may
other place which
seem the best adapted for a permanent Naval Depôt, I have the satisfaction to report to Your Lordship the most striking, and almost unlocked for progress in the public works, both in the Civil and Ordnance Departments, during the last few months. The peculiar situation of this new Colony, in being placed close to an old Country from whence an unlimited supply of labour and materials can be procured, may partly explain this, but the rapid growth of private holdings, and of the Commercial Population of the Island, must be caused by irresistible attractions of a Free Port, the benefits of British rule, and the profuse supply of private capital thereby occasioned.
I have determined to carry the hitherto Road from West Point over a deep depression of the mountainous ridge of the island, to Shek Pai Wan; and am fully persuaded, that the value thereby accruing building sites, on the South side, will amply repay the expense of the undertaking.
There anything still wanting to complete the destruction of Macao as a Commercial Port, it has been at length supplied by a public notice from the Portuguese Authorities to the effect that the Chinese Tariff and Tonnage dues will in future be levied there & this only tends to confirm the undisputed fact, that Macao is a portion of the "Chinese Empire, and justifies that provision of Ordinance, No 1 of 1844, " for Her Majesty's Subjects within the dominions of the Emperor of China?"
Mao
by