of the establishment being broken up, would anyhow make it
just as expensive for the Colony to close the Mint at once
as to keep it at work for another year. Six months later
(Angust , 1867) when the Legislative Council considered the
estimates of the Colony, it was considered necessary to reduce
the estimate of seignorage, likely to accrue from the Mint in
1868, from $40,000 to $15,000. The Lords of the Treasury
were consulted as to the advisability of continuing the working
of the Mint under these circumstances, and in February, 1868 ,
Sir Richard received , by telegram, authority to close it . All
the Bank managers were invited to attend a meeting of the
Executive Council and to advise the Government as to the
442 CHAPTER XIX.
continuance of the Mint under some arrangement or other. But
they had neither encouragement nor advice to offer. Sir Richard
then (March, 1868 ) sought to move the local Banks to take over
the Mint and to work it for their own profit under Government
supervision. The terms proposed by one Bank, which alone
made an offer, did not come up to the Governor's expectations .
Accordingly the Mint was closed, the machinery sold (June,
1868 ) for $60,000 to the Japanese Government, and the buildings
and ground were disposed of, for the purposes of a sugar refinery,
to Jardine, Matheson & Co., for $65,000 . The Colony realized
thus a total of $ 125,000 as the result of an outlay which, even
three years before, amounted to half a million dollars.
It could not be expected that an administration so crippled
in respect of funds would do much in the sphere of public works.
Sir Richard displayed in this respect also his energy and readiness
of resource and did what was possible under the circumstances.
He secured the erection of several new police stations and had
all police establishments on the Island connected by telegraph
lines . He had hoped to be allowed to draw on the Special Fund
for this expenditure as well as for the fitting out of a steam-
gunboat, but permission was refused, and the cost of these
undertakings had to be provided from the ordinary revenue .
He had been anxious to erect a new Hospital and a new Court
House, but the funds at his disposal, over-strained by the Military
Contribution, had to be husbanded to supply the most pressing
needs of repairs of public buildings, roads and bridges, and
water-works. During the year 1869, the Governor spent £39,959
on public works, and nearly half of that sum was devoted to
water-works. On 17th September, 1869 , he stated that a further
sum of £ 19,600 was required for the extension of the Pokfulam
reservoir and for repairs of the dam, but that the work was only
half completed . He explained , that the original estimate of
the work was $ 100,000 , whereas it would now cost double, and
that the historyof these water-works shewed how heavily the
Colony may lose, when attempting the most necessary public
works, by the incompetence of its employees, and how seldom the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 443
most obvious deficiencies of such persons can restrain them from
projecting schemes beyond their strength. For these reasons.
Sir Richard had obtained from England the services of a specially
competent engineer (T. Kydd ) who acted as Superintendent of
Water-works and would have re-constructed also the Praya wall,
if the marine-lot holders had not proved so obstreperous. A
typhoon having demolished the frail Praya wall (August 8 , 1867 ) ,
Sir Richard determined to rebuild the whole Praya in a substan-
tial manner. But unfortunately he encountered, on the part of
the lot-holders, the same unflinching opposition which defeated
the efforts of his predecessors, Sir J. Bowring and Sir H. Robinson .
Sir Richard nevertheless renewed the combat . As the Military
Contribution absorbed available funds, he informed the lot- holders
concerned in the ruins of the Praya, that they must contribute
a fair and reasonable proportion towards the cost of rebuilding
the sea-wall of their respective lots . When they refused this
request, he invited them to a conference with the Colonial
Secretary (C. C. Smith), who informed them (November 2,
1867 ) that the Attorney General had given an opinion to the
effect that each lot-holder was, by virtue of the wording of his
lease, under a legal liability to provide for the maintenance of
the sea-wall. The lot-holders, who previous to the conference
had agreed (October 29 , 1867 ) to resist the demand and came
armed with legal opinions, contended that the clause in question
had reference to roads , drains, & c. within their respective lots and
not to the Praya wall ; that, when the first sea -wall was built,
they had paid the expenses on the distinct understanding that
the subsequent maintenance was to be a burden on the Colony ;
that they were not answerable for the defective condition of the
wall nor bound to repair it. The conference broke up in con-
fusion . Sir Richard sent the lot-holders a letter (November 19 ,
1867) arguing that it was their fault that the former wall was
badly built and that the construction of an insufficient wall had
not relieved them of their original obligation. When this proved
fruitless, he ordered legal proceedings to be instituted . A test
case was selected and a marine-lot holder (R. G. Webster) was
444 CHAPTER XIX.
sued in Court for the cost of rebuilding his part of the Praya
wall. The great Praya case,' as it was called. was tried before
a special jury ( R. Lyall, G. F. Weller, A. Coxon, E. Mellish ,
J. Arnold , J. M. Vickers, C. Mackintosh) and the verdict was
given for the defendant (February 7 , 1868) to the great discom-
fiture of the Governor. The decision was based on the view
taken by the Chief Justice that, under the terms of his lease,
the defendant was bound to repair all public quays piers and
roadways in or requisite to the premises, ' but that the sea-wall
was not requisite to the defendant's premises.
The legislative work of this period was largely occupied
with matters affecting police and crime, commerce and emigration,
and the government of the Chinese population, all of which
are referred to elsewhere . A few ordinances of general interest
were introduced by Sir Richard such as regulated the Fire
Brigade ( 4 of 1868 ) , the preservation of birds ( 1 of 1870 ) ,
and the Public Gardens ( 8 of 1870) . Improvements in the
administration of justice received a large share of Sir Richard's
attention . Ordinances were passed modifying the law of jurors
and juries ( 7 of 1868 ) , criminal law procedure (2 of 1869
and 3 of 1872), promissory oaths (4 of 1869) , the administration
of the estates of deceased persons ( 9 of 1870 ) , the enrolment
of barristers and attornies ( 3 of 1871 ) , Court vacation ( 1 of
1869 ) , and so forth. But the most important measure, yet
one that was two years later repealed by Sir Richard's successor,
was Ordinance 1 of 1871 , which regulated the procedure of the
Summary Jurisdiction Court by providing that cases, involving
sums over $500 and under $2000 , might be heard, with a
jury, by the Chief Justice sitting in Supreme Court in Summary
Jurisdiction. Two interesting decisions were given during this
period. In the case Regina v. Souza, Sir J. Smale laid it down
(July, 1869 ) that no criminal action can be instituted in Hong-
kong for the publication of a libel against an undistinguished
foreigner resident out of the Colony. And in the case of the
Nouvelle Penelope, a French coolie ship which, having sailed
from Macao, was seized by the coolies under the leadership
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 445
of one Kwok Asing, who murdered the captain and crew and
fled to Hongkong, Sir J. Smale ruled that the offence was
committed against France, that the ship was a slave ship, and
that the murders committed with the object of regaining liberty
were no crime. The administration of justice was, during this
period, frequently disfigured by unseemly disputes between the
Chief Justice (J. Smale) and the senior Queen's Counsel (E. H.
Pollard) . These disputes culminated in a painful scene (July 2,
1867 ) when Mr. Pollard was lectured and pronounced guilty of
six distinct contempts of court, fined $200 and suspended from
practice for fourteen days. The tone and manner in which
the Chief Justice on this occasion addressed the troublesome but
highly popular barrister, whom he kept standing before him
while he lectured him, aroused the indignation of the whole
community. The fine was forthwith provided for by a public-
subscription list, signed by more than a hundred persons of al !
classes of local society . Mr. Pollard appealed to the Governor
who declined to interfere and advised him to petition Her
Majesty the Queen. In August , 1868 , the decision of the Privy
Council was received , indicating a complete defeat of the Chief
Justice, as not one of the six acts charged against Mr. Pollard
was held to amount to contempt of court. The fine was remitted
and the sentence reversed, but the Chief Justice was not silenced
but continued the legal warfare in a more subdued form.
The Police Force was during this period subjected to the
closest scrutiny it ever received and to severe criticisms on the
part of both the Governor and Chief Justice, and by the
community. It has been mentioned above that Sir Richard,.
after satisfying himself by personal investigations of the
inefficiency and corrupt character of the Force, attempted , in
1866 and 1867 , to purify and reform the corps by disciplinarian
measures and failed . On 29th October, 1867 , he assured the
Secretary of State that he did not remember to have seen in
any Colony a body of men so ineffective in proportion to the
number, or so corrupt generally, as the Police Force which he
found in Hongkong, and which then consisted of 89 Europeans,
446 CHAPTER XIX.
377 Indians (chiefly Bombay sepoys ) and 182 Chinese. But,
after introducing the system of licensing gaming houses, Sir
Richard reported, in 1869 , that the Police Force had been
greatly reformed by virtue of this measure. No doubt, there
was a marked improvement, noticeable in 1868 and 1869 .
But it seems probable that this improvement was not so much
due to the licensing of gaming houses, which of course vastly
diminished bribery, as to Sir Richard's searching surveillance
of the personal affairs of the police officers and his daily
vigilance in ascertaining the steps taken in all special cases
for the detection of crime, and in the second instance to the
several measures he introduced with a view to police reform .
These measures consisted of the substitution of Scotch for
English and Sikh for Bombay constables ; the appointment
of a Deputy Superintendent of Police conversant with Hindo-
stanee (C. V. Creagh) ; the allowance, out of the Special Fund,
of $20,000 per annum for good conduct pay ; the classification
of the Chinese contingent, opening up to Chinese constables
the prospect of promotion (March 1 , 1870) ; the increase of
police stations and their interconnection by telegraph ; the
establishment of the Police School ( 1869 ) and the encouragement
thereby given to Sikhs and Chinese to learn English . The
establishment of a separate Naval Yard Police under the
exclusive control of the Admiralty (by Ordinances 2 and 13
of 1867 ) was also an improvement. Up to March 30, 1870,
when Sir Richard produced statistics shewing increased efficiency
of the Police Force, the public were satisfied that great
improvements had been made, and sided with the Captain
Superintendent of Police (W. M. Deane) when he energetically
rebutted (September 15 , 1869 ) , as wanton distortion of statistics,
the disparaging remarks, as to the inferiority of the Hongkong
Police to that of Shanghai, made by the Secretary of the
Municipal Council of Shanghai (A. J. Johnston) in a letter
to the London & China Express (July 8 , 1869 ) . But that the
reform of the Hongkong Police was principally due to
Sir Richard's personal vigilance, may be inferred from the fact
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 447
that as soon as he left the Colony on furlough (April 12, 1870)
complaints of the demoralisation of the police recommenced ,
both on the part of the Chief Justice and on the part of the
public. When the Police Report for 1869 was published
(April 11 , 1870) , declaring the establishment of a detective force
to be impracticable, public opinion read it as indicating that
bribery rather than any other difficulty stood in the way of
detecting crime. The action of the Chief Justice also incited
public dissatisfaction with the organisation of the police. By his
remonstrances, addressed to the Government, he secured the
offer of substantial encouragement to police officers willing to
acquire a knowledge of the Chinese language ( May, 1879 ) , but
he failed in his crusade against the separate control exercised
by the Registrar General over a distinct force of 69 district
watchmen. The unofficial Members of Council also expressed
their dissatisfaction with the police and asked that a Commission
of Inquiry be appointed, whereupon the Chief Justice laid on
the table of the Legislative Council (November, 1870 ) a
memorandum inveighing against the inefficiency and corruption.
of the Force and suggesting that, to avoid the constant friction
between the Superintendent of Police and the Registrar General,
the district watchmen be embodied in the Police Force under
one head. The Chief Justice continued his adverse criticisms of
the Police in 1871 , and the community sided with him in the
matter. The general dissatisfaction with the organisation of the
Police Force rose to the highest pitch when a greatly popular
public officer (G. L. Tomlin) was robbed and knocked down on
a public road close to the Central Police Station ( Angust 28,
1871 ) . A deputation of unofficial Justices of the Peace waited
forthwith on the Lieutenant- Governor ( H. W. Whitfield) and
urged him to take immediate steps to improve the Police Force.
Major-General Whitfield's reply, referring to 40 additional
constables having been ordered from Glasgow and promising
that Sir Richard would, on his return, deal with the question
of police reforms, was viewed by the public as a mere evasion
of the points insisted on by the whole community, viz . that an
448 CHAPTER XIX.
efficient head should be provided for the Police Force which
they considered to be in a disorganized state and that a
Commission should be appointed without delay to inquire into
he real causes of the defective state of the Force . A public
meeting (September, 1871 ) , attended by upwards of 350 residents ,
gave expression to the general sense of insecurity under which
the community laboured, and to their strong disapprobation
of the neglect which, it was alleged, had characterized the
action of the Executive with regard to the police. A Memorial
was forwarded to the Colonial Office, praying for the appointment
of a Commission of. Inquiry. Before Earl Kimberley's reply,
negativing this request, reached the Colony, Sir Richard had,
immediately upon his return, appointed (December, 1871 ) a Com-
mission according to the wishes of the community (T. C. Hayllar,
W. Keswick, F. W. Mitchell, F. Stewart, H. Lowcock ,
W. Lemann, George Falconer, and A. Lister) . One of the
principal subjects of inquiry was the question whether the plan
of divided authority, by leaving the district watchmen under
the separate control of the Registrar General, should be
continued. It was principally on this point that the views
of the Commission and of the Governor were divided, and the
bifurcation had to continue. Whilst leaving a reform of the
police to his successor, Sir Richard started, before leaving the
Colony, what was virtually a new department for the suppression
of gambling, by relieving the Police Force from this duty and
handing it over to personal efforts to be made by two former
Cadets, the Registrar General and the Superintendent of Police.
This appointment of two gentlemen detectives, with which was
connected a handsome remuneration, was viewed by the
community as a mere excuse for filling the pockets of the
Governor's boys.'
Sir Richard's energy and severity as a disciplinarian was
bound to exercise a deterrent influence as regards crime. There
never was any Governor in Hongkong who inspired the criminal
classes with such a genuine dread of his personal vigilance and of
his measures. They soon found that the licensed gaming houses
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 449
were a trap set to catch them and it became quickly known
that confinement in gaol was now a real punishment . But the
most marked effect attached to those measures of Sir Richard's
administration by which he applied whipping and solitary con-
finement to cases of armed or violent assault, kidnapping and
child-stealing (Ordinances 12 of 1865 and 3 of 1868 ) and to
criminals returning from deportation (Ordinance 7 of 1870 ) .
Compelled by financial considerations to abandon the newly
built gaol on Stonecutters ' Island, he brought all prisoners under
a uniformly rigorous system of discipline in Victoria Gaol, reduced
the dietary scale, made gaol labour more severe, and ordered
gaol offences to be punished with the cat instead of the rattan.
By these measures he made imprisonment a real deterrent . He
was so determined to keep the number of prisoners within the
limits of the accommodation afforded by the old gaol, that he
resorted to and, when checked by the Colonial Office, persevered
in the application of other measures which were evidently illegal.
In autumn 1866, he introduced a system under which prisoners.
were induced to petition, that they might be liberated on.
condition of their voluntarily submitting to be branded and
deported with the understanding that, if they were thereafter
again found in the Colony, they would be liable to be flogged by
order of a Magistrate and remitted to their original sentence. He
sought to give to this system a colour of legality by that Or-
dinance S of 1866 (for the maintenance of order and cleanliness)
which has been referred to above, in connection with the equally.
illegal system of licensing gaming houses. When this Ordinance
(in its original form) was disapproved by H.M. Government ,
Sir Richard abandoned the system of bringing branded and
deported criminals, who returned to the Colony, before a
Magistrate, but continued the original system of branding and
deporting prisoners, before the expiration of their sentences,
in accordance with those illegal engagements voluntarily entered
into by prisoners and ratified in each case by the Executive
Council. Criminals thus liberated and deported were, on being
found again in the Colony, remitted to their original sentences
29
1
450 CHAPTER XIX.
and then flogged in gaol as a matter of gaol discipline. This
system was continued until 25th May, 1870. It has been
alleged that this rigorous system of branding, deporting and
flogging was applied also to hundreds of prisoners convicted
merely of being suspicious characters , rogues and vagabonds, and
that the Colony was thus delivered of the very class of men whose
habitual occupation, as professional touts, trainers, aidors and
abettors of criminals, formed the hotbed of prospective crime.
This severely deterrent treatment of Chinese criminals met
with the unqualified approval of the community. The Chinese
and European residents as well as the unofficial Members of
Council (September 11 , 1871 ) gave at sundry times expression
to their conviction of the absolute necessity of such measures
in order to make Hongkong and its humane gaol less attractive
and comfortable for the gaol birds of Canton . That experienced
police officer and magistrate, Ch. May, gave it as his opinion
that corporal punishment is absolutely requisite for the well-
being of the Colony.'
That these measures, initiated by Sir Richard, served to
diminish crime for the time, seems incontrovertible. An imme-
diate decrease in kidnapping offences was specially noticeable,
as 68 such cases occurred in 1867 , 53 cases in 1868 and only
7 cases in 1869. Comparing the six months ending on December
31st, 1865 , with the six months ending December 31st , 1869 ,
it is seen that serious offences decreased by 51 per cent. and
minor offences by 45 per cent . during these four years. In
comparison with the year 1868 , the criminal statistics of 1869
show a decrease of 22.6 per cent. in serious and of 18.4 per cent.
in minor offences, or a decrease altogether of 1,104 cases, the
total having been 5,705 cases in 1868 , and 4,601 cases in 1869 .
The number of prisoners committed to gaol was steadily reduced,
year by year, from 6,246 in 1865, to 3,059 in 1869. The Chief
Justice (J. Smale) who did not approve of the Governor's illegal
measures, made, on 19th March, 1870 , the following remarks
6
in addressing a jury. Some years since, the calendar was on
an average very large. Life and property were insecure.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 451
Robbery with violence on land, piracies on the sea, were frequent.
They are now more rare. Something is due to the firmness
and good sense of juries ; but more is due to the energy of the
Executive of which, constituted as the Colouy is, the Governor
is the life and the soul.'
With regard to the repression of piracy, also, Sir Richard
scored an undoubted success. By the time of his arrival in the
Colony, piracy was a matter of almost weekly occurrence, not
only interfering with the native junk trade and small European
coasting vessels, but frequently also causing the loss of many
lives. The measures taken by the British Naval Authorities,
for whom Sir Richard secured the co-operation of the steam-
eruizers of the Chinese Customs, were viewed by the public
as inefficient or, when successful, as suspicious. Individual naval
officers, as for instance the commander of H.M.S. Bouncer
who captured, with the assistance of Chinese revenue cruizers,
over 30 piratical junks in the gulf of Tungking (June 9 to
July 27 , 1869 ) , were much applauded . Nevertheless the
impression gained ground, that frequently British gunboats were
induced by Chinese officials to treat, as pirates, vessels and
men whose guilt amounted at the worst only to attempts at
smuggling or resisting the illegal exactions of the rapacious
revenue officers of China. This allegation was particularly made,
but without clear proof, with regard to the proceedings of
H.M.S. Algerine (June, 1868 ) . The most effective measure that
was ever launched against piracy in South-China was that
(Ordinance 9 of 1866 and 12 of 1867 ) by which Sir Richard
brought under surveillance and severe restrictions the haunts
and stores established in the Colony by the aidors and abettors
of piracy, and particularly the native dealers in marine stores.
Next in effectiveness ranks Sir Richard's Junk Ordinance ( 1 of
1868) which amalgamated, with the preceding measure, some
stringent regulations providing that all native vessels (junks)
should report arrival at the Harbour Office, take out an anchor-
age permit by payment of a fee (subsequently remitted) and
obtain clearance papers before sailing. For the same purpose
452 CHAPTER XIX.
of repressing piracy, measures were taken by the Governor
(Ordinance 2 of 1868 and 2 of 1870) , to provide, in conjunction
with similar measures to be enacted in Canton by the Chinese
Authorities, the disarmament of all Chinese trading and fishing
junks. But as the Viceroy of Canton, who at first had promised
to issue the same order, failed to do so and, when questioned ,
declared it impossible to enforce such a law, the measure was.
abandoned. Another measure devised by Sir Richard proved
a great help towards suppressing piracy, viz. the establishment
of a combination of Harbour Office and Police Office duties,
entrusted to the Police Inspectors at Yaumati, Aberdeen, Stanley,
Shaukiwan and at East Point (Whitfield Station) .
The good results of the foregoing measures were obvious.
From September, 1866, to October 1867 not one piratical attack
on European vessels occurred and out of 18 cases of piracy
reported by Chinese junk owners, most were comparatively trivial.
During the two years immediately preceding 1st January, 1867 ,
no fewer than 92 men were tried for piracy, attended in most
cases with violence or murder, whereas during the two years ( 1867
and 1868 ) , immediately following, only 15 men were tried for
that crime, and not one single trial for piracy took place during
the years 1869 and 1870.
Commerce in the Far East had, at the beginning of this
period, received an extraordinary impetus through the opening
of the Suez Canal (April 19, 1865 ) , which filled the godowns
of Hongkong and the Treaty ports to overflowing, increased the
volume and revolutionized the methods of trade, without however
increasing its profitableness. In the year 1866 , the foreign
trade with China amounted to nearly £ 95,000,000 . The share of
Great Britain in that trade amounted to no less than £ 71,518,723
or nearly 63 per cent. of the whole, and for this colossal trade, to
which must be added the Colony's trade with Japan, amounting
in 1867 to £ 6,000,000, Hongkong now served as the principal
emporium.
The history of local commerce during this period commenced
indeed with good omens for the future. The spirit of enterprise
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 453
and competition was still lively and inapprehensive of the ap-
proaching commercial depression. The formation of the Union
Dock Company, the first that was registered (July 31 , 1865 )
under the new Companies' Ordinance, with a capital of $500,000,
consisting of 500 shares of $ 1,000 each, was speedily followed
up ( October 11 , 1866 ) by the formation of the Hongkong and
Whampoa Dock Company, which purchased the dock properties
of Messrs . Douglas Lapraik and Th. Sutherland, with a capital
of $750,000 in 1,500 shares of $500 each, the Hon . J. Whittall
acting as chairman of the directors and Mr. J. Lapraik as
secretary. The new dock at Aberdeen, named after Admiral
Hope, was opened on June 15th, 1867. A third new enterprise
was started bythe formation (October 19 , 1865 ) of the Hongkong,
Canton and Macao Steamboat Company, with a capital of
$750,000 divided into 7,500 shares of $ 100 each. The principal
promoter of this association, which purchased the popular
American river-steamers Kinshan, White Cloud and Fire Dart,
was Mr. Douglas Lapraik by his attorney J. Lapraik. The
other directors of the new Company were Messrs. J. J. dos
Remedios, A. E. Vaucher, A. Sassoon, R. Solomon , D. Ruttunjee,
and Bapoorjee Pallunjee Ranjee. The new Company met indeed
with competitors but succeeded (August, 1866) in buying them
out, and as the river-steamers had been allowed (since April,
1866 ) by the Chinese Authorities to land and take in cargo and
passengers at Chuenpi (below Whampoa), it was thought that a
new important outlet for trade had been secured . The share-
holders of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank felt confident of
coming prosperity when they resolved (February, 1866 ) to convert
the new Bank into a corporation by charter. The new Royal
Mint of Hongkong was also opened with some hope of success
(May 1 , 1866 ) . Trade with Japan received a real and permanent
stimulus by the establishment in Japan of bonded warehouses
and a liberal tariff (July, 1866) . The old Californian trade
likewise expanded through arrangements made about this time
by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in San Francisco to
connect that port with Hongkong by a regular line of large
454 CHAPTER ΧΙΧ.
and fast steamers, the first of which, the Colorado, arrived in
Hongkong on January 31st , 1867. A Hotel Company was
formed in January and commenced operations in July, 1867.
On the other hand, at the beginning of the year 1866 .
complaints were heard of increasing commercial depression in
some branches of business . It was felt by many, that a serious
financial crisis was approaching from abroad . In April, 1866 ,
it was further stated that British vessels sailing from Hongkong
had practically lost their hold on the trade along the coast of
China, as among 20 European vessels engaged in this trade
only 3 were British . The general gloom was intensified when
the Agra Bank and the Commercial Bank suspended payment
(June, 1866 ) . In November, 1866, dulness was reported to
reign in most branches of local trade and in December great
anxiety prevailed in the Colony as to the stability of a number
of local firms. The old and popular firm of Dent & Co.
suspended payment on 1st January, 1867. The failure of Lyall,
Still & Co. and some smaller firms followed soon after. In
March, 1867, a panic seemed to be impending. There was a
general lack of confidence in all mercantile branches. Even
the scrip of the prosperous Hongkong & Shanghai Bank began
and continued for some time to droop, although the directors
denied (March 15, 1867 ) under threat of prosecution the reports
current as to the cause of it, and declared (August 28 , 1867 ) ,
after providing for the losses entailed by the failure of
Dent & Co. , a dividend of 6 per cent. for the half year. This
period of commercial stagnation was extraordinarily prolonged
as it continued from 1866 until the fall of the year 1869 .
Meanwhile the temper of the community vented itself in
complaints. In 1867 people commenced to lay the blame for
the depression of trade on Sir Richard's legislative measures ,
ignoring the fact that a contemporaneous depression existed
elsewhere and in places which were not in any way affected
by local legislation. Various causes, however, added fuel to
the irritation which naturally increased as the commercial
atmosphere became more and more enveloped in gloom.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 455
Complaints were made as to the mode of levying local rates and
taxes in advance and on the tenants themselves instead of the
landlords (January, 1867 ) . The Formosan camphor trade was
seriously interfered with by illegal exactions and by monopolies
claimed by the Chinese Mandarins, and Sir Richard's remon-
strances proved fruitless. The Canton Customs Blockade was
hampering many branches of local trade (since October, 1867 ) and
Sir Richard appeared to be powerless to do anything more than
writing protests. The Stamp Ordinance was considered to press
unfairly on the European merchants and the doubts entertained
at first, owing to the intricacies of its provisions and penalties,
as to the question what stamps were to be affixed to or impressed
upon certain documents, operated as a source of frequent
perplexity and worry (November, 1867 ) . As things went from
bad to worse in 1868 , merchants began to talk of the impending
ruin of Hongkong and to blame Sir Richard for it. It was
seriously proposed to demand the appointment of a Commission
to inquire into the working of certain Ordinances injurious to
the commerce of Hongkong. In the piece goods trade there
were also special complaints of that mildew in cotton goods
which, for many years thereafter, caused much trouble and
irritation, and which was believed to be caused by fraudulent
sizing (March, 1869) . Sir Richard himself also had as much
to worry him, as the merchants. The covert hostility of the
Cantonese Authorities, encouraged by H. M. Minister in Peking,
the growing displeasure with which successive Secretaries of State
in Downing Street viewed his attempt at solving the gambling
problem, and the local unpopularity of all his best measures ,
must have had a depressing effect upon Sir Richard's nervous
temperament. It was tantalizing to have in the Special Fund
a remedy at hand for the distressed state of the Colonial finances
and yet to be forbidden to touch it. On 7th July, 1869 , seeing
no sigus yet of the better times that were coming for Hongkong,
he wrote to Earl Granville saying that the circumstances of
the Colony in the present decline of commercial prosperity,
following on the serious depression which had prevailed for
456 CHAPTER XIX.
several years, rendered it extremely unlikely that the Executive,
without aid from some unusual source, could increase or maintain
an increased expenditure.'
However, towards the close of the year 1869, a gradual
improvement, which had set in for some time, became visible.
That the shipping trade of the Colony greatly increased in 1869,
is clear from the excess, over 1868, of 45 British ships, measuring
41,615 tons and of 135 foreign vessels (Chinese excepted)
measuring 95,230 tons. This large increase of shipping business
was evidently due to extended traffic between the Colony and
Australia, the United States, the Philippine Islands and Japan,
while trade with British India remained about the same as
before. Of a daily average of 107 vessels in port in 1869, fully
18 per cent. were steamers. The doubling of the number of
the steamers of the Messageries Impériales and the Pacific Mail
Company, and the formation of two additional local Steamship
Companies, left no doubt of the undiminished importance of the
Colony in connection with the trade of China and Japan.
With the commencement of the year 1870, the long
continued commercial crisis was felt to be over, and the pent
up energies of local enterprise burst forth anew. The Chamber
of Commerce interested itself in Baron von Richthofen's explo-
ration of Western China ( December, 1869 ) and sent (February,
1870 ) a commercial explorer of their own ( M. Moss ) to ascertain
the commercial capabilities of the West River (Canton to
Nanningfu) . Mr. Moss travelled through Kwangtung and
Kwangsi into Yunnan, but his report was not encouraging.
The Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company, under the
direction of Mr. W. Keswick, amalgamated with itself the older
Union Dock Company under the direction of Captain J. B.
Endicott (March 8, 1870) , and increased its capital to one million
dollars. The Indo-Chinese Sugar Company was formed (April
28, 1870 ) to purchase a crushing factory at Saigon and to erect
mills at various places in Cochin-China and in China. Two
new Insurance Companies having been started in February,
1870, Chinese merchants established, in April, 1870, an Insurance
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 457
Company of their own, the shares of which could be held only
by Chinese. The shipping returns of the year 1870 shewed an
increase of 2,433 vessels with a carrying capacity of 311,025
tons. Nevertheless there were, at the close of the year 1870,
many who took a despondent view of the future of Hongkong
as compared with that of Shanghai . The general China trade,
it was said, was now developing in magnitude corresponding
to the diminution of profits in the case of individuals . Having
no power of expansion , the Hongkong trade was more keenly
affected by this reduction in profitableness, caused by the natural
working of increased competition. With so few outlets to trade
and these obstructed, as to the junk trade, by the Chinese
Customs Blockade, Hongkong now possessed but small oppor-
tunities of extending its trade with regard to imports into
China. Hence the inference was drawn that the commercial
importance of the Colony must thereafter decline very materially
in comparison with that of Shanghai.
Commercial enterprise, however, continued to develop . The
Hongkong, Canton & Macao Steamboat Company once more
bought out competing interlopers in the river trade by the
purchase of the steamships Spec and Spark (June 1 , 1871 ) . Great
improvements were made in telegraphic communication with
other countries. Direct communication was established with
Shanghai (May 26 , 1871 ) , with New York and London (June 9 ,
1871 ) , and with Saigon and Singapore (August 1 , 1871 ) . Το
utilize pier and godown properties at Wantsai, the Hongkong
Wharf and Godown Company was formed (August 1, 1871)
ignoring the fact that the increased facilities of telegraphic
communication with Europe tended to diminish the need for
godown storage.
The emigration question, viewed in the light of the Macao
coolie trade, occupied the minds of the residents off and on through-
out the term of this administration. This question took a definite
shape on the passing of the Hongkong Emigration Ordinance
(6 of 1867 ) , when the Chief Justice (J. Smale) conjointly with
one of the unofficial Members of Council (J. Whittall) pleaded
458 CHAPTER XIX.
in Council and memorialized the Secretary of State (July 27 ,
1867) to the effect that contract emigration from Hongkong
should be entirely prohibited, on the ground that the Macao
coolie trade, conducted under emigration laws similar to those
of Hongkong, had developed into a veritable slave trade . Sir
Richard opposed the two enthusiasts, and stated that the
Hongkong Council could not run counter to Imperial legislation
( 18 & 19 Vict . ch. 104) under which the local Chinese Passengers
Act of 1855 had been framed. The whole mercantile community
considered this agitation against the local coolie trade extremely
ill-judged, as no one pretended that coolie emigration from
Hongkong was conducted in any sense on slave-trading principles.
Fresh discussions arose when Sir Richard published (July 4 ,
1867 ) a refutation of the arguments advanced by those two
Members of Council, and especially when the horrors connected
with numerous mutinies on Macao coolie ships filled the public
papers and engaged, in a few instances, also the attention of
the Government and the Supreme Court of Hongkong in
connection with the ships Marie Therese (March 21 , 1868 ) ,
Frederic (October 19 , 1869) , and especially in connection with
the above mentioned Kwok Asing case ( February 15, to April
5, 1871 ) . The net result of all these discussions was the general
conviction that the methods by which coolies are collected in
the interior and brought to Hongkong for shipment , though
free from the evils attaching to the crimping system of the
Macao coolie trade, necessitated the strictest surveillance of all
contract emigration, and some thought that even the new
Hongkong Emigration Ordinance ( 12 of 1868 ) was insufficient,
· though it provided for the punishment of persons improperly
obtaining emigrants, as long as contract emigration to non-
British ports was allowed. More stringent regulations were
made by the Governor in Council (July 6, 1869) , but on 19th
October, 1859, Earl Granville informed the Governor that he
concurred with Earl Clarendon and the Emigration Commis-
sioners, that contract emigration from Hongkong should be
strictly confined to emigration to British Colonies . Sir Richard
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 459
accordingly passed through Legislative Council (March 30, 1870)
a Bill giving the Governor power to make such regulations
with regard to emigration as he may think proper under
instructions from the Colonial Office. Sir Richard stated on
this occasion that he personally deprecated the entire abolition
of contract emigration to foreign countries which under existing
instructions he would be obliged to effect, but that his instruc-
tions were peremptory . Later on, difficulties were made by
the Colonial Secretary (in the absence of Sir Richard) even as
to shipping coolies by the Pacific mail steamers, as it was stated
(October 15 , 1871 ) that the Colonial Office instructions prohibited
emigration, whether under actual or merely implied contract ,
to any non-British country. The U.S. Minister, the Hon ..
W. H. Seward, passing through Hongkong in January, 1871 ,
held a reception at the U.S. Consulate, when he gave it as
his opinion that Chinese emigration to the United States is
desirable as tending to the advancement of western civilization in
China, and that by this means enterprises , such as railways and
mining operations, will be introduced into China , and excessive
emigration to America stopped, so soon as the Chinese labourers
will be able to find in their own country that employment which
now induces them to go abroad. Mr. Seward's influence caused
emigration from Hongkong to California to expand considerably
during the next few years.
The Chinese commerce of Hongkong rapidly expanded at
the beginning ( 1865 to 1868 ) of this period at the expense of
the Canton trade which then laboured under illegal exactions,
made by the Mandarins and their favoured monopolists, which
caused even the manufacture of vermilion and the clarifying
of ginseng to be removed from Canton to Hongkong. Even
in the piece goods trade, a very large business was now done
in Hongkong, particularly in cotton fabrics, the goods being
sent into the interior of the Canton Province without passing
through or near Canton, and at Canton itself the import of
piece goods fell entirely into the hands of Chinese who came
down to Hongkong to buy. The rice trade also was driven
460 CHAPTER XIX.
away from Canton by the exaction of tonnage dues and
thenceforth entirely conducted in Hongkong whence the rice
was sent to Canton in junks. Opium was at this time shipped
less to Canton , and chiefly to Kongmoon, Samshui and Sheklung,
where lower duties were levied than in Canton. Likewise also
the numerous small ports between Swatow and Hongkong were
supplied from Hongkong with opium by junks which had to
pay a duty of 20 taels at those intermediate ports, whilst at
Swatow 30 taels import duty and 10 taels Li-kin had to be
paid. This was not a smuggling trade but a judicious avoidance
of a port (Canton ) where extra charges were made. But it was
the resultant expansion of the Hongkong junk trade, coupled
with the simultaneous decline of the Canton trade, that induced
the Cantonese Authorities to establish the Customs Blockade
of Hongkong in order to levy here those extra charges and
thus to force the junk trade back into its former channel for
the benefit of Canton.
The result was striking. At the close of the year 1868 ,
a sudden depression, which reached its height in 1869, came
over the native trade of Hongkong. The cotton dealers of
Hongkong exported in 1869 only 110,000 bales in place of
200,000 exported in 1868. No more than 335,000 piculs
of rice passed through the Colony in 1869. The sugar trade
also shewed a considerable decline. The market compradors
reported sales amounting, in 1869 , to $ 146,000 against $ 165,000
in the previous year. The salt fish trade continued on the
decline which had set in from the moment when the Customs
Blockade commenced . The rent of Chinese houses fell in 1869
about 25 per cent. and some 250 business houses in the principal
streets stood empty and unoccupied . Nevertheless the reviving
energies of foreign commerce in 1870 appeared to stimulate also
the native trade of Hongkong, which recovered slowly from
the injuries inflicted upon it by the Chinese Customs Blockade.
In the government of the Chinese population, Sir Richard
systematically gave to the Registrar General the most extensive
powers. But he took a personal interest in every detail, probed
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 461
the correctness of translations of petitions and notifications,
watched with eagle's eye the editing of the Chinese issue of
the Government Gazette and inquired into the ins and outs of
every complaint made by the Chinese. He occasionally, but
sparingly, received Chinese deputations, argued with them in
a stately way and took infinite pains in controverting their
arguments, both orally and in print, and repeatedly made
semi-mutinous deputations confess that their objections to his
measures were based on misunderstanding or imperfect translation
and invariably sent them away crestfallen . It was by these
methods that he averted serious impending strikes in connection
with the new Registration and Junk Ordinances (6 and 7 of
1866) in September, 1866 and in January, 1867. It has been
mentioned above that the Junk Ordinance did excellent service
towards the repression of piracy. The Registration Ordinance
also worked satisfactorily and 663 householders were speedily
registered under it, but the provisions regarding the registration
of Chinese servants were viewed by European employers as
useless and irksome and soon became a dead letter. In 1869 ,
the Chinese inhabitants of several districts in town, acting on
the provisions of the Registration Ordinance, recommended a
body of men as district watchmen to be paid for by themselves.
The duties of these special Chinese constables, under the sole
direction of the Registrar General, were connected exclusively
with the Chinese portion of the city. The Registrar General
reported, year by year, favourably on the working of this special
body of police. But the system caused friction between the
Registrar General and the Superintendent of Police, particularly
in connection with the permits issued for religious ceremonies,
which, by their accompanying noise, created a nuisance , at night-
time, to European residents and caused objections disregarded by
the district watchmen but upheld by the police.
The absence of a mortuary for Chinese and of a hospital
conducted in consonance with Chinese ideas of therapeutics,
caused the local compradors, merchants and shopkeepers to
establish (in 1867) what they called the I-tsze . Their aim was
462 CHAPTER XIX.
not charitable, but rather to have a place where dying business- „
employees might be deposited, to avoid the tronblous rites and
ceremonies connected with death, and where encoffined bodies
might be stored awaiting removal to the mainland . This institu-
tion was established , in the centre of Taipingshan, unbeknown to
the Government. In May, 1869 , accident led to the discovery
that sick persons were dumped there and left to die like dogs,
untended and uncared for, except that there were coffins ready
for them. When the foreign community raised an outcry, the
Chinese came forward with liberal subscriptions towards the
erection of a Chinese Hospital, and, as it was a clear case for the
application of the Special Fund, Sir Richard at once offered a
grant of $ 15,000 in addition to a free site near Possession Point.
The I -tsze was forthwith converted into a temporary hospital
conducted on Chinese principles, as nearly all Chinese in the
Colony would rather die like dogs than enter the Government
Civil Hospital. It was originally proposed that the piece of land
granted by Government should be vested in trustees and that
the permanent hospital, to be built there, should be carried
on under a trustdeed. But the Attorney General (J. Pauncefote )
wisely suggested to form a corporation which would build and
manage the hospital through a board of Chinese directors
under proper supervision by the Government . Thus the Tungwa
Hospital was established by Ordinance (3 of 1870 ) as an
eleemosynary corporation . By the special order of Sir Richard ,
a provision was included in this Ordinance to make sure that,
if the corporation should fail to carry out in a satisfactory manner
the objects and purposes of the Ordinance, the incorporation
should be repealed and the property of the hospital, subject
to the payment of debts, should then vest in the Crown . The
new hospital was speedily erected and opened by Sir Richard
on February 14, 1872, when he announced that the Government
had voted (out of the Special Fund) a further sum of $ 115,000
for the purposes of the hospital . He also praised the Chinese
for their liberality in guaranteeing annual subscriptions to the
extent of $7,000, but warned them that, if any abuses should
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 463
creep in, the Government would take the management of the
hospital out of their hands. This was a fair specimen of
Sir Richard's way of dealing with the Chinese community. He
invariably treated them with unwearied consideration but with
rigid strictness. The result was that, by the time of Sir
Richard's departure, his administration left upon the Chinese
people rather a favourable impression . Though they dreaded
him at first as a stern disciplinarian, they always respected him
and finally he became rather a popular hero in their eyes.
The population of Hongkong increased , during this admini-
stration, from 117,471 souls in the year 1866 to 124,198 in
the year 1871. But this is no progress when it is compared
with the state of the population ( 125,504) in the year 1865 ,
and indicates that the general influence of Sir Richard's
administration did not tend to encourage Chinese to settle in
Hongkong.
The sanitation of the Colony was at a low ebb in January,
1866, when the mortality among the troops reached an extra-
ordinary rate, supposed to be caused by the severe night duties
thrown upon European soldiers in consequence of the withdrawal
of Indian regiments. Hongkong, once more, gained an unenviable
notoriety through exaggerative descriptions of the insalubrity
of its climate published in home papers in 1866 and 1867 , and
particularly in the Times and in the Army & Navy Gazette.
In April, 1869 , it was locally reported that the sanitary conditions
had been steadily improving and that, with the exception of
the case of the troops, the rate of mortality among European
residents had steadily decreased since 1863. Indeed a table
of the mortality of Hongkong inhabitants from 1858 to 1868
shewed that in no year registered had the mortality been so
low ( 2 per cent. ) among Europeans as during the year 1869.
The Colonial Surgeon, in his report for 1869, reported a rise
in the death rate, which he ascribed to the longer duration
of the summer heat, but declared Hongkong to be remarkably
healthy for the tropics. Great importance was now attached to
the extension of afforestation coupled with the unsparing removal
464 CHAPTER XIX.
of all undergrowth . Carbolic acid was freely used to disinfect
drains. The sudden and startling death of a number of
prominent members of the foreign community, gave to the
year 1870 the aspect of a specially unhealthy year. It was
pointed out that in the early part of summer and up to 3rd
August, 1870, there was an unusually small rainfall, and an
unusual increase of fever, accompanied by a tendency to relapse
which caused great prostration and in some cases assumed the
character of typhus . Most practitioners attributed the cause
to earth cutting on the hill sides. Dr. J. I. Murray, however,
persisted in tracing the disease to the pancity of rain but he
also complained that the drains of the town remained what
they ever had been (in the absence of rain) , the source of disease,
and urged that they be run out into deep water and frequently
flushed. An epidemic of smallpox having broken out in
December 1870, and the temporary matsheds erected near the
Civil Hospital being overcrowded (January, 1871 ) , the deserted
Gaol-buildings on Stonecutters ' Island were converted into a
smallpox hospital which answered all expectations. Among 101
cases treated (73 civilians and 28 soldiers), there were only
9 deaths .
The subject of contagious disease engaged Sir Richard's
attention soon after his arrival. He found fault with the C.D.
Ordinance of 1858, as its penal provisions were directed
exclusively against indoor prostitution , also against the keepers
of illicit establishments only and not against the inmates.
Believing that the existing system failed to check disease, Sir
Richard forthwith inaugurated a more vigorous policy. A new
Ordinance, passed on 23rd July, 1867, subjected accordingly
both the keepers and the inmates of unlicensed houses to fine and
imprisonment, prohibited solicitation in the streets, extended the
application of medical examination and detention in the Lock
Hospital, gave the Police power to break into suspected houses
without a warrant, and conferred upon the Registrar General
judicial as well as executive powers, in order to remove
prosecutions under the Ordinance from the publicity of the
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 465
Police Court. It was, however, again found impracticable to
bring the inmates, of establishments intended for the use of
Chinese only, under periodical medical examination . Moreover,
it was now found impossible to carry out this vigorous policy
effectively without extensive employment of paid informers,
and this proved in after years to be a serious flaw in the system .
Public feeling on the subject of C. D. Acts was by this time
undergoing a change in England, where the conviction of the
necessity of extending the powers of the Imperial Act, on which
the Hongkong Ordinance of 1867 had been founded, was steadily
gaining ground. In Hongkong there was at this time, amongst
those who interested themselves in public affairs, no general
feeling for or against the working of Sir Richard's new Ordinance,
but the magisterial functions now exercised, as it were in secret,
by the Registrar General, were looked upon by some of the
unofficial Members of Council as a source of mischief. Dr.
R. Young, in charge of the Lock Hospital with a daily average
of 34 in-patients, reported favourably on the working of the
Ordinance ( 10 of 1867 ) . That the type of disease had gradually
become more amenable to treatment, appeared from the fact that
the average number of days, during which patients were detained
in hospital, was reduced in 1871 to a shorter period than had
ever been reached during the 14 years of the hospital's existence .
Surgeons, well qualified to give an opinion, testified in 1871 that
at this time there was no place in the East so free from syphilitic
disease as Hongkong.
During the interregnum of the Hon . W. T. Mercer some
important events took place in the sphere of education. The
premature death of Miss Baxter (June 30 , 1865 ) was a great
loss for Hongkong, but the Baxter Schools were continued ,
first by Miss Oxlad and then by Miss Johnstone, on whom
Miss Baxter's mantle had evidently fallen . The establishment ,
by Bishop Raimondi , of a large and distinctly commercial School
(St. Saviour's College) brought into play a healthy emulation
between the principal local schools, and this competition acted
thenceforth as a prominent factor in the educational movement
30
466 CHAPTER XIX.
of the Colony . Another important event of the interregnum
.
was the extinction of the Board of Education and the
appointment (June 24, 1865 ) , at the suggestion of Dr. Legge,
of Dr. Stewart as Head of the Education Department,
having under is direction both the Central School and the
outside Government Schools, then 14 in number, but increased
to 25 schools by the end of this period . Dr. Stewart urged
upon the Government (in 1865 and in 1871 ) the introduction
of an education tax and a compulsory school- attendance law,
but neither Mr. Mercer nor Sir Richard would consent to such
a measure. The Central School, which had hitherto received
only Chinese boys, was thrown open by Sir Richard (in 1866 )
to boys of all nationalities. The new Bishop, Dr. Alford,
engaged in a controversy with Dr. Stewart by opposing the
system of secular or, as he called it, godless education in
Government Schools, but without avail. St. Paul's College,
having lost its funds by the failure of Dent & Co. , had to be
closed in 1867 , and, when an attempt to re- open it in 1868
failed , the College was absorbed (in 1869 ) in the Diocesan
Orphanage. The Morrison Education Society was also deprived
of its funds by the failure of Dent & Co. and handed over its
library, together with a painting of Chinnery's (representing
Dr. Morrison) and a bust of the Hon. H. R. Morrison, to the
City Hall Library as a free gift for the use of the public
(March 30, 1869 ) .
Bishop Smith having resigned, the Rev. Ch . R. Alford,
M.A., was appointed by Letters Patent (January 14, 1867 ) Lord
Bishop of the See of Victoria and Warden (for the Church
Missionary Society) of St. Paul's College. The new Bishop
appointed the Colonial Chaplain ( W. R. Beach ) as residentiary
Canon of St. John's Cathedral. Bishop Alford did much to cement
good understanding between the clergy and the missionaries of
all persuasions and exercisel upon the general community a
powerful influence for gool. For the benefit of the funds of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, he organised a local Auxiliary
( H. Laurence, Hon . Se retary) . Sir Richard MacDonnell, who
THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR R. G. MACDONNELL. 467
withal was a religious character; repeatedly presided at the
meetings of this Society and occasionally gave, as for instance
on 1st February, 1869, a powerful address in support of its aims.
On the other hand, the Bishop, though in friendly relations
with Sir Richard, did not shrink from passing the very next
day (February 2 , 1869 ) the strongest public condemnation on
the Governor's system of licensing gaming houses and on the
provisions of his Contagious Diseases Ordinance. The principal
relic of Bishop Alford's work in the Colony is St. Peter's
Church. At the suggestion of one of the Trustees of Sailors'
Home (Captain Thomsett), weekly services for seamen had been
organized at the Home in 1866. Soon after his arrival, Bishop
Alford proposed the erection of a church for seamen, and
secured from the Trustees the grant of a portion of their ground
for the purpose . During a visit to England in 1870 , Bishop
Alford further secured from some Society a donation of £500
and the promise of an annual contribution towards the salary
of a seamen's chaplain. On his return to Hongkong (March,
1871 ), he appealed to the public for subscriptions . The family
of the late Mr. Margesson (lost at sea) donated £ 300, the
Governor made a grant of $2,500 , the community subscribed
liberally, the Trustees of St. John's Cathedral gave a spare
bell, and the building was rapidly pushed on. On 22nd March,
1871 , the foundation stone was laid by Bishop Alford and on
14th January , 1872 , the new church, dedicated to St. Peter,
was opened (in the absence of the Bishop) by the Rev. J.
Piper. Bishop Alford was equally successful in his efforts