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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
in August 1842, British troops were on the point of assaulting Nanking, and the Emperor at last sued for peace, Pottinger made it an article of the Treaty, that was promptly concluded, that Hong Kong should be ceded to the British Crown 'to be governed by such laws as Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain etc. may see fit to direct'. In June 1843 the new Colony was officially named Hong Kong, and the name 'Victoria' was conferred upon the settlement growing up on the northern side of the island.
Like Singapore before it, Hong Kong from the start was declared a free port; and its subsequent growth and greatness as a com- mercial city have been due to this fundamental policy, which welcomes anyone who comes in peace, obeys the laws, and pays a few very moderate taxes.
The history of Hong Kong is in some ways no more than a chronicle of rising and falling trends of trade and population, fluctuating due chiefly to events taking place outside Hong Kong itself, particularly in China. Internally, the history is one of gradual material and social improvement, the expansion of the city by cutting into rock and by reclamation of land from the sea, the building of more reservoirs to provide for a mainly expanding population, and the provision of schools, hospitals and other forms of public service.
Hong Kong's first years as a Colony were almost chaotic. In 1841 alone the new Chinese market quarter was burnt down twice, and nearly every roof on the island came off twice in typhoons. A mysterious disease, known as the Hong Kong fever, now believed to be malaria, decimated the population; and in 1843 the health situation was so bad that the Governor and everyone who could afford to do so took temporary refuge in Macau.
Confidence did not begin to grow until 1844, from which year the real development of the Colony as we know it to-day began. At the first census the population of the island did not exceed 3,650 villagers and fishermen, living in some twenty villages and hamlets, with about 2,000 fishermen living afloat. Chinese labourers, encouraged by prospects of work, began to come to the Colony, and by April 1844 the population reached 19,000.
From 1845 the first monthly mail service between Hong Kong and Europe was started. The increased security obtained for