546
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 16TH NOVEMBER, 1878.
from similar sources for the few years before the passing of that Ordinance, and then deducting from the sum total the cost of the Lock Hospital and the salaries of the Inspectors of Brothels, I am afraid that, instead of $50,000, the profit of the Colony has been something like $80,000 or $90,000 under that Ordinance. When I looked back at what had occurred when the Ordinance passed, I saw that the particular clause which rendered it compulsory upon the officers in the Colony that there should be a special fund for it, and that this was not to be paid to the revenue-I saw that that clause was passed because there was a strong feeling at the Legislative Council that it would not be proper to allow such money to enter into the revenue. The gambling funds had unfortunately for a certain time, in opposition to the advice of the principal Members of this Council (the leading Unofficial Members), in opposition to the advice of the Chief Justice, and without the sanction of Her Majesty's Government, been paid into the revenue of the Colony; but when the facts became generally known, owing to the action taken at his Council table, and in other ways, orders were given that these licences should cease and in future the gambling fund should not be mixed with the revenue of this Colony. Unfortunately, what I am now detailing to you escaped attention. I had to inform the Secretary of State that the fund to which he referred had never been constituted, and in reply to the despatch in which I forwarded the statements of the gentleman in whose charge the department lay, I received the following reply:
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"I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 54, of the 1st July, relative to the amount of "revenue derived from houses of ill-fame, and I approve of the steps which you have taken for constituting a special fund "from this source in accordance with Ordinance 10 of 1867.”
In other words, the special fund has now been formed, and in the preliminary financial statement I am now making to you, for the first time since that Ordinance passed, we shall not have to consider that an item of revenue, nor will it again appear in the Estimates of this Colony.
There are two reasons why the community of Hongkong should feel some interest, I venture to think, in the statement I am now making. If there is in our Treasury chest this large and unprecedented balance; if these leading items of revenue are steadily increasing-and, I should add, as one of the most significant, that the house tax (the amount we derive from the twelve per cent. on the valuation of house property) is also increasing, and will reach its maximum this year-if, I say, everything is so flourishing, the community will fairly ask, has not the time arrived when some consideration may be given to the tax-payer, and especially to the householders in the Colony? I find that in 1868 the police rate, lighting rate, water rate, and fire brigade rate amounted to 11 per cent. In 1870 it was raised to 12 per cent., and since 1870 up to this moment it has stood at 12 per cent. Now, before venturing to say how we might deal with that, I should like to ask you to consider two other items of revenue to which I have now to refer.
One is what we derive from opium. That shows no increase. Whilst everything else increases, the Opium Farm is at a standstill, and we are to receive this year, 1878, the sum of $132,000, being the same sum that we received in 1877, and being less than the sum received in 1876, and considerably less than the sum received in 1875. The rent of the Opium Farm in 1875 was $137,000, in 1876, $135,000; it is now $132,000. Well gentlemen, I am of opinion-and I know you concur with me-that by prudent management we ought to get for the Opium Farm, if not its full value, at all events a fair value, and therefore something largely in excess of what the present farmers pay.
There is another item of revenue, that of spirits. That brings us in a comparatively small sum, a sum far smaller than it realises for other Governments similarly situated to ours. I find that in 1877 we obtained from that source a revenue of $28,395. Instead of $28,000, we ought to receive from the Spirit Farm $100,000, if not more; and therefore it is, gentlemen, that in the months of August and September I asked the Unofficial Members of Council to meet me for the purpose of considering the question of how far they, as commercial men, would be prepared to assist me in establishing a Spirit Farm in the Colony; and also how far they would assist me in improving the Opium Ordinance so as to strengthen the hands of the opium farmer and encourage him to give a proper sum for the monopoly. I received from my Honourable friends the Unofficial Members valuable advice on these two points, and, speaking in the presence of my Honourable friends, I think I am justified in saying that they went entirely with me on the subject of the Spirit Farm. As regards the Opium Farm, there are certain alterations in the Ordinance which I contemplate submitting to you. They are alterations in detail, and I apprehend they are alterations which my Honourable friends will support. I may mention that I did draft, with the assistance of the Attorney General, a Bill to establish in this Colony, an Opium Farm identical with that in Singapore. But my Honourable friends, who know more than I do of the commercial transactions of this Colony, and whose views on such subjects I always receive with the utmost deference, at one suggested that the proposed Bill should not be pressed; and of course I took their advice. The Bill will not be laid before you, but only such amendments of the existing law as my Honourable friends will approve..
Nothing would give me greater satisfaction than to lower considerably the rates and taxes in this Colony. Until I see my way to a proper sale of the Opium Farm, and until I find out what we can get from a Spirit Farm, I content myself with announcing to you in public the views I have already communicated to you in private, so that they may be considered by you and the Colony in general; and I think I may look for support from you in doing everything that can be lawfully done to stimulate our revenue from opium and spirits. With regard to the Spirit Farm, I am not disposed to think that its operation should be confined simply to Chinese spirits, from which I hope to get a very large revenue, but I think a Spirit Farm may also deal, as it does in Singapore, with other classes. We have in this Colony a large number of sailors and other who at this moment drink very bad and nominally very cheap spirit. One effect of the Spirit Farm would be to increase the revenue, but another effect would be to establish some check on the deleterious spirit now sold; so that the legislation I contemplate, and, perhaps, with your sanction, may succeed in passing, will not only increase our revenue, but will benefit the consumer likewise.
I have told you that there has been an increase in the revenue from junks. Now I know some of my Honourable friends, the Unofficial Members whom I have consulted from time to time on this subject, entirely agree with me with respect to the fees levied on junks. We levy at this moment on junks of 500 piculs a sea-going licence of $10 and a fishing licence of $1; under 500 piculs we levy $1 a month and 20 cents fishing licence; for vessels of 500 piculs and less than 1,000 we