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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 1ST NOVEMBER, 1890.
of exceeding $300,000 will, in all probability, not amount to $50,000. It is to be hoped, however, that an improved condition of affairs will enable the Estimate under this head to be reached during 1891.
4. The Officer Administering the Government informed the Council a short time since that the probable balance on hand at the end of this year would be $461,629, but since this announcement was made the Colony has been called upon to pay a larger amount than was anticipated as representing the sum of £116,000 voted for Defence Works. About $20,000 will therefore have to be deducted from the $461,629. But on the other hand the impro- bability of all the amount estimated for Extraordinary Expenditure being spent will more than likely make up for this deficiency.
5 The Council is aware that one of our principal items of Revenue arises from the Opium Monopoly which according to present arrangements is to produce $177,600 a year. But an itern of this nature being actually realized must necessarily depend upon certain contingencies and it is therefore our duty not to rely too implicitly upon such a source of income.
6. The estimated increases and decreases on the different items of revenue for next year are principally the following.
There is an estimated increase in assessed taxes of $50,000 due to the increase in rateable tenements and to the gross receipt being estimated for 1891 without deduction for unoccupied houses, but this deduction has to be made good from expenditure.
There is also an estimated increase of $1,000 on carriage and chair licences an amount- of over $10,000 having been received on this account during the first half of this year.
There is an increase of $3,000 estimated for spirit licences. The sum estimated under this heading last year was $41,000 whereas that obtained was $48,794.
There is also an estimated increase of $4,000 of fees from scholars at the Victoria College -the amount estimated last year under this head having been $10,000.
An increase from $65,000 to $75,000 is also contemplated for rents derived from market stalls and shops.
The estimated decreases are chiefly in the following items:-Boat licences from $5,700 to $5,000; Cargo boat licences from $7,500 to $7,200; Fines from $16,000 to $14,500; Hawkers' licences from $5,300 to $5,000; Emigration, which is on the decrease owing to the unwillingness of certain countries to receive Chinese, from $18,000 to $15,000; Lands other than those leased, but including Stone Quarries, from $30,000 to $28,000.
7. The revised estimated ordinary expenditure for 1891 is $1,674,780. The estimated extraordinary expenditure $920,279 instead of $804,279 as stated by the Officer Administer- ing the Government a short time ago, some omissions having been made in the draft estimates as originally prepared. This makes a total expenditure of $2,595,059 instead therefore of having a balance of $46,000 on hand at the end of 1891 there is an estimated deficit of about $100,000.
The Council has already been informed that the principal causes of additional ordinary expenditure are the increased Military Contribution from £20,000 to £40,000 a year, the aditions to salaries amounting to about $47,000, the introduction of the Electric Light and the changes effected in the Audit Department.
Provision has been made for a Chief Assistant to the Observatory at a salary of $1,800 in accordance with the recommendation of the Commission.
A sum of $2,000 has been provided for the upkeep of the Epidemic Hulk now in course of construction.
The expenses of the Police Department have been somewhat increased in consequence of the recent changes which have been made in connection with it, while some additional cost has been proposed for the Gaol Department with a view of obtaining men from England to do duty as Turnkeys.
But the greatest increase on expenditure is caused by that estimated as necessary for
Public Works.
As a proof of the continued increase of expenditure under this head it is worthy of remark that in the year 1875 the amount expended on the Surveyor General's Department, on Public Works and Buildings, Roads, Streets and Bridges amounted to $169,642 whereas for 1891 the estimated sam for the Surveyor General's, the Water and Drainage and the