Hongkong was destined to be by becoming a mart for the exchanges of a portion of the Eastern world: a safe and convenient asylum for merchants of all nations; and also, it is hoped, a luminous spot, whence the neighbouring nations may receive the rays of Christianity and its ever-attendant civilization. Every honest person possessing independent means of support, or who can procure for himself the necessaries of life by labour, and every person possessed of capital for the employment of others, may be welcomed to the Colony as an addition to its wealth and prosperity, and the departure of every such person may be lamented as a subtraction from the same.
The problem which, on the cession of Hongkong to Great Britain, the Colonial Minister seems to have considered it called upon himself to solve was, how to attract to the new Colony the greatest number of such settlers as have been last alluded to, so as to derive the largest amount of revenue, and at the same time prevent "the island from becoming the undisturbed resort of pirates, which it was very likely to become from its position and the circumstances of its occupation.
The supposed solution of the problem was the present system of land tenure, which it was hoped might make taxes unnecessary and provide in the simplest mode the expenses of Government. The outline of this system is as follows. At certain times chosen by the Government, lots of ground are put up to public auctions, at an upset annual rental: the person who bids the highest annual rental is granted a lease for a term of years. A payment in advance of this rental is made. The term was at first 75 years; it may be extended at the option of the lessee to...
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