THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 11TH JUNE, 1881.
Council, to permit it. But in writing to the
Secretary of State I said, "I am disposed to think
“the line Mr. Price, the Surveyor General, has.
now drawn cannot be maintained very long in "justice either to the Chinese who wish to buy property or to the Europeans who wish to sell it." I transmitted the minutes of Council and a me- morandum by one of the members who opposed the slight relaxation I made in the restriction, and who expressed the opinion that the Governor should oppose the erection of Chinese shops and houses in the European business quarter of the city, and reserve the central portion of the city for English and foreign firms. He seemed to think that the increase of Chinese I anticipated would not occur, and that the future of the Colony was to be what it had been in the early days, more of a European than a Chinese community. How- ever, Lord CARNARVON approved so far of what I did in partially removing the restriction, and so the matter rests. The three or four years that have passed since then have only shown more clearly the impolicy, indeed, the impossibility, of trying to stem the free current of commercial life, and, by any artificial restrictions, of endeavouring to preserve the best parts of the town to Europeans or Americans. In fact, such restrictions are not merely restrictions on the Chinese of Hongkong;
they are, indirectly, restrictions on the manufac-
turers of Manchester, who want the cheapest and best agents here for placing their goods on the
China market.
I also had the opportunity of consulting the Chinese on another proposal. There came to me a resolution from the Chamber of Commerce, in which the Chamber proposed that the Government should adopt a system of registering all the sleep- ing partners in Chinese houses of business. They showed that it was exceedingly difficult to find out who had money in a Chinese trading concern, and recommended that the natives should be compelled by law, and under adequate penalties, to register every person who had a share, no matter how small, in a Chinese business. The Chamber of Commerce added that they had no desire to apply this system to the European houses, but wished it to be confined solely to the Chinese.. Acting on my usual principle, I men- tioned it to some of the leading Chinese bankers
1
and others, but they pointed out that the Chinese system of trading would be completely upset by it---that there is an extraordinary net-work of investments in this Colony, as in any other com- munity of Chinese, and that it would interfere seriously with Chinese trade, and, in fact, tend to prevent the influx of Chinese into the Colony. Accordingly, I declined to accede to the proposal
·of the Chamber of Commerce.
From time to time suggestions have been made to me about sanitation, and they have generally assumed the character of recommending the pull- ing down of Chinese houses, compelling the Chinese to adopt what are called the rules of Western sanitary science, that is, to have under- ground drains, to build their houses after a system
其
此本部堂不准洋商所請者
値本事易部應用建規錄人止
廉港情自堂與彼造條
詳英
且 國
斷
理造不
人因
大寶
者重
乃有 止照
工碍此貿本
華料
巧寡
局免
局
貿堂
准
該
政
事洲
427
值廉儉辦事精詳之代理者
易自然流行之生機强將城内貴重地段專爲歐洲花旗等人自用如此 部堂議定將該規條從輕畧減者批准頒行嗣後三四年間漸見禁止貿 應與初開埠 時無異歐洲人之數定必浮於華人惟藩政院嘉大臣照本 錄繕呈藩政大臣內附議政局員中一位所繕一摺以柜本部堂准將該 人之欲賣屋宇與華人者未免均有窒碍云云本部堂又將議政局紀事 本港華人而於英國製造布疋之人亦大有窒碍也因他所欲得者乃工 貿易塲中不勝損害且華人之來港者不復如是之盛矣 事情殊非善法且斷斷不能成就者據實言之立此禁制規條不但有碍 所有股分紛連密佈如結網然假如此例頒行則不但華人 建造屋宇 用彼以爲本部堂所望華人多來香港之事料必難成且意謂本港將來 乃專爲華人而立者本部堂閱此呈詞卽照常邀集華人之 稱西國養生之 建造華人店舖屋宇而中環一帶地方只准爲英國及各外國之洋行 寡均要開名報册洋商謂此例應與歐洲人之洋行無涉 宇强使效他所 規條從輕畧減者據該員所稱香港總督必須禁止在歐洲人貿易之處 人叉用重刑務使華人在華人貿易中之有股分者不拘多 如殼拆華人屋 止華人建造屋宇之界碍難久遵因此例於華人之欲買屋宇者及歐洲 國家立例助將華人貿易場中所有暗股必要開名報册蓋 之事每每有人 计部堂於是咨呈藩政大臣內稱本部堂以爲工務司申陳內附所繪禁 更有提舉事陳本部堂謂香港洋商會館公議酌定禀求 此外因免穢氣 貿易各法顚之倒之矣因香港與各處華人棲止之地相同 有體面者詢彼以爲此事若何據云倘立如此之例則華人 法卽云應在地
洋商謂華人貿易所有股分最難稽查故提舉立例以强華 提舉謂最妙莫 下布置暗渠而
【貨物售與中國之人
為人同
港何
法稱 如提
段舉
在生他人妙有
而地