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way in which it is necessarily performed at present, is a considerable charge upon the Imperial Exchequer.
29. I have only to add that if the colony undertakes the preservation of internal order and security, as well as the police of its own waters, and the Imperial Government reduce the garrison within the limits of the amount deemed indispensable for general national objects, there will exist no fair grounds that I can see for asking for any contribution from the colony in aid of military expenditure in China.
I have, &c.,
HERCULES G. R, ROBINSON.
Sir F. Rogers, Bart.,
&c., &c.
P.S. Since writing the foregoing the China mail has come in, from which I extract two items of intelligence bearing on the topics referred to in the letter. Exchange in Hong Kong has in consequence of the scarcity of Mexican dollars reached 5s. Od., in other words Mexican dollars issued by the Imperial Government in payment of Naval, Military, Consular, and Diplomatic Services at 4s. 2d. cost in Hong Kong 5s. Od., thus involving a loss of 21 per cent., at least 12 per cent of which would be saved by a mint in Hong Kong, I annex a notice, also, of a case of piracy outside the harbour of Hong Kong, and may mention that four or five such reports often appear weekly in the police reports.
H. G. R. R.
No. 3.
Copy of Despatch from the Duke of Newcastle, K.G., to the Acting Governor of
(No. 115.)
Sir,
Hong Kong.
Downing Street,
5th September 1863.
You are probably aware that the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been much occupied during the last two years by the important subject of Colonial Military Expenditure, and that a Committee of the House of Commons was charged with the enquiry whether the more wealthy and important of our colonies might not be properly called upon to defray an increased proportion of the cost of their military defence.
2. After a thorough examination of the subject, it was decided that this ought to be done; and in accordance with this decision, Ceylon, Mauritius, and the principal Australian Colonies have been or will shortly be called upon to contribute more largely towards the support of the several detachments of Her Majesty's troops which are maintained in those colonies.
3. If this call is made upon colonies of which some have not for a long period, and some have never imposed any sensible charge on the Imperial Treasury on account of their civil expenses, it is not to be supposed that a colony like Hong Kong, of which the civil establishment alone in the first 14 years of its
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