of Macao, of various nationalities, were contributing both energy and gifts. Naturally it was hoped that Hong. kong, which has so many ties, historio and social, with Macao, would take an interest in the féte and that many of its residents would take advantage of the holiday season to visit the neighbouring Colony. But of course in Hongkong as elsewhere the charitable like to be assured that their money and sympathy are being deservedly given. With a view to proving that this would be the case in the present instance it occurred to the committee of the Charity Bazaar to invite representatives of the Hongkong Press to visit Macao last week- end, and after lunching with them at the house of Mr. A. J. Basto, father of their Hon. Becretary, to inspect under the guidance of the Rt. Rev. Bishop of Macao the various institutions for which aid is being asked. The guests from Hongkong arrived on the s.s. Heungshan on the 19th inst. At I p.m. next day they were received by the committee in Mr. Basto's house in the Calcada da Paz, and entertained to lunch. The company that sat down to table was:-The Rt. Rev. D. Paulino; d'Azevedo e Castro, Bishop of Macao; Dr. Luiz Forte, Acting Colonial Secretary; Dr. Albano de Magelhaes, Chief Justice; Mr. W. Noyes Morehouse, Commissioner of Customs, Lappa; Mr. A. J. Basto, Consular Agent for France; Rev, Nunes, secretary to the Bishop; Mr. A. J. Basto, jun. Mr. C. A. R. Cabral; Mr. Arthur Basto, Mr. Alfred Basto, Mr. P. W. Sergeant, Mr, Mannington, Mr. T. Clarke, and Mr.
L. Xavier.
After a luncheon of the most hospitable and at the same time the choicest character, in which several Portuguese dishes worthily figured, Mr. Basto, sen., rose and proposed in French the health of the guests.. The R Rev. Bishop replied in Portuguese and drank in turn the toast of the Press of Hongkong, alluding iu very complimentary language to the British Press in general and to the support to charitable objects ever accorded by the Hong- kong papers. Mr. P. W. Sergeant returned thanks briefly on behalf of the latter, and drank prosperity to the forthcoming charity bazaar. Dr. de Magelhaes and Mr. A. J. Basto, jun., also spoke, the latter again speaking in flattering terms of the visitors. A few more short toasts followed before the com- pany rose.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[December 28, 1908..
BURY."
France, all the accomplishments which their | THE WRECK OF THE “FINS. parents cau desire. Languages are a strong and Italian all point, English, French, being imparted by Sisters of the respective nationality. The building itself is a fine example of old convent construction and with its great central courtyard, high timbered roofs, large class rooms, dormitories, etc., furnished a very favourable picture of schoolgirls' life in Macao. There are 20 boarders and over 40 other pupils in the establishment. The Mother Superior courteously attended the visitors and was indefatigable in pointing at the chief features.
The next move Was to the Casa de Beneficencis, near the famous Camoens Gar- dens and the English Chapel. The Casa was established in 1877 by the Canossian Sisters, wherein to board and educate destitute Porta- guese and Chinese girls separately. The Porta- guese authorities themselves have sent many girls to the Casa. Of the very numerous boar ders admitted a number have been married or have otherwise settled in secular life and others have joined religious orders or taken up mission work. Annexed to the establishment is the Santa Infancia, analogous in ways to the Asile de la Sainte Enfance in Hongkong; this was started on the 1t May 1885, since when no less than 10,300 children have been received into it. Altogether the Casa is. as the Rt. Rev. Bishop described it in introducing the visitors, un vrai musée. It contains au asylum for old women (some over 90), an orphanage for children abandoned and received in babyhood at the Santa Infancia, a retreat for unfortunate women and others who desire to esc pe from the outer world-316 adults were received in this retreat alone-and a shelter for weak minded children. The abandoned children formed a most pathetic part of the institution. Three very recently born infants had been received on Sunday morning alone, and there was another in a dying condition which had only
arrived a little before. Over 800 children this year had thus been received by these Canossian Sisters only to see all efforts to save their lives fruitless. The Sisters live a life of unremitting toils and anxiety, the marks of which are on their faces only concealed by their tireless cheerfulness and their Italian vivacity. But for these and their devotion to the cause of their wards their existence would indeed be hard. As has been said, the girls in the Casa de Beneficencia, when they attain the age of 18, are now sent to the Collegio du Perseveranca. This, however, is due a new development and is due to the interest and energy exhibited by Macao's new bishop.
It was almost 6.30 p.m. when the round of visits ceased and His Lordship bade farewell to the guests whom he had so courteously and withal genially conducted for a whole afternoon over parts of Macao where the ordinary visitor even the regular cannot penetrate, and resident does not go. It was very evident that his heart was in his work, and indeed all the committee bore eloquent testimony to his noble efforts in the cause of charity and of religious and practical education, shortly also said to Mr. afterwards good-bye was A. J. Basto, the kindly host of the earlier part of the day, and to his sons and the rest new and welcome of the committee; and a experience came to an end.
The following details with reference to the Casa de Beneficencia may be of interest:-
A brief inspection came next of some of the work whichis to be sold at the Bazaar (the greater part of it the results of the orphans' and others' own toil) and of gifts sent by residents in Macao. This concluded, a group of the Committee, visitors, and members of Mr. Barto's household was photographed, and a vi it of inspection of the three charitable institutions then commenced. The first reached was the Collegio de Perseverança in the Rus de Lou- renço, which was started by the present Bishop of Macáo on the 22nd November last. Under the charge of the Franciscan Sisters, it is designed for the reception of girls over 18 years of age who have left the Casa de Beneficencia, the place mentioned later. At the College the On the 8th of September, the third quarter of girls are taught various kinds of work the present year, there were in the Casa (or of a practical nature, including cooking, convent) and its adjuncts, not including the and may stay till they
sisters-364 persons, of whom 70 were children.
The quarterly expenses otherwise provided for. There are less than 50
$4,493.91, inmates at present, but there is room for a large while the money received was $3,255.75, mak- increase in the large and eminently sanitary ing a deficit of $1,238.16. The average expenses looking buildings, with recreation ground during the last quarter were at the rate of The attached. After leaving this, the party proceed $10.93 per head, or $3.64 per month. ed to the School of Santa Rosa de Lima, income, including the extraordinary sum of the formerly the Santa Clara Convent, which was proceeds from the amateur performance, and founded 200 years ago, but which has only been the donation from the Governor on the King's opened in its present (form about two weeks birthday, gives but an average of $7.92, for the back. This, building, overlooking the Public quarter, or $2.64 per head, per month. It is Gardens, was not on the list of the institutions therefore to make good this deficit of $1.00 appealing for aid, but nevertheless the digres per head per month during the quarter in sion for a moment into another quarter proved question that the Bazaar. Committee is making very interesting. Here the daughters of Macao every effort, and it is earnestly hoped that the residents are taught by Sisters, several of them object will be attained by the functions to be from the religions bodies recently expelled from ' held on the 26th and 27th inst.
are
married or
were
The loss of the 1.8. Finsbury is still fresh in the minds of many people in the Far East. All that was known about the matter was that the vessel was lost, while on a voyage from Hong- og to Japan, during that terrifio typhoon which raged in the China Sea about the 20th September. We now learn that one man survived after undergoing fearful privations and hardships. That min arrived to Hongkong from Shanghai on Tuesday morning.
The s.s. Finsbury arrived here from Hamburg in September. On the voyage out, it appears, some of the crew did not "bit it off" with the skipper; some of the men asked to be paid off at Hongkong. The captain paid off five Euro- peaus and one Chinese. The Europeans having been only on the vessel for five weeks or so, and having drawn an advance in Hamburg when they shipped, had not enough money coming to them to pay a month's board at the Sailors' Home. Chinese were shipped in their place. The steamer left Hongkong on the 11th September. On the morning of the 21st the vessel was badly caught in the typhoon. The wind blow with terrific force, and tremen- dous mountains of water washed over the vessel.
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No vessel could stand such usage. First of all the boats were smashed up and washed out of the davits; the deck fittings were swept over- board. The engines could avail nothing; the vessel lay helpless. completely at the mercy of the elements. After some time, an enormous volume of water, much heavier than the seas which had preceded it, came down with full force over the forward cargo hatches; they gave way and water found its way into the ship's hold. The vessel was doomed, and the crew had no means at hand wherewith to save themselves from a watery grave. The steamer gradually filled, and, suddenly, with a galp, sank beneath the dark waters. Those aboard down with the vessel,. except, of course, the Chinaman who was the sole survivor. He managed to cling to the fore-and-aft bridge which, when the vessel disappeared from view, was left floating on the surface. After nine days-too bitter, almost, to contemplate-clinging to wreckage, he was picked up by the crew of a Japanese schooner which had also beep lost in the typhoon. This crew, however, more fortunate than the poor men on the Finsbury,
were
sucked
•
this
had been able to take to the boats. After three days in
men the boat, the
landed on one of the small islands of the Japanese group, After some time on the island, the sole survivor of the Finsbury was conveyed in a steamer to one of the Japanese ports, from whence the Chinese Consul had him sent to Shanghai. After three weeks in hospital at Shanghai he returned to Hongkong, arriving on the 22nd inst.
MASONIC AFFAIRS.
PERSEVERANCE LODGE.
Perseverance Lodge, 1,165 E. C., held their installation on the 10th inst. Officers for the year 1904 are :—
:—Worshipfal Master, Wor. Bro. E. H. Hinds; Immediate Past Master, Wor. Bro. A. H. Bottenheim, Senior Warden, Bro. C. A. D. Melbourne; Junior Warden, Bro. E. H. Sharp; Treasurer, Bro. P. H. Holyoak; Secretary, Bro. H. Arthur; Senior Deacon, Bro. W. A. Sims; Junior Deacon, Bro. E. A. Bonner; Dir. of Ceremonies, Bro, C. P. Chater Organist, Bro, H. Hursthouse; Steward, Bro. F. R. Smith; Steward, Bro. P. K. Knyvett; Inner Guard, Bro. A. R. Lowe; Tyler, Bro. J. Vanstone,
At a banquet after the installation, the following toasts were given:-The King and the Craft, H.R.H., the Most Worshipfal Grand Master and the Grand Lodge of England, the District Grand Master and Officers of the District Grand Lodge of Hongkong and South Chins, Sister Lodges and Visitors, the Wor shipful Master, Wives, &isters, Daughters and Sweethearts of Masons, all Poor and Distressed Masons.
LODGE EASTERN SCOTIA,
The Right Worshipfal Deputy District Grand Master of Hongkong and South China,
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