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and I am glad to be able to inform you that the Chinese Authorities are at the present moment seriously considering this question and that engineers and others are about to be sent, if they have not left already, to make all necessary arrangements for carrying out the work.
The Secretary of State's Despatch regarding the Increase of Salaries to Civil Servants and the conditions under which such are to be granted will be laid on this table. It will be seen that Lord KNUTSFORD has felt unable to consent to the scheme proposed by Sir WILLIAM DES Vœux that salaries should be paid at stirling rate, but he has sanctioned an increase. with certain exceptions, on the conditions however that those who accept the increases proposed shall forego the privilege of sending money home in the shape of family remittances as heretofore; that when on leave they shall be paid at the rate of 4/- the dollar and that their pensions shall be at the rate of 3/8d. only.
Since we last met, Gentlemen, the services of one who had been a Member of this Council for some years past have not only been lost to us but to this Colony generally.
There is no one who took a deeper interest in his work as a Member of the Legislature; who without speaking for display or for any factious object was nevertheless prepared to take such action and to ask for such information as he considered the public interest demanded— than Mr. MACEWEN. His absence from this Board will necessarily be felt, but I am sure that the one who has been selected to replace him will do all in his power to make up for the loss we have sustained.
In conclusion, Gentlemen, let me ask of you to join your efforts in working for the future welfare of a Colony which by reason of increased facilities in communication is yearly becoming of more importance in a political and Imperial point of view while I trust of more value to those whose interests are interwoven with its interests and whose fortunes and whose happiness may be said to be proportionate to its success and its prosperity.
At an early period of the coming year the Colony will be celebrating its fiftieth anni- versary as a possession of the British Crown, and it is an interesting coincidence that in 1891 it will witness the same span of life as will the Heir to the English Throne.
That Hongkong may advance and prosper during the fifty years that are next to come as it has advanced and prospered during the fifty years that are about to pass away is I am sure the earnest wish of one and all of us.
The Minutes of the last Meeting, held on the 21st July, were read and confirmed.
NEW MEMBER.-Mr. THOMAS HENDERSON WHITEHEAD who had been appointed, provisionally and subject to Her Majesty's confirmation, an Un-official Member of the Legislative Council on the nomi- nation of the Chamber of Commerce was duly sworn and took his seat.
PAPERS. The Acting Colonial Secretary laid on the table the following papers :-Acting Colonial Secretary's Report on the Blue Book for 1589; Assessor's Report on the Assessment for 1890 and 1891; Despatches respecting the increased Military Contribution; Papers respecting the Defalcations of Z. M. BARRADAS; Despatch respecting increase of salaries of Public Officers; Despatch approving of the new Standing Rules and Orders; and Despatch in connection with Companies altering their Memoranda of Association.
Read the following Minutes under the hand of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government :—
F. FLEMING.
(1.)
43 of 17th
C. O. Desp. The Officer Administering the Government recommends the Council to vote a sum of March, 1880. Three hundred and Fifty-five Dollars, ($355), being a Building-grant to the Diocesan Home
and Orphanage, to defray half the cost of an improvement in the building.
Government House, Hongkong, 10th September, 1890.
C.S.O.
1015 of 1890.
F. FLEMING.
(2.)
The Officer Administering the Government recommends the Council to vote a sum of Thirty Dollars, ($30), as a Supplementary Vote for Office Contingencies of the Attorney General.
Government House, Hongkong, 10th September, 1890.