20
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
houses. The enclosed return from Dr. Dill will show very few deaths in proportion to cases under his treatment, viz. 9 in 367. The comparative casualties among the military (which I further enclose) demonstrate a considerable improvement in the last year, under very unfavourable circumstances.
My chief hopes for the military are founded in the near completion of the excellent and ample quarters for both officers and men, under Major Aldrich's supervision; and when these are occupied, I have little doubt of this climate being found superior to that of most hot countries.
On the second point, the improbability of raising a revenue, I may observe that Mr. Martin (who, in his peculiar province of treasurer, predicted that more than 5,000l. could never be raised on the land) was singularly contradicted at the close of the same year, when the total amount of the leases reached nearly 13,000l. I have no doubt of his views proving, in due time, to be equally fallacious as to other items of revenue; but the greater part of the population were only building their houses, and a too rapid attempt to lay on imposts in an incipient state of things might discourage settlers and do serious injury.
The progress made during the last winter is quite striking; numbers of really fine houses have risen in all directions, and, as roads and communications are completed, and the surveys carried out, the capabilities of the place, with all its natural difficulties, will altogether surpass the first expectation.
With reference to the third question, the prospects of commerce, it is clear that a place which has no productions can exchange nothing in trade; but the finest harbour in the world (as many naval officers pronounce it), and a free port, must render it in time a great entrepôt. It is especially available for warehousing goods. Even as to native produce, the numerous valleys on the south side (by far the finest part of the island), to which a road has been nearly completed, will eventually contribute to the support of the population; and there is abundant pasture, with innumerable streams, over the whole island.
On one point, the trade in Chinese vessels, I fear that Article XIII. of the Supplementary Treaty has inflicted an injury that nothing but a fresh convention can remedy. As long as our own trade is confined to five ports, it is obvious that the Chinese merchants at those ports will not resort to Hong Kong for what comes to their own doors; but had the whole coast of China been left free to the Chinese themselves, a strong inducement to trade with this colony would have existed, and tended to counteract the restriction on Europeans.
This was foreseen and inculcated in the instructions from the Foreign Office, dated 3d February 1841, as I find them in my archives: "You are authorized to propose a condition that if there be ceded to the British Crown an island off the eastern coast of China to serve as a commercial station for British subjects, the Chinese merchants and inhabitants of all the towns and cities on the coast of China shall be permitted by the Chinese Government to come freely, and without the least hindrance and molestation, to that island, for the purpose of trading with the British subjects there established.”
Another obstacle to the trade in Chinese vessels has existed in the prevalence of piracy, and this was aggravated by an order issued to our men-of-war that they should never molest a pirate, "except in the act of attacking a British vessel," the most improbable contingency, and especially in the presence of Her Majesty's ships. I have been overwhelmed with applications from our own Chinese subjects, and others resorting to the island, to protect them from the pirates who have almost blockaded the harbour; and my correspondence on the subject with your Lordship and Lord Aberdeen will have shown the extent of the evil. The circumstance of licences to carry arms being found on board piratical vessels, seemed to warrant the inference that they received some encouragement from the Chinese Government to molest our trade; but the disavowal of Keying deprives them of any protection from these licences, and converts the latter into a means of condemnation. A small steamer is one of the best instruments for the capture of pirates, and I have accordingly the "Medusa" now ready for that service.
148,
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