का
323
instructions before commencing work.
the
7. Some of the leading Chinese merchants, who were good enough to thank me for moving in the matter, assured me that they regarded the protection of the junk population as being of such vital importance to the Colony that they had actually proposed raising a subscription amongst themselves to defray the cost of
8. a breakwater. Remembering, however, on the one hand what considerable revenue the Treasury obtains from the Opium Farm and other taxes to which the Chinese contribute, and on the other hand how essential this laborious junk population is to the transit of goods and the ordinary commercial operations upon which the prosperity of Hongkong depends, I am confident Your Lordship will give authority to lay the total cost of the undertaking on the general exchequer of the Colony, or, perhaps, on the residue of the Special Fund.
I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your Lordship's most Obedient humble servant,
Governor.