Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/117

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC.
109

appointed Acting Deputy Superintendent of Police. He has since that time filled various acting appointments, including those of Assistant Registrar-General, Assistant Postmaster-General, and Assistant Colonial Secretary and Clerk of Councils, but for the most part his duties have been in connection with the police force. He was appointed Deputy Superintendent of Police and Assistant Superintendent of the Fire Brigade in 1895, and took up his present appointment as Captain Superintendent of Police and of the Fire Brigade, and Superintendent of Victoria Gaol in 1902. He has made a special study of the finger-print system of identifying recidivists. In October, 1906, he was appointed to a seat on the Legislative Council, and is a member of the Standing Law Committee. Mr. Badeley, who is a member of the Hongkong Club, lives at "Ardsheal," the Peak.

THE HON. DR. HO KAI, C.M.Q.—Among the Chinese there are many who have profited by a thoroughly sound and high-class European education, but there are few who have had a more distinguished academical career, or who have used their advantages to beеter purpose than Dr. Ho Kai. Born at Hongkong in 1859, he is the fourth son of the late Rev. Ho Tsun Shin, of the London Missionary Society. He was educated at the Government Central School in Hongkong and subsequently in England at Palmer House School, Margate; at Aberdeen University; at St. Thomas's Medical and Surgical College, and at Lincoln's Inn. He took the degrees of M.B., CM., Aberdeen, became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England, and was Senior Equity Scholar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1881. Upon returning to the Colony he started to practise medicine, but found that the Chinese were not yet prepared to avail themselves of Western treatment unless it was offered free. Dr. Ho Kai therefore presented the Colony with the Alice Memorial Hospital, named after his late wife, Alice, eldest daughter of the late Mr. John Walkden, of Blackheath. Dr. Ho Kai then commenced practice as a barrister-at-law, and has been so engaged since 1882. He served as a member of the Sanitary Board for over ten years, and on the Public Works Committee for five years. He is now senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council, and has been for many years a member of the following public institutions:—The Standing Law Committee; the Examination Board; the Medical Board; the Po Leung Kuk Committee; District Watchmen's Committee; the governing body of the Free Hospitals; the Tung Wah Hospital Advisory Committee; the governing body of Queen's College; the Qualified Architects' Advisory Board; the Interpretation Committee and the Advisory Committee of the Hongkong Technical Institute; and Rector's Assessor of the Hongkong College of Medicine, of which he was one of the founders. In short it may be said that he has had the distinction of serving on the committee of almost every public board appointed during the last twenty-five years, and that his time has always been given ungrudgingly in the public service no matter at what sacrifice to his own interests as a professional man. For upwards of twenty-six years he has been continuously resident in the Colony; for twenty-six years he has been a Justice of the Peace for Hongkong, and for three terms (eighteen years) has represented the Chinese community on the Legislative Council. Hence it is not a matter for surprise that he is looked to by his fellow countrymen for advice in their dealings with the Government, and is also often consulted by the Government in their transactions with the Chinese community. On the occasions of both visits of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and of Prince Arthur to the Colony, he received and welcomed their Royal Highnesses on behalf of the Chinese, and in recognition of his many public works and services he was created a C.M.G. in 1892. Among his publications are:—"A Critical Essay on China"; "The Sleep and Awakening"; a letter addressed to Lord Charles Beresford on "The Open Door"; "An Open Letter to John Bull on the Boxer Rising"; articles on Sir Robert Hart's Memorandum on the Land Tax of China and his army and navy scheme, 1904; the "Foundation of Reformation in China"; criticisms of the views of Kang Yau Wei, 1898; criticisms of the views of Viceroy Chang Chi Tung, especially on his recent work, "Encouragement to Learning," 1899; Persons responsible for Reformation in China; and Two Critical Essays on the Progress of Reformation in China. Dr. Ho Kai's address is 7, West Terrace, Hongkong.

THE HON. MR. WEI YUK, C.M.G.—As a conscientious worker on behalf of the Chinese community of Hongkong, and as a man who has done a great deal to produce the present good relations existing between the Government and the Chinese, the Hon. Mr. Wei Yuk's name deserves to be specially remembered by all sections of society in the Colony. On many occasions he has been of invaluable assistance to the officials, and his counsel has been largely instrumental, notably at times of riots and strikes during the past quarter of a century, in settling matters amicably before they assumed the serious proportions which they threatened to do in several instances. Mr. Wei Yuk is a Cantonese (Heungshan District), born in Hong- kong in 1849, and conies of excellent family. His father, the late Mr. Wei Kwong, was a well-known banker, and formerly compradore to the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London, and China, in Hongkong. After ten years' study of Chinese, under private tutors, Mr. Wei Yuk commenced his English education at the Government Central School, under the late Dr. Frederick Stewart, LL.D., and in 1867, at the age of eighteen years, he pro- ceeded to England and attended the Leicester Stoneygate School lor twelve months. In 1868 he went to Scotland, and studied for four years at the Dollar Institution. He soon became a favourite with both masters and fellow pupils, and the impression regarding his nationality that he made and left behind him became a tradition in the school, ensuring to others from the Far East a most friendly reception at that institution. Mr. Wei Yuk was one of the first Chinese to go abroad for Western education. On his return to the East in 1872, after a European tour, he entered the service of the Chartered Mercan- tile Bank of India, London, and China (now the Mercantile Bank of India, Limited), in Hongkong, and on the death of his father, in 1879, he (after a temporary retirement, according to Chinese custom) took up the vacant position of compradore. This position he still holds. Mr. Wei Yuk and his father have served the bank for fifty-three years in Hongkong — that is to say, since it was first opened. In 1883 Mr. Wei Yuk was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and, in 1896, became an unofficial member (representing the Chinese community) of the Hongkong Legislative Council. He works in the greatest harmony with his colleague, the Hon. Dr. Ho Kai, C.M.G., M.B., CM., M.R.C.S., and while not noted for long speeches, is regarded as an invaluable adviser in connection with all legislation in any way touching the interests of his fellow countrymen. In many other capacities also he has striven for the public good. He has held numerous appointments, and has served on many committees, for when his help has been required for the furtherance of the public weal it has never been withheld. It is impossible to give a complete list of his appointments in a brief biographical sketch such as is here essayed, but a few of his appointments may be mentioned. He was chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital (Hong- kong's leading Chinese charitable institution), 1881-83 "ind 1888-90 ; a permanent member of the committee of the Po Leung Kuk for the protection of destitute women and children (of which he was one of the founders) since 1893 ; a permanent member of the Hongkong District Watchmen's Committee (which was formed on his suggestion) ; and a member of the Standing Law Committee since 1896. Moreover, he has served on all the com- missions appointed by the Government to inquire into matters affecting the Chinese since the commencement of his public career. The Chinese Government is indebted to him in no small degree for the assistance he has rendered in bringing to justice Chinese criminals who have fled from Chinese territory to Hongkong and elsewhere. For the services which he rendered during the plague epidemic of 1894, the general public of Hongkong presented him with a gold medal and a letter of thanks, while the Chinese community also addressed to him a letter of thanks. Mr. Wei Yuk may be regarded as the father of the Sanitary Board. VoT many years, previous to the formation of the present body, he took the greatest interest in sanitary matters, and he was the friend and adviser of Professor Chadwick when that well-known authority visited the Colony to report on the sanitary condition of the city of Victoria. Seventeen years ago he sug- gested the construction of a railway from Kowloon to Canton, and thence to Peking. He spent large sums in furtherance of the scheme, which failed, however, owing to the obstacles placed in its way by Chinese oflicials, who at that time strenuously opposed the introduction of anything from the West. During the past six or seven years, however, several lines of railway have been constructed, or are in course of construction, between the places named, and they follow closely Mr. Wei Yuk's original plans. In 1872 Mr. Wei Yuk married the eldest daughter of the late Hon. Mr. Wong Shing, the second Chinese to be appointed to the Hongkong Legislative Council. Mr. Wei On, M.A., solicitor, and Mr. Wei Piu, barrister-at-law, both distinguished Cheltonians, are the Hon. Mr. Wei Yuk's brothers. Mr. Wei Yuk's name figured in the last list of Birthday Honours as a recipient of a Companionship of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.

THE HON. MR. HENRY EDWARD POLLOCK, K.C., an unofficial member of the Legislative Council, has been connected with the Colony for nearly twenty years, and, during that time, has become intimately associated with all the more prominent phases of its life. Born in December, 1864, and educated at Charter-house, he was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in November, 1887. He was admitted