589
No. 38
96
His Excellency
SIR,
HONGKONG.
PAPERS RESPECTING THE ABOLITION OF THE SPECIAL GAP
ROCK LIGHTHOUSE RATE,
(In continuation of Sessional Paper No. 37 of 1896.)
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.
(Honourable T. II. Whitehead to the Governor.)
HONGKONG, 2nd December, 1896.
I have the honour to address your Excellency with reference to your com- munication to the unofficial members of Council, made through the senior member, on the subject of the Gap Rock Light Dues, under date the 12th November. Mr. CHATER in his letter in reply, dated the 27th ultimo, has informed you of my intention to do so, and of my dissent from the opinions expressed by him on behalf of his other colleagues in the Council on the subject in question. I dissent so strongly, both as to the procedure adopted by your Excellency in bringing the matter before the members of Council privately, and on the merits of the question, and I deem it of such importance to the public, that I propose to now publish the whole correspondence, and to refer the subject to the Secretary of State.
I take leave to call your Excellency's attention in the first place to the fact that although the letter of the Chamber of Commerce, calling the attention of the Government to the fact that the time had arrived for the abolition of the Gap Rock Light Dues, was dated the 31st July last, it was not until the 12th ultimo that any step appears to have been taken with a view to the consideration of the question. I note in the second place that it was not until the 19th November that the Estimates for the year 1897 were circulated to members, and that they contain no suggestion of any intention on the part of the Government to relieve the trade of the Colony of the burden imposed on shipping for a special purpose long since accomplished, or any proposals for any alternative measure.
I beg most respectfully to submit that the delay in the preparation and publication of the Estimates, and especially the delay in taking action on the Chamber of Commerce letter of the 31st July, is most injurious to the public interests, and prevents any proper and adequate consideration of the important questions involved, either by the responsible members of the Council or by the public who are directly interested. The Estimates will be laid upon the Council table to-morrow for the first time, and will then only become known to the community generally. I understand that they must be passed before the end of the month, and there is now no time left for their proper and effective consideration. I feel it my duty to formally protest against the holding back of the Estimates until the very last month in the year,
I beg further most respectfully to protest against the method recently adopted by the Government of privately consulting the unofficial members of Council on
Sir WM. ROBINSON, K.C.M.G.,
Governor, Hongkong.
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