HONGKONG
213
of fire. The Ly-ee-mùn Pass is defended by two forts, and if vessels survived that fire they would then have to face the batteries at North Point and Hungham, which completely command the eastern entrance. Another battery on the bluff at Tsim-tsa Tsui, Kowloon, commands the whole of the centre of the harbour. The batteries are armed with the latest breech-loading ordnance.
In addition to the fortifications the Colony possesses a small squadron for harbour defence. This consists of the turret ironclad Wivern, 2,750 tons, carrying 4 guns, the gunboats Esk (at present detached for service on the Yangtsze) and Tweed, each carrying 3 guns, and four torpedo boats. The crews of these vessels are borne in the receiving ship Victor Emanuel, a hulk moored opposite to the Cricket Ground, and which is also the headquarters of the Commodore and his staff. The Naval Yard is an extensive range of workshops and offices east of the Artillery Barracks, and the Naval Authorities have another large establishment on the Kowloon side near to Yau-ma Ti. CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE.
As intimated in earlier paragraphs, Hongkong formerly enjoyed a most unenviable notoriety for unhealthiness, and in years past the troops garrisoned here suffered grievously from malarial fevers. A great deal of the sickness in the early days of the Colony was caused by excavating and otherwise disturbing the disintegrated granite of which the soil of the island mainly consists, and which appears to throw off malarious exhalations when upturned. At the present time, however, the Colony is one of the healthiest spots in the world in the same latitude. The influence of the young pine forests created by the Afforestation Department has no doubt been beneficial in checking malaria, and the attention latterly bestowed on sanitation has not been without its due effect. The annual death rate per 1,000 for the whole population in 1892 was 21.18, for the British and foreign population 17.37.
The following table shows the barometer, temperature, and mean rainfall for Hongkong on sea level averaged for ten years, compiled by the Director of the Observatory :-
BAROMETER.
BAROMETER.
TEMPERATURE. RAIN.
Mean. Hight. Lowst. Mean. Hight. Lowst. Mean. Jan. 30.17 80.47 29.80 60 74 42 1.47 ins. Feb. 30.15 30.45 29.87 55 70 41 1.66 March 20.06 80.36 29.80 62 78 49 3.53 April 29.96 30.27 29.70 70 85 56 6.55 Kay
29.88 80.11 29.59 76 88 66 9.82 June 29.76 39.99 29.40 80 89 69 12.67 July 29.72 29.09 29.22 82
74 16.41
TEMPERATURE. RAIN. Mean. Hight. Lowst. Mean. Hight. Lowst. Mean. Aug. 29.75 29.96 29.38 81 90 72 16.93 Sept. 29.83 30.09 29.99 80 91 71 0.89 Oct. 30.02 80.81 29.72 76 Nov.
30.18 30.43 29.78 69 Deo. 80.18 30.42 29.87 62
86
61 5.06
83
65 1.04
76
45 0.49
YEAR 29.97 30.47 28.99 71 TRADE.
93
41 85.52
Hongkong is a free port, and there is no official return of the imports and exports compiled, but the value of its trade is estimated at about £40,000,000 per annum. During the year 1892 the following tonnage entered and cleared with cargoes:-
NATIONALITY
ENTERED
CLEARED
NATIONALITY
EXTERED
Vessels. Tons.
Vessels. Tons.
Vessels. Tona.
CLEARED Vessels. Tons.
American
43
67,649
45
70,396
Austrian
23
43,948
92
42,188
German. Italian
662
635,180
667
639,649
13
18,718
12
19,924
British
3,199
8,807,809
8,177
3,768,614
Japanese
36
53,489
36
53,489
Chinese
234
253,532
230
250,070
Norwegian
35
39,492
34
37,992
Chinese Junks..22,755
1,606,251
22,435
1,585,825
Russian
2,005
2,005
Danish ..
102
45,846
101
45,250
Dutch.......
40
French
80
47,910 133,154
39
46,420
Siamese Spanish
658
654
80
17,570
30
17,569
80
133,154
A total of 18,830 vessels, of 6,096,169 tons entered, and 19,471 vessels, of 5,921,977 tons, cleared with cargoes. There also entered in ballast 8,424 vessels, of 677,020 tons, and there cleared 7,439 vessels with 791,062 tons. The total arrivals show an increase as compared with the previous year.
The trade chiefly consists in opium, cotton, sugar, salt, flour, oil, cotton and woollen goods, metals, earthenware, amber, ivory, sandalwood, betel, vegetables, granite, &c., &c. There is an extensive Chinese passenger trade, now chiefly restricted, however, to the Straits Settlements, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, Siam, and Indo-China. Hongkong possesses unrivalled steam communication. The P. & O. S. N. Co. and the M. M. Co. convey the European mail weekly, the Norddeutscher Lloyd Co. maintain a regular monthly mail service between Bremen and Hongkong, the P. M. S. S. Co. and the O. & O. S. S. Co. maintain a mail service with San Francisco, the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. a regular mail service with Vancouver, B.C., a regular line has been estab- lished by the Northern Pacific S. S. Co. to Tacoma, and the Eastern and Australian S. S. Co. and the China Navigation Co. keep up a frequent but rather irregular service with the Australian Colonies. In addition to all these, several great lines of merchant steamers run between London, Liverpool, and Hongkong, of which the Ocean S. S. Co.