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Proposals will also be submitted to you for the construction of new roads both in this Island and in Kowloon.
I have received by telegraph the approval of the Secretary of State of the scheme for the extension of the Recreation Ground and Sanitary Improvements at the Happy Valley, and this work which is calculated to prove of great advantage to the public will be at once taken in hand.
Sanction of the Secretary of State has also been obtained for proceeding with the construction of the Central Market.
I have, in consultation with the Executive Council, been recently considering the method by which the licensing of Jinrickshas has hitherto been conducted, and a change is in contemplation by which, I believe, not only will considerable improve- ment be introduced into the vehicles themselves and the regulation of their traffic, but a considerable increase to the revenue will result, while the interests of existing licensees will be duly protected.
The Estimates for the coming year are in an advanced state of preparation and will be shortly laid before you. I think I may say that the financial position of the Colony is hopeful as indicated by the statistics which they will afford.
You will learn with satisfaction that as far as can be foreseen at present the ordinary Revenue of the current year together with Premia on Land sales will fully realize the original estimate, while the probable expenditure (ordinary and extraordinary) will fall short of the estimated sum by about $200,000. The originally estimated deficit, on the year, of $451,000 is therefore reduced to $250,000, a sum which so far as present estimates show can be defrayed out of existing balances.
It is a matter of congratulation that not only has the revenue of the year thus been sufficient to cover the ordinary expenditure, including the increased Military Contribution both for this year and last year, and the increased salaries, but also to leave a balance of $250,000 towards defraying the cost of Extraordinary Public Works, now estimated to amount for the year to $500,000. I should mention that the probable revenue for the current year is now estimated at $2,039,042 or an increase of over $27,000 on that of the year 1890.
It has been advocated for a considerable time past that, in view of the large number of Public Works in progress or in immediate contemplation, to the cost of which future residents in the Colony might be fairly required to contribute, e.g. the New Central Market, the New Gaol, New Roads, &c., a Loan should be raised, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies has intimated his readiness to consider the question. I have, therefore, fully considered the matter with this result.
The cost of the Public Works which are likely to be urgently required to be constructed during the next five years may be roughly estimated at two million and a half of dollars, or an expenditure of $500,000 a year, which is also, I have ascertained, about the limit which the Public Works Department have on the average the means of carrying out, though for various reasons it is often necessary to exceed that total in estimating for the year's services.
With a revenue already yearly increasing and likely to be considerably increased by works now in course of erection, or about to be erected, which will be of a remunerative character, as well as from causes which I have already touched upon, we may fairly assume from the experience of the present year that a con- siderable proportion of this extraordinary expenditure may be defrayed out of the ordinary revenue and premia on land sales. What that proportion may be, or whether indeed the whole may not be so met, depends very much on the develop- ment of events during the next few months.
I, therefore, think it well to postpone taking any immediate action in this direction.
The returns of shipping for the past nine months show a satisfactory progress. Although last year was phenomenal in the activity displayed in the shipping trade, the returns being the largest yet made since the Colony has been in existence, and the total of arrivals and departures having exceeded by a million tons the corresponding figures for 1889, yet the arrivals in Ocean trade alone during the first nine months of this year have exceeded those of the corresponding period of 1890 by 86 ships with a registered tonnage of 134,545 toņs.
In conclusion, I congratulate you on such trustworthy evidence of the increas- ing prosperity of this Colony, as is furnished by these statistics as well as by the remarkable results of the Census to which I previously invited your attention.
May our efforts in this Council ke always aimed at, and be successful in secur- ing, a continued increase of that prosperity and the welfare of all.