The Daily Press.
HONGKONG, OCTOBER 16TH, 1878.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
A mooting of the Legislative Council was bold yesterday afternoon. There were present ----
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR. Hou. F. SNOWDEN, Acting Chief Justice. Hon. C. MAY, Acting Colonial Secretary, Hon. G. PHILLIPPO, Attorney General. Hon. J. M. PRICE, Acting Colouíal Treasurer. Hon. P. RyRIE.
Hon. W. KESWICK.
Hon. H. LowCOCK.
Hon. T. C. HAYLLAR, Q.C.
PORTRAIT OF THE PRINCE CONSORT.
His EXCELLENCY--Gentlemou, in secordance with that which is the loyal practice in all colouies of Her Majesty's empire where anything concern- ing Her Majesty herself comes before the Council I rise to ask you to suspend the standing orders for the purpose of enabling mo to propose a vote of £110 for a portrait of the Prines Consort. I mentioned to some of my hon. friends on the Council last year that some visitors who had come to see me at Government House noticed that we had no portrait of the Prince Consort on the walls, and, being native gentlemen, they expressed surprise that, while wo had portraits of the Princes, there was no portrait of their father. Taking the hint so given, I communicated with the Secretary of State. My despatch was laid before the Queen and Her Majesty bas herself Leu graciously pleased to select a por- trait of the Prince Consort by Winterhalter, in the uniform of the Rifle Brigade. This is the portrait which will be copied for Hongkong. The copy will be made by Mr. Williamson, who has been chosen by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, I therefore beg to move, with your permission, that we vote a sum of £110 for this purpose.
Hon. W. KESWICK-Your Excellency, I have pleasure in seconding the motion just proposed. There can be no doubt that the loyalty of every colonist will be gratified by seeing the portrait of the late Prince Consort at Government House. There probably has been no man in so exalted a position who so well remembered that great ¦ powers and natural gifts bring to their possessor not so much privileges as duties. I have plea- sure in seconding the motion.
Carried unanimously.
THE FINANCES OF THE COLONY.
His EXCELLENCY-Gentlemen, it will be in the recollection of members of the Council that last year, in accordance with the usnal practice in the Colony, I laid before the Council my financial statement, when submitting the estimates for 1878. On that nocasion I mentioned to the Council that I had taken in one respect an un- usnal course. I said "Some time ago, towards the end of September, I gave to the Finance Committee the trouble of looking over the esti- mates of expenditure for 1878. It is not usual for a Governor to do so, but, this being the first time I had had to preparo the estimates for this Co- lony, I thought it well to be guided by their greater local experience, and accordingly the estimates came before them." Well, gentlemen, I had to consider this year how far that inno vation had worked well or otherwise, and, being of opinion that it worked remarkably well, I have this year also troubled the Finance Committee to look into the estimates of expenditure---the ! various proposals that have been made by heads of departments, increases of salaries, &c., and the Finance Committee from time to time have met and considered these proposals, and before next month I trust that they will have had before them the whole of the proposed estimates of expenditure for the year 1879. I must say there is another innovation I should like to make in this matter. The Finance Committee is really something similar to A Committee of the House of Commons; that is, when the House sits in what is called Committee of the whole House. In its capacity as Committee of the whole House, the House of Commons deals with financial questions, and deals thoroughly with them. If I introduce here the system of enabling our members of Council to deal with the estimates long before they come on the public board, I do not see why I should deprive the public of the Colony-who, for anght I know, may be interested in what the Finance Committee
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is doing-of that privilege which we have in England when the House of Commons sits in Committee of the whole House; and therefore I am considering whether it would be agreeable or not to the members of the Finance Committee if I were to allow reporters to be present at their future meetings. Of course hon. members are well aware that the Finanes Committee of the Legislative Council consists of every member of the Council except myself. It consists of all the non-official members, and of all the official mom. bers except the Governor, and I have no doubt the highly intelligent public of this Colony would be only glad to know what is being done about the finances, in Committee, before the time comes when the Governor lays the estimates ou the table. And, in touching upon this, I will repeat what I said the first time I had the honour of addressing you'on the subject, namely, that any member of the Finance Committeo whe considers and consents to any vote is not necessarily bound, when he comes here to the public Council, to support that vote: when he comes into the Council, he is as free as before to take whatever line he likes about it. Now I certainly have derived both last year and this, very great assistance from the unusual course Í adopted. In now informing you of my intention to continue it, it is only my duty to say that, whatever course I may take, I cannot bind my successor, or any future Governor for all I know, some future Governor may revert to the old system of making the statement without the Finance Committee having seen the proposed estimate of expenditure. I only speak for my- self, when saying that in future I shall adopt that system which I have found work so well. In November last, also, gentlemen, I told you why it was that I had felt it necessary on my arrival in this Colony to look very sharply after the expenditure. Mr. Gardiner Austin put into my hands as soon as I arrived the returns, which had been audited a few weeks previously, of the year 1876. He did his duty at once, in drawing my attention to a matter which undoubtedly every Governor should regard with great anxiety, namely, to the fact that in 1876, whilst the ex- penditure amounted to 8902,500, the verenne had amounted only to $885,308; in other words, the expenditure had ontstripped the revenue, fortunately only by a small sum. But, seeing that this was the case, it became my duty to give that close attention to the finances of the Colony which I have endeavoured to give, and I mentioned to you last November that I very carefully scrutinised from time to time the monthly proposals of every head of department for the expenditure in his department. Well, how has that worked? You have had be fore you, in the month of April, 1878, the financo returus for the year 1877, showing that the revenue of 1877 was greater than the ex- penditure of that year. I don't know that I can more clearly show to you the result of the returns to which I am referring than by reminding you that on the day when I made my statement last year, the 12th November, I anticipated having at the end of the year 1877 a balance of $277,000, I find that, on the 1st January, 1878, the Colonial Treasurer was able to certify the ba- lance at $295,512, being somewhat in excess of the sum I had anticipated. I have returns laid before me every week by the Treasurer of the Co- lony. I have here now the last return prepared by him. It is the usual weekly retura, dated 12th October, and according to that the balance to our- aredit at this date is $373,014. I need hardly tell you that this is exclusive of what we call the Special Fund. That fund amounted to $380,000, until, at my request, the Secretary of State sano- tioued $10,000 being voted to the China Famine Fund. The special fund is now $370,000, so that, adding to the special fund the balance now at the credit of the Colony, we get a sum total of $743,000. So far, gentlemen, for the result as regards the balance in the treasury chest. Thanks to my hon, friends the Auditor General and Colonial-Treasurer, I am also in a position to informa you what has been the actual result of the first uine mouths, that is, the first three quarters, of the current year. You will remem. ber that, when I framed the estimates for 1878, I anticipated that, by stimulating the revenue, not by additional taxation, but by proper stimulants, and on the other hand cars- fully looking after the expenditure, our revenne at the end of this year would exceed the expan. diture by a sum of $71,954. When I estimated in November, 1877, for this surplus on the current accounts of the colony in 1878, I know that some of my hon. friends, though
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