THE PROGRESS OF HONGKONG.
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forward, with the view of Resisting the Chiunse i the collection of their duties, his Excolency gave HONGKONG, JOKE IR instructions that in cases of complaint by Hong- After five months' stay in Tonquin one is inclined kong junks of seizures, either in the waters of the to estimate somowiat too enthusiastically the colony or outside, inquiry should in the first merits of Hongkong. Nevertheless, there is per cleared a required
instance be made whether the junk had properly haps no one of our colonies which exhibits to the Ordinance 6 of 1800-an ordinance, which was the Barbour and Coasta came extent British aptaess for colonization and passed for patting down piracy, rampant at that the national organizing talent. When, 41 years time, the harbour itself being quite a reudcevous ago, Admiral Dowell, now in command of the for piratical craft, so much so That three forsign China Squadron, landed as a raidshipman to hist
vessels were actually followed out of the harbour the British flag on Hongkong Island, he found it a these boste and attacked outside. If the junk simple barren waste, scantily covered with scrubby bad been guilty of any infringement for not ra- gas atruggling for existence among the ont-Brapp was to be charged and forfeiture of junk and cargo
porting or
a clearuno, the master obtaining 2 ing reeks. There were a few fishermen's huts on took place. This was all very well, and no doubt the southern shores, just as there are similar efficacious shanties on the host of similar islands which lie au butus ough, where piracy was in questions, was a very violent measure to adopt for the the Kwang-tung coast all the way westward to the sake of checking smuggling. Naturally, the point of land which runs down to Hainan, but Governor was soon able to report to the Colocial otherwise the place looked. સત્ર hopeless a spot for a Office that complaints had ceased. The Chinese colony as couid well be imagined. This rren Revenue Customs would have been very hard to rock notion has clung to the place, and to the please if this had not satished them. The present day the ordinary stay-at-home Briton's tary of Stato sanctioned the employment of this notion of Victoris is that it is only just a little ord ranco 12
for the suppression better than Aden. Ife is correspondingly astonished although the pains and penalties of forfeiture were pression of smuggling, whon he finds that it is just as
as easy
intended only roats of our regulations where piracy was in contemplation.
to attach urce in any one of the high narrow streets of our
to breaches of harbour Chinese possession as some one has pointed out to The Colonial Office could hardly have been the case in London itself. Beyond the fringe sufficiently acquainted with the object of the legis where the town finds a footing on the rapidly-rising lation of 1866, or the employment of such law for
of the Peak there is a broad boit of green
such a a purpose could hardly have been wanetioned. shade, and the public gardens are a marvel of
The con
have been very irksome to the beauty and
vegetation from every part of the world. But this is the least of the things on which never slow to push to the uttermost the advantages the Briton dwells in Hongkong with the self-con- of any concession, made to them, and Govertor soions prido which M, Max O'Kell declares to be flennessy's ill-advised masures have led to
to a stolo the characteristic of our race. A couple of months of affairs which
ich became latterly altogether in- after the ieinnd had been seded to us by the Treaty tolerable, more particularly when exercised by of Nankin in 1843, the late Lord Derby, then Busin. The cruzers of the Chinese anthuritias, ko China against a power Like Great Secretary of
State,
tate, wrote to Sir
at the view to colonization, but for diplomatic, rom throat-gates of the colony exacted undue and illegal mercial, and military purposes." According to the rates from the junk trade of fongkong. Gouds of Census of 1881 the population of the island was foreign origin sent to the west coast of China and 360,402. Of these there were about 4,0 resident to non-treaty places, were made to pay much Europeans, or rather whites, and, excluding the higher rates of duty when shipped in
Hongkong garrison and some thousands of what nen somewher junks, than when shipped from Macao. The const- loosely called colourel" races, the rest were quence of this was that it t actually paid the Hong- Chinese. So that as a colony the island has, almost kong trader to send his goods first by sicuraer to ol oficial prognostications, provod a despised Mao and sheree in junks, instead of Bondling them direct from Hongkong. Fortier,
be the
Montile community. The Chinesu are
thxt Hongkong had been "ry Potting and the officers of the threo native stations &
in
Â
wonderful Buco658.
not
In itself of course the jaland hes no the Chinese sent to Hongkong were made to natural advantages, hardly even one might say pay duaa
together arbitrary and uncertain in in point of position, but as subsidiary to the in-smount. There is no means of saying whether tercourse between the British and Chinces Empires they were actually in excess of justice or not, for it has exceeded the most sanguine expectations, no tariff was published, and the rules were cressiod Oficial statistics show that the toonage of the at the sweet will of each individual revenue chicor, shipping entered a
at the port of Hongkong in the Traders who had left one province and paid all year 1885 exceeded 5,000,000 tone. As a mere dues, were again made to pay for entrance into matter of figures this is eminently gratifying, but Hongrong, precisely as if it were a part of China. when we institute comparisons and find that this is This was particularly the case with the Formosau a larger amount of shipping than was entered at the traders, but it bore ΠΟ less heavily on those from port of Lonion:
in 1843, the year in which Hocg other places. There were numerous other
her grievances kong was annexed to the British Crown, it is not of a liko nature, and all arising in the same way, too inuch to
20 say
that the growth is startling. The Sir George Bowen, however, immediately sat him financial position is not less satisfactory. The self to the arrangement of the question. He hae publie revenue of the year
1883 amounted to aid the matter fully before the present British $1,286,500, say
say £234,000, escoeding by little short Minister in Pekin, and thero are good hopes that of £100,000 tho revenue of the entire Scotland at the time of the Union kingdom of an equitablo settlement will be arrived at inat
defray great time. ing the expenses of public works, police, port, One oven more important matter is the subject shipping, and lighthouse, and other matters, the of public health. Hongkong with its narrow colony annually contributes £20,000 to the In-streets, and the terrible over-crowding of these perial funds. With all this it has been the regular narrow streets has long stood in dangor of the out- boast of
that it is the only State or break of some viclent epidemic. Every year sees
ortance which at the present day is a great increase in the population, but there is
which Saigon serves 38 & port. Haiphong has been will; therefore, be nocossThe sitos. It'
dirty little
Very
antony of που only without a
ta public dobt, but which possesses little increase in the bonse accommodation,certainly invested assets nearly equal to its anunal revenue, not a corresponding inerenso. Overcrowding in his However ungracions it may be one cannot help worst form has been the result, and profcrowding recollecting that Cochin China, which has now boot of Chinese is
is infinitely more disagreeable over 20 years in French hauds, is still an annual dangerous than the overcrowding of other
People. burden to the Home Go
The difficulty, Government, notwithstanding
however, is
is not merely in the want the fertility of the country and the huge interior to
to of houses, but in the want of
I the town by ten years. It was a practically French for
dirtyThis is t
of the dirty fresh reclamations from the steep
hills.j village when the Annamese Government
to be done both to the cast and to the west. agreed to the establishment of a French conctasion Some alteration is also to be made in the systcon
u garrison of
200
troops. It
It still remains a
aby which Crown leaseholds are now held. Under built some the old leases there is no clause ford
the owner little village, but the French has
forcing Lave neat houses for the officials and the public to build, and there are consequently, not a few offices are charming But there is
is no trade to areas both in the neighbo speak of. There is a French mercantile houso, butį ketually within itoed of the city and its limits which still remain vacant. ite establishment in Haiphong implied the dig For the futms, purchasers of Crown silotamonte appearance of the only
I firm in Saigon. This will not be allowed their lease until they have com- was hard on Cochin China, if it was gratifying to plied with the conditions of sale, and Tonquin. One
help recollecting, when such sim to be specified, in the construction of cannot
houses.
laland in the Cauton river, which belongs to France, squatters, tenants at will, in the different villages has bever been built upon,
on the island, are to be allowed to take small and Still, though the material condition of Hongkong inexpensive leaseholds for a period
75 years, is so satisfactory, there is much to be done and a This is in supersession of the old rule, by the good deal that calls for immediate action. Fortu- terms of which they might be turned out at a nately, the colony is in the hands of a man of longmonth's notice There is good ground for hope, experience and steady energy. To: many it seemed Beving that the island is so small, that this will curious that Sir George Bowen, after having ruled tend to relieve the present overcrowded quarters over our great Australian dependencies, should fof the city.
The furtherance the rame works
orpanded a
comparisons are e made, that the fifth of Shame in furtherance of the same idea, the old licensed 651
cept the governorship, at the end of bis carest, of a for the preservation of the public health, exten small place like Hongkong. But the importance of sive reclamation of unsavoury sidal lands, is to be
place is not to be judged of by its size, and when we took over charge of
with, while systematic dredging of the proceeded inoxious foreshoro George Bowen
the sea-front is to be along
begun,!! was in a somewhat perturbed, not to The Taitam waterworks, though terribly expensive ized, state. The late Governor. had tno
and likely to necessitate a loan, must in any event
of the
spasmodic energy about him. He is perpetually in have been constructed sooner or later. Equally of oppressed nationalities whom he may expensive will be the connexion of, the eastern benefit, perhaps because he himself is from the mest and western portions of the city by means of distressful
present this of the Chinamen of
"is interrupted by the Royal naval yard
A
has since found it in arg, oven send the military cantonments; but the break in the
island. Ho discerned oppression in the cornya marino embankment. ns o The Chinamenand
state
in the shut 1
red
were unaware of the unsatisfactory condition of sca-frontage is very inconvenient and must be Bowen also meditates, their position in life, but the novelty of the idea im-done away with. Sir George. pressed them for time, with
most awkward re- the construction of a permanent lazarette on Stone- suits, Before the end of Sir J.Pops Bonnessy's term,
nessy's term, cutter's Island, the quarantine station. At present however,
they had come to the conclusion that bis the place is in a disgracefully bare state. Not long! the chief Colestials of the place expressed the notions were factions and his schemes visionary, and ago the Dalo, a coasting steamer, arrived with
"them/seven of
coolies on board and cholera" sick were landed, Vid selves s freely in memoriale somewhat to this
lodged in Waie. He had excited a great deal of previously and the wretched victims had their shelter blows
Sit J.Fope Hennessy h
possible to run up with sails y had done much what tonts it was mischief,
and the like. But a species of typhoon came on, non-existent discontent, and he left the whole
place in a ferment. Not the least of Sir George Bowen's away, and were left exposed to the torront rains difionalties has been to meet the attacks of the of a China sea storm, with the natural result. The agitators whom his predecessor had raised up out of bones of many of them may be seen peeping out nothing. These men, not being quite sure what of the shallow soil now.
શ્રેણ
they want, or what the preciso nature of their It will thus be seen that Sir George Bowen is grievanoos in, or of those of whom they are the active in measures for the good of the colony. f-constituted champions, display their hostility Bat that which Hongkong most wants he at simply in a
in a general opposition to all Guvern- undertake without the action of the Imperial mental measures. This, no doubt, tends to re- Government. It is no exaggeration to say that the tard, though it cannot hinder, the beneficial town is without fortifications of any kind. Those projects which his Excellency is pushing on. which exist are a
usaless that it would be better
The most important of these from the mercantile if they were not there at all, for they only serve as point of view is the so-called Blockade o Hongkong. oxcuses for parsimonious Colonial Secretaries to
question is naturally most difficult one, but refuse a
for the defences of the place. As it has been altogether unduly aggravated by the heart of commerce Hongkong is wort!
heart Brant
worthy of pro- late Governor's pro-Chinos
-Chinose meaSURGH, Ubinamentection, but as a position from which we can look upon smuggling as an ordinary branch of maintain our interests in China it is infinitely trade they are not successful,so much the worse, more important. Now that France has established It is an unlucky speculation, that is all, but ill-fuck herself so extensively in the Judo-Chinese turri- on ons, or several occasions is no reason why the should render Hongkong safe, at any rate, from the tories, is more imperative than ever that wo traffic should be given up. In a precizely
of what
but
way, any fisherman or coasting junk captain will attacks of an ironclad of France
ber turn amateur pirato if he sees an opening. Ho
Ho may
second clase. Such vessel could sink what war have been most peaceful and mildest mannered for ships we have, on the China station, and then pro years, but he is not going to let a chance slip, and ceed t
to pound Victoria into subjection with the he cuts throats with ability and scuttles and}
with minimum of danger to herself. The fortifiontion of precaution in the most business-like fashion. Hong Singapore
has long
beca 62 kang offers particularly good opportunities for under present circumstances that of
& crying kong is smuggling operations. It is hardly necessary to at the very least as urgent. Hongkong mast tako
from the port is not say that sunggling f
the the majority of the Tonquin trade, and 15 x
it choose to call it,
against the but
well that we should
ourselves against protect till there fa In view of the peculiar
if we should have a a quarrel with may be found advisable to pass en enactment France. It
Fold scores if
not be forgotten that the French fordidding attempts at carrying off contraband recently turned out at the point of the bayonet
China, but till the
till then, no attempts should the English captain of an English steam launch
gn stateį
on the Red River. The matter to be arranged amicably, but it time press matters
68 you
lair. It is ordinance. it is not illegal, ill-will which would find an easy means of iving
goods to
special position
of Hongkong it out
be made to protect the revenue of a straining ordinances which, were
for an is certainly he may of any tim altogether different purpose,
rpose. This is what Eir shows feelings
and
John Fope Hennessy did,when he first came to the so far that s
afriendly arrangement will be no easy colony to decide on a smuggling case which matter. Meanwhile we spend £70,000 a year 31 had occurred in the time of Sir Arthur Kenuody, salutes in Hongkong harbour, and that is all the his predecessor. The case is stated as follows by present fortifications are good for. If an arrange- Mr. Justice Russell, who has written on extremely mout was made to reduce the absurd number of able memorandum on the whole subject of the salute guus Hongkong would be a much plensanter Blockade question. In 1876, a junk with opium place to live in, and if the money enved were had been fired on in British waters by a Chinese spent on fortifications it would be much safer. revenne craiser, dragged from the coast of Cape At present not only is Victoris open to attacks d'àguilar, and towed to the Fat-tau Mun Sitation, from the sea, but if the Chinese were to pull up The junk had a large quantity of oplus on board, a few ordinary old guns to the top of the heights Sir Arthur Kennedy demanded the restitution of on the mainland they could pound the town to the junk and cargo, an apology from the Viceroy atoms at their leisure. We are very proud of our of Canton, and distaissal of the officer in dbarge of commercial and organizing genins. It would be well tho cruker who had thus invaded our waters and if we took measures to protect what we bave or territory. It was June or July 1877 (Governorganized,
Hennessy having arrived in April) before the While Hongkong is thus Bourishing, Canton is oplum was restored and compensation allowed for in a very perturbed state. Canton is the place of the forfeited and sold junk. Governor Honnessy all others which has lost by French doings in resolved not to give up the opium and cargo to the Tonquin. The great majority of the Chinamen owners, because the junk had left the anchorage and host of the merchants in Tonquin wero fram without a proter, clearance," and from that time! the South China capital. The trade on the now
I