June 22, 1897.]
COPENHAGEN'S FREE PORT AND THE HONGKONG LIGHT
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DUES.
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
same signification that attaches to it in Hongkong. The free port of Copen- hagen is simply a portion of the general harbour and quays marked off from the re- Copenhagen and its Free Port" is the mainder and within which goods may be title of an elegant little volume, tastefully landed, stored, or transhipped without illustrated, published for the Free Port Customs formalities; but all goods leaving Company, Limited. The volume is in- the free port for Denmark itself have to tended as an advertisement and will prove pass the Customs. In fact the Free Port very effective for that purpose, but it is also Company stands in much the same position interesting and useful from a public point as the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and of view. for the information it contains, Godown Company would stand if Hong- especially at the present time to merchants kong levied duties on goods and the Govern- in the Far East, seeing that a powerful ment had conceded to the Company the Danish Company has just been formed right to conduct its storage business in under State auspices with the object of bond, its premises being railed off and the recovering for Tenmark the position in the boundary guarded by Customs officials. Far Eastern trade that she formerly possessed, Under those circumstances we do not see but lost at the close of the last century. In the appositeness of the Copenhagen example. the eighteenth century, we read in the little In Hongkong fortunately we have no volume before us, Denmark's commerce Custom-house, nor do we want one. Nor in nade such enormous strides that this period the matter of simple port dues, have we is generally known as the "Merchant's much to learn from the Danish port. At golden age." The large merchant con- Copenhagen the dues are certainly low as panies, ships brought home valuable cargoes compared with many other European ports, from China and the East and West but it would be a rude shock to local ship Indies and distributed their merchandise ping firms if it were proposed to levy to all the surrounding states. The dues on the same scale in Hongkong. At wealth of these companies may be Copenhagen a vessel of 1,000 tons register conceived when it is stated that one pays £26 4s.; at Hongkong the same vessel company, in gratitude to the King for would pay, under the present scale of light favours received, raised a monument to his dues, something less than £2 10s: It is honour in the Amalienborg Square at the true that at Copenhagen the dues cover cost, in present money, of about £80,000. wharfage, but if a vessel coming to Hong The glories of this time, however, came to kong desires wharfage the. Wharf and an abrupt termination. During the bloody Godown Company will accommodate it for wars at the commencement of this century a good deal less than half the amount charged, nearly the whole of the Danish merchant at Copenhagen. The Danish port is to be fleet was captured, and simultaneously congratulated on its enterprise in establish- there was a collapse in the money market. ing a free harbour and on the comparative A large quantity of paper money was liberality of its regulations, but in compar- issued, without a sufficient bullion reserve, ing it with Hongkong, Copenhagen would with the natural result that State bankruptcyo better to take an example from this ensued. About this time, by the Pence of colony than would Hongkong to take an Kiel, Norway was separated from the example from Copenhagen. In Hongkong Danish Crown. The nation naturally, after we want relief from the present rate of light these misfortunes, required time to recuperate. dues, because we think it should be the The rich merchants had lost all or the policy of the colony to impose no taxation major portion of their property, the univer- at all upon shipping beyond what is re- sal poverty bred discouragement amongst quired to cover the actual cost of the main- all classes and paralyzed all enterprise. tenance of the lights. That is a position in Trade passed over to Hamburg, and Copen- support of which abundance of sound argu- hagen seemed lost. About the middle of ments can be found; whereas arguments the century matters mended a little. Strong founded on a comparison with Copenhagen national and political conflicts brought new or other ports imposing higher dues seem to life and interests, assisted to arouse courage us to bring the case for the colony, intrin- and to weaken the connection with Ham- sically a good one, into ridicule. burg; thus gradually Copenhagen asserted itself and regained the position it ought to occupy. In the year 1800 Copen- hagen had 100,000 inhabitans; in 1860 the number had increased to 160,000, whereas in 1896 the population had increased so enormously that with the suburbs the in- habitants of Copenhagen now 410,000 souls. During the last years much has been done to improve and augment the natural advantages of the city. As the town grew and its resources expanded, it became evident to all the leading men that if Copenhagen were to keep its place in the commercial world it was necessary to im- prove what was already a first rate harbour, and that this improvement was necessary was clear from the stride that maritime matters had taken. A large, modern, well constructed Free Port and docks were what were required to meet the demand of the times, and these are now successfully com- pleted. So far we have quoted from the book. It should be explanied, however, since the Government of Hongkong has been asked to look to Copenhagen as example on the subject of light dues, that the term "free port is not used as regards Copenhagen with the
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THE DIAMOND JUBILEE ROAD.
Mr. MASTER'S Suggestion to abandon the Kennedytown-Aberdeen section of the Dia- mond Jubilee Road comes rather late in the day, and, besides this, his proposition that as an alternative the gradients on the Pokfulum Road should be eased is hardly practicable. The Pokfulum Road ascends to the Gap between Mount Davis: the Peak acclevity, and as the distance is too short and the contour of the hill unfavourable for the construction of a zigzag road the only means of easing the gradients would be to make a tunnel ora gigantic cutting by which the road could be carried past the Gap at a lower altitude than at present. Either of these schemes would probably be as costly, or possibly more so, than the making of the new road near sea level. Moreover, the military authorities might object to any cutting away of the hill behind the forts. Even if the scheme were carried out the improved Pokfulum Road would not be nearly so valuable to the public in general as the road near sea level, which will not only be available for recreative purposes but will also encourage the extension of the
city westward and the growth of Aber deen. Mr. MASTER objects to the new road on the ground that Chinatown will have to the passed through in order to reach it, but this objection has little force now that wide roads and streets are being made in connection with the Praya Reclamation. When these are completed a drive out west- ward will be much more agreeable than passing through the congested, Queen's Road to the eastward. Mr. MASTER bas, we think, entirely failed to establish any case for a reversal of the decision already arrived at,
THE DIAMOND JUBILEE,
THE THANKSGIVING SERVICE. On Sunday morning a large congregation at- tended at St. John's Cathedral for the Thanks. giving Service in commemoration of the com pletion of the sixtieth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Special seats had been provided in the Chancel for H.E, the Governor, H.E. the General Officer Commanding, the principal officials, and the Jubilee Committee, In the body of the church the ordinary sitting accommodation had been supplemented by the placing of chairs in every available space, but notwithstanding the efforts made to provide for as many as possible large numbers had to stand in the doorways.
Those taking part in the Governor's pro- cession assembled at the Government Offices and marched to the west door of the Cathedral, where they were met by the choir and clergy. The route from the Government Offices was lined by the Police, and the central passage of the nave of the Cathedral was lined by a detach- ment of the Volunteers under command of Lient. Machell (Field Battery) and Lieut. Fullerton (Maxim Gun Co). The order of the procession
was as follows:--
Mr. Crawford.
Mr. Ritchie Mr. Gray Mr. Ho Tung Mr. Mody
CHOIR.
CLERGY.
Hon. E. R. Belilios,
C.M.G.
Hon, F. H. May,
C.M.G.
Hon. H. E. Wodehouse,
C.M.G.
Hon. W. M. Goodman
Captain Phillips Mr. C.
Mr. Danby Mr. Jackson Mr. Gillies
Mr. Fung Wa Chuen Mr. Mehta
Hon, W. Chatham
Hon. C. P. Chater
Hon. T. Sercombe
Smith
His Hon. Sir John W. Carrington, C.M.G. C. Platt Mr. Buckle
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR,
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GENERAL
OFFICER COMMANDING.
Lieut. King
Commodore Holland.
R.N.
His Honour Mr. Jus-
tice Wise. Hon. J. J. Bell-Irving Hon. Ho Kai Mr. MacEwen Capt. Clarke, R.N. Mr. Raymond Commander Cochran,
Col. Elsdale, R.E.
R. N. Mr. Moses
Lt. Col. Faithfull
Lt. Col. The O'Gor-
+
man
Hon. J. H. Stewart
Lockhart
Hon. R. Murray Rum-
sey, R.N.
Hon. T H. Whitehead Hon. Wei Yuk Mr. J. Thurburn" Mr. H. Smith Col. Gorges Col. Gordon Mr. Lawford
Surgeon-Ccl. Evatt Commander: Grans-
more, R.N. The naval, military, and civil officers were in uniform, the Chief Justice and Puisne Judge wearing their wigs and gowns.
The clergy present were the Rev. R. F. Cobbold, the "Chaplain of the Cathedral, who preached the sermon, the Rev. G. R. Vallings, who intoned the Service, and the Rev. W. Banister, of Foochow, who read the lessons. Mr. A. G. Ward presided at the organ, and there was a strong choir, speci- ally augmented or the occasion.
The only decorations of the church, but very striking and effective ones, were the Royal Stan- dard and St. George's flag above the altar, and a trophy of flags hanging from the roof of the nave.
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