further
solely upon the proposed increase of the Garrison;
4
for in par. 15 of my despatch No. 8 of 20th Jan 1890 I laid down the general principle that the Colonies, so far as their means allow, should provide the whole cost of their land defence.
It must also not be forgotten that the contribution of £20,000 a year was fixed
DRAFT.
It can be verified that the garrison of 174 of all ranks, & its cost was £100,000 and the revenue of the Colony was about $4,837,500 dollars, whereas the garrison now present in Hong Kong, according to the latest returns, is about 1,364 of all ranks and the cost is about one hundred & eighty thousand, and the estimated revenue of the Colony for 1891 is $18,497,773 dollars, or more than four times the cost of this Garrison.
N.B. The W.O. will observe that in 1863, with the intention of increasing it at the end of five years, the garrison consisted of three