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of Hong Kong was not fixed at £40,000 because that sum was considered all that a Colony should contribute towards the up-keep of a garrison costing about £280,000, but was because that contribution, considered to be all that the Colony at that time could be called upon to bear.
As long as the Garrison at Hong Kong costs so much more than the Contribution it pays, there can be no claim to a reduction of that Contribution on the ground of deficient numbers.
When the Contribution of $10,000 a year was fixed in 1863, with the intention of increasing it at the end of five years, an intention which was never carried out, the garrison consisted of 1000 of all ranks; its cost was £100,000 and the revenue of the Colony was about $567,815. The garrison now present in Hong Kong, according to the latest returns is 1574 of all ranks; the cost is about £170,000; while the estimated income of the Colony for 1890 is $2,184,943, or more than three times the revenue of 1863.
In your dispatch of January, the charge of £40,000 was estimated to amount to 17 per cent of the revenue of 1888. Owing to the subsequent growth of the revenue and the appreciation in the value of silver, the charge now only represents 11 per cent of revenue as against 16 per cent when the contribution of 1863 was fixed.
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