30th May, 1854.
Present
The Honorable the Lieut: Governor
The Honorable The Acting Chief Justice
The Honorable C. B. Hillier, Esqre
The Honorable The Acting Attorney General
The Honorable D. Jardine, Esqre
The Honorable J. F. Edger, Esqre
The Minutes of the last Council were read and approved.
The Draft Ordinance which was read a first time yesterday, being laid on the table for the second reading, Mr. Hillier expressed his dissent from the proposed Enactment by putting in the following Minute.
I beg to propose as an amendment the following Ordinance.
"Be it enacted and ordained that whenever it shall appear to the officer administering the Government as advised by his Executive Council that owing to the certain presence in the immediate neighbourhood of an Enemy of superior Force or owing to the absence of any sufficient Naval Force, and the certain presence in the vicinity of a piratical Fleet or owing to any other pressing circumstance that the Colony is in an unprotected state and in imminent danger it shall be lawful for the said officer administering the Government to declare by Public Notice that he considers it necessary for the protection of the lives and property of the Inhabitants to levy contributions to strengthen the Colonial defences and thereupon to levy upon the annual value of the lands houses and premises within the Colony as assessed to the Police Tax a Rate, to be paid by the actual Tenant of such premises, of not exceeding Five per-cent, at one time or at different times as to the said officer may seem fitting, and to borrow money upon the security of such rate, and the proceeds of such rate or the money borrowed upon such security as the case may be, shall be applied to strengthen the defences of the Colony by enlisting auxiliary troops, by hiring defensive vessels, establishing look-out-posts, or in such manner for purposes of defence and security from surprise as to the said officer shall seem fitting."
I object to the immediate imposition of a Rate because –
I think there is no present necessity for it. Her Majesty's Ship "Spartan" has I have learnt been sent back for the special defence of the Colony, and is to remain here until she receives further orders. The rate will be a burthensome one on the Chinese population who will pay by for the largest proportion of it. In many cases it may have to be levied by distress, in others residents may leave the Colony to escape its operation, looking upon it as only the beginning of a series of contributions for the same object and feeling that they would be more secure and less harassed in their own Country. It will create unnecessary alarm, alone sufficient to thin the population by the removal of those who are but temporarily resident for purposes of trade. It becomes us by every means to foster this trade by checking it, we deprive ourselves of the very source of all revenue the wealth of the people and their consequent ability to pay taxes. By wasting our resources now that there is confessedly no pressing danger of surprise from an enemy we cripple our means of defence when real danger shall stare us in the face. The same men whom it is now proposed to form into an auxiliary corps the fluctuating tenants of the Seamen's Boarding houses, here today and away tomorrow, averaging always about the same number, who have no interest in the Colony and who for any length of time, however high their pay, would be most difficult to keep at all and if kept, to keep under control, could be had at half an hour's warning if the Colony were actually menaced and their effectiveness as an irregular body would perhaps be very little diminished by the want of such previous training as it would be practicable to give. They would at once be competent under the charge of a few gunners to work the guns and relieve from this duty and equal number of the regular troops. If hired now they would be retained at an enormous expense, and it might well happen that money might be uselessly spent in paying them which might when the emergency comes; be much more usefully employed in matters of surpassing vital importance to our safety nor is it to be forgotten what disturbance to the peaceful Inhabitants, such a body of men of all nations and all characters hastely got together and armed might cause, if they had no urgent duty to occupy their time and no sense of personal insecurity to curb their propensities, seeing that they would be without the check that Martial Law imposes." The proposal to raise a corps of unpaid volunteers I most heartily approve, as a measure inexpensive, unostentatious and eminently useful in case of surprise both to assist the Military and to keep the vagrant population in check: the present design I cannot approve, because I think the evils that it will engender more than counterbalance the good that it proposes to effect."
The proposed Ordinance was then read a second time, and passed. It bore the following title- "An Ordinance to raise an additional Police Rate," being No. 1 of 1854, which was ordered to be printed and published in the Government Gazette.
(Signed) John Bowring
Governor
Read and approved this 29th Day of August, 1854.
(Signed) L. d'Almada e Castro,
Clerk of Councils.
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(True Copy)
[Signature of L. d'Almada e Castro]
Clerk of Councils.