Introduction
xi
Kew in the United Kingdom.
1844 (despatch 53 of 3/May/1845)
PRO: CO129/12
PRO: CO133/41
1884 (no despatch found)
Despatches instead of Annual Reports
To be found in the files of the Colonial Office at the Public Record Office at Kew in the United Kingdom.
PRO: CO129/171
1871 (despatch 139 of 13/Nov/1872 + CO minutes) PRO: CO129/159 1876 (despatch 133 of 11/Oct/1875 + enclosures) 1877 (despatch 200 of 21/Nov/1876 + enclosures) 1878 (despatch 167 of 29/Nov/1877 + enclosures)
PRO: CO129/175 PRO: CO129/179
1887-1889
From 1886 onwards, Parliament ceased its previous practice of printing all the colonial Reports on Blue Books together in one omnibus report entitled 'Reports exhibiting the past and present state of Her Majesty's colonial possessions'. Henceforth, each colony's annual report on the Blue Book was published as a separate publication in a new series entitled 'Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions: no. ... [name of Colony]'; the first one in this new series was the 1886 report for the Virgin Islands: the first report for Hong Kong was that for 1887 and was number 33 in the new series.
All the reports for 1887 to 1889 were published and the references are below. In 1888, there were two reports: an initial report and then a further report. All these reports were still described as the ‘Annual Report on the Blue Book'.
1887 'HM Colonial Possessions: no.33'
1888 'HM Colonial Possessions: no.77'
1888 'HM Colonial Possessions: no.84'
1889 'HM Colonial Possessions: no.117'
1890-1930
HoC: 1888 vol. lxxii (page 371-388) HoC: 1890 vol. xlviii (pp. 477-496)
HoC: 1890 vol. xlviii (pp. 497-524) HoC: 1890-1 vol. lv (pp. 83-90)
The series of printed individual reports that Parliament began in 1886 had a very short existence with its title ‘Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions: no. [name of colony]'. The concept of each colony's report being a separate publication remained, but the title was changed to 'Colonial Reports Annual: no. ... [name of colony]'. From 1890 until 1919 these reports under the new title were published as Command Papers of the House of Commons, as previously; but from 1920 onwards the publication was taken over by His Majesty's Stationery Office - the numbering of the