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Afforded for the accommodation of the troops in a climate so deleterious as that of Hong-Kong.
The necessity for increased accommodation for the garrison has long been apparent to the Military authorities; and the acquisition of a healthy site, like that of Kowloon, points at once to the direction in which this accommodation must be found. The annual cost of life in the Garrison at Hong-Kong and the invaliding home of the troops is so costly, that putting all questions of humanity aside, it is well worth the while of the Government, from an economical point of view, to go to considerable expense in constructing new Barracks and hospitals, open to the sea breeze and affording increased cubic space to the soldiers.
It is therefore most important an object to secure to the Imperial Government the possession of the site which, on sanitary and other grounds, is most adapted for Barracks, as these sites, if otherwise appropriated, can never be regained. The Secretary of State for War has every wish to avoid interfering with the commercial growth of Hongkong; and is anxious to lay out the newly acquired Territory in such a manner as to give the Colony every facility for development.
But it must be borne in mind that the position of the garrison is very different from that of the Colonists. The latter go to Hong Kong by their own option, in pursuit of their own interests. The troops who go there to protect the Colonists,