Mayor Oei Tiong Ham of Semerang
During the month of June 1906 , Brother Michael set to work on the expansion of yet another part of St . Joseph ' s - Anderson Building . He petitioned the Straits Government for a building grant to put up another building facing Waterloo Street . The contractor Mr . Hamilton had agreed to construct the building for a price of $ 30,000 . The Governor , Sir John Anderson , despite the opposition of Mr . Hullet ( the former principal of Raffles Institution I , then the Director of Education , sanctioned the grant of $ 16,000 . Public response to appeals for funds for the remaining 14,000 was excellent . In fact a sum of $ 15,000 was collected and the list of benefactors included established firms such as Boustead , Borneo & Company , Straits Steamship , Behn Meyer and Straits Trading . Apart from donations of the business community , the school also received funds from prominent citizens and well wishers such as Loke Yew , Tan Kheam Hock , Tan Keong Siak and F . D ' Almeida .
Work on the new building began on 9th October 1906 , but owing to the rise in the price of steel , the contractor found that it ' would take another $ 7,000 to complete the building . The new building however , was completed within a year . Two weeks before the official opening of the new building , Brother Michael found that he needed another $ 4,000 to pay the Contractor . He approached the Governor , Sir John Andersori , for this amount for which another grant was sanctioned , making the total government grant to be $ 20,000 .
The new building was blessed by Bishop Barillou on 4th July 1907 and it was officially declared opened by the Governor , Sir John Andersons , on 3rd August 1907 . Owi ng to the tremendous support of Sir John Anderson in the contruction of the new building , it was aptly named " Anderson Building " - after a man without whose support the school would not be what it is to-day .
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