606
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 11TH JULY, 1896.
Petitioners estimate the trade of this Colony at £40,000,000 a year, and among other reasons attribute the almost unequalled commercial position to which the Colony has attained to the enterprise, skill and energy of British merchants," and state that the prosperity of the Colony can best be maintained by the unremitting exertions and self-sacrifice of Petitioners and the valuable co-operation and support of the Chinese."
Whatever may have been the conditions of trade in this Colony in years gone by, it is a fact I believe acknowledged by British merchants themselves that the modern tendency is for the trade to fall more and more into the hands of the Chinese, though this could hardly be attributed to "self-sacrifice" on the part of the petitioners. The large British mercantile houses of former days are now either extinct or have considerably inodified their former methods of conducting business. Instead of merchants now dealing in merchandise on their own account, their transactions are becoming more and more confined to buying or selling on com- mission for or to Chinese, and this, no doubt, is the reason why large mercantile houses do not increase, while smaller mercantile firms, working on a small capital, doing business as commission agents, are increasing. Without the Chinese traders of this Colony, its prosperity would soon wane, and it is in no small degree due to them that Hongkong has reached its present commercial position.
The following statistics will show how large and rapid has been the growth of the Chinese population :--
RETURN I).
CENSUS OF THE COLONY OF HONGKONG, 1857-1891,
CHINESE LAND,
CHINESE. BOAT.
Men. Women. Boys. Girls. Total. Meu. Women. Boys, Girls. Total.
1863,.
1857,*.
1858,.
35,347 8,864 4,299
1859,..... 36,257 10,219. 4,406
1860,...... 43,432 11,315 4,859
1861,
58,598 15,808 6,117
1862,..... 63,056 14,252 6,420
59,819 16,969 8,029
1864,.
57,173 16,587 7,870
1891,
3,311 51,821|11,240|| 4,4196 3,893 2,296 21,925
8,561 | 54,443] 13,918| 6,537 6,265 4,117 30,837
4,276 : 63,882】 14,482 5,936 5,076 3,065 28,559
5,148 85,471| 15,207 7,169 5,271 3,262 30,909
5,172 88,000| 16,921 6,212 5,160 3,346 31,639
6,416 91,233| 16,223|| 6,529 4.901 2,884 30,537
6,983 88,613] 14,556 6,188 5,448 3,142 29,334
1855,
62,522 17,135 8,448 0,685 94,790] 14,421 6,053 3,945 2,466 26,885
1956,
58,507 14,761 5,899 | 5,133: 84.600 13,872 5,627 4,692 2,763 26,954
1867,... 60,724 17,667 7,299 6,907 92,597| 10,561 4,722 3.558 2,179 21,823
1968-69,. 61,052 16,526 7,437 6,716 91,751| 10,397| 5,777 3,494 2,861 22,529
1870-71,.... 61,028 17,143 6,765 6,799 91,785| 11,157 | 5,552 3,982 3,018 23,709
1872,......... 61,514; 17,453 6,748 6,650 95,365 | 9,457 4,623 3,566 2.553 20,199
1876....... 71,126 19,222 8,784 8,341 107,423 9,899 5.165 4,241 3,440 22,745
1881,..... 78,778 21,640 10,922 10,361 121,701 12,674 6,401 5,287 4,627 28,989
113,241 | 83,523| 16,118| 16,078 178,960 14,449 6,969 5,886 4,731 32,035
* Particulars not ascertainable.
With this increase in the population there has been a corresponding increase in the volume of trade carried on by Chinese not only with Europeans but also among themselves quite independently of Europeans, British or otherwise.