Distillery was built and Ordinance No. 3 of 1864 was passed, to enable it to be worked.
By section 3 of this Ordinance, it was made "lawful for the Governor in Council, from time to time, to grant licenses for the Distillation, Rectifying, and compounding of Spirits, within The Colony, to such persons, for such considerations and upon such conditions and for such periods, as he should think fit.
The erection of the Distillery was completed in the early part of 1870, and, in February of that year, a Joint Stock Company was formed to work it, to which Governor McDonnell, under the discretionary powers vested in him by the Ordinance, granted a license for an annual fee of One hundred Dollars ($100), which fee has been invariably charged for all such licenses, until August in the present year.
The form of license, issued by the Government, has, for many years past, contained the words “One hundred dollars" as the amount of the fee, among its printed matter.
The Hongkong Distillery Co. could not be made to pay its way.