20
REPORT ON
tained in the respective ports on an excellent footing, no vessels will visit the colony to buy articles at the same price which they can more easily get nearer to them, nor will they bring goods to Hong Kong for which there is an advantageous market in their own neighbourhood. When ships find it more profitable to proceed direct to the northern ports, the chances of Hong Kong becoming an emporium are very trifling. Whatever native or foreign trade may be carried on here must be brought to the colony by adventitious circumstances, and will last or cease according to accident; for, notwithstanding the excellent harbour, Hong Kong has nothing in its position or relationship to other ports to concentrate commerce."
Since August, 1841, Sir H. Pottinger has been issuing proclama- tions and regulations respecting commerce and shipping, for their encouragement and protection. No duties of any kind whatever have been levied, no inquiries have been made as to the cargoes of vessels; ships might enter and depart at pleasure-but all in vain; commerce cannot be created where no materials for it exist.
The Table in the Documentary Appendix* shows the shipping which entered the harbour of Hong Kong for three years. It consisted prin- cipally of transports conveying troops, and vessels calling for orders or seeking freight.
Ample trial has been given to the place, without any satisfactory result. Nearly four years' residence on or occupation of the island, and an immense expenditure, has failed to produce any commercial operation. Every month the shipping entering the harbour are diminishing in number; and the imposition of a tonnage duty would, it is said, cause a still further decrease. There does not appear to be the slightest proba- bility that, under any circumstances, Hong Kong will ever become a place of trade. The island produces nothing whatever; its geographical position, either as regards the Chinese coast generally, or Canton in particular, is bad. For the trade of the coast of China, it is too far to the southward of a territory which extends upwards of 2000 miles; and if it were practicable to remove the foreign trade of Canton, the removal would be either to some of the open ports to the northward in the neigh- bourhood of the tea districts, or to some island or place in the Canton river. Among other delusions that have been promulgated, is the allegation that Hong Kong is a protection to the British commerce at Canton, and especially to the tea trade. With reference to the latter, it should be remembered that the Chinese are as eager to sell us tea as we are to buy it; that the cessation of the trade would be a greater injury to them than to the British nation; that there was no difficulty in procuring tea during the war; that nothing would prevent the Chinese supplying our annual demand for tea, and of course receiving in return English mauu- factures. The tea trade is, in fact, as independent of Hong Kong, as it. would be of our occupation of the Sandwich Islands. Canton, however, has no intrinsic advantages to make it the seat of foreign commerce. So long as the Emperor restricted all foreigners to the most distant southerly port in the empire, tea, silk, or any other exportable produce, of pro- was obliged to be conveyed thither, however distant the place duction or manufacture; but the case now is totally different, when the
*The documentary appendix is too voluminous to be printed.
HONG KONG.
21
northern ports in the immediate vicinity of the tea and silk provinces are, equally with Canton, open to British commerce. Several vessels have already laden with teas for England in the northern ports; this may be increased, and the trade of Canton would then be proportionally diminished, thus rendering Hong Kong (admitting, for the sake of argument, its reputed value as a protection to the trade of Canton) every year less and less useful to British interests in China.
It is for the advantage of England that our trade with China be carried on with the northern ports. In the central districts of China, along the Yang-tze-kiang and other great rivers and canals, the people are more civilized, more wealthy, and (now that they are becoming acquainted with the English) more disposed to friendly and commercial intercourse. By purchasing tea and silk near the place of production, the charges of land-carriage, fees, &c., will be reduced, and the cost price thus lessened by one-third to the British consumer; on the other hand, the Chinese will be able to purchase British manufactures at a cheap rate, when they are brought by our vessels to their doors. These and other considerations render it a matter of national importance that our trade with China be diffused over several ports, instead of being confined to Canton, and indicate that it is not desirable Hong Kong be maintained (even if the assertion be true) as a protection to the trade of Canton.
There are now five ports open on the coast of China to all European, East Indian, and American vessels. There can be no reason why foreign vessels should discharge cargo at Hong Kong, merely to change cargoes from one vessel to another; and as the Chinese Government now allows a vessel to sell part of her cargo at one port and then proceed to another, and will probably ere long form bonded warehouses at each port, there will be still less probability of any trade being established at Hong Kong.
It is, indeed, a delusion or a deception to talk of Hong Kong becoming a commercial emporium*, and to liken it to Singapore. The circum- stances and position of Hong Kong and Singapore present no resem- blance whatevert. Hong Kong is a barren rock, producing nothing—
*The experience of every day shows the futility of expecting that Hong Kong will ever be a place of trade. The "Friend of China," dated 7th May, 1845, says, in an editorial article, "The mercantile transactions of Hong Kong are so very small, that they are scarcely to be included in the trade of China." The same tone, even more desponding, is held by the "Hong Kong Register," The "China Mail" of 8th May, 1845, also adverts to the "absence of all immediate prospect of extending the commerce of Hong Kong." The merchants, in their memorial to Lord Stanley, of 13th August, 1845, declare that "after four years' occupation, there is neither an import or export trade of any kind," and they say they "cannot refrain from urging that such a settlement as Hong Kong was never actually required by the British merchants, and that it has become even less so since the opening of the five Chinese ports,'
Syra, in lat. 36° N., one of the Cyclades, and a colony of Greece, resembles Hong Kong in its lofty, rugged, barren appearance, totally divested of verdure, surrounded by sterile isles, and with a moderately secure harbour. There is no level ground, the town is built in successive terraces from the edge of the harbour to the elevation of about 500 feet, and has a neat and picturesque appearance. But notwithstanding the sterility of the island, its admirable position has given it a population of 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants; an active commerce, 10 to 15 vessels daily arriving and departing; 50 vessels of all nations, English, French,
474