être attribuée.
Je suisis, cette occasion, Monsieur;
pour réitérer à Votre Excellence, les assurances
de ma
très-haute considération.
(Signé ) E de Lugrené
True Copy.
Frederich W. A. Bruce
RECELS
TEB 2
10246
To the Editor of the HONGKONG REGISTER.
SIR,I was much amused by reading in your last number as I have before been amused by list- ening to the views of Mr. MoNTGOMERY MArtin, respecting the cause of the unhealthiness of Hong- kong, and the gases envolved from decayed granite. It seems not a little strange that one educated to the Medical Profession should sport such views, and had I not heard them from his own mouth, I could scarcely have believed, notwithstanding the internal evidence, that the article in the Gentleman's Gazette was his production. I know not whether it was customery in former days to give Medical diplomas to Gentlemen who had not attended a Chemical class, but if he did attend one, he must have been in the predicament of a certain mathe- matical student I have heard of, whom his Pro- fessor complimented on his honesty when leaving this class, expressing his belief that he had taken
nothing away.
Granite is well known to be composed of quartz, mica and felspar. Quartz consists of nearly pure silicecus earth; mica of silica, lime and alumina; and felspar of the same materials in a different. proportion, with the addition of a small quantity of potass. All these substances no doubt contain oxygen gas as a component part joined to a metal- lic base; but to separate that gas is one of the most difficult operations in Chemistry, and if separated it would improve and not deteriorate the atmos- phere. The mere circumstance of disintegration however will make no change on the materials as Mr. MALTIN would have us believe, misled ap- parently by the terms decayed granite, rotten rock and other such names applied to it, and draw- ing his conclusious from the same terms as ap- Now plied to animal and vegetable substances. in these there is a total change of substance at- tendant on decay. Futrefaction takes place new combinations are formed and a copious evolution of gas follows. But no such thing is the result of decay in granite, and to whatever cause the sickness of Hongkong may be attributed, some other source n.ust be looked for than the gas | proceeding from rotten rock.
I am, &c.,
AN AMATEUR GEOLOGIST.
P. S.-I leave you to deal with the political and commercial view of the question, but surely you
might have something to say about the base in- sinuation against Sir HENRY POTTINGER, as being influenced by those about him from mercenary What- motives to prefer Hongkong to Chusan. ever the faults of late Plenipotentiary, be ever showed a high minded and honorable spirit, joined to an integrity of purpose which Mr. MARTIN might well take as a pattern, whilst these quali- ties were joined to an indefatigable industry and application to the duties of his office, which did not, so far as is known to the public, characterise the late Colonial Treasurer.
OUR Correspondent "AN AMATEUR GEOLOGIST, bas called our attention to some points in the article from the Bombay Gentleman's Gazette, which we omitted in our former notice. We fully agree with him in considering the insinuation against Sir HENRY POTTINGER, Most unjust and unfounded, and that the writer of that article whoever he is would do well to imitate the high toned integrity which ever characterised the late Plenipotentiary.
There are several other points in his communi- cation deserving farther remark, more especially as we find it has been copied by most of the Indian Journals, and unless contradicted will be received at home as deserving of credit.
The occupation of Hongkong he says was first brought about by the Opium speculators who thought it a fit place for their traffic; and such
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it was and is. The latter part of this statement we have already said is unfounded, and the former is no less so. The occupation of Hongkong was the voluntary act of the Plenipotentiary of the day. whose attention was naturally attracted by the best harbour in the South of China, situated within a convenient distance of the port, which then was, and still continues to be the great emporium of the China trade. We do not doubt the rising prosperity of Shanghai, and consider it not im- probable that it may one day surpass Canton. But notwithstanding the great success that has attended the opening of this Port, a success that has exceeded the expectation of many who were sanguine on that point, the trade of Canton has not fallen off, but on the contrary continues to show a steady increase. If the traders of long- kong have not sufficient confidence to land their treasure but keep it on board receiving vessels, it is not so much a reproach against the capabilities of the place, as against the Government which was so tardy in establishing an officient police. Since that was established property is just as se- cure here, and loaded pistols as rarely to be found under the pillows of the inhabitants, as in many parts of the East; and this change must have been well known to the writer, if he had found it would answer his purpose to publish it. If no respectable Chinese have come to settle among us, we must look to the same quarter for the cause. No one in China is ignorant that several highly respectable China merchants were most anxious to settle here. The illiberality of Government in granting land at first deterred them; and at a later period, when our present rulers were disposed to boast that they had overcome previous obstacles, when a grant of land was made and the bounda- ries marked out, their narrow policy in imposing restrictions upon trade, and imposts upon the in- It is said habitants, a second time deterred them.
the population of Hongkong amounted to 19,000 in July last. We have been informed on the best authority that the same number were found early in 1844, by Mr. GUTZLAFF, and there is no doubt that there has been a great increase since that period. It is very singular that while the example of Singapore is dunned into our ears whenever it can be brought to sanction the imposition of a tax or any other illiberal measure, whatever is praiseworthy in the Government there is care- fully avoided. Thus at Singapore statements of the revenue and expenditure are regularly publish- ed, but who that is not initiated, knows any thing of those of Hongkong. At Singapore the result of the census was recently published, with the number of the different classes of inhabitante; but though it is well known that a census was taken here last year, the result is withheld for no other reason that we can imagine, but that its publication would be a departure from the close system, that is one of the chief characteristics of our present rulers.
Another instance of the unfairness of the writer is the selection of the year 1843 for a comparison of the salubrity of Hongkong and Chusan. Why not take 1844, unless that the result would be more favorable for the former, or 1842 which would have told equally against the latter. It is true he tells us the bad food sent from Calcutta is now admitted to be the cause of the mortality at Chusan in 1842; but it would not suit his pur- pose to say that other causes are also admitted to have been active in producing the sickness of 1843 in Hongkong. Need we do more than merely allude to the miserable huts in which the military were crowded, in which no one would place a favourite dog, and that too after just ar- riving from the Yangtszekeang, where the seeds of disease bad been implanted in their constitutions. This too was felt on board H. M. Ships in the harbour, the crews of which are falsely represent- ed to have suffered as much as those on shore,