THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 6TH NOVEMBER, 1897. 941
The following substantial decreases, on the other hand, as compared with the expenditure for 1896 should be recorded:-
Legal Departments, Magistracy,
Police and Gaol,
Miscellaneous Services,...
Military Expenditure,
$ 6,600
3,200
10,100
66,200
26,800
I have now, I think, dealt as fully as time permits with the Estimates for 1898 and any further information that may be desired will be furnished in Finance Committee.
As regards the financial prospects of the current year, you will observe that the revised Estimate of Revenue only amounts to $2,446,065. The revised Estimate of Expenditure, on the other hand, is put at $2,590,870, giving an estimated excess of Expend- iture over Revenue of $144,805. Since the revised Estimate of Revenue was prepared, the financial barometer lms risen considerably and the depression, which was likely to affect the items "Land Sales" and "Subsidiary Coins," has disappeared. I have now good reason for stating that the revenue from Land Sales is almost certain to double the amount estimated, i.c., $200,000 instead of $100,000; whilst if exchange maintains its present higher rate, it is not too much to expect a profit of 4 per cent. from subsidiary coins which, on the total consignments ordered for the year, should bring in some $100,000 instead of $65,000 as previously estimated. This disposes of $135,000 of the anticipated excess, and the remaining $9,800 is more than covered by the balance in hand at the end of 1896 (exclusive of Loan monies) amounting to $13,486. An estimated deficit of over $144,000 will thus le converted into a surplus of $3,686. I am hopeful of even a more favourable result. The prospect may, I think, be considered satisfactory especially when it is borne in mind that over $98,000 will have been contributed from current revenue to the Jubilee Fund, and that Public Works have by no means been neglected.
And here, Gentlemen, I will briefly review the position of the Colonial Finances. At the time of my arrival the Colony was reaping the inevitable results of over-speculation and labouring under the weight of severe financial depression. The outlook was anything but bright; business was dull, and the revenue suffered accordingly. On the other hand, there were Public Works of pressing importance to be carried on, e.g., the Praya Reclamation, the Central Market, the Extension of the Gaol, and the Water, Drainage, and Sewerage Works. It was evident that the revenue was insufficient to meet the demands made upon it.
However, I awaited the financial results of my first year of administration; and those results, Gentlemen, convinced me of the necessity of raising a loan, and if you will refer to my speech to this Council on the 25th January, 1892, you will recollect that I then approached you on the subject with an expression of regret that it should have fallen to my lot to make such a proposal to you in my first address. Further experience of the situation and a study of the financial prospects for 1893 confirmed me in my opinion, and, in laying the Estimates on the 16th November, 1892, I definitely announced to you that a loan had become a necessity. You admitted that necessity, and in 1893 an Inscribed Stock Loan of £200,000 at 3 per cent. was negotiated by the Crown Agents. In the following year, the unredeemed balance of the 1887 Loan, amounting to £140,000, was converted from 4% Debentures into 34 % Inscribed Stock, and thus brought into conformity with the 1893 Loan.
The Public Debt of the Colony now stands at £341,799, the figures over and above the sum of £340,000 representing extra stock issued in connection with the expenses of con- version. Against this debt must be set the sum of £1,594, already contributed to the new Sinking Fund, and the unexpended balance of the Loan which, on the 31st August last, stood at £43,139.
The relief afforded by the Loan soon produced visible results. At the end of 1894, our balances in hand amounted to no less than $450,000, and my early-expressed hopes seemed destined to be fulfilled. It was not, however, within the power of human foresight to contemplate the exceptional circumstances which intervened at this juncture, and which absorbed the entire amount of our credit balances. The Plague of 1894 and its recrudescence