1887-1903
COLONIAL REPORTS—ANNUAL.
15
confidence in the success of local industries; whilst the Praya Reclamation, upon which several fine buildings are in course of construction, and the rapid development of British Kowloon provide ample evidence of the general expansion of the Colony. Add to these the extensive works which have increased the water supply to some 400,000,000 gallons, the fine Central Market, Cattle and Slaughter Depôts, which have a most important bearing on the food supply of the Colony, the Taipingshan Improvement Scheme, the new sewerage works, and the general improvement of the outlying villages, and we have further illustrations of progress in the direction of sanitation.
In short, despite its darker records—and happily they are few—the history of Hong Kong is summed up in the single word "Progress." If, in some measure, my administration has contributed to that result the pleasure derived from the retrospect will tend to mitigate the regret with which I regard my approaching departure from a Colony with whose interests I have for six years, without interruption, been identified.
171
I have, &c.,
WILLIAM ROBINSON,
Governor.