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have taken place in Hong Kong with reference to the demand made by Her Majesty's Government for a military contribution of 20,0001. per annum.
2. You enclose in your despatch memorials addressed to me by large numbers of British and foreign residents in the colony, by 540 Chinese merchants and shopkeepers, also a copy of a letter from the Chamber of Commerce, a copy of the minutes of a public meeting held on the subject, and a copy of the resolution against the measure, adopted in the Legislative Council by a majority of eight to one.
3. I have to request you to inform the memorialists that Her Majesty's Government has not failed to give its serious attention to the views which they have urged in favour of the relinquishment of the military contribution, but that there does not appear to be in these memorials any fresh argument, either as to the justice or policy of imposing the charge in question, which is of sufficient importance to affect the conclusion at which Her Majesty's Government has already arrived.
4. The objections entertained by the memorialists to a military contribution from colonial revenue are generally speaking analogous to those which were advanced by you and Mr. Mercer in May and December 1863, but several of these objections, so persistently urged, are inconsistent with the tenor of despatches which in recent years, and apparently with the concurrence of your Council, have been from time to time addressed to this department.
5. I will briefly review the protests which have been advanced against the
measure.
6. The first is that the troops are not necessary for the security of Hong Kong, and that they are maintained for Imperial and not colonial interests.
7. The first part of this statement appears to me to be at variance with the opinions of the Executive Council in June 1863, when it was thought necessary at a time when there was hardly any reason to apprehend hostile attack, to erect four batteries, and to recall 45 men who had been detatched from the garrison of Hong Kong to do duty in Canton. Again, it but little accords with the terms of a correspondence which passed between your Government and Brigadier-General Stavely in which with a view to an increase of the garrison, it was stated that 1,636 men were inadequate to meet the increased demand for protection and supervision occasioned by the increase of population and the extension of the limits of Hong Kong. The memorialists insist upon the circumstance that the garrison is principally maintained for the trade with China which contributes so much to the Imperial revenue. Her Majesty's Government admits that the larger part of the garrison in Hong Kong is maintained for Imperial purposes. Indeed this admision must be made if the Secretary of State is to be justified in looking to the colony for so small a proportion of the whole cost of the garrison.
8. The memorialists, however, omit to state that probably no branch of Imperial commerce has given rise to greater fortunes than those which have been acquired by the heads of China houses, who elect to live in Hong Kong as a convenient centre from which to direct the operations of their establish- ments, and they lose sight of the fact that this trade is protected in a great measure by the presence in the Eastern seas of part of Her Majestys Ñavy, and that they benefit by this protection to the cost of which they do not, as yet, make any contribution at all.
9. The memorialists also appear to give no weight to the fact that the Mother Country incurs a considerable expense, estimated at about 9,000l. per annum, in the endeavour to suppress piracy in the immediate neighbourhood of the colony.
10. With regard to their objection, that the community is unable to bear further taxation, I would observe, that in several despatches addressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, it has been stated that the residents of Hong Kong "find the colony singularly profitable, and are but lightly taxed, the police and lighting rates with a water rate in prospect, are the only taxes to which they are subjected; that the population has nearly doubled in four
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