Enclosure 3.
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
The session of the Legislative Council was opened yesterday afternoon. The Chief Justice took the chair and called upon the Clerk of Councils to read the proclamation summoning the meeting. This having been done, the Clerk of Councils was directed to inform the Governor, who shortly afterwards entered and read the speech given below. The opening ceremony was attended with more formality than has hitherto been the case on similar occasions in Hongkong. The road from Government House to the Public Office was lined with Sikh policemen, and a guard of honour and the Band of the Buffs was posted in the hall of the Public Office, and saluted the Governor on his arrival. In the Council Chamber there was a large attendance, including a considerable number of ladies, the Consuls and Military Officers in uniform, and a large number of the general public. His Excellency wore the uniform of his office and the scarf and order of the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George. The Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, and the Surveyor-General also wore the Civil Service Uniform. The Council was composed as follows:-
His Excellency the GOVERNOR, Sir GEORGE FERGUSON Bower, G.C.M.G.
Hon. Sir GEORGE PHILlIPPo, Chief Justice.
Hon. W. H. MARSH, C.M.G.
Hon. E. L. O'MALLEY, Attorney-General.
Hon. A. LISTER, Colonial Treasurer.
Hon. J. M. PRICE, Surveyor-General.
Hon. F. STEWART, Registrar-General.
Hon. P. RYrie.
Hon. F. B. JOHNSON,
Hon. T. JACKSON.
Hon. F. D. SAXTON.
Hon. WONG SHING.
THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.
Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council,
1. It is with feelings of much pleasure and interest that I now open the first session of the re-constituted Legislature of Hongkong, and have recourse to your advice and assistance in the administration of the Government.
2. It will always be one of the most satisfactory reminiscences of my long public career that I have been able to procure a more adequate representation in this Council of the community at large. I am confident that the Government will derive valuable aid from the local knowledge and experience of the unofficial members, and I also believe that you will all agree with me that there neither is, nor ought to be, any antagonism between the official and the unofficial element in this Legislature. All the members alike can have no other object but to secure the general welfare, and to advance the progress of the colony.
3. For obvious reasons, it is in the highest degree important that this Council should adhere to the constitutional forms followed by the Legislatures of the other principal Crown Colonies. The address of the Governor at the opening of each annual session will contain, here as elsewhere, a general view of the financial and social condition of the Colony, and a statement of the Legislative and other measures, and of the public works proposed. So the address of the Council in reply will afford the Members of the Legislature the usual constitutional opportunity of expressing their opinion of the conduct and proposals of the Government.
4. Further, in accordance with the practice elsewhere, I recommend you to appoint a Committee of Finance (which should be a Committee of the whole Council), a Committee of Laws, and a Committee of Public Works, which should respectively examine in the first instance the details of every proposed vote and measure.
5. After this brief explanatory preface, I will proceed to state generally the principal subjects to which your attention will be directed during the present Session. Full details will be found in the papers which will be laid before you, and in the statements of the several Heads of Departments.
6. In the first place, with regard to the paramount question of Finance, it is very gratifying to be able to inform you that our position is satisfactory. The Revenue of the year 1883 amounted to $1,294,500; and the Ordinary Expenditure to $1,165,700; leaving an excess of revenue over Ordinary Expenditure of $128,800. The Extraordinary Expenditure of 1883 was defrayed from the accumulated balance, and included the Tai-tam water works, Break-water, Causeway Bay reclamation, Purchase of houses and land for the New Central Market, and Sanitary works.
7. The estimated balance to the credit of the colony on the 31st December, 1883, was $1,095,505. Hongkong is probably the only state or colony of importance which at the present day is not only without a public debt, but which possesses invested assets nearly equal to its annual revenue. However, the existing balances will not be sufficient to carry out several public works which are urgently required by this community, in addition to those "strong and complete measures of sanitation" which Mr. Chadwick (the Civil Engineer recently sent out from England) has reported to be absolutely necessary "for the immediate benefit of the public health." Under these circumstances, I concur with the Executive Council in what appears to be the general opinion of the colony, viz., that the present generation of colonists ought not to be deprived of the advantages referred to, while it cannot of course be expected to defray the entire cost of works of a permanent and reproductive character; and that consequently, it will be expedient to raise, on the exhaustion of the existing assets, a moderate loan, not much exceeding the revenue of a single year. This question will not have to be decided in its details during the present Session; but I desire to elicit the opinion of the Council on the principle involved.
8. The Estimates for 1884 have been already voted. The Estimates for 1885 will be laid before you in next November, which seems to be the most generally convenient period for the opening of the annual Session.
9. With regard to Legislative measures, the following Ordinances, among others, have already become law since I assumed this Government in the spring of last year, viz.: Ordinances to provide for the better Regulation of Vehicles and Public Traffic; To organise the construction of certain lines of Tramways; To constitute a Sanitary Board; To amend Merchant Shipping Law and provide for the enforcement of Quarantine; To continue the operation of the French Mail Steamers Ordinance; To authorise the construction of certain Piers and Wharves. The principal Bills which will be laid before you during the present session will be the following:-
(1.) To regulate Weights and Measures.
(2.) To consolidate and amend the Ordinance relating to Opium.
(3.) To establish a Savings Bank.
(4.) To consolidate and amend the laws relating to Stamp Duties.
(5.) To provide for the Registration of Medical Practitioners.
(6.) To regulate Prisons and Prison Discipline.
(7.) To amend the Dangerous Goods' Ordinance, 1873.
(8.) To amend the Preservation of Birds' Ordinance, 1870.
(9.) To amend certain Ordinances relating to Criminal Procedure.
(10.) To amend the law relating to the punishment of criminals.
(11.) To amend the Bankruptcy Ordinance of 1864.
(12.) To regulate the Post Office and Postal Service.
(13.) To Amend Ordinance No. 10 of 1867.
(14.) To provide for the more effectual protection of Chinese female children.
10. The report of the Commission on Smuggling, and an able and exhaustive memorandum by Mr. Justice Russell on the so-called Blockade of Hongkong by Chinese Revenue Cruisers, are recommended to your attention. I have discussed this important question with the present British Minister at Peking, who will, I am confident, lend his aid towards carrying out an equitable settlement.
11. Turning to the vital subject of the Public Health, I am glad to inform you that the recent organisation of a Government Sanitary Board under Ordinance No. 7 of 1883, and the promulgation of new Rules and Regulations under that Ordinance, together with the introduction of improved contracts for the removal and disposal of waste products, have been followed by a marked improvement in the practical sanitation of the Colony. Much, however, remains to be done, both in respect of legislation and of structural sanitary work; but I am confident that the necessary reforms and improvements will in due course be effected by the zeal and ability of the officers to whom this branch of the Public Service has been entrusted, and by the cheerful acquiescence of all classes of our population in such measures and restrictions for the safety of the Public Health as may, with...