# 1841-1886
No. 3.
Cate
(No. 44.)
Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Davis to the Right Honourable Lord Stanley.
Victoria, Hong Kong, 25 April 1845. (Received, 2 August 1845.)
My Lord,
In despatch No. 66, of the 17th December, your Lordship desires me to furnish a report as to the points on which I dissent from the views stated by Mr. Martin in a paper of observations which I forwarded at that gentleman's request.
His objections to Hong Kong are founded on an apprehension of its peculiar unhealthiness, the improbability of raising a local revenue, and its inutility as an entrepôt for trade. I shall endeavour to show that his statements were exaggerated and partial, and I am still of opinion that Mr. Martin wrote under a feeling of strong prejudice, founded in apprehensions for his personal health, regarding which he is remarkably sensitive, and on account of which he has had more leave of absence than any individual in the service. Your Lordship will have observed in that gentleman's paper, that he suggests the expediency of his being provided for in some other colony.
With reference to the first point, that of imputed unhealthiness, I consider the climate of Hong Kong to be precisely that of Macao, from which it is only 40 miles distant, and where for many years I and numbers of others enjoyed as good health as in England. In its geological features it is identical, though the hills are higher. Major Caine, now the oldest resident in Hong Kong (from its very first possession), states it to be better than any part of India, and Sir Henry Pottinger will say the same. But as the mere statement of opinions is hardly sufficient, I will endeavour to show that the great mortality among the military and (at the very first) among civilians must be attributed to circumstances and causes sufficiently obvious to save the character of the climate.
Before the place was definitively declared, only two years since, to be a permanent possession of the British Crown, the uncertainty of tenure, and the very limited resort of tolerable workmen, led to persons of all ranks being housed in dwellings progressing gradually from mere mat sheds to wooden and brick hovels of a somewhat better description. The pernicious system of ground-floor apartments was at first universal, arising partly from hurry and partly from economy, and I regret to say that many more of these still remain than I could wish.
With regard to the military, the reports which your Lordship perused from the officers commanding native regiments in respect to the accommodations of the soldiery, were by no means exaggerated. In a remarkably stormy (though not unhealthy) climate, the mat huts of the men on the wet ground withstood neither wind nor rain, and the deplorable condition of things which I found on my arrival led me immediately to acquiesce in the request of Major-general D'Aguilar that he should appropriate the ground on the side of the road opposite to the "North Barracks" to the construction of permanent and proper accommodation for the troops. These are now in a far state of advancement.
To prove that climate must not be rashly assumed as the cause of mortality among the soldiery, I may cite Chusan in 1840. The mortality then and there was appalling, and, from obvious causes: but the island has since proved so congenial to Europeans, that it is the theme of Mr. Martin's admiration and envy, and to the vituperation of Hong Kong he adds the recommendation that Chusan should be retained. I do not say that (for a great many reasons) I should not rather have kept Chusan than Hong Kong at the settlement of the convention, but, if the Chinese fulfil their engagements, I do not see how this is now to be done.
As the lodgment of all classes improves in this colony, I will pledge myself for the improvement of the general health. During the last summer the civil portion of the population were as healthy as in most other countries, and particular cases could be traced to bad dwellings or the too early occupation of new houses.
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