1841-1886
229
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS. 367
Hongs may settle here, and the project be realized which Sir John Davis did his utmost to encourage in the infancy of the colony, upwards of ten years ago.
9. The revenue of the colony may next call for remark, and of this the most important item comes under the head of rent from leased lands. The Surveyor General in his report, as will be seen, puts this down as 16,229l., while the Treasurer shows the collection during the year to have been but 11,144l. 17s. 11d.
10. I have examined into this discrepancy, and find that the Surveyor General must have fallen into some error, for he has overstated the rent roll, which stood at the close of 1855, and still stands, at exactly 14,779l. 3s. 7d., while the difference between this sum and the amount actually collected may be probably accounted for by casual arrears, and the collection of a portion of the rents between Christmas of 1854 and the new year of 1855, the same strict measures for the collection of a correspondent sum not having been taken during the final week of 1855.
11. The net increase on the rent roll during the year, subtracting reductions, &c., is 3,528l., 17s. 5d.
12. Akin to the rent roll revenue, as connected with land, is the large amount received as premium on the various lots exposed to public auction. This has been most remarkable in 1855. The number of land sales was nine, and the premia realized amounted to 15,720l. 16s. 8d., nearly half of which was derived from six valuable marine lots sold on 16th November last.
13. Of the other items of revenue those requiring any special notice are the opium and spirit licences, which show, especially the former, some increase, owing to the increased population, and to the same cause may be traced a similar increase under police assessment and fees of office.
14. On expenditure little comment is required, but it must not be lost sight of, that while the revenue rises with the colony so must the expenses, and the increase under this head of 6,178l. 11s. 1d. is attributable to public works, mainly, and to the necessarily increased police force, besides some additions to the now underhanded and always underpaid departments of government.
15. Of public works the most important is Government House, which was completed for your Excellency's reception on the first October last, and cost, up to 31st December 1855 the sum of 15,318l. 13s. 4d. Throughout the city of Victoria, culverts and side channels have been industriously proceeded with, and a great improvement in these respects has been effected. During the latter part of the year the erection of tanks for water for general purposes and in case of fire has engaged the Surveyor General.
16. I observe that the Surveyor General has noticed the irregular burials, and damage done to young trees by the Chinese, and I have to say that almost weekly I have called the attention of the Superintendent of Police to these offences, and I hope at last with some little effect; but these nuisances, with a large Chinese population and a very inefficient police, are most difficult of suppression.
17. The principal subjects into which the ordinances and notifications of the year have been connected are Chinese emigration, the administration of justice, and the registration of ships.
18. This port has become concerned largely in Chinese emigration, the returns showing that 14,683 left during the year, and this business is, I believe, on the increase. The emigration officer is useful and necessary, but it is to be hoped that as soon as circumstances permit the appointment will be transferred to an assistant harbour master, as a far more convenient and suitable arrangement.
19. The ordinances for the administration of justice are adaptations of the law reforms introduced into the mother country.
20. The imperial act to amend and consolidate the laws regulating merchant ships and seamen, known as "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," came into operation on 1st May 1855, and some notifications regarding it have been issued in the Gazette, while an ordinance, No. 4 of 1855, establishes a registry for colonial vessels.
21. Of the councils it is only necessary to say that their reconstruction is under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government.