HONGKONG
1854 Lieut.-Colonel Wm. Caine (Lt.-Governor) 1855 Sir John Bowring, Knight, LL.D. 1859 Colonel Caine (Lieut.-Governor) 1859 Sir Hercules G. R. Robinson, Knight 1862 William Thomas Mercer (Acting) 1864 Sir Hercules G. R. Robinson, Knight 1865 William Thomas Mercer (Acting) 1866 Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell, Knt., c.n. 1870 Mj.-Gl. H. W. Whitfield (Lt.-Governor) 1871 Sir Richard G. MacDonnell, K.C.M.G., c.B. 1872 Sir Arthur E. Kennedy, K.C.M.G.,C.B. 1875 John Gardiner Austin (Administrator) 1876 Sir Arthur E. Kennedy, K.C.M.G., C.B. 1877 Sir John Pope Hennessy, K.C.M.G. 1882 Wm. Hy. Marsh, c.M.G. (Administrator)
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891
1883 Sir George Ferguson Bowen, G.C.M.G. 1885 Wm. Hy. Marsh, c.M.G. (Administrator) 1887 Mjr.-Gen. W. G. Cameron, C.B. (Adminis.) 1897 Sir George William Des Voeux, K.C.M.G. 1890 Francis Fleming, c.м.G. (Administrator) 1890 Sir George William Des Vœux, K.C.M,G. 1891 Mjr.-Gen. G. Digby Barker, c B. (Adm.) 1891 Sir William Robinson, G.C M.G.
| 498 Mj.-GI. Wilsone Black, C.B. (Admiur.) 1898 Sir Henry Arthur Blake, o C.M.G.
1902 Mj.-Gen. Sir W. Gascoigne, K.C.M.G. (Adr.) 1902 Sir Henry Arthur Blake, G.C.M.G.
1903 Francis H. May, c.M.G. (Administrator) 1904 Sir Matthew Nathan, K.C.M.G.
The Government is administered by a Governor, aided by an Executive Council of five officials and two unofficials. The Legislative Council is presided over by the Governor, and is composed of the Officer Commanding the Troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, the Registrar-General, the Director of Public Works, the Harbour Master, the Captain Superintendent of Police, and six unofficial members, one of whom is elected by the Chamber of Commerce and another by the Justices of the Pence. The other four, two of whom are Chinese, but British subjects, are appointed by the Government.
FINANCES
The revenue for 1904 was exclusive of land sales $6,322,949, being an increase of $1,594,257 on the revenue of the previous year. The revenue the remarkable increase being due mainly to a new lease of the opium monopoly which brought to the Treasury the sum of $1,975,000 as compared with $750,000 per annum under the old lease the ordinary expenditure was $4,993,421. The Colony has a small public debt, a loan of £200,000 having been contracted in 1888. Another loan of £200,000 was contracted in 1893, and in 1894 the unredeemed balance of the first loan was converted from 4 per cent. debentures into 3 inscribed stock, thus bringing it into uniformity with the loan raised in 1893. The public debt now stands at £341,800, repayment of which is provided for by a sinking fund, which at the end of 1904 had £34,375 7s. 6d. to credit.
The annual rateable value of the city of Victoria for 1904-5 is $8,342,470, while for the whole Colony the assessment is $9,890,521, which represents an increase of 13:03 per cent. on the rateable value of the previous year.
DESCRIPTION
The island of Hongkong is about 11 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad; its circum- ference is about 27 miles. It consists of a broken ridge of lofty hills, with few valleys of any extent and scarcely any ground available for cultivation. The only valleys worthy of the name are those of Wong-nai Chung and Little Hongkong, both of which are remark- ably beautiful and well wooded, being in fact the only parts where any considerable arborescent vegetation was formerly to be found. The island is well watered by numerous streams, many of which are perennial. The city of Victoria and suburbs are supplied with water from the Pokfolum, Tytam, and Wong-nai Chung reservoirs. The first-named, constructed in 1866-69, has a storage capacity of sixty-eight million gallons, while the Tytam reservoir, constructed in 1883-88, and extended in 1896, has an area of about 29 acres and a storage capacity of about three hundred and ninety million gallons. From the Tytam reservoir the water is conveyed into town by means of a tunnel a mile and one-third in length and a conduit along the hillside some 400 feet above the sea level and nearly four miles in length, on which a fine road-called the Bowen Road--has been formed, which commands the most charming views of the city and the eastern district, and is a favourite resort of pedestrians. In many parts the conduit is carried over the ravines and rocks by ornamental stone bridges, one of which, above Wanchai, has twenty-three arches. The Wong-nai Chung reservoir, completed in 1899, has a capacity of twenty-seven million gallons. A bye- wash reservoir of about thirty million gallons capacity, situated immediately below the overflow of the Tytam reservoir, was completed in 1903, and a scheme is in hand for the construction of a dam at Tytam Tuk to impound 194 million gallons.