1. Enclosure I RECE
9528
(Red 9 MAY 31
356
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
A meeting of the Legislative Council was held yesterday afternoon. There were present :--
His EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR, SIR G. WILLIAM Des Vœux, K.C.M.G.
Hon. W. M. DEANE, C.M.G., Acting Colonial Secretary.
Hon. W. M. GOODMAN, Attorney-General. Hon. N. G. MITCHELL-INNES, Colonial Treasurer.
Hon. J. H. STEWART-LOCKHART, Registrar-General.
Hon. S. BROWN, Surveyor-General.
Hon. P. RYKIE
Hon. O. P. HATER.
Hon. Ho KAI
Hon. J. J. KESWICK.
Hon. T. H. WHITEHEAD.
Mr. A. M. THOMSON, Acting Clerk of Councils.
MINUTES.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
PAPERS LAID ON THE TABLE.
The ACTING Colonial SECRETARY laid on the table a despatch from the Secretary of State respecting the military contribution, dated 13th February 1891, also a report on the progress of works in the Water and Drainage Department for 1890.
FINANCE.
Several minutes by His Excellency recommending various items of money were laid on the table and referred to the Finance Committee.
THE MILITARY CONTRIBUTION. The Council resumed consideration of the vote in Finance Committee of $123,870 as the second moiety of the military contribution for 1890.
His EXCELLENCY—Before hon. members express their opinions with regard to this vote, I think it well to say a few more words to express more clearly what on the last occasion in my remarks may have been somewhat obscure. It appears to me, disregarding altogether the mistake made by the Imperial Government in giving the reasons for this additional vote, the question of whether the additional contribution asked for is just and right depends on the answer to two questions which are quite distinct and ought not to be confused. The first is, having regard to the relative interests of the mother country and the colony as to the object of expenditure, is the proportion which we are now asked to pay, even with the additional contribution, greater than it should be with reference to the Imperial contribution? That is the first question. The next is, even if that question is answered in the negative, namely that it is not unduly great, is the amount we are asked to pay greater than we are able to pay without serious injury to, or even from the narrowest point of view of the War Department, injury to our capacity to pay any contribution at all in the future. Now, I do not think it will require much consideration on the part of the Council to give a negative answer to the first question. It is true there is, so far as I know, no part of this expenditure which the Imperial Government would not have to incur if we were not here at all, for the defence of trade in the East and this coaling station; nevertheless, inasmuch as the incidental effect of that expenditure is the defence of our, if relatively small, at the same time, intrinsically large interests in that trade, I cannot think the amount we are called upon to bear as compared with the whole cost, I cannot for a moment think it will be believed to be an unduly large one, when you bear in mind that as compared with the whole cost at present we contribute only one-fourth. Making a large allowance, as I have always done, for the land occupied by the military, for which no rent or rates are paid, it is a very small proportion of the total cost even for soldiers alone, apart altogether from the fleet, for which we pay nothing. I question very much whether anyone after giving impartial consideration to the matter would say, with this in view, that it is an unfair one.
Then, however, comes the question as to our capacity to pay. Now, the answer to this question appears more doubtful. After full consideration of the matter, I have no conscientious doubt whatever that we are able to pay without serious injury. At the same time I say so only for the present moment. The case may in the course of a few years be very different, and as this question may become of great importance in the future, especially if fresh demands, such as have been hinted at, are made upon us, I feel it necessary to dwell more on this subject than otherwise I should have done if the vote were going to be a finality and if we could guarantee the position of the colony always as it is at present. Unfortunately, we are not told that this vote is by any means a final demand, nor are we able to guarantee with any certainty that the prosperity of the Colony will remain as it is. Therefore, consideration of this question is a matter of great importance to the future—possibly to the very early future, I hope a distant one. At all events, we have it not indirectly hinted that future demands will be made on us, and therefore this question ought not to be left out of consideration.
Now, this Colony unquestionably is regarded by the outside world as very wealthy relatively to its area and population; the figures of its trade impress the outside world largely, and very justly. At the same time, we have to bear in mind this, that our wealth is almost entirely dependent, exclusive of the article of sugar and a comparatively small allowance for local consumption, on a trade which is more liable to be affected by changes in condition than that of one like that of the United Kingdom, which is concerned in products grown or manufactured on the spot. Ours is the trade rather of a distributing centre, and the greater part of the articles in which our trade is concerned are exported from the colony in the same condition in which they are imported. Now, it requires but very little consideration to see that this trade is of a far more delicate constitution, so to speak, than one like that of the United Kingdom, which is concerned in products grown and manufactured on the spot, a trade which must always continue in the absence of conditions which we can hardly contemplate. If that fact is not self-evident, as I think on consideration it is, we have in another part of the world, and within the last twenty-five years, a startling instance of it. The island of St. Thomas in the West Indies twenty-five years ago was a distributing centre for the trade of the West Indian islands and the whole Spanish main; to-day it is little less than a depot for the supply of coal and other articles to passing steamers; its functions as a distributing centre are gone, and its trade in that capacity is past. I shall not enter into minute particulars as to the reasons for this—it would take too long—but the immediate cause is that merchants on the mainland and on the islands, who used to deal with St. Thomas as a distributing centre, now find it cheaper to obtain their supplies direct, and consequently the functions of St. Thomas are gone. Now, though our position with regard to the neighbouring empire of China, which compels all vessels going to China from other countries, with the exception of America and Japan, and all vessels coming from those countries with the exceptions of America and Japan, to pass close to our doors, puts us in a much better position than St. Thomas, and exactly the same circumstances which injured St. Thomas would not affect us—of course, I mention St. Thomas as an analogous instance.
I am not comparing the trade of Hongkong with the trade of St. Thomas; the trade of Hongkong is of enormously greater importance, but nevertheless it is of the same kind, and St. Thomas was an exceedingly flourishing place—I say, though our position geographically is so favourable with regard to trade that this same circumstance would not affect us, nevertheless this is an instance which shows you how easily a change in conditions might affect us very seriously. Now, at the present moment, we are suffering largely not merely from...
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