HONG KONG
No. 40.
Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir S. G. BONHAM, K.C.B., to the Duke of NEWCASTLE.
(No. 44.) MY LORD DUKE,
Victoria, Hong Kong, June 13, 1853.
(Received, August 20, 1853.)
HAVE the honour to transmit to your Grace the Blue Book of Hong Kong for the year 1852.
Revenue and Expenditure.
2. The revenue received up to the 31st December last amounted to 21,331l. 1s. 8¼d., and was less than that for the year 1851 by 2,390l. 5s. 10d.; but this decrease was principally owing to the relief which the local Government found it necessary to afford to the sufferers by the great fire of December 1851, as already reported upon, and since approved of by the Secretary of State, and partly to a greater amount of ground rents outstanding, which have however since been recovered.
3. The total expenditure for the same period was 34,765l. 12s. 9¼d., being-
Civil establishments 11,900 7 6 Contingencies 1,533 7 0 Judicial establishment and police 8,474 1 5 Contingencies 5,683 4 7 Ecclesiastical establishment 729 3 4 Contingencies 94 18 11 Public works and buildings, roads, streets, and bridges, including repairs and improvements 4,937 19 2 Miscellaneous expenditure 1,400 8 0 Pensions 12 2 9 34,765 12 94. That your Grace may not suppose the revenue of the colony is on the decline, it affords me pleasure to state that the revenue collected for the financial year ending 31st March 1853 amounted to 23,432l. 13s. 5d., being in excess of that collected during the preceding financial year by 917l. 4s. 2d.
Military Expenditure.
5. The total disbursements by the Commissariat and Ordnance departments amounted to 50,393, showing a decrease of 1,502l. as compared with the previous year.