B
:
This is a wonderful record and the remarkable continuity of the progress made is shown in a sessional paper which has to-day been laid on the table.
The revenue increased steadily from $2,686,914 in 1897 to $7,035,011 in 1906. Then there was a brief set-back, for the revenue in 1907 was only $6,602,280 and in 1908 it fell to $6,104,207. Thence- forward the increase was again continuous until in 1918 the revenue collected was $18,665,248. There followed another set-back, the revenuo for 1919 being $16,524,974, for 1920 being $14,689,671 and for 1921 being $17,728,131. Thereafter the revenue suddenly leaped up again, reaching the Colony's record, namely $24,783,762, in 1923. Since then there has been another decline; but even so the revenue collected last year was $21,131,581, appreciably more than in any year of the Colony's history prior to 1922,
The Council will see that during the thirty years under review there has thrice been a set-back in the steady expansion of the colonial revenue, the first in 1907-8, the second in 1919-21, while the third is being experienced at the present time. On the first of these occasions the trouble was due to trade depression consequent on over-specula- tion in 1904, followed in 1905 by the boycott of American goods in China as a protest against the United States' exclusion law. Imports to, and exports from, China fell off. Moreover, the reduction of the British fleet in China, which took place at this time, adversely affected Hong Kong in many ways, especially by a decrease in the repairing and docking of ships. The general trade depression con- tinued in 1906, when there were heavy losses through the fall in price of Indian yarn, while shares in local undertakings much depreciated in value. It was accentuated towards the end of 1907 by world-wide restriction of commerce following upon a financial crisis in America. Shipping in particular suffered and the same trouble continued in 1908. Thereafter a gradual improvement began both in trade and in shipping, and this was at once reflected in an improved collection of revenue in Hong Kong.
The second set-back was during the years of world-wide dis- organization which followed the conclusion of the Great War. The trade depression of that time was by no means confined to Hong Kong, but it was aggravated here by the disturbed state of the neighbouring province of Kuang-tung and of China generally, Eventually, however, this very state of chaos and anarchy in China reacted beneficially upon the revenues of Hong Kong, because the Chinese realized that this Colony afforded a safe refuge from the storm and they, therefore, became anxious in increasing numbers to find some foothold within it. There followed a land-boom in Hong Kong and Kowloon and the recent statistics of the revenue of this Colony from land-sales are so significant that I give them in full;—
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