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TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC.

third term of office in January, 1906. While Sir Paul was a member of the Legislative Council a petition from the leading residents was sent to the Secretary of State in favour of the formation of a Municipal Council. The Secretary of State, however, would not entertain this idea, but suggested as a sort of compromise that two unofficial members should be placed upon the Executive Council. This suggestion was acted upon, and Sir Paul Chater and Mr. J. Bell Irving were appointed. Sir Paul still retains this appointment, though he has relinquished the duties of the Legislative Council.

In 1884 Sir Paul started a wharf and godown business at Kowloon, purchasing the necessary site on the sea shore from the Government. He established the existing Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, and, to provide facilities for carrying on the business, reclaimed some of the foreshore and erected the present godowns and wharves. Four years later the business was amalgamated with that carried on at Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co.'s wharf. He originated the Praya Reclamation, in 1887, by writing to the Government and submitting a scheme which was accepted by marine lot-holders. Later, he visited England and received the Secretary of State's sanction to carry out the work. The foundation stone was laid, at the corner of the cricket ground, by the Duke of Connaught, in 1890, Sir Paul Chater presenting a statue of His Royal Highness to the Colony in commemoration of the event. The work was concluded in 1905, and the result has been an addition to the Colony of considerable foreshore upon which have been erected some of the finest hongs in the East. In 1892 he rendered a signal service to the French Government in Tonkin by opening up coal mines in that country. He formed the Société Français Charbonnages de Tonkin, and in recognition of his services he received that much-coveted decoration, the Legion of Honour. Sir Paul was the first to advocate the acquirement of the new territory on the mainland of China. He wrote to the Government upon the subject four years before the actual lease was executed. He again urged the matter upon the authorities at the time of the Chino-Japanese War, and secured the support of the Chamber of Commerce, the China Association, and the unofficial members of the Legislative Council. Indeed, he has been identified with most public movements since his arrival in the Colony. He was treasurer, and afterwards chairman, of the Queen's Jubilee Committee, and in 1897 was chairman of the Diamond Jubilee Committee. At this period, in recognition of his numerous public services, he was created a C.M.G. A man of great wealth, his purse has ever been at the disposal of any good cause. To take but one example of his generosity, the first Anglican Church at Kowloon, St. Andrew's, was erected and presented by him to the Colony. In 1902 he received the honour of knighthood. His life has been one ceaseless round of activity, and his energies seem only to increase with advancing years. A short time since he commenced operations in a new sphere—mining. After spending a great deal of money pros- pecting in the new territory for minerals he was rewarded by a rich discovery of iron. The Hongkong Mining Company was formed to work this deposit, which promises to be an immense source of wealth to the Colony. Sir Paul is interested in all kinds of sport. He has been a steward of the Jockey Club for a quarter of a century and has been its president for many years. He is a mem- ber of the Hongkong Club, and is the owner of one of the finest private residences in the Colony, Marble Hall, Conduit Koad, where he has galhered together a collection of curios and works of art that is un.ipproached bv any other collection in the Far East.

THE HON. MR. EDBERT ANSOAR HEWETT is one of those men who, coining from old county families and choosing business careers, have settled In some far country, and, by their innate ability, their enterprise, and their steadfast perseverance in face of all obstacles, and rigid adherence to the highest principles of commercial integrity, have done much to earn England's reputation as a colonising power. Mr. Hewett, who was born on September 5, i860, is the second son of the late Sir George J. K. Hewett, Bart., of The Old Hall, Nealhcrseale, Leicestershire. Owing to the state of his health, which was by no means robust in his younger days, he was educated mainly by private tutors. At the age of seventeen he joined the Peninsular and Oriental Service at their he.id ollice in London, and two years later (in 1880) came to Hongkong. He acted as agent for the com- pany in Shanghai for seven years, was at Yokohama for two years, and at Kobe for six months. For the last six years he has been at Hongkong, and has had the super- intendence of the whole of the Company's traffic in the Far East from Yokohama to Penang. Two years ago Mr. Hewett went home on a short trip to England. This was his second holiday only during a period of twenty-seven years, so unwilling has he been to absent himself from his office and public duties. It is but natural, therefore, that the whole of his interests should now be centred in the F"ar East. Public affairs he has always followed with the greatest altenlion, and in the public service has held numerous positions. He was a member of the Shanghai Municipal Council from 1897 to 1901, and occupied the chair for two years. During the trying period of the Boxer Rising enlire confidence wis reposed in him by the community, and he achieved a high reputation as an organiser and administrator. Throughout the whole of that anxious period he made aclive preparations for the defence of the town. The fleet had sailed north, and there was a population of some twelve thousand whites and nearly half a million Chinese under his cluirge. As Civil Com- mandant of the volunteers he enrolled all the able-bodied men, and had a force of nearly twelve hundred whites under arms. He organised the first comp,-iny of Japanese volunteers that had ever been raised outside of Japan, and the highest encomiums were passed upon him subsequently by both the naval and military authorities. For these services and for the work he did for the army and navy he received the English medal for China, the fourth class Sacred Treasure of J<ipan and the Iron Crown of Austria, and was decorated as a Knight of the Orange-Nassau of Holland. F'or several years he served on the committee of the Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai, and made two special visits to Peking in 1901 as the representative of the Chamber, In order to urge upon the diplomatic body the necessity for pushing forward the conservancy of the Whangpoo River, a work of vital impor- tance to the prosperity of the town. Mr. Hewett took the greatest interest in this scheme and urged its importance in season and out of season during the whole period of his residence in Shanghai. As the result of his efforts a special committee was formed, consisting of the English, German, American, French, and Dutch Ministers. They discussed the whole question, with Mr. Hewett present ;is the Chamber's repre- sentative, and adopted the proposals of the Chamber of Commerce, which were em- bodied in the Peace Protocol of 1901. The scheme was not carried out owing to Chinese opposition, but now the Chinese themselves are doing the work entirely at their own expense, under the supervision of a very capable Dutch engineer. The im- provements, when effected, will be In no small measure due to Mr. Hewett's initiative, and they are largely on the lines originally suggested by him. Almost immediately after his arrival in Hongkong Mr. Hewett was elected vice-chairman of the Chamber of Commerce (1902), and has been chairman since 1903. On April 26, 1906, he was chosen to represent the Chamber of Com- merce on the Legislative Council, and im- mediately afterwards the Governor appointed him to one of the two seats held by nn- oOicials on the Executive Council. In addition to holding these important ol'tices Mr. Hewett is a member of the Sanitary Board, of the Governing Board of Queen's College, and of the committee of the Diocesan School. He was appointed a member of the Medical Board in May, 1904, and was chosen by the Governor to act as cliairman of the commission to inquire into the administra- tion of the sanitary and building regulations, enacted by the Public Health and Building Ordinance of 1893, which commission sat from May, 1906, to March, 1907. Mr. Hewett is a member of a luimber of clubs, including the Hongkong ; the Peak ; the United, Yoko- hama ; the Shanghai ; the Country, Shanghai ; and the Wellington, London. He resides at " Craig Ryrie," the Peak, Hongkong.

THE HON. MR. ARTHUR WINBOLT BREWIN, the Registrar-General, has spent practically the whole of his life in the service of the Colony. Born at Settle, Yorkshire, in 1867, he was educated at Winchester, and, entering the Civil Service as the result of the usual competitive examination, he came to Hongkong in December, 1888. He went through the ordinary routine as a cadet, and studied Chinese for two years at Canton. On passing the final examination he was attached to the Registrar-General's office. In May, 1891, he was appointed to act as Assistant Registrar-General, and, with the exception of four years, during which he held the post of Inspector of Schools, he has been almost permanently connected with this department. In 1901 he was appointed Registrar-General, by virtue of which office he became a member of the Sanitary Board, and in the same year was given a seat on the Legislative Council. Mr. Brewin is a Justice of the Peace for the Colony, and a member of the Board of Examiners.

THE HON. MR. FRANCIS JOSEPH BADELEY, B.A., Captain Superintendent of Police in Hongkong, was born on March 27, 1868, and was educated at the Clergy Orphan School, Canterbury, and at Jesus College, Cambridge, passing senior optiine in the Mathematical Tripos of 1889. He came to the Colony as a cadet in 1890, and three years later, having passed in Cantonese and Hindustani, he was