from the first date of British occupation,
a population of
Had a
go 221000, 211000 of
it
Whom
were Chinese. It has been rated as
Tak the
be the third port
in volume
of trade
in the British empire
made.
The petition (par. 3) claims that the
prosperity of
the colony
has been due
to the enterprise and the self sacrifice of
British merchants. It is a
question of little
more than academic interest, but as a
Matter
of fact
the claim is not well founded. The parts of the world which
have been made prosperous
by
the direct action
of
the government. Military possession was
taken of an island at the mouth of
the Canton
river
and
it
was due to the fact
that this island, holding a commanding position
and possessing a fine harbour, was under a strong and settled government, not by English but by Chinese. Its prosperity
is due on the one hand
to the British government
and to the Chinese population
on the other.
The cheap labour
is not referred to
but never
more than anything
not to the fees English merchants, who have made large fortunes and no doubt shown
considerable public spirit
in the colony.
Mr. Dockar, in his excellent memorandum
shows that the Chinese are the real taxpayers.
The port is free, and the European
resident
pays
little import duty
on the many articles
he must want from
home.
He shows too, what we have long
known to be the case, that the Chinese merchants
are ousting the European merchants.
Moreover there are merchants who are neither
Europeans nor Chinese. Of our members of Council here
two, Mr. Chater and Mr. Bellios, are Orientals, the former
of Armenian, the latter
of Jewish descent.
The contention then, if it is worth controverting,
that Hongkong
is the product of private
British enterprise, that as the Virginia
company and the Pilgrim fathers built up
the United States
so Jardine Mathieson
and Co created Hongkong,
is not well founded.
It has been made by the government, it has not merely always been
Hongkong