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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
Shipping.
8. The returns show the arrival during 1862 of 1,390 vessels, aggregating 688,329 tons. This is an increase upon the entries during 1861 of 131 vessels and 30,633 tons, the increase being in the proportion of 84 British and 47 Foreign vessels.
Vessels. Tonnage. 1857 1,070 541,063 1858 1,007 716,476 1859 1,158 626,536 1861 1,259 658,196 1862 1,390 688,829 131 30,633 British 84 Foreign 47I have omitted 1860, in which the number of vessels was 1,534 of 875,199 tons, as being an exceptional year, owing to the number of transports, &c. &c. &c. In the absence of a custom house, the imports and exports cannot be ascertained, but I think we should be justified in taking the above facts to prove that trade is on the increase.
Emigration.
9. There were 32 emigrant ships cleared from this port during 1862. Of this number 20 were American, 1 French, 1 Danish, 1 Chilian, and 9 British; and they carried 9,693 males, 681 females, and 47 children, distributed as follows:-
Males Females Children San Francisco 7,266 264 2 Australian Colonies 977 British West Indies 1,450 417 43 Total 9,693 681 47Legislation.
10. The Ordinances that were passed in 1862 were 15 in number, of which the most important were those relating to the regulation of the harbour, the enrolment of a volunteer corps, the prohibition by proclamation (if necessary) of the export of munitions of war, the abolishing of the offices of chief magistrate and assistant magistrate, the establishing of a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, the Post Office Ordinance, and the Police Ordinance.
Departments.
11. The state of the various departments of the public service of the Colony is on the whole satisfactory. The harbour master is the only head of a department absent from the Colony, but his absence does not impair the efficiency of the service, so far as the duties of the office are concerned. I have to note the abolition during the year of the offices of chief magistrate and assistant magistrate, the substitution of two police magistrates with equal powers, and the constituting of a court of summary jurisdiction, the judge of which (in the absence of Mr. Adams, who left in April last,) is acting as chief justice, while Mr. Whyte, one of the police magistrates (being a barrister), is acting as Judge of the Court of Summary Jurisdiction, in addition to performing his own duties.
12. During the last year the scheme for supplying the public service of this Colony with interpreters and officers by means of cadets has been successfully initiated by the arrival of three gentlemen, of whom I need only say that they have given themselves manfully to the study of the language, and with very fair success, and that if men of similar education and standing can be induced to join, the civil service of Hong Kong bids fair to be second to none.
13. The Surveyor-General, as must always be the case here, has had his hands full, not only with new works, but also with works of old standing, which in a climate like this require constant attention. The new gaol, towards the close of the year was partly occupied by the European prisoners; and in connexion with this subject I may record in this place, although belonging to the transactions of the present year, the establishment of a convict hulk at Stone Cutters' Island, in which 280 Chinese and other Asiatic prisoners are about to be confined, and whose removal will allow the erection of the new central police station being proceeded with. It is with regret that I have to record the death on the 18th ultimo of Mr. Scott, late Governor of the gaol.