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THE GOVERNOR'S DESPATCH ON THE BLUE BOOK.
"indebtedness
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
温情
July 24, 1895.
the non-fulfilment of great promises and "possibilities; to others, who take a more optimistic view of things, they will lend "additional confidence in the resources of "the colony, and renewed hope for the "future. For myself, looking backward to "the past melancholy experience, and for- "ward to the good that must result there- "from, I am tempted to remark Forsan “haec olim meminisse juvabıt.”
"A
SHIPBUILDING IN HONGKONG.
remark that, taking all the circumstances" into consideration, the financial results of 1894 cannot but be regarded as an eminently We have been furnished by the Colonial satisfactory indication of the vitality of the Referring Secretary with a copy of the Gvernor's colony, must command assent.
His Excellency, despatch to the Secretary of State, transmit to the plague expenses, ting the Blue Book for 1894. The despatch after stating that the colony has had to pay is dated the 10th July and gives a "review some $800,000 for the resumption of the of a singularly eventful year to which, by Taipingshan area, remarks, as a further CC reason of the roules and misfortunes instance of the satisfactory financial condi- that occurred within it, the previous his-tion of the colony, that the above large sum tory of this colony can furnish no has been defrayed entirely from balances in But as the balances were principally parallel," The length of the docu- | hand. ment precludes its reproduction in full, borrowed money, we fail to see the justifica-
The interesting paper by Mr. W. C. JACK and we propose therefore to notice some tion for any satisfaction as regards that of its more salient features. The first particular item. And as the loan was raised of Haiphong, recently read before the In-
■titution of Engineers and Shipbuilders of paragraph deals with the rate of exchange. for certain specific purposes it seems open to Hongkong, on Engineering and Shipbuilding The early part of the year was marked by a
question whether its use for the resump in the Far East, proved pretty conclusively heavy fall in exchange, but in the month of tion of Taipingshan is quite legitimate, but that the relative cost of shipbuilding here April there was a recovery, the rate remained presumably the Government has taken the and in Great Britain very nearly approxi fairly steady with a further upward ten lency advice of its law officer on that point.
males. It is claimed by many that the home at the beginning of May, business prospects Speaking of the Financial progress of models are better, and that the work is more improved proportionately, and there was the colony the Governor institutes a com-
fibished, at least in appearance. Mr. JACK, reason to look forward to an improvement parison with the year 1869, that is, a quar- however, who has had a great deal of ex- in trade generally, but at this juncture the ter of a century ago. The revenue in 1869 perience, is not of this opinion. He says, plague intervened. Five pages of the de-amounted to $923,652 and the population to speaking from that experience," that the spatch are devoted to a "rough out- some 121,000. In 1894 the revenue reached
Hongkong-built boats belonging to the line"
of the history of the epidemic, a total of $2,287,208 and the population: firin with which he is connected defy com-
at concluding with an expression of "the was estimated some 246,000. ** It
parison as far as hull, engines, and boilers of the colony to the will thus be seen that there has been a
are concerned; that is to say, they are "officers and men of the Army and Navy pari passu advance both in the amount of
"ahead of the home-built article in finish, who volunteered their valuable and timely "the revenue and in the number of the
“workmanship, and durability. There is "assistance, to the Exeéwive Committee of " population, and that the per caput contri-
no-doubt that, in many respects there are "the Sanitary Board, to the Police, to the Fution to the public purse remains to-day great advantages in getting a vessel cou- "civilian volunteers, and lastly, but not very much the same as it was twenty-five structed on the spot. She can be built more "least, to the Medical staff." Under the " years ago-a satisfactory proof that dein accordance with local requirements, and a heading of Effect of the plague on trade, spite the increase in revenue the burden on " etc.." His Excellency quotes several "the individual resilent is as light as ever, paragraphs from an carlier despatch. He" viz., between 38 and $9 a head.". His then proceeds to deal with the outbreak of Excellency also makes the comparison in the war between China and Japan, and notes sterling, and the figures he gives may ve with satisfaction that the value of the trade studied with advantage by those who deny between this port and China during an un- the appreciation of gold. "Taking the re- precedentedly unfavourable perio amounted"spective sterling value of the revenues for to 133,217,855 Haikwan taels as against Tls. 129,184,223 in 1893, and as a further instance of the gradual expansion of the trade of the colony with China mentions" that the returns for 18 4 show an increase to the value of Tls. 44,063,627 as compared with those of 1887. The figures for 1894, His Excellency says, "have, of course, not | “* "been unaffected by the appreciation of gold, which has added considerably to the "silver value of imports, but the comparison "may be taken as a fair indication that "whilst the import trade from goll standard countries has not fallen off proportionately "to the depreciation in silver the export "trade has benefited to the full thereby."
"
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the years 1869 and 1894 as an indication
of the effect on colonial finances of the
great many expensive alterations, almost always required in a new home-built boat, are avoided, while sundry improvements suggested by experience after the vessel is on the stocks can be carried out while under construction. Some details which no amount of suggestion will induce home builders to include would, as a matter of course, be carried out in local shipyards, and time would be saved in the delivery of the recent steady decline in the value of the vessel and in subsequent alterations. So dollar, the year 1889 produced an income
far as can be seen by a layman, therefore, "in sterling of £192,464, whilst the excep convenience, and time would be gained in "tionally large revenue collected in 1894.
building locally, but the cost would be pretty (taking the dollar at 2s. as a convenient ap-nearly the same, allowing for the almost in- proximate average rate for the year) is re-variably unremunerative character of the presented in goll by some $228,720, or an "increase of £36,256 in twenty five years, "during which period payments in sterling "have necessarily become considerably more numerous. Looking at the financial posi- "tion of the colony from this point of view, the state of affairs would appear to be 1ss satisfactory than it was a quarter of a cen- After references to the shipping and "tury ag, but seeing that the bulk of the colony's liabilities are incurrel locally and passenger traffic we come to the heading
Finances." The revenue for the year was discharged in silver, the position is purely the largest hitherto collected in any single a fictitius oue for practical purposes, and year, but His Excellency takes the pre-" is only useful as an illustration of what caution of informing the Secretary of "the financial position of Hongkong might State that "this very satisfactory result have been but for the depreciation in "silver." The comparison is also useful, of course, partly due to extraordinary receipts, eg., accu- however, as showing the effect of the cur. "mulation of interest on the unexrency changes that have taken place in the "pended balance of the loan raised in interval. "1893.". It is well that this point should be brought to the notice of the Downing Street authorities, because, in view of the military contribution the colony has to pay, it is undesirable that any exaggerated ideas as to the amount of our revenue should be allowed to gain currency.. It is not many months ago that a mistaken view of the colony's balances was put forward, owing to the loan account not being sufficiently differentiated from the general accout, and it is well that any similar mistake in regard to the revenue should be guarded against. After deduct- ing the special items, however, the revenue showed a handsome increase over that of the preceding year, and Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON'S
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was, u two
Οι one
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Having referred to the public health, public peace and good order, the climate, typhoons and afforestation His Excel lency concludes his able review as follows:-- "The above review of the year 1894 speaks for itself, and needs little, if any, comment. To borrow a simile from the greatest disaster which occurred within it, the his tory of the year is essentially the history of a malignant disease permeating every "channel of the colony's life blood and arresting circulation for a while; but it is "also the history of a marvellous recovery indicating a wonderful vital power. To "some the experiences of the year will [«
'furnish food for bitter disappointment at
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voyage out of home-built vessels. Mr. JACK, shows by his tables, which seem to have been carefully calculated on a sound basis, that while the cost of the iron, steel, keel. stern frames, rivets and bolts, iron castings, iron forgings, rigging and blocks, sails, brass and plumbers work, windlass, anchors and winches, &c., is considerably greater in Hongkong, that of the carpenters' work, wood, polishing, and wages, is much less. In the cost of construction of a vessel of 1,019 tons he makes out a difference in favour of home prices of £708 9s. 9d., or 13s. 10d. per ton gross, a sunì that would, as he remarks, be absorbed in the voyage out. The question then remains whether the ship could be built with equal rapidity here and to answer the requirements of Lloyd's sur veyor with equal certainty, and Mr. Jack | strongly insists that this can be done. The proof of the pudding lies in the eating thereof, and we should like to see a few more tests at the present time. years the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Compan, although possessing every facility for turning out all classes of steamers, has done little shipbuilding, except small vessels considerably below a thousand tons. Messrs.1 GEO. FENWICK & Co., Limited, though they turn out a good number of steamers, seldom build any of more than a hundred tons burthen. The Chinese yards are principally occupied with steam-launches of varying capacities, and rarely attempt to construct a vessel of more than sixty tons. Ship-
Of late