The Council then adjourned to five o'clock this afternoon to allow the Committee to consider the reply to His Excellency's speech.
The Council then adjourned.
THE ADDRESS IN REPLY. The Council reassembled at five o'clock. The COLONIAL SECRETARY-I have the honour, sir, to report to the Council that the committee appointed has met and considered the address in reply to the speech from the chair.
The address was as follows:
May it please Your Excellency,
We, the members of the Legislative Council of Hongkong, in Council assembled, beg to thank Your Excellency for the Speech with which you have opened this the first Session of the re-constituted Legislature of the Colony.
2. We desire to offer to Your Excellency our cordial congratulations upon the wise and salutary reform in the constitution of the Council which has been granted by Her Majesty's Government, on your recommendation, and with which your name will for ever be associated. We heartily honour in Your Excellency's expectation that the Government cannot fail to profit by the advice and assistance of an increased number of Unofficial Members; and that the entire Legislature will be animated by a common desire to promote the general welfare and progress of the community.
3. We concur in the advisability of assimilating the proceedings of this Legislature to the constitutional forms established in the other principal Crown Colonies.
4. Your Excellency's recommendation concerning the appointment of Committees of Finance, Law, and Public Works will receive our immediate attention.
5. We assure Your Excellency that we shall not fail to give our careful consideration to every question and measure which may be brought before us.
6. We learn with much pleasure that the Financial position of the Colony, as shown by the Official Statistics, is satisfactory.
7. We agree with Your Excellency in the opinion that, in justice to the present generation of tax-payers in Hongkong, a moderate loan should be raised, on the exhaustion of the existing assets, to defray a portion of the cost of those Sanitary and other Public Works, which are recognised as of permanent importance for the security of the general health and well-being of our population.
8. The Estimates for 1885 will receive our careful attention, when they are laid before us.
9. We shall examine the Legislative Measures proposed with the careful deliberation which their importance requires.
10. We thank Your Excellency for the attention which you have given to the circumstances of the so-called Blockade of Hongkong; and we shall be glad to assist in bringing about an equitable settlement of this difficult question.
11. We have received with gratification Your Excellency's statement in regard to the Sanitary Reforms which are now in progress; and we trust that the further measures necessary for the preservation of the Public Health will continue to occupy the earnest attention of the Government.
12. The want of house accommodation for the labouring classes of this community is a growing evil which we have watched with some alarm; and we shall be glad to co-operate with the efforts of the Government to alleviate the pressure felt in that direction.
13. We cordially approve the steps proposed to be taken to enforce the fulfilment of building covenants in leaseholds, and we trust that any additional security of tenure which may be granted to the smaller class of tenants will operate beneficially in diminishing the evils of overcrowding.
14. The drainage of the marsh within the Race Course in the Wong-nei-chung Valley will confer a boon upon the community by providing a much-needed place of Recreation, and will in our opinion at the same time prove of great advantage to the Public Health.
15. We learn with satisfaction the progress already made in such important and necessary Public Works as the Breakwater; the Tai-tam Water Works; the Government Hospital; the Lunatic Asylum; and the Meteorological Observatory, and that the New Central School will be commenced forthwith.
16. We trust that the forcible representation made by Your Excellency to the proper Imperial Authorities of the sanitary and other advantages to be derived from the junction of the Eastern and Western Pryas, will be crowned with success.
17. We have observed with interest the activity with which Your Excellency has, during the short period of your Government, acquired personal acquaintance with our chief public institutions. We shall gladly second your efforts to raise the standard of public education here, and to enable a certain number of our most promising youths to complete their professional studies in England. We regard, moreover, with satisfaction the continuance of the competitive system for entrance into the Civil Service of Hongkong, consonant as that system is alike with modern English and with ancient Chinese custom.
18. We learn with pleasure the steady progress of the important work of afforestation, which, we hope, will, here as elsewhere, influence favourably the climate, and so benefit the public health.
19. We entirely concur in the steps taken to promote the efficiency of the Police, a matter of the utmost importance in a community circumstanced as is that of Hongkong.
20. We trust that the organisation and equipment given to the Volunteer Artillery will not only render that body efficient in any time of emergency, but will also tend to foster in our midst a patriotic spirit of national union and loyalty.
21. We agree with Your Excellency as to the urgent importance of placing Hongkong in that condition of defence which is rendered necessary by the magnitude of the interests, here both Imperial and Colonial, which are at stake.
22. We cannot bring this address to a close without repeating our grateful appreciation of the constant and enlightened attention devoted by Your Excellency to the requirements of all classes and races in this community, and to the initiation of measures calculated to promote the prosperity and advancement of this Colony. We trust that the loyal co-operation of the Governor and of the Legislative Council will, under the Divine Blessing, secure the general welfare and contentment of our population.
The Hon. P. RYLANDS—Honourable President and members of the Legislative Council, the duty has been assigned to me of moving the address to His Excellency the Governor in reply to the very eloquent speech which he favoured us with a short time ago. I think anyone who heard that address must feel convinced that in His Excellency Sir George Bowen we have a Governor who has the best interests of this colony at heart. (Applause). He seemed to give in his speech pledges that many useful works and reforms, which we in this colony have been longing for for years, are now to be pushed forward (Applause) and we accept those pledges of his as true and hearty, and for myself I am sure, and I believe everyone else will feel sure, that nothing will be spared on the part of the head of the Executive to render his aid towards their accomplishment. The proposal for the formation of committees, is one which has been suggested for years past, for dealing with public works, for laws, and for finance. For finance we have had a committee for some time, but the other two I am sure will be hailed with pleasure by all classes in this colony. The sanitary reforms I also think are what we all desire. The proposal for raising a loan in consequence of our present surplus funds coming nearly to an end is one entirely new to this colony. I confess myself that at first I was not in favour of placing a debt on this colony; but looking at the material progress it has made, the yearly increment to its revenue we have seen now for some years past, I think we may with safety enter upon such a loan as His Excellency mentioned in his speech. At the same time I hope it may never be necessary in this colony to exceed about the amount of, or at any rate but little over, its annual revenue. I think this colony is hardly capable of carrying a large loan, and I only hope that the works which are in progress will not make it necessary to raise more than this amount. With regard to the re-construction of the Council, perhaps I should have referred to it earlier, but I did not do so because it has already been referred to many times in this colony; but that the re-construction of the Council is also a step in the right direction, is a statement which I think no one will deny. (Applause). Of course the keeping up of the Police to a high state of efficiency is a measure which must always commend itself to us, who are greatly dependent, from the peculiar situation of this colony, on the efficiency of our Police Force. As regards the Volunteers, I think His Excellency has done very well for them.
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