Board
of
Trade
IB
Appendix.
Report on the
Island of Hong Kong,
[16]
literally true that after 3 years' uninterrupted settlement, there is not one respectable Chinese inhabitant on the island. One man of reputed wealth, named Chinam, who had been engaged in the opium trade, came to Hong Kong, built a good house and freighted a ship. He soon returned to Canton, and died there of a fever and cold, contracted at Hong Kong. It was understood, however, that had he lived he would have been prohibited returning to Hong Kong, the policy of the mandarins on the adjacent coast being to prevent all respectable Chinese from settling at Hong Kong, and in consequence of the hold which they possess on their families and relatives, this can be done most effectually; at the same time I believe that they encourage and promote the deportation of every thief, pirate, and idle or worthless vagabond from the main land to Hong Kong.
"It
The Rev. Dr. Gutzlaff, who has been engaged in making the recent census appended to this Report, referring to the fishermen, who formed the greater part of the population of the island on our arrival, says "They are a roving set of beings, floating on the wide face of the ocean with their families, and committing depredations whenever it can be done with impunity." "The stone-cutters have been working here for many years before our arrival; the majority of these men are unprincipled. They cannot be considered as domesticated, and are in the habit of going and coming, according to the state of trade." "The most numerous class who have since our arrival fixed themselves on the island, are from Whampoa; many of them are of the worst character, and ready to commit any atrocity." The capital of the shopkeepers is very small; the most of them live from hand to mouth, and lead a life of expedients without principle and self control." is very natural that depraved, idle, and bad characters from the adjacent main and islands should flock to the colony where some money can be made." Dr. Gutzlaff, whose prepossessions are strongly in favour of the Chinese, concludes this portion of the memorandum with which he has favoured me, as follows: "The moral standard of the people congregated in this place (Hong Kong) is of the lowest description." This observation is fully borne out by the numerous murders, piracies, burglaries, and robberies of every description which have taken place during the last three years, and with almost perfect impunity; for the Chinese are formed into secret societies for the mutual protection of villains, and no man dare inform against another. At this moment (July 1844) the European inhabitants are obliged to sleep with loaded pistols under their pillows, frequently to turn out of their beds at midnight to protect their lives and property from gangs of armed robbers, who are ready to sacrifice a few of their number if they can obtain a large plunder.
This state of things was long ago predicted. In the Canton Register of 23d February 1841 it was stated, Hong Kong will be the resort and rendezvous of all the Chinese smugglers; opium smoking shops and gambling houses will soon spread; to those haunts will flock all the discontented and bad spirits of the empire; the island will be surrounded by Shameens, and become a Gehenna of the waters."
Three years have completely fulfilled this prediction, and neither time nor circumstances will now ever alter the character of the place. No Chinese of the humbler class will ever bring their wives and children to the colony. He must be sanguinely visionary who expects that Hong Kong will ever contain a numerous and respectable Chinese population. And, as regards the present inhabitants, (if a migratory race who are constantly changing deserve that epithet), their diminution by one-half would be satisfactory, for then a control by registration might be exercised, and life and property be rendered in some degree secure. The daring character of the population and its worthlessness for all useful civil purposes in the formation of a colony, will be seen in the following incident.
On 27th September 1843, the Honourable Major Caine, the chief magistrate, issued a proclamation for pulling down some mat sheds which harboured a gang of ruffians who were nightly engaged in plundering the town. In the beginning of October 1843, the Chinese robbers posted a counter proclamation on the gate of No. 1 Market-place, in the chief thoroughfare, declaring that if they left the island themselves they would "compel others to do so, taking with them their merchandise and property, and warning people to be cautious how they ventured out after dark, lest they meet with some unexpected harm." At the same time the Government coal depots were set on fire; the mat barracks of the 41st Regiment, and the Market-place No. 1, were attempted to be burned; and at noon a number of Chinamen, armed with knives, entered the market, threatened all around, wounded a European policeman, and then walked away unmolested. The number of prisoners in the gaol of Hong Kong averaged, during 1843-44, from 60 to 90 a month; nearly every prisoner was Chinese, and the crimes with which they were charged were invariably piracy, murder, burglary, robbery, &c. There has been no diminution of crime; the number of prisoners in the jail have increased, and the nightly robberies are as frequent, if not more so, than they were three years ago. The shopkeepers do not remain more than a few months on the island, when another set takes their place. There is, in fact, a continual shifting of a Bedouin sort of population, whose migratory, predatory, gambling, and dissolute habits utterly unfit them for continuous industry, and render them not only useless, but highly injurious subjects in the attempt to form a new colony.
There cannot be said to be any other coloured race in the colony; a few Lascars seek employment in ships. The European inhabitants, independent of those in the employ of government, consist of the members of about 12 mercantile houses and their clerks, together with several European shopkeepers. A few persons have arrived here from New South Wales, to try and better their fortune, many of whom would be glad to return thither.
[17]
Appendix.
Report on the
Island of Hong Kong.
The principal mercantile firms are those engaged in the opium trade, who have removed thither from Macao, as a safer position for an opium depot, and which they frankly admit is the only trade Hong Kong will ever possess. The opium belonging to the two principal firms is not, however, lodged on shore, it is kept in receiving ships, the "Hormanjee Bomanjee," belonging to Jardine, Matheson & Co., and the "John Barry," belonging to Dent & Co. Even the money in use by those firms is not entrusted on shore, but is kept in the receiving ships. These firms, and the three or four others partially engaged in the opium trade, carry on this business in Hong Kong. The tea trade is carried on distinctly at Canton, by members of the firms resident there. Excepting the six firms engaged in the opium trade, the other six houses are small, and are principally agents for manufacturers, &c. in Great Britain. The expense of establishments, the high rate of interest of money, and the want of trade, will, it is said, probably ere long compel the removal or breaking-up of several of the small houses. There is scarcely a firm in the island but would, I understand, be glad to get back half the money they have expended in the colony, and retire from the place. A sort of hallucination seems to have seized those who built houses here; they thought that Hong Kong would "rapidly out-rival Singapore, and become the Tyre or Carthage of the Eastern hemisphere." Three years' residence, and the experience thence derived, have materially sobered some of their views. Unfortunately the government of the colony fostered the delusion respecting the colony. The leading government officers bought land, built houses or bazaars, which they rented out at high rates, and the public money was lavished in the most extraordinary manner, building up and pulling down temporary structures, making zig-zag bridle paths over hills and mountains, and forming the Queen's-road of three to four miles long, on which about 180,000 dollars have been expended, but which is not passable for half the year. The straggling settlement called Victoria, built along the Queen's-road, was dignified with the name of city, and it was declared on the highest authority that Hong Kong would contain a population "equal to that of ancient Rome."
The Surveyor-general, in an official report to Sir Henry Pottinger, of 22 pages, dated 6 July 1843, proposed building an entirely new town or city, in the Woonichung Valley (which may be aptly called the valley of death), with a grand canal and many branch canals, &c. &c.; two ranges of terraces of houses, &c. &c.; courts of law and various other offices; acclimating barracks; additions to the present government house, for the secretaries and personal staff of the Governor, isolated from all other buildings; a space of land to be reclaimed from the sea for a public landing place, with an esplanade or public walk; a magnificent promenade of four miles to be made on ground now covered by the sea, which was to be excluded by a sea wall, at a cost of 35 dollars per lineal yard, exclusive of filling in, &c.; a circular road over hills and ravines, round the entire island, &c. &c., adapted for carriages, and for moving troops with speed and facility to any part of the island where they may happen to be required for the protection of the different villages. (These villages, be it remembered, containing nothing but a few hundreds of a thieving, piratical population.) I refer to the Government archives for full details of these and other most ridiculous projects, involving a vast expenditure of public money, which none but the wildest theorists or self-interested persons could have projected or entertained.
On 17th December 1843, the Surveyor-general laid before Sir H. Pottinger the elevation of a building for a government office, &c. with a front of 360 feet in length, by 50 feet in depth, and which would probably cost 30,000l. sterling. There seemed to be the greatest possible desire to spend a large part of the Chinese indemnity money on this wretched, barren, unhealthy, and useless rock, which the whole wealth, energy, and talent of England would never render habitable, or creditable as a colony to the British name.
In illustration of the mode in which the public money was proposed to be spent, I give the following, which is a portion of the estimate of public works in Hong Kong, for 1844, and which Sir H. Pottinger transmitted to England for approval:
Completion of Queen's-road from West Point to the east side of Wong-nichung Valley
Ditto, to godowns of Jardine & Co. New street formation in Victoria
Sewers in Victoria
-
-
Value of houses to be removed from Upper Bazaar and other places Drainage of Woonichung Valley
Bridle path to Saiwan
New church
-
Government house, with suitable office, &c. House for Judge
Ditto, for Advocate-general
28,000 dollars.
15,000
35,000
""
100,000
·
25,000
7,000
3,000
+
35,000 "}
70,000 "
24,000 +1
20,000
E
House
South