408
me
to
the various colonies, and requesting information whether the practice should be continued in this colony.
In reply I have to acquaint Your Lordship that for several years no morning gun has been fired by the Military, and that owing to the peculiar formation of the hills round Hong Kong the firing of the morning gun by the Senior Naval Officer in the Harbour was felt to be a great annoyance to the inhabitants generally, and especially to delicate persons and invalids. It frequently caused no little distress and injury to the latter, especially in Summer, when all the windows are obliged to be kept open. This gave greater effect to the noise and reverberation amongst the hills which often interrupted the only sleep which such persons had got after a restless night.
The Admiral and Commodore have therefore for some time discontinued the practice at my request, urged on them by the feeling of the community. The same objections do not, or at least with the same force, apply to the evening gun, nor to that fired at moon, both of which I am sure the majority of the Community would desire to have continued. In the morning however the present practice of firing a musket at Sunrise is sufficient, and is required because from custom and by Ordinance the hour for firing