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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
that narrative showing what is called land speculation; on the contrary, it shows that the commercial wants of the Colony have been increasing, that the necessity of providing more godowns has been felt by the merchants, and that our manufactures are increasing, and you will notice, that not only has there been an increase of enterprise and prosperity on the part of the foreign community, but also on the part of the Chinese.
Public Works by Private Enterprise.
Some weeks ago I observed that the Secretary of State for India, Lord Hartington, looked forward hopefully to the time when certain public works in India would be undertaken by private enterprise. When you consider what is done by the Survey Department in this Colony, you cannot but notice how small the amount really is which we lay out in public works as compared with what may be done by private enterprise and capital when the Colony is prosperous. Sir Hercules Robinson entertained the scheme of forming a Praya Wall at Kowloon and wharves running from it out into deep water so that steamers and ships could go alongside. The expense would have been considerable. The scheme was contemplated by the Government, but it was felt the time had not come for the Government to undertake it. Now it is being undertaken, not by the Government, but by the energy and capital of the Colonists, and I am sure you will agree with me that nothing can be more healthy, as a sign of our prosperity, than that works of this kind should be constructed, not by the Survey Department, but by private enterprise.
Europeans and Chinese alike Prosperous.
But it is manifest that whatever may be said with respect to the prosperity of the Colony, as shown by the revenue returns, by the general commercial activity of the Colony, by the fortunate position of the Colony with regard to the diminution of crime and the greater comfort and ease of every one as regards the protection of life and property, whatever indications of prosperity may thus be seen it is also satisfactory to note that, in the history of Hong Kong, there never was a time when there was more successful enterprise among all classes alike of the community, Europeans as well as Chinese.
Hong Kong Student in London.
There is one class of enterprise, an intellectual enterprise, to which I have great pleasure in referring. Some of my learned friends who are present know that at the examinations at the Inns of Court in London there are young men from Oxford and Cambridge, London University, and King's College, and the chief
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