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Enclosure in Governor Sir Graves MacDonnell's Despatch 132 of 27th September 1866
THE STAMP ACT, 1866. The following Memorial respecting the Stamp Act has been presented to His Excellency the Governor from the undermentioned firms and other residents at Amoy.
To His Excellency Sir RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNELL, K.C.B., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hong Kong.
The Memorial of the undersigned, Merchants and Inhabitants of the Port of Amoy.
Humbly Sheweth,
That your Memorialists have seen with extreme regret Your Excellency's proposal for a Stamp Act for the Colony of Hong Kong, which they are of opinion is calculated to inflict great injury on the trade and all other vested interests of that Port.
That your Memorialists are many of them directly interested in the prosperity of Hong Kong, such as they are Bankers, Dock, and Insurance Companies, all of which must have suffered had the Stamp Act come into force, independently of the sharp commercial depression.
That your Memorialists would draw Your Excellency's attention to the fact that the trades of Amoy are intimately connected with that of Hong Kong, and anything which interferes with the trade of the latter must have an injurious effect upon that of the former; for example, all the Exchange business of this Port is done through Hong Kong, and nearly all the manufactured Goods, Foreign Cotton, &c., which are consumed here are received via Hong Kong, and they would respectfully state that the proposed Stamp Act will certainly prove a serious burden and obstacle to the continuance of such Trade.
That your Memorialists would, for the reasons set forth above, as well as for those more fully and emphatically expressed in the Memorial of the Hong Kong Community, in which they especially concur, respectfully beg of Your Excellency to abandon the Stamp Act in favor of some other mode of taxation less likely to press so grievously and vexatiously upon the trade of Hong Kong, as well as on that of Amoy and other Coast Ports in the South of China.
Dated at Amoy, September 6, 1866.
[Signed by various firms and individuals, including:]
EMAIL, BROWN & Co.,
DAUVER & Co.,
Amoy Dyeing Company, per J. CASS, Secretary,
ROBERT CRAIG,
W. CUNNINGHAM JOHNSTON,
MUNRO,
F. MEYER,
TAIT & Co.,
ELLIS & Co.,
M. SMITH,
BOYD & Co.,
JONES CARNEGIE & SCOTT,
Jno. L. ANDERSON,
JOHN C. MACKENZIE,
DAN PEDDER,
FRANK LEYBURN,
C. & ROBERT WILSON,
J. H. MENZIES,
WALTER G. H. CAPP,
JAMES JONES,
W. S. SIBBALD,
OK HVAITE,
R. KAISER,
MAN WALK ZACHARIAH,
A. LEIGH,
A. M. DONALDSON,
AUG. MULLER,
H. A. PETERSON & Co.,
H. G. HUG, GERARD & Co.,
BELLAMY & Co.,
J. AYRES,
WILSON, NICHOLLS & GILES & Co.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE, HONG KONG, 14th September, 1866.
I am directed by His Excellency Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, transmitting a Memorial of certain Merchants and Inhabitants of the Port of Amoy praying His Excellency "to abandon the Stamp Act in favor of some other mode of taxation less likely to press grievously and vexatiously on the trade of Hong Kong as well as on that of Amoy and other Coast Ports in the South of China."
His Excellency is much concerned that such erroneous impressions should have alarmed the residents at Amoy, who do not appear to have been acquainted with the very simple and moderate scale of Stamp duties imposed by the revised Schedule of the Stamp Ordinance. It is unnecessary to remark that His Excellency does not believe that measure "calculated to inflict great injury not only on the trade, but also on the vested interests of Hong Kong." If such had been his belief, he would not have proposed it.
Nevertheless, in the anxiety expressed by the inhabitants of Amoy as to the effects of a Stamp duty on themselves, and the mercantile interests of other Coast Ports, His Excellency sees an additional proof of the soundness of the Policy, which has not placed the new duty merely on the property of residents in Hong Kong, but has spread it as widely as possible over the general business and mercantile transactions of all who have dealings with Hong Kong as the main centre of those transactions and principal Commercial Depot of these seas.
Already Hong Kong alone contributes towards the Military protection of British interests and trade in China, and therefore, when her finances are embarrassed, has just right to expect that all who are commercially connected with her should contribute to such expenditure wherever it may be possible to reach them.
His Excellency has therefore sought to accomplish this by a Stamp duty, the only means compatible with the freedom of the port by which the Legislature here can reach parties who, though not actually residing in Hong Kong, nevertheless indirectly derive almost as much benefit from the establishment and maintenance of Hong Kong as if residing there.
It is quite true that the principle of a Stamp duty might be pushed injuriously far and become by its complications and heavy amount "grievous" and "vexatious." It is not true, however, that such terms fairly describe the Ordinance recently passed, and His Excellency sees no just reason why the people of Amoy should assume that an equitable mode of taxation is likely to be carried either by himself or Her Majesty's Government to an extreme calculated to injure the interests which it is their duty to foster and protect.
His Excellency will feel obliged by your forwarding this letter as a reply to the parties who transmitted their Memorial through you.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) L. D'ALMADA & CASTRO, for the Colonial Secretary.
To GEORGE F. MACLEAN, Esq., &c.
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