THE AT HOME TO SIR HECTOR AND
LADY VAN CUYLENBURG.

On Saturday, the 1st August last, the Union grounds
presented a very lively scene, the occasion being a
reception that had been arranged in honour of Sir Hector
and Lady van Cuylenburg. A large gathering of members
and their families had assembled, and in the course of the
evening a presentation was made to the guests of the
Union, Mr. F. H. de Vos acting as spokesman. The
following is a summary of his remarks and of Sir Hector's
reply :—

Mr. F. H. de Vos, addressing the gathering, said he
felt much honoured at being requested to speak on their
behalf that evening a few words by way of congratulation
to Sir Hector and Lady van Cuylenburg. They had all
been much gratified by the honour of Knighthood conferred
on Sir Hector, and were all agreed that a more suitable
choice could not have been made—{Applause}. Sir Hector
would pardon him for saying that the honour was not
only one of which he was personally most deserving, but
one which the Dutch Burgher Community felt they had
earned at the hands of His Majesty. Theirs was an old-
established community. He had his doubts whether all
present sufficiently realised how long-established it was,
and he would therefore venture to remind them that their
community began to be even before the arrival of the
British in Ceylon. They had given to the British
Government of their best, and from the earliest times
most eminent officers of the Government—whether judicial,
legal, medical and other—had been supplied by their
community, to mention only a few who had been similarly
honoured in the past, but were now no longer with us—
Sir Richard Morgan, Sir Samuel Grenier, Dr. Anthonisz c.m.g.,
and a former President of the Union, Mr. F. C. Loos c.m.g.

It was accordingly with much gratification that they
had received the news that a member of their community
had been again honoured, and that the choice had fallen
on the President of the Union, who was the more
deserving of their congratulations by reason of the great
personal and practical interest taken by him in the Union
and all its members—[Applause},

05/21/00