236
346.
7
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
5. The Registrar General's department was towards the close of the year again placed under Mr. Caldwell, whose knowledge of the Chinese character and local dialects render him, in my humble opinion, not only the colonial officer best suited for this particular office, but also the most necessary servant of the Queen in this colony. His return gives the amount of our population to be 71,730, - a decrease of a few hundreds as compared with 1855, but when it is remembered that the increase in 1855 was nearly 17,000 it is satisfactory to find that the experience of another year proves such large increase, although due at the time to accidental circumstances, to have been permanent. Only five houses are stated to have been empty in the town of Victoria; and this is a fact to which I must draw the attention of Your Excellency, as a great proof of prosperity,
6. The ascertained number of deaths in the colony appears to be 2,443, or not quite 34 per cent.; but the habits of the Chinese will, I am afraid, prevent us from relying upon any calculation of this description as a proof of the healthiness or unhealthiness of the locality. That Hong Kong does not deserve the character for insalubrity which attaches to it in Europe is a matter which no resident here for any length of time will think at all doubtful.
Education.
It is much to be regretted that the benefit conferred upon the community by the numerous places for education which appear in the returns should be so nearly nominal as it seems to be at present. The free school at Saint Paul's College, under the direction of the Bishop of Victoria, has been for many years past in receipt of a yearly donation of £250 per annum from the Imperial funds; but I should be at a loss to specify the advantage accruing from such outlay, either to the community in general or to the colonial Government, in the shape of interpreters or trustworthy employés. Nineteen other small schools, under the superintendence of the Educational Committee, and at the expense of the colonial Government, are scattered throughout the Chinese population of the colony. These may, and it is to be hoped will, in time yield fruit; but nothing can, I fear, well be at a lower ebb than education generally here, and so it must, I am afraid, continue for some time, chiefly owing to want of funds.
Exports and Imports.
The usual tables of exports and imports have been prepared for the Blue Book, and on being referred to will show no falling-off in the arrivals at the port; but in the absence of a custom-house, and any means of ascertaining with any certainty the correctness of such details, I feel myself unable to rely upon the returns here laid before Your Excellency. They may be taken for what they are worth; but revenue and population are the only tests by which I should be inclined to try the advance or falling-off of our condition.
Crime.
The criminal returns of the Supreme Court show that 183 persons have been tried under 85 charges, and of these 100 have been convicted, 46 acquitted, the prosecution was abandoned against 36, and 1 stood over for trial in 1857. Piracy and cases connected with piracy account for no less than 34 of these cases and 45 of these convictions, and piracy must necessarily have been committed out of the colonial jurisdiction. Considering the amount of our population, the remainder of our calendar speaks in favour of the small amount of crime existing in 1856; but there must be a much more efficient police at the service of the colonial Government before the tenuity of the list of convicted criminals can be taken as a favourable symptom of our moral progress.
His Excellency the Governor,
&c.
&c.
&c.
"I have, &c. (Signed) W. T. BRIDGES,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
Page 255
Page 256