1887-1903
COLONIAL REPORTS.-ANNUAL.
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to some 46,000 as against 82,000, and the number of arrivals to 96,000 as compared with 108,000 in 1893. Although sickness must have been in a large measure responsible for this falling off, the returns for 1894 would doubtless have been considerably larger had not the various shipping companies been debarred from carrying passengers by the severity of the quarantine restrictions universally enforced.
On the whole, the experiences of the year 1894 have affected the shipping interests of the Colony to a considerable extent, but, notwithstanding this interruption, the progress of the business of the port of Hong Kong during the past quarter of a century has been steady and satisfactory, as evidenced by the fact that since 1869 the annual returns of the shipping have nearly been trebled, whilst the passenger traffic returns have been more than quadrupled. There is every reason to hope, therefore, that, in the absence of a recurrence of recent misfortunes, this progress will be maintained in future years, and that Hong Kong, which is already the third largest port in the world, will eventually advance yet higher on the list.
Finances.
Notwithstanding the fact that every opposing circumstance was present during 1894, the revenue for the year reached the surprising total of $2,287,203.32, the largest sum hitherto collected in any single year. This very satisfactory result was, of course, partly due to one or two extraordinary receipts, e.g., the accumulation of interest on the unexpended balance of the loan raised in 1893, but after deducting these items there still remains a handsome increase on the revenue for the preceding year, chiefly derived from stamps, permits, licences, postage, and profits on subsidiary coins, the last-mentioned item alone producing an increase of $54,682 as compared with 1893.
The total expenditure for the year, inclusive of public works extraordinary chargeable to current revenue, amounted to $2,299,096 or $11,893 in excess of the revenue. As compared with the preceding year the expenditure for 1894 shows an increase of $378,572, nearly the whole of which is accounted for by the fall in exchange, which materially affected payments in sterling and involved the extra charge of exchange compensation to Government servants, and by the large expenditure incurred in battling with the plague epidemic, which latter item alone exceeded $150,000. Taking, therefore, the above circumstances into consideration and the fact that the revenue suffered severely during the months of June, July, and August, the financial results of the year 1894 cannot but be regarded as an eminently satisfactory indication of the vitality of the Colony.
The item of $150,000 referred to above represents, of course, only a fraction of what the plague must eventually cost the Colony. Under the heading "Legislation" in the Blue Book will be found an Ordinance entitled "An Ordinance for the Summary Resump-
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