Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-24
A COLONIAL CAREER.
The Man Who Is Regarded - the Maker
Of Hong Kong.

THE ORIENTAL FINANCIAL CENTER AND rrs 70.
TURE-IMNESsr UNDERTAKINGS SUCCESSFULLY
CARRIED THRoUaH-Lucx AND PLUCK OF Q. r.
cHArER-How HI n REGARDED III cHNxsx.
From The sTAn's Travelling Commissioner.
HOMO KoNo, CHINA, July g.
On the list of April, 1864, q young man from
Calcutta landed in Hong Kong. He had q clear
head, sound body and q good heart, but cir
cumstances had been less kind to him than ma
ture and he had his fortune to seek. SO he be-
came clerk in the Bank of Hindustan at .
salary OF sixty dollars . month. That was .
quarter OF century ago. Today the Bank Of
Hindustan has long been forgotten, Hong Kong
has been transformed and that young man has
been chiefly instrumental in transforming it.
The sixty dollars have grown to millions and
the unknown bank clerk has become the Hon.
@. p. Chatter, the most influential man in the
commercial empire of Great Britain in the far
east 1t would be an error in prospective to
there is nobody who deserves the expression
better. / asked him the other day how he
managed to do it. ''Bit by Bit" he replied I
cannot trace the process, therefore, but / can
describe the result.
IMMENSE wHARvKs AND BUILDINGS.
you enter Hong Kong harbor on some Of
the mail steamers you bring up at one OF the
wHArves In Kowloon, on the mainland opposite
the city of Victoria, and the steamer cargo is
discharged in day into one Of dozen magni-
hcent ware houses. This wharf and godcNu
company, covering 650, 900 square feet OF land,
capable of discharging eight ocean steamers al
the same time and accommodating 100, 600 tons
OF cargo, SO. 800 tons Of coal and 5000 tons of
saltpetre, is Mr.. Chater's creation. When you
land and look around you five out Of six Of the
best buildings you see have been built by him.
The development of Kowloon, where some day
there will be a second Hong Kong, and where
will be the terminus Of the coming railway
from Canton, he is accomplishing almost sin
gle handed. The Hong Kong land investment
company, only just established and already be-
ginning to show its effects in the development
Of Hong Kong, is in every detail his own work.
1t was he who first believed in the coal wealth
OF Tongking and advanced most Of the money,
And not to make the list too long. he 1t Is, too,
who conceived, elaborated, and has carried up
to the consent OF the governor and beyond that
to the secretary OF state for the colonies,
THE GREAT PRAYA RECLAMATION SCHEME,
one of the most important reclamation schemes
in extent and one of the most ingenious in its
financial arrangement Of this century. It is a
scheme that will make an enormous difference
TO Hong Kong, and Mr.. Chatter has been pub
Des V9ux for his idea and his work in th9 mat
ter. The home government will probably
thank him in their own way by and by. In o
word, the reclamation scheme pushes out into
deep water the entire marine frontage Of the
city of Victoria for distance Of $50 feet over
length OF 2 miles, thus giving an average depth
OF 70 feet OF water along the quays. The gov
eminent is to do the work piece by piece, COM
pleting it in 1892, and the marine lot owners
are to pay for it. Out of its own lot the gov
eminent will make profit OF a million and a
half Of dollars, and secure besides an
course the fortunate lot owners will also profit
largely. No less than 50 acres will be added to
the business part of the colony. of which ~
acres will be reserved for streets and open
spaces. The remaining q acres viii give room
for 1890 tenement houses, accommodating
5000 people, which is equivalent to five years
influx at the present rate. As the overcrowd-
ing of Hong Kong presents the most serious
colonial problem, tn importance of this relief
can not be exaggerated. This scheme was con-
ceived by Mr.. Chatter, it was elaborated by him
in conference with the governor on the one
hand and the lot owners on the other, and it
received its final approval at an interview in
Downing street last year between MIR. Chatter
and Lord Knutsford.
THE MAKER OF HONG KONG.
This ''maker Of Hong Kong is strongly
built man Of about forty-fve, with the whiskers
of the city magnate and that indescribable but
unmistakable air of prosperity which marks
out the Croesils amongst US. His kindly face
and hearty laugh make friend of YOU on the
spot, and i've minutes talk shows you man
of perfect lucidity of mind in all financial mat
tiers and of a foresight SO extraor binary as to
resemble gift of prophecy. He will look at a
piece of land today and tell you within quar-
ter OF a dollar ayard how much it will be worth
five years hence. If any land is suddenly in
creased in value, as KowlOon land will be- for
instance, before long by the Chinese railway
coming there, it is generally found that Mr..
Chatter bought it years ago. what marvellous
luck that man has!'' is an expression you hear
about him daily in Hong Kong but it is the
same kind of luck by which a general wins a
battle or seaman makes his port beyond many
oceans. There is, however, a sort of cult of
''Chaters luck in Hong Kong. especially
among the Chinese. Any stock that he buys
they buy, into any enterprise he starts they
pour their money; when he shakes his head at
project they will not touch it.
HIS LUCK AND PLUCK.
The other day he left the colony for q fort
night, during which that memorable storm
came and turned the island upside down, with
millions of dollars damages to pay. few
days afterward l met a worthy old Chinese
merchant, who has lived and prospered here
for a quarter Of a century. He waved his
hand over the scene Of desolation and destruc-
ton and said sadly, ''AIr Chatter 90 'way-see
what happen!" Luck he certainly has-I saw
him draw the first and second horses in a
derby sweepstakes the other day--but fancy
he would say about it il he remembered the
parody
PIRATE not Of chance-the name Of luck
Is blown the windy ways aboutit
And yet hold, without doubt,
He prospers most who has most pluck"
Few mems luck is 30 much pluck as Chater's.
He is ready at any moment to go heart and soul
into any enterprise, no matter of what nature,
that recommends itself to his judgment. Last
year the captain of new ship of thousand
tons, the Ardgay, got 200 miles out of his
course while bound from Hong Kong to Singa-
pore and ran at full speed in the middle of the
night on a sandy beach on the coast of AMMAN
There she lay, high and dry, and Lloyd's agent
sold her at auction. OF course Mr.. Chatter
bought her-he would have bought her if she
had been high and dry In the moon-and then
asked the dock company whether they would
undertake the job Of floating her and getting
her classed again as Al at Lioyd's The dock
company hesitated-it looked a risky Job
Finally they said ayes, for $4,000 TOO
much" said Mr.. Chatter. ''Well. for 5000"
'T'll give you 100000" mo" call right,
I'll do 1t myself" So he hired couple of
engineers, bought tools and infinite sand bags
and chartered a ship to send them to AMMAN. 1
have seen the Ardgay in her Golfer dam on that
far-of beach, and am strongly Of opinion that
she will come off all right Then Mr.. Chatter
will pocket $4,000 on the transaction by his
luck or pluck-which 10 it?
ENTERTAINrNa FRIENDS.