Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/830

822 he represented in Taipei (Formosa) from 1891 to 1901. Just after the arrival of the Japanese in the island he was made British Pro-Consul there, a post which he held for some little time. He returned to Amoy on behalf of Messrs. Boyd &amp; Co. in 1901. Mr. Gardiner was an enthusiastic oarsman in his younger days, and has represented the Twickenham Rowing Club at Henley. , who now combines the duties of a surveyor and pilot, and is also a representative of the Merchant Guild of Liverpool, at Kulangsu, Amoy, has had an interesting career. Born in Rochester in 1859, he was educated at the Mathematical School in that city. At first ambition led him to choose journalism as a profession, and he was apprenticed to the Rochester and Chatham Journal, but, soon becoming desirous of a more adventurous career, he went to sea. His first experience of a sailor's life was obtained in sailing ships, but later he secured various posts on steamers. He was in command of a steamer trading in the China Seas during the Franco-Chinese War of 1886, and, when in command of the British ss. Thales, he saw a good deal of the grim side of the Chino-Japanese War. Indeed, in connection with one stirring incident in this struggle between the two nations of the Far East, his name was brought into great prominence. Although the Chinese had ceded Formosa to Japan, the Chinese governor and general of Formosa refused to hand the island over to the enemy, and a great battle was fought. The Japanese were victorious, but they lost some thousands of men, and the Chinese General Lai Yung Fu managed to escape with some 1,400 to the Thales. Captain Bathurst narrates, in glowing terms, how the morning after leaving Anping the Japanese cruiser Yacyama overtook him, and insisted upon thoroughly searching his ship. Protests and repeated references to the British flag, however, enabled him to complete the remaining 16 miles to Amoy without further interference, although two Japanese officers were left on board to pick out the men they wanted. On reaching Amoy the Chinese general and some of the refugees made good their escape over the side of the ship. In after years General Lai Yung Fu, while still in seclusion and retirement, wrote in pathetic terms expressing his sense of indebtedness to Captain Bathurst. It is worthy of record, too, that the Marquis of Salisbury, with promptitude, secured the dismissal of the Japanese officers responsible for the delay of the British ship. manager of the China Mutual Life Insurance Company, Ltd., for the Foochow, Amoy, and Swatow districts, has spent by far the greater part of his life abroad. Born at Bury St. Edmunds in 1876, he received his early education at Eastbourne, Sussex, but at the age of eleven he went to Canada. He subsequently entered the service of the Hudson Bay Company, and remained in the Dominion altogether for fourteen years. In 1901 he joined the Insurance Company at Shanghai. Of the stability and soundness of the enterprise with which he is now connected there can be no question. So much Chinese capital is invested in the Company that quite recently the Shanghai Chinese Chamber of Commerce solicited, and were granted, an examination of the books. After a careful survey they expressed themselves fully satisfied with the accounts, and gave it as their opinion that the Company was well able to carry through any contracts into which it might enter. holds a very prominent place in the social and commercial life of Amoy. He has gained many distinctions from the Government, and is now accounted one of the richest men in China. Born in Pangkio, Taipei, Formosa, in 1874, he was educated privately, and at an early age assisted his father, Mr. Lim See Fu, who was Chinese minister in the island, in the