Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/186

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TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC.

and affiliated hospitals. He has been obliged to refuse many appointments owing to the demand made upon his time by business. In recognition of his many public services, however, he was recently made a Justice of the Peace by the Government. He served on the committee of the Typhoon Fund and did much on his own account to relieve the sufferers, Mr. Choa Leep Chee lives at "Burnside," No. 47, Robinson Road, a house delightfully situated, overlooking the harbour. It is surrounded by a very beautiful garden stocked with some hundreds of varieties of English and European flowers. In 1905, when Sir Matthew Nathan, Governor of the Colony, offered a prize for the best kept private garden in the Colony, and an inspection was made at very short notice, Mr. Choa Leep Chee secured the award. He is a member of the Hongkong Horticultural Society, and is a large exhibitor at the shows organised by that society.

MR. HO FOOK, J.P., compradore to the firm of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., has distinguished himself both by his business acumen and by his activity in the wider sphere of philanthropy and public service. He is a British subject, having been born in Hongkong. After finishing his education at the Government Central School, now Queen's College, he spent some time in a Chinese shipping firm as clerk, and later joined the Registrar-General's department as a translator. In 1882 he entered the service of the legal firm of Messrs. Denneys & Mossop as an interpreter. He remained with them for three years, and then obtained the appointment of assistant compradore to Jardine, Matheson & Co. Upon the retirement of his brother, Mr. Ho Tung, the chief compradore, in 1900, Mr. Ho Fook was promoted to the vacancy, and his other brother, Mr. Ho Kom Tong, became his assistant. Mr. Ho Fook has been associated with all the principal public movements in the Colony for a long time past, and some fifteen years ago he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. Of the District Watchmen's committee he has been a member for sixteen years. He is now a member of the advisory committee of the Tung Wah Hospital, and managing director of the Hongkong Telegraph. In all matters appertaining to education he takes the greatest interest. He is a vice-president of the Ellis Kadoorie Chinese School Society, and has founded an annual scholarship for students at Queen's College. His outlook has been widened by much travel, his journeyings including two visits to Europe and one to America. He recognises the advantages which, in a British Colony, naturally follow from a thorough grasp of Western methods; and he is taking care that his children shall enjoy these advantages to the fullest extent. His eldest son is assisting him in the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co., while four other sons are pursuing their studies in England. Mr. Ho Fook lives at No. 10, Caine Road.

MR. LO CHEUNG SHIU, assistant compradore to the firm of Messrs, Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., is a connection, by marriage, of Mr. Ho Fook, the chief compradore, and is closely associated with that gentleman in several business undertakings in the Colony. Mr. Lo Cheung Shiu is a British subject, having been born in Hongkong. After completing his English education at Queen's College, he was for some time pupil teacher, then senior Chinese assistant master, being altogether on the staff of the college for upwards of seven years. He was then transferred to the Treasury as a clerk, but two years later he left the Government service to join his brother-in-law at Jardine, Matheson's. He is now a partner with Mr. Ho Fook in the well-known Sang Cheong Fat yarn firm, of Bonham Strand, and in the firm of Ho Fook & Co., which is doing a very large business in sugar between Hongkong and Chinese ports. The thorough grasp of English and foreign methods which he obtained while in the public service, and his excellent knowledge of the English language, make his assistance of great value to Mr. Ho Fook in his many public undertakings.

MR. YUNG HIN PONG, J.P.—For fifty years the position of compradore of the Hongkong Branch of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China has been held by one family. Mr. Yung Hin Pong, the present occupant of the office, succeeded his father, and now has his eldest son, Mr. Yung Hin Chung, with him in the bank. The family belongs to the Hungshan district of South China. Born in Hongkong, and educated at Queen's College, Mr. Yung Hin Pong entered upon his financial career some twenty-five years ago as his father's assistant, and has held his present position for the past fifteen years. Under his direction there is a staff of about fifty. He has served on the committees of the Tung Wah Hospital and the Po Leung Kuk, and in 1906 his name was added to the Commission of the Peace. His second son, Mr. Yung Hin Yan, is studying civil engineering in America.

MR. TSEUNG SZ KAI, J.P. This gentleman is compradore to the well-known Japanese firm of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, and is also proprietor of the firm of Kwong Tak Fat, at Bonham Strand West, Hongkong. A native of Amoy, he went early in life to Jamaica, and afterwards to Puerto Rica. Thirty-six years ago he settled in Hongkong, where he has been very successful in business. About fifteen years ago he was made a Justice of the Peace by the Government. He is also a member of the Tung Wah Hospital the District Watchmen's Association, and the Po Leung Kuk committees. Mr. Tseung Sz Kai, who has several sons in the Colony, has a family house in his native town, Amoy.

MR. TONG LAI CHUEN, J.P., who occupies the post of compradore to the Holland-China Trading Company, is a native of the Hungshan district of China. His father, a well-known merchant both in that district and in the neighbouring Portuguese Colony of Macao, was for many years connected with the Yun Loong tea hong of the latter place. Mr. Tong Lai Chuen has resided in Hongkong for upwards of thirty-three years, and during that time has been actively connected with several companies. Before joining the Holland-China Trading Company as head of the Chinese department, he was compradore to the firm of Messrs. Petit & Co., Bombay merchants. He occupies a prominent place among his fellow countrymen, and has always been to the fore in charitable movements. On several occasions he has been on the committees of the Tung Wah Hospital and the Po Leung Kuk, and in 1906 was elected a member of the Typhoon Fund committee. To the District Watchmen's committee his assistance has been invaluable. His interest in public affairs led to his appointment as a Justice of the Peace for the Colony some three years ago. He is the owner of a considerable amount of landed property in the Colony, including his residence, Nos. 67 and 69, Wyndham Street. He has a large family. Most of his sons are still at school.

MR. WONG KAM FUK, J.P.—It may readily be understood that the duties of compradore in so large a concern as the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company require for their satisfactory discharge qualities of no mean order, for the Company's employes run into several hundreds, and the compradore is responsible for the whole of the Chinese. In Mr. Wong Kam Fuk the Company have a man of shrewd business ability. Born in the Colony and educated at Queen's College, he entered their service, after a brief period of employment in an insurance office, and was stationed at West Point, until he was transferred to his present position, a good many years ago. He also holds the managing directorship of a Chinese company running a service of steamers to West River, and is interested in a cotton yarn business. He has served on the committee of the Tung Wah Hospital, and is at present a member of the Po Leung Kuk committee. Some three years ago the Government recognised his ability by appointing him a Justice of the Peace for the Colony.

MR. S. W. TSO.—For some time there was only one Chinese solicitor practising in Hongkong—Mr. Tso Seen Wan, or, as he is more generally known amongst Europeans, Mr. S. W. Tso. He was born at Macao, and received his education in England at Cheltenham College from 1886 to 1890. After having served articles with a firm of solicitors at Cheltenham and London he qualified as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England in 1896. In the same year he returned to Hongkong, and was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Colony. Amongst the Chinese he does a great deal of work, and has come to be regarded by them in much the same light as the Hon. Dr. Ho Kai—as a friend and adviser in foreign matters, quite as much as professional practitioner. Mr. Tso is highly respected among all sections of the community.

MR. OTTO KONG SING, after receiving an excellent education at Newington College, Sydney, New South Wales, decided upon a legal career, and in due course qualified as a solicitor in Australia. He then proceeded to England for a couple of years, and was admitted to practice in 1903. In the following year he returned to Hongkong, and since that date has been practising as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Colony. In his college days Mr. Otto Kong Sing was a well-known footballer, and played for the first college team during several seasons with considerable success.

DR. WAN TÜN MO, one of the leading Chinese doctors in the Colony, was born in Hongkong, and received his early education at