Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
other causes the profits of the China trade formerly enjoyed by a few are now divided amongst many, and hence the maintenance of an expensive establishment here has become not only unnecessary but undesirable to parties having houses of business in Canton. The port, however, is not without its use, even to them; for goods are often landed here intended for the northern ports, as indeed they are sometimes when destined for Canton, especially when the market is dull there, and when it is conceived by their consignees that further importation would produce further depression.
From December 1850 to March of this year 15 American whalers have arrived laden with oil, of which a considerable portion, under the provisions of the New Navigation Law, has been shipped to England in British bottoms. I am informed, by a very respectable authority, that 60 or 70 vessels of this description are expected here next winter, and as each of these vessels is estimated, on an average, to expend some $500 in the colony, by which each class of the community is benefited, this branch of trade deserves especial encouragement. I understand, moreover, that the masters of the above whalers, when here, convened a meeting, and passed a resolution that Hong Kong was the cheapest and most suitable port in the east for the resort of whalers, and for the transhipment of their cargoes. These vessels can refit here at a comparatively small expense, procure such supplies as they may be in need of, and return to the whaling ground as soon as the season opens. I entertain, therefore, every hope that this trade may prove of great use to the colony. A vessel has also lately arrived here, under American colours, from Oregon, for the purpose of entering into contracts for the supply of masts, spars, &c., which at times are much required here. The returns will be, of course, from Hong Kong.
In conclusion, I would add that although the colony is of great use to the few firms engaged in the opium trade, yet it is on the general foreign trade that Hong Kong must mainly depend for progressive improvement.
The Right Hon. Earl Grey,
&c. &c.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
J. G. BONHAM.
Enclosure 1 in No. 39.
SIR,
Surveyor-General's Office, Victoria,
February 11, 1851.
I HAVE the honour to lay before you, for the information of his Excellency the Governor, my annual Report upon the works which have been undertaken during the year, and upon the general state of repair, &c. of all civil roads, works, and buildings upon the island.
VICTORIA.
Roads and Bridges.
The district from the gap to the valley has been kept in repair by convict labour, amounting during the year to 2,234 men, being equivalent to an expenditure of £461. 10s. 10d.; this is rather a large item for repair of so short a road, but it is caused by the necessary attention to the new portion of the road, and the expenditure is further enlarged by the distance the men had to travel to the work, which occupies nearly an hour both going to and returning from work, or nearly one-fifth of their effective day's labour.
The final payment for that portion of the road from the Wongneichung Valley to North Point, which was widened and improved, as alluded to in my last Report, and which was so much damaged by the storm of the 13th September, was made during the year, amounting to £2701. 16s. 8d., which, with the previous advance of £751. made last year, makes the full cost of the service £3451. 16s. 8d. paid by Government, and in addition to which the sum of £1151. was paid by private subscription. In consequence of the misunderstanding between the clerk of works and the contractor nothing was done to the road until May of the present year, when orders were received to repair the damages and render the road again serviceable for carriages. This repair was effected for an expenditure of £634. 19s. 2d., and although we had no typhoon during the year there were several gales which tried the unfinished portions of the walls and newly deposited earth severely, I am happy to state without effecting any damage. I have endeavoured to protect the line of road by encouraging the growth of grass and shrubs, or prickly pear, upon a slope of sand outside the sea-wall, and in several places they are thriving very well, but the extreme drought of the last six months has caused many to wither; these, however, I hope I shall succeed in replacing at as early a period as the rains will permit.
Of the bridges in the Wongneichung Valley, I have much pleasure in reporting that the three remaining wooden ones were reconstructed with brick arches upon the old abutments, in