Effects of the recent
and in the absence of such a report
plague, back, I can
hardly imagine that
the financial outlook is more favourable than it was before the plague began,
[6492]
Braddell's telegram of 17th April last, in which he stated that a deficit
was expected this year
and a large deficit in the
accounts
of 1895.
In receipt of further information
in this point, which will doubtless be
before
me when the
Estimates for 1895 are
sent home, and of the next
letting
of the Opium Farm,
I am unable
to sanction the imposition
of any
additional
burden upon the Revenue of the Colony.
5. As regards any balances remaining
to the credit of the Colony at the
present
time, these will be
apparently
more than exhausted by the capital expenditure required,
estimated at nearly $1,000,000
in connection with
the raising of Tai Tam dam, & the resumption and demolition of
Taipingshan, if a further loan is
not found necessary. In any case,
it would
manifestly