}
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 12TH NOVEMBER, 1879. 655
Committee was. I am now able to give you also the opinions of competent persons in the Police force itself as to the actual results of this question of the two-thirds night duty. During my absence in Japan, the Administrator called upon Captain DEANE to let him know how this new system worked, and Captain DEANE reported as follows:-"I have collected reports from the different Inspectors, and their opinions coincide with mine, it has had a decidedly beneficial effect in diminishing the amount of crime during those hours." Chief Inspector HORSPOOL says he was always in favour of the two- thirds system, it was the system under which he worked in London, and it has been most beneficial here; and all the other Inspectors say the result has been most satisfactory and has diminished crime. Captain DEANE was of opinion he required a few more men so as to increase the day duties, and he is now content with the comparatively small increase of thirty-six. So far, I hope our Police system has been improved. I may add that the Senior Acting Magistrate informed me that during the time this system has been in operation, there has been a marked diminution in the number of cases of serious crime.
Now, gentlemen, there is one slight increase in the establishment charges which I am instructed to make in a despatch from the Secretary of State, No. 105 of the 15th August. Sir MICHAEL HICKS- BEACH was good enough to say.-"In consideration of the expense entailed on the Governor by the numerous entertainments he is called upon to give, I am of opinion the allowance made to him for lighting Government House, etc., should be increased from $1,440 to $4,800, such increase to date from the 1st January last."
There is another change which you will see, and which really does not involve any question of money, it is merely a transfer from one department to another department, and that follows from the fact that Mr. FORD is now placed at the head of the Botanical department. I shall lay before you the various minutes and papers which explain how it came to pass that Mr. FORD, arriving in this Colony in 1871 and being placed in the position to which he was appointed, and being in that position for some time, was subsequently, some two years afterwards, deprived of his position as the independent head of a department. For you will see that this was not known to Her Majesty's Government, but that when the attention of the Government was called to the position and duties of Mr. FORD despatches arrived the result of which is I now have to place before you a separate department at the head of which is Mr. FORD. The despatches of the Secretary of State, minutes, and some subsequent corres- pondence, will all be printed for the information of the Council.
With respect to the financial proceedings of the year 1879, I think my Honourable friend (Mr. MARSH) in his capacity as Auditor looked very carefully into what would be the result of the year's transactions and endeavoured to anticipate what they would be some months ago, and I think my Honourable friend communicated a despatch to the Secretary of State during my absence in which he expressed his views on the subject, and what, he anticipated from what he had then seen would be the surplus of revenue on the year. I think it was something like $60,000.
The COLONIAL SECRETARY said that was the amount; and he might add that he had looked over the figures for the third quarter, and they verified the result of the first six months.
His EXCELLENCY. It is very satisfactory to me to know that an Honourable member of such great experience in Colonial finance should have verified so far my anticipations as to the prosperous state of revenue in the year 1879 and I think we may look forward with confidence to having a very respectable surplus at the end of this year's transactions. I believe our balances have continued to increase, and on that subject I may say in a whisper, which I hope will not reach Singapore, that in the Straits Settlements, with their opium farm increase, I notice there has been a serious diminution in the item of interest-in other words it seems their balances have been declining-ours have been increasing, and my Honourable friend anticipates an income of $20,000 in the year for interest, which is a far larger sum than has ever been received in this Colony before. Apart from ordinary local expenditure, I think it well, on Imperial grounds, that a Crown Colony should have a substantial balance in the Treasury chest. Contingencies may arise at any moment not contemplated in the usual items of Colonial expenditure. So far for the actual state of the Colony and our prospects. The Estimates, as I told you, will come before you in Finance Committee, and you will have to undertake the ungracious task of cutting down to any extent you may desire the various items of expenditure. It is, I think, a part of our constitutional system that members of Finance Committee are debarred from the privilege of proposing an increase or additional votes, but you can always exercise that power which members of the House of Commons exercise, or try to exercise, of cutting down votes. I now propose the first reading of the Appropriation Ordinance. The Estimates will be laid on the table.
FINANCE VOTES.
The COLONIAL SECRETARY proposed the confirmation of a number of votes which had already been before the Finance Committee.-Agreed to.