9TH JANUARY, 1886.
at the opening of each annual Session will contain, here as elsewhere, a general view of the Financial and Social condition of the Colony, and a statement of the Legislative and other measures, and of the public works proposed. So the Address of the Council in reply will afford the members of the Lislature the usual constitutional opportunity of expressing their opinion of the conduct and proposals of the Government." To these observations you replied as follows: "We concur in the advisability of assimilating the proceedings of this Legislature to the constitutional forms established in the other principal Crown Colonies."
7. Simultaneously with the steps taken towards the reconstitution of this Council. I gave authority, with your consent. for the commencement of those large measures of Water-supply and Sanitation, which Mr. CHADWICK, the Commissioner sent out from England, had reported to be absolutely necessary for the immediate benefit of the public health :" but which were in abeyance on my arrival. Among the more prominent of these public works have been the very extensive improvenients and additions to the main drainage of the City; and to the roadways and pavements, more especially in the Chinese quarters; together with the organization of a complete system of practical sanitation and daily removal of waste products; the reclamation and embanking of noxious foreshores at Kennedy Town, Hung- hom, and Yaumáti, and their conversion into healthy and remunerative building land; the extension of the City to the westward, and the opening out of new areas to the commercial and industrial enterprise of the Colony; the construction of mountain roads for the health and recreation of the community, and the utilization of mountain sites for the erection of summer residences; the continued spread of tree-planting in the hitherto arid hill districts of the island, to the eventual amelioration of the climate; these, and many other kindred works of scarcely less interest to the health and well- being of the people, have been inaugurated with your assistance and by your votes, during my adminis- tration.
8. You are already aware that, while authorising the works required for the internal health and progress of the Colony, I took early and effective measures for its external defence. On May 12th, 1883, only six weeks after my assumption of this Government, I opened the question of the Defences in an elaborate despatch to the Secretary of State, in which, after entering fully into detailed statements and arguments, I added: "It has been frequently shown that Hongkong commands our trade routes in the Far East; that shipping to the amount of above five millions of tons (a larger tonnage than that which entered the Port of London forty years ago), yearly enters this Port; and that it is of paramount importance not to suffer any nation, or possible confederacy of nations, to destroy or lessen the prestige and influence of Great Britain with China and Japan, those rich and vast countries which have in all human probability a great future before them." I concluded in the following terms :— I submit that your Lordship should move the War Office to prepare a full and final plan for the defences of Hongkong, and that such plan should be transmitted to both the Governor and the General Commanding the Troops, with instructions to use all the authority and influence of their respective offices to assist in carrying it into execution." I followed up this opening by a long series of official despatches and of private letters to English Statesinen, and to the chief Authorities at the War Office. My persistent representations, aided by those of the Naval and Military Authorities at this Station, and by the energetic support of this Council. have led to the undertaking of that system of Defence Works which is now being vigorously pushed forward by General CAMERON. Moreover, my application, also supported by this Council. for a flotilla of torpedo boats was granted by Her Majesty's Government. As I said in a recent address: "It is morally certain that our defences by land and sea will be com- pleted before there will be any occasion to test them: and, as you already know, the highest Naval and Military Authorities in the Empire consider that, when completed, they will place Hongkong in safety against foreign attack."
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9. I may next remind you that the action of my Government throughout the difficult and delicate crisis of the Franco-Chinese hostilities met with the entire approval of the Imperial Government. With the support of Admiral Sir W. DOWELL. with whom I was in constant communication. I main- tained British rights and British neutrality, and, at the same time. I preserved friendly relations with the Belligerent Powers. Socially, I made the Government House a neutral ground on which English, French, American, German, Russian, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese Ministers, Admirals, Generals, and other high Officers, on visiting this Port, frequently met, and so learned to be in good humour with England, and to some extent with each other.
10. I have never failed to direct, from time to time, the attention of the Imperial Government, and of the British Legation at Peking, to measures calculated to advance the interests of the mercantile community, such as the opening to commerce of the great South-Western Provinces of China. The cordial co-operation of the Chamber of Commerce has never failed me.
11. Throughout my administration, I have devoted much care to the improvement of the public. institutions and establishments; and, above all. to public education. I have elsewhere expressed my belief that the new Victoria College, with its scholarships enabling some of the most promising students to complete their education in England, will render an important service not only to this Colony, but also ultimately to the neighbouring Empire of China; and that this will prove a powerful and honourable method of extending British influence. Already indeed several men in high office under the Chinese Government owe their education to the schools established at Hongkong under British auspices.