Hong Kong Daily Press 1937-12-10
A memorial bust to the late Mr. Fung Ping-shan was unveiled yesterday afternoon at the Aberdeen Industrial School, in the presence of a large and distinguished gathering, by His Excellency the Governor, Sir Geoffry Northcote. His Excellency also distributed the prizes and diplomas to the successful students.
On arrival at the School, His Excellency, who was accompanied by his Private Secretary, Mr. Garrod Treverton, was welcomed by the Hon. Mr. R. A. C. North, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the School, Rev. Fr. V. Bernardini, Director of the School, and Very Rev. C. Braga, Provincial Superior of the Salesian Society.
After the National Anthem had been rendered by the School Band, His Excellency proceeded to the entrance hall where he performed the unveiling ceremony. The bust, a fine piece of work executed by Chevalier P. Monti, stands side by side with that of Sir Robert Ho Tung, another of the School's great benefactors. His Excellency and party then ascended the platform in Halifax Hall, where he was joined by Sir Robert Ho Tung, Hon. Mr. R. A. C. North, Mr. Li Yau-tsun, Mr. Li Sing-kul, Mr. Chau Shu-ng, Mr. Fung Ping-wah, Mr. Fung Ping-fan, Rev. Fr. Braga and Rev. Fr. Bernardini.
Others present included the Hon. Mr. T. N. Chau, Right Rev. Henry Valtorta, Dr. and Mrs. S. W. Tso, Sir Atholl Macgregor, Marchese and Marchesa G. Pagano di Melito, Mr. A. Laborinho, Mr. Ho Kom-tong, Mr. D. J. Sloss, Prof. L. Forster, Prof. Ma Kaim, Mr. C. G. Perdue, Mr. Tang Shiu-kin, Mr. Tse Ka-po, Mr. Ip Lan-chuen, Mr. Eu Tong-sen, Mr. B. Wong Tape, Mr. Sum Pak-ming, Mr. Li Koon-chun, Mr. Li Tse-fong, Mr. Ng Wah, Mr. L. Jowson, Fr. G. Byrne S.J., Mr. G. P. de Martin, Mr. and Mrs. W. Kay, Mr. J. T. Prior, Chev. J. M. Alves, Mr. Mok Kon-sang, Mr. Ma Tsui-chiu, Mr. Li Yik-mul, Mr. Fung Kong-un and Mr. Ngan Shing-kwan.
In his speech of welcome, the Hon. Mr. R. A. C. North referred to the early beginnings of the School and mentioned in particular the names of some of its most generous benefactors, including Sir Shou-son Chow, Sir Robert Ho Tung, Mr. Li Yau-tsun, the late Mr. Lau Chu-pak and the late Mr. Fung Ping-fan. The speaker said, "Mr. Fung's record of public service was one of which any man might have been proud. He served on the Tung Wah Hospital Committee as one of the principal directors as long ago as 1913; he was Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk Committee in 1918; he was appointed a member of the District Watch Committee in 1920, and became a Justice of the Peace in 1925. He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Tung Wah Hospital, and a life member of the Court of the Hong Kong University."
"The Hong Kong University owes much to his generosity, and his name is commemorated there over the doorway of the Fung Ping-shan Chinese Library. He gave equally generous support to many schools in Hong Kong and Canton, and I find it recorded that in the district of San Wui, which was his ancestral home, he established at his own cost at least three schools, a public library and two public parks."
Mr. North continued, "Mr. Fung died in 1931, before the foundation stone of this building was laid, and his magnificent gift to the cause of education, $100,000, came to the Committee through the hands of his sons. Today I feel that we can fairly claim that this building, and all it implies, is a worthy monument to a great-hearted gentleman who, if anyone, deserves to be written as one who loved his fellow men." Mr. North spoke of the success of the School and concluded by paying a very high tribute to the efforts of the Fathers and Lay Brothers who were working so ably and cheerfully to help the boys and to give them the opportunity to earn a decent living.
Speeches of welcome to His Excellency were also made by some of the students, after which His Excellency said: "As I entered the school I was called upon to fulfill one of my two functions of today in having the honour to unveil the bust of the late Mr. Fung Ping-shan, one of the school's greatest benefactors. You, Mr. Chairman, have spoken in well-merited words of praise of the many services which Mr. Fung rendered to Hong Kong. I will not repeat that honourable record, partly because you have covered the ground so well and partly because that memorial which I have just unveiled will speak more enduringly than I can. But I do endorse with all my force the words of thanks and appreciation which you have uttered in speaking of Mr. Fung: I trust that not only the Aberdeen Industrial School, but also many other Hong Kong institutions, present and future, will benefit at the hands of other wealthy men, stimulated by his grand example."
"There was much other matter in your address, Mr. Chairman, of which I should like to dot the 'i's and cross the 't's—not that I wish to cast a slur upon your calligraphic attainments—but I will choose one only and that is to back up your appeal to the public to give orders to the Industrial School in order to afford opportunities for practical training to the apprentices in the artisans section. That is a simple and inexpensive way in which well-wishers of this very valuable school, who have other and more urgent calls upon their purses, can show their sympathy in a practical manner, and I hope that many will take the hint."
The Governor continued, "I may say that I do not stand here as a complete stranger to the Industrial School's activities. Not only did I come out here last week in order to 'makee look see' on the quiet, I have also had the advantage of reading the Second Annual Report of the Manager, a document which covers eighteen months' work. I was glad to note that the point made by my predecessor last May has not slipped from the minds of the Managers and that a plan for agricultural and horticultural training has been drafted. I share the hope of the Salesian Fathers that it will be put into practice at an early date and I pledge the Government's help to that end."
"The report goes on to speak of the school's growth during its short life and points out that in a year and a half its numbers have grown by 25 per cent., from 240 to 300, its full complement, a very telling note of confidence on the part of parents and supporters. My own investigations last week led me to the same conclusions which evidently they have reached, that is to say that here is a school in which discipline, kindness and education are admirably mingled, a school from which a boy should emerge well equipped morally, intellectually and practically for the battle of life. For a boy who has passed through the whole curriculum here should leave as a fully qualified craftsman with a sound primary education to help him on his way. If he is of the right stuff he should have little to fear."
Addressing the topic of housing reform, His Excellency stated, "But there is a further point which I wish to make. Many of the boys in this school came, as you know, as juvenile offenders, caught by the police and sent here by the Magistrates. Those boys when they were born were no more criminally inclined than any others: they are the unfortunate product of slum surroundings. Every man is, to a great extent, the creature of circumstances and of the conditions in which he is reared, and it is inevitable that slum life must lead directly to slum minds and slum morals. Children are not naturally vicious, indeed I am firmly convinced that the opposite is the case; but vice is an easier path than virtue and the hard, the intensely hard, life of the slums serves to turn many a child down it. Clearly the remedy is not reformatories for our children but the reform of housing conditions in Victoria and elsewhere in Hong Kong."
"Many minds in this Colony, among which I number my own, are bent upon this greatest and most fundamental of our social problems and mean to solve them. In passing I would like to thank the Rev. J. D. Maclean for his admirable address to the Rotary Club which was published in yesterday's papers: he will, I hope, permit me to say that the case could not have been better put. The solution is not going to be easily found: it will be expensive to the taxpayer in terms of immediate cost though highly remunerative eventually; and it will, I prophesy, will arouse not a little heartburning. Nevertheless, our duty to seek it is plain."
Praising the workers, the Governor concluded, "If I have said little of the manner in which the Reverend Salesian Fathers under Father Bernardini are tackling their job it is not because they do not fully deserve great praise but because I believe that they shrink from it. But all the friends of the Aberdeen Industrial School know of their devotion and are most deeply grateful to them. The Manager's report pays a fitting tribute to the many others who in one way or another have helped the school since its foundation."
His Excellency then distributed the prizes, after which the assembly adjourned to the playing field, where tea was served and the guests were treated to a very efficient physical and drill display by the boys of the School.