£20 additional pont faids for it.
truth of the
to the ar
assumption
is not n
The
Drecessary
argument. If we suppord that
when the demand for houses was
greatest
a certain number of lots were sold at their
then
value, and that, some time afterwards
when the demand had
lessened, other
other lots werd
also sold, at their value at the time of
sale, (which every
one knows is what
actually took place), the result is precisely the same. The first supposition however
is not merely an assumption, but illustration of what really occurred.
and to
It is impossible for any one to form a correct judgement of what will be the annual value of any household's property for a long term of years, (certainly not for 75 years), in an old and antient city,
much less
in Land here
built;
so it is
in Hongkong.
A house was
sold when not as
roads were not, I believe, formed
even on
paper. On the other hand, the
.
Page 403
increhants through whom the trade of China
had been carried on
up to that time, had been driven from Canton
and from Macao; and,
anticipating but little security for themselves or families at any one
of the
newly opened ports of China, believed that their head-quarters would in future be at Hongkong
;
and, at all events,
were glad for the present to secure themselves an asylum there, at any rate
and as
speedily as possible. Lots of
ground having been put up sparingly under such circumstances, and Speculation
being
rife by
reason of the influx of adventurers already
in the Colony and of
more),
the anticipated arrival of many who, it was believed, would be drawn to
China by the opening of its trade, it
was little matter for wonder that lands
sold at enormous prices; and that