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18
Enclosure No. 2 in No. 5.
Memo. of Premium on Land sold during the past ten years from 1858 to 1863, in the Island of Hongkong.
YEAR. LOCALITY. PREMIUM. 1853.. Victoria Do. $ 796.00 1854... Do. 5,660.00 1855.. Do. 75,460.00 1856.. Do. and Pokefulum 5,195.00 1857. Do. 78,662.00 1858. Do. 5,830.00 1859. Do. 7,170.00 1860.. Do. and Sowkewan. 94,342.00 1861. Do. Pokefulum, Aberdeen and Apleschow Total Premium.... 167,538.00 1862. Do. Aberdeen aud Apleechow. 142,602.00 6,490.00 1863.. Do. 584,743.00Surveyor General's Office, 23rd November, 1863.
CHAS. ST. GEO. CLEVERLY,
Surveyor General.
Enclosure No. 3 in No. 5.
No.
Return showing the strength and expenses of a Garrison Battery Royal Artillery at Honghong.
RANKS. PAY AND ALLOWANCES PER ASSUM. PAY AND ALLOWANCES PER MENSEM. Captains £ £ 104 Lieutenants . 3 84 Serjeants..... 2 Assistant Surgeous I 31 6 27 15 Goook d. £ 8. d. 6 8 1,261 15 B 9 1,013 5 ก 372 0 0 333 0 0 Corporals 4 14 0 0 169 Bombardiers 13 0 156 0 Trumpeters 4 & 51 15 0 Gunners 100 215 12 2,587 10 0 Miscellaneous Charges 20 0 240 0 Battery Total... 122In Writing the Brak
Hongkong, 20th November, 1863.
No. 6.
£ 514 8 9
6,173 5 0
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No. 7.
109
Copy of DESPATCH from the Duke of NEWCASTLE, K.G., to Governor Sir H. ROBINSON,
Downing Street, 16th February, 1864.
(No. 22.) SIR,
I have to acknowledge the receipt of Mr Mercer's Despatch "Separate" of the 2nd December last, in which he submits his observations respecting an annual contribution by Hongkong towards its Military Expenditure.
It is impossible for me to doubt that the security given to the inhabitants and trade of Hongkong (and more especially perhaps to the wealthy European Merchants in the Colony) by the presence of Her Majesty's Forces, would be cheaply purchased by an annual payment of £20,000, and therefore I should not be doing justice to the inhabitants of this country if I failed to require that the Imperial Treasury should be relieved to that extent as soon as possible, from the burden of supporting that Force.
Her Majesty's Government do not feel themselves bound to continue to protect an entrepôt for the Chinese Trade, however important it may be, at the sole expense of the British Treasury, when the Merchants who make use of it have, by great Imperial efforts, been placed in a position in which they are able to contribute towards the cost of that protection.
I am fully aware that the satisfaction of the fair claims of the Imperial Government would be deferred for ever if it were to be postponed until all Colonial improvements, which might be in themselves desirable, had been executed out of the produce of existing Taxes.
The real question is whether the wealth of the community is such as to enable them to pay such Taxes as are necessary for the double purpose of developing the Colony and meeting those claims; and this question appears to me to be sufficiently answered by the remark contained in Mr. Mercer's Despatch, that the "residents of Hongkong find the Colony singularly profitable, and are but lightly taxed."
Entertaining, as I do, these views, I cannot hold out any hope that Her Majesty's Government will refrain from pressing the demand which was communicated to Mr. Mercer by my Despatch No. 115 of the 5th September last.
Governor Sir H. Robinson,
&c., &c.,
&c.
I have, &c. (Signed)
NEWCASTLE.
No. 8.
Copy of DESPATCH from Governor Sir H. ROBINSON
to His Grace the Duke of NEWCASTLE, K.G.
(Separate.)
COPY of DESPATCH from the Acting Governor of HONGKONG to His Grace the Duke of NEWCASTLE, K.G.
MY LORD DUKE,
Hongkong, 31st December, 1863. With reference to my Despatch Separate of 2nd instant, I think it right to report that on the 24th instant I received from Sir Hercules Robinson at Singapore copy of the Despatch in which he placed before Your Grace his views on the subject of the Military contribution.
I was therefore at the date of my Despatch unaware of the contents of Sir Hercules Robinson's communication, and am anxious to prevent misapprehension by putting the fact on record, as there seems to me a certain similarity in the manner in which both Sir Hercules Robinson and myself have treated the subject, more especially as to the two heads under which each has considered it.
His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G.,
&c., &c.,
&c.
I have, &c. (Signed)
W. T. MERCER.
(No. 30.)
MY LORD DUKE,
Hongkong, 9th April, 1864.
I have the honor to forward the following financial Returns:
1. Return of Revenue and Expenditure of Hongkong during the year ended 31st December, 1863.
2. Comparative Statement of the Revenue and Expenditure in 1862 and 1863.
3. Statement of Assets and Liabilities on the 1st January, 1864.
2. This last differs slightly from the approximate statement of assets and liabilities transmitted by Mr. Mercer in his Despatch No. 12 of the 13th January last as the Crown Agents' account for the last quarter had not at that time been received.
3. In forwarding these Returns I think it necessary to offer a few remarks upon the financial condition and prospects of the Colony as find I am directed by Your Grace's Despatch No. 115 of the 5th September last to place a charge of £20,000 for Military contribution upon the Estimates for 1865, which will require to be passed in the course of a few months.
4. It will be seen from Return No. 3 that at the commencement of the present year the assets exceeded the liabilities by £92,761; but it must be borne in mind that this excess does not represent an available balance of the same amount.
A supply of the Balances must always be kept in the hands of the Treasurer and Crown Agents. A subsidiary currency must also be kept available: and there must at all times be a certain...
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