506
IMPENDING DEPARTURE OF
DR. J. C. THOMPSON.
Regret will be generally expressed that Dr. J. C. Thomson is leaving the Colony at the end of the year through ill-health. The valuable services which he has rendered to the College of Medicine during the past twenty-three years were acknowledged on Friday afternoon when he was presented with a piece of plate from the members of the Senate, the licentiates and the students.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
SANITARY BOARD.
A meeting of the Sanitary Board was held on Tuesday at the Board Room. Mr. E. D. C. Wolfe presided, and there were present: Hon. Mr. P. N. H. Jones (Vice-President), Dr. Fitzwilliams, Hon. Mr. A. W. Brewin (Registrar General), Hon. Mr. E. A. Hewett, Mr. A. Shelton Hooper, Colonel Bedford, R.A.M.C., Mr. Ng. Hon Tsz, Dr. F. Clark Dr. Pearse (Medical Officer of Health), (A.M.O.H.) and Mr. W. Bowen Rowlands Secretary).
CONTRACTOR FINED.
Dr. J. C. Thomson on Wednesday evening was the recipient of an illuminated and framed Address from the congregation of Union Church
The report of the committes appointed to which acknowledged the services he had render-
deal with complaints against the Kowloon con- ed to the Church during his residence in Hongkong. The following is an extract from servancy contractor stated that he had been the Address:-"As a regular and reverent fined $100. Regarding his fitness to carry on worshipper your attendance has been exemplary. the present contract, the committee considered that certain portions of the work had been fairly The Sunday School profited greatly by your
well done, but that the disposal of the refuse Superintendency-the teaching of Hymns es- pecially promoting a ministry to homelife. portion of the contract was being done exceed- The Session has uniformly associated wiseingly badly. The committee therefore proposed counsel with your faithful Eldership. For to see what reports came in during the next many years your services as Honorary Secretary month, and to report to the Board at the end of that time as to whether they considered the of the Church have been noted for their cour- age, urbanity, openness of mind, unsparing contractor fit to carry ou his contract or not.
Mr. HOOPER-In the meantime the fine will attention to detail and for phenomenal prompt- ness of despatch. In the Trusteeship of the be in abeyance ? ` Church, on the Committee of Management, in connection with the Literary Club, and in numerous incidental enterprises you have given your time unsparingly and your interest with thoughtful painstaking." The Address was pre- sented at a social gathering by Mr. W. G. Humphreys.
DEPARTURE OF GENERAL MACHADO.
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The PRESIDENT--It will be deducted from his cheque at the end of this month,
THE CEMETERY QUESTION.
Correspondence was submitted relative to sub-divisions in the Colonial Cemetery.
Mr. HOOPER minuted--I think civil servants should be treated as ordinary residents, and no distinction made.
The PRESIDENT here announced that neither he nor the Secretary had been able to quite make out what the Hon. Mr. Eewett had written in his minute, and the President asked the writer if he would oblige by reading what he had written.
Hon. Mr. HEWETT-I think the naval and military authorities should have their own sec- tions, as new arrivals often like to visit and care for the graves of their late comrades. I do not know whether there is any special demand for a children's section. For the rest there should be no distinction except so far as people even in death are divided by their religious convictions. This is met by providing each denomination with its own cemetery.
General Sir Joachim Machado. K.C.M.G., the Commissioner appointed by the Government of Portugal, to settle with H. E. Kao Ehr Kim, the Chinese Commissioner, the boundaries of Macao, was entertained by the Portuguese Consul and Mrs. Leiria to a farewell tiffin at their residence Duart," Arbuthnot Road, on Dec, 8. The company present included the members of the Commissioner's suite, representatives of the Portuguese Navy, and local British journal- ists and their wives. Mr. Leiria, in felicitous terms, proposed the health of General Machado, who in reply spoke in the highest terms of the hospitality he had enjoyed during his stay in Hongkong, and gave expression to feelings of great admiration for the enterprise and adminis- trative ability everywhere displayed in Hong-approved. kong. His Excellency paid a special tribute to the British newspapers of the Colony, which he said he had read with regularity and great apprecia-
tion, Consul and Mrs Leiria held an “ At Home on Thursday evening in honour of His Excellency, who left on Friday by the Nippon Maru for Shanghai en route to Peking. He will be accompanied by Captain Norton, but Senhor Cinnati, whose health has been unsatis- factory since he came to Hongkong, leaves for Home to-day by the P. and O. Himalaya,
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The "At Home" given by the Consul for Portugal and Mrs. Leiria at their residence on Thursday as a farewell to General Sir Joachim Machado, K.C.M.G., was attended by several hundred residents, the "At Home lasting from 4 to 8 p.m. Dancing was included in the programme, and a very pleasant time was spent. General Machado, with his secretary, Captain Norton, leaves for Shanghai en route to Peking to-day. There is no present intention, we understand, to resume at Peking the negotia- tions for the delimitation of the boundaries at Macao, which were recently interrupted, and there is no official confirmation of the report which has appeared in the Chinese Press that the Chinese Government has agreed to a reference of the dispute to The Hague Tribunal of Arbitration. General Machado expects to soon return to Hongkong en route for Lisbon. The General was last night entertained by the Portuguese community at the Club Lusitano, and presented with an illuminated address.
Eighteen eunuchs have been discharged by the Empress Dowager for interfering in in portant affairs in the Palace.
The VICE-PRESIDENTSection 11 states
what the sub-divisions are to be. The only question before the Board is whether the area suggested for such sub-divisions should be
The PRESIDENT-I agree with the Director of Public Works. The sections have already been settled. The only question is what portion of the Cemetery shall be allotted to each section.
The REGISTRAR-GENERAL stated that all that had been settled by the byelaws.
The PRESIDENT said the byelaws stated dis- tinctly that there should be sections for the Naval, Military, Civil Service and various other people, and the question they were dealing with at present was what the actual sections should be on the ground. The plan before the Board showed where they were at present, and in the case of the children's section, where, there was not much space left, it was proposed to allot another portion. He did not think they need enter into the question as to whether Civil Ser- vants and others should have a section, as that had been already agreed to, and the byelaws had been confirmed by the Legislative Council.
Hon. Mr. HEWETT-I have nothing to say if that question is not going to be re-opened. But I think it is a mistake. I was at Home when the thing was passed.
The PRESIDENT-I understand you oppose the different sections ?
Hon. Mr. HEWETT-Except the Naval and Military.
Mr. HOOPER said he found from the plan before him that the Civil Servants and the Naval and Military were all buried together.
The PRESIDENT-I think they are all close together.
Hon. Mr. HEWETT said the idea of keeping the Naval and Military apart was on account of their special grants, and because their comrades went round periodically and repaired their
[December 11, 1909. graves. It was much better for that reason that they should be kept together.
was
that
up
a
monu-
The PRESIDENT said it appeared to him that i it would be a very difficult thing to settle this question without going down to the cemetery.
Mr. HOOPER agreed. The
stated that another PRESIDENT
in connection question which came up
this
till now with site had always been reserved for ments only in the cemetery. He suggested that a standing committee should be appointed to deal with cemetery questions, or that the cemetery committee already appointed to grant exhumation permits should be given power to deal with this matter and report to the Board. He certainly thought that some mem- bers of the Board should visit the cemetery before they decided on the question.
Mr. HOOPER thought that Civil Servants should be treated as residents, as they were residents to all intents and purposes. When they caine out here they expected to remain as ordinary residents, but the Naval and Military were different, and he thought it was a good thing that they should have their respective plots down there. So far as the Navy was con- cerned, he knew that they periodically had their monuments inspected and repaired out of grants, and he thought the Military did the
same.
COLONEL BEDFORD-Yes.
Mr. HOOPER thought it was a good thing to keep the Naval and Military together, and if they were bound to have a section for the Civil Service then they could have one. But he saw
no reason why Civil Servants should be different to other residents, because they expected to be here as long as the ordinary resident,
The REGISTRAE-GENERAL-Longer. Mr. HOOPER-Well, that is for ever. Hon. Mr. HEWETT - What about these divi- sions of young and old residents? Does that
still hold?
The PRESIDENT thought it would be better to let the Cemetery Committee report on the suggested divisions to the Board. They could also deal with the later question of permits for monuments which exceeded the size. That was the alternative to the Board adjourning in a body to Happy Valley and laying out the
sections there.
Hon, Mr. HEWETT said if the whole question of sections was going to be raised he would like to make a few remarks. He knew it was a custom in some parts of the world to have a children's cemetery. He had already said that the Naval and Military should have their own
sections, but for the rest he did not think there should be any division at all, and he certainly could not conceive why there should be a division between a young resident of seven years and an old resident of twenty-one years' standing. He thought the whole thing ought to be reconsidered,
The PRESIDENT-I don't think that is the question before the Board. It is merely the laying out of these plots which the Board had set apart.
I
Hon. Mr. HEWETT-I misunderstood you. thought you were going to suggest that the The PRESIDENT replied that that was not sub-committee should raise the whole question. his intention, and proposed that a committee consisting of Colonel Bedford, Mr. Hooper and himself be appointed, and that power be given them to grant excess area after due considera-
tion in cases where monuments made at Home
might possibly exceed the size allowed by a few inches. He thought that committee could go into the question of sites for the various sections and any other matters which the Board as a whole could not deal with.
The REGISTRAR-GENERAL seconded. On the vote being taken,
Hon. Mr. HEWETT said he did not propose to vote, because he disapproved of the whole system and would much rather have the whole question raised again.
The motion was carried.
:
A PREMATURELY ERECTED MONUMENT. A letter was read from Mr. C. E. Warren expressing regret for having erected a monument in the Colonial Cometery, which had been the subject of complaint at the previous meeting of the Board, and explained that it was due to a misunderstanding.
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The letter was laid on the table.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.