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October 1, 1906.]
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
of salaries. We all know the ory which has been raised by a section, the civil servants, as to the difficulties in which they are placed by diminishing incomes. That is a question fancy which affects most of us in the Colony, but I think the civil servants deserve consideration. I would ventare to suggest, | although in doing so I do not know that I have the entire support of my colleagues, that your Excellency should appoint a small committee to consider the whole question of salaries. The salaries of civil servants should in my opinion be based on the same lines. This I think is not always the case, I will not go into details. With regard to the exchange compensation there can be no finality about that. Some of us have seen the dollar up to 4/-, we have seen it down to 1/6, and now it looks as though it were going up to 2/6. It appears to me that the proper way to deal with the question is to fix the salaries on a sliding scale, that is to say, all sterling salaries should be paid not more than $12 to the pound and not less than $10, fixing exchange between 2/- and 1/8. That would give a certain amount of fixture to the salaries of members of the civil service, at all events for the next two or three years. I am afraid I have spoken somewhat lengthily. With regard to the question of retrenchment I can only say, and I have held the opinion for many years, that there is only one way of effecting retrenchment and improving the efficiency of the administration of the Colony. It might be but I don't say it is possible to reconstruct the work of members of the upper branches of the Government service, those drawn from home. Possibly by paying men more and increasing their duties we might be able to induce a better class of men to join the service and to remian in it. I am told that at the moment there is a little difficulty to get recruits. There is no doubt that if you want to get good work out of a man you have got to pay him well, but extra expease might be saved by reducing the number of the establishment. There is only one other point to which I wish to refer, and that is, Sir, the death of four well-known ex-Government officials. With the exception of the hon. senior unofficial member, the honourable Chinese member opposit and myself none of the Council remember the stormy times of the rule of Sir John Pope Hen- nessey, but whether we do or do not remember Sir William Marsh, Sir George O'Brien, Mr. Deane, or Mr. Bruce Shepherd, we all know that in their time they rendered faithful and capable servic› to the Colony. We all join in endorsing tue remarks of Your Excellency expressing regret
not be levied for the purposes of general revenue. Your Excellency is aware that in 1897 the Rt. Hon. Mr. Chamberlain, Secretary of State, in reply to a telegram from Sir William Robinson practically admitted that in future light and tonnage dues were not to be raised for the purpose of general revenue. The shelter benefits all classes in the community, and should be borne by the community and not by the shipping section. We all depend on the native craft, the merchant and the house owner as well as the ship owner, and the refuge here is just as much a benefit to the merchant and house owner as the ship owner, consequently it would be manifestly unfair to ask a portion of the community to raise a large sum of money for the benefit of the whole Colony. With regard to the position of the typhoon shelter, there has been some question. That it should be erected at the earliest possible date I think we are all agreed. Possibly it might even be advisable to raise a loan to pay at all events in part for that shelter, because as we know, one destructive typhoon may cost the Colony $500,000 or $600,000 or possibly even & sum larger than the $600,000 required to build the shelter. I don't sup- pose that if we had had a shelter it would | have had any effect in saving the great loss of life in the storm of the 18th instant. A few boats in the immediate vicinity may have got to the refuge, but it would not have benefitted the native shipping at large. When the Government suggested Mongkoktsui, the Chamber of Commerce wrote stating that Chungshawan appeared more desirable sight. That is a point which I think is perhaps rather cleared up by the result of the last, storm. That brings me now to the small vote on the Observatory on which I presume I am entitled to speak. I do not hold with the ory which has unfortunately been raised too often that the Observatory is altogether in the wrong. I will not refer to the storm of the 18th instant, as the subject is sub jadice. The committee of the Chamber of Commerce have in days passed felt it to be their duty to point out that they considered they did not always receive the assistance which the shipping was entitled to receive from the Observatory. This resulted in the inquiry beld twelve years ago, which exonerated the Observatory. I do not wish to exonerate or to blame, but there is no question that there is a strong feeling in the community that through a little want of friend liness or reciprocity on the part of some of the officials we have not had the fullest possible benefit from the Observatory which we are entitled to expect. If Your Excellency saw The Hon. Mr. GRESSON-At the informal your way to clear up
this point, that meeting at which your Excellency was good whether these charges are unfounded or not it enough to place before the unofficial members will not occur again in the future, it would be the skeleton of your budget for 1907 you may satisfactory to the community at large. It recollect that I expressed no opinion on the might be possible to appoint a small commission means you proposed to adopt to balance revenue to go into the question of the equipment of the and expenditure. We had then no figures Observatory, and possibly to supply fresh before us and it was not possible to form a instruments to put the Observatory in a better competent opinion. Now we have full details position than it is at present to foretell and have also had the benefit of Your Excellency's approaching bad weather. Another point lucid explanation. The total decrease in the is the question of roads. Your Excellency estimated revenue for 1907 is as nearly as made experiments in wood paving but at the possib'e $900,000, due to three principal causes moment they are only in the experimental stage.shrinkage in the opium monopoly, the elim. Nobody can deny that the condition of the macadamised roads are a disgrace to any town that calls itself civilised. In wet weather they are impassable seas of mud. In dry weather it is almost impossible to walk on them on account of the broken surface, painfully recalling to one's mind stories of the middle ages when pious folk expatiated their sins by walking_to Canterbury with shoes full of dried peas. We of course understand that the cost of remaking roads in anything but macadam would be very great, and I fear only can be done when funds permit. One track, that is the tramway track, is very bad, but I know per- fectly well the difficulty which exists in keeping such a road in good condition when we have a ricaba traffic cutting the place to pieces. There is a continuous line of holes along the tramway which are dangerous to traffic and may cause serious accidents. In wet weather an active man сад cross with a certain amount of safety but a woman could not cross without getting her skirts ruined by dirty
wafer full of oil and iron rust. referred just now to the question of possible retrenchment. I now come to the question
for their loss.
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Excellency that if, as I foreson, a loan: must ultimately beraised, postponing the evil day will inevitably result in worse terms being secured. Far better to raise a low now when the oredit of the Colony is good and th · lender need not by concerned as to the security for his advance. As the desirability is not open to consideration ❘ I will make use of Your Excellency's reference to the out of the Colony's cost. Hera I`go farther than Your Excellency. I think it will be necessary to consider not only the out of the coat but also the under garments and household expenses. It is to these I would more particularly wish to refer, for I think they should be re-shaped before we de il with our outer garments or extraordinary expenditure. Before dealing with the expenditure there is one item in the revenus, a "äum of $10,000 to which I would like to draw attention. It is in connection with the new Western and Mongkoktsui markets. It would be instructive to know what the return sotually is after provision has been made for the cost of buildings and value of land. Turning now to expenditure, it is necessary, Sir, that I ask your and hon. members' attention to some figures. They are instructive and I hope they will be not altogether uninteresting. Under the heading, Personal Emoluments, exclusive of the Post Offices outside this Colony, I find that expenditure is no less a sum than $1,925,660 or out of a revenue of 86,448,025-30 per cent. Out of our revenue however, an immediate return of one-fifth has to be made as military contribu'ion. This amounts to $1,276,620, leaving us with a net available revenue of $5,171.4)5, and out of this personal emoluments absorb 37.26 per cent. In other words, to administer 85,171,435 we spend $1,925,660 (hair, hear). In dealing with expenditure it would of course be instructive to form comparisons, but comparisons equit- able and just are not 038y to tiad. In dealing with the expenditure of the Police and Jail Departments I may, perhaps, comparə them with the neighbouring settlement of Shanghai. I will deal first with the police. In Shanghai there is a foreiga population of 11,497 in addition to a native population of 451,716. In the Police Force there are 1,069 men of all ranks. The total number of prisoners dealt with by this force for the year 1905 was 81,117 at a cost of approximately $449,000. In Hong- kong there is, I understand, a force of 783 men. The personnel of the two forces is somewhat different. In Shanghai there are 111 Euro- peans as against 112 in Hongkong; there are 224 Indians as against 36) in Hongkong; and there are 734 Chinese sa against 311 in Hong- kong. Shanghai therefore maintains a force of 1,069 men at a cost of $149,00), while Hongkong's force of 783 men costs $543,816, or with 236 less man we pay $95,000 more.
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ination of the profit derived from subsidiary coins and the Widows and Orphans' Fuad. In estimating the expenditure Your Excellency has
been able to show & considerable decrease owing to the present high level of exchange. This may or not prove to be justified, for he would be a brave man indeed who would hazard an opinion as to what rates will be ruling at this time next year, and it is quite possible that the small surplus of $16,285 now shown may result in a deficiency. The Widows and Orphans' Pension Fund and the revenue from subsidiary coinage are not again available, and regarded even from the most favourable side it is obvious that we have to deal with a falling revenue. While I see no objection to the way in which it is proposed to meet this falling revenue,
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see nothing to commend it. The cure that is proposed is one with which we are all more or less familiar, and if the progress of the colony is not to come to a standstill it mus: soonclination to raise a loen is, I confess, to me sooner or later be abandoned. Your Excellency's
inexplicable, provided always the terms are satisfactory.
I may
here remind Your
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His Excellency-Does not that include the jail?
Hon. Mr. Gresson—No, Sir, I will refer to the jail later.
Continuing, the speaker said-It may pɔs- sibly be contended that Hongkong has a water police force, which Shanghai has not, but even so the expense of this branch is only $37,232. We will now compare the duties of the forces. I submit the duties of the Hongkong Police are no more arduous than those of Shanghai. In Hongkong they benefit by the assistance of the Garrison police in maintaining law and order, and happily they have not had the experience of assisting in the suppression of serious riots and the protection of life and property. It must further be remembered that Shanghai, for the purposes of defence, has of necessity to maintain a larger police force than would otherwise be required. The conclusion I come to, Sir, is that there is room for retrenchment in Hongkong. In the jail Hongkong's expenditure is $116,308; Shanghai's #5 ',500, a difference in favone of Shanghai of $65,806. I have no means of knowing the average number of prisoners in Hongkong. In Shanghai ou 1st January, 1905, there were 419, and on the 31st December 488, 5 that a fair average would be 450. In the Medical Departments the total expenditure is $235,175, or 3.64 per cent of the gross revenue. Personal smolumenta amount to $139,035. This is, I admit, Sir, a deficate and I am quite sure none of us wish the poorer department to try to cut down the expenses of,
classes not to have the benefit of medical advice, but still if we are to render any assistance at
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