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of houses, which would nearly double those figures. I am informed that Victoria may now be regarded as one of the best drained cities east of Suez, and that its domestic sanitation will compare favourably with that of any of the large cities in England:
Bye-laws have been made for the compulsory concreting of ground floors in dwellings, for the prevention of overcrowding, for the regulation of bake-houses, laundries, opium- smoking divans, offensive trades, and animal depôts, for the regular periodical cleansing of tenement dwellings, and for the notification of communicable diseases, and these are being quietly and steadily enforced.
The New Central Market, the Slaughter-houses and adjoining Cattle Depôts at Kennedy Town and Kowloon which have an important bearing on the food supply of the Colony have been completed during my administration, whilst the water supply, which is of vital import- ance to the health of the community, has been increased to 400,000,000 gallons, and extended to the Kowloon Peninsula, and to the populous villages of Shaukiwan and Aberdeen.
The most noticeable features in the history of Education during my term of office have been--(1) the revision of the Grant-in-Aid Code in 1893, which added arithmetic to the subjects for which grants should be given to schools giving a purely Chinese education, elementary science in the case of schools giving a European education in the Chinese. language, and a seventh standard in all classes of schools. (2) The graduating of two pupils in July, 1892, from the Chinese College of Medicine, being the first two graduates from that Institution. (3) The opening of the Belilios Public School for Girls in December, 1893, for which we have to thank the generosity of an Honourable Member of this Council; and (4) The limitation in November, 1895, of grants-in-aid to schools giving a European educa- tion in the English language—a measure which was induced by the very marked deficiency in this respect on the part of the Chinese community resident in this Colony, and the necessity recognised from the experiences of 1894 of providing a more enlightened education. I trust that this policy will be maintained, and that a training institution, which will furnish a supply of qualified teachers and so place the means of acquiring a useful knowledge of the English language and Western ideas within the reach of the poorer classes of the Chinese community may be provided. I consider that such expenditure will be incurred in a most important cause, and I commend to the notice of the Council the desirability of increasing the Grant-in-Aid Vote, and of continuing to substitute subsidised schools for the Govern- ment schools that still remain in existence.
As regards the attendance at the various educational establishments in the Colony, I re- gret to say that the check experienced in 1894 on account of the Plague has been more per- manent in its results than was originally anticipated, and recovery has been further impeded by its recrudescence in 1896. I hope that, given favourable circumstances, the progress in this direction which was so noticeable during the first three years of my term of office, may again make itself evident at an early date, and that education will receive that support which it so fully deserves.
The shipping returns, though not attaining to the figures of 1896, are, nevertheless- quite satisfactory. During the nine months ended on the 30th September, 7,108 vessels of European construction, aggregating nearly 9,000,000 tons Register, entered and cleared at the Harbour Office. The increase of shipping under Foreign flags (principally German and Japanese) has been very noticeable, but 68 per cent. of the total tonnage, and 56 per cent. of the ocean-going tonnage alone was British. These ships carried, in and through our waters, about 5 million tons of cargo and bunker coal, and over a million passengers.
As might be expected, junks followed the European shipping, and the figures do not come up to those for the corresponding period of last year.
There is no reason, however, for assuming that the falling off is anything but temporary, and it can in a large measure be traced to a short rice crop in the period under review, during which 430,000 tons less were reported than in the same period of 1896.
The commercial progress of the Colony during the last five years is very marked. The tonnage, which is always a more or less reliable indication, has increased by 2,510,255
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