1841-1886
REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PRESENT STATE
How Kona.
No. 2.
Enclosure
No. 1.
Enclosure No. 2. June, 1871.
HONG KONG,
No. 2.
Copy of a DESPATCH from Lieutenant-Governor WHITFEILD to The EARL OF KIMBERLEY.,
(No. 79.)
MY LORD,
Government House, Hong Kong, June 8, 1871.
I HAVE the honour to transmit, for the information of your Lordship, the Blue Book of the Colony for the year 1870.
I also enclose with it a copy of the Report making references thereto, which has been made to me by the Colonial Secretary.
I have, &c., (Signed) H. W. WHITFEILD,
The Earl of Kimberley, &c.
&c.
&c.
Major-Gen. and Lieut.-Governor,
(No. 278.)
SIR,
Colonial Secretary's Office, June 6, 1871.
I have the honour to submit the Blue Book of this Colony for the year 1870, and to draw your Excellency's attention to the following remarks thereon.
Revenue.
2. The receipts under the head of revenue were, it will be perceived, in close approximation to those of the preceding year, having amounted in the whole to 190,673l. 12s. 1d., as against 192,464l. 17s. 2d. in 1869.
Under some heads, as for instance the Mint, and reimbursements, the decrease is considerable; but the account is balanced by increased receipts for stamps and police and lighting rates, which is all the more satisfactory, considering that the sale of the Mint machinery, and an allowance from the Special Fund for the construction and maintenance of the 'Victoria' and 'Blanche' steam-vessels gave extraordinary additions to the receipts of 1869.
Expenditure.
3. In respect to the expenditure of 1870, there was a decrease of 8,713l. 10s. 6d. as compared with that of 1869, the charges of the former year having amounted to 183,595l. 11s. 1d., whilst those of the latter reached 192,309l. 1s. 7d.
But, for the purchase of Mr. Duddell's lots, which involved an outlay of 8,600l., the contrast would have been still more favourable to 1870. At the same time, however, the reception of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, and the purchase of fire-engines in 1869, gave exceptional increase to the expenditure of that year,
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