find immediately following this we come to the soap manufacturers; they do not appear in the last census, and they are now only 7 in number. There also appears, for the first time, one spectacle-maker. We have Chinese sugar refiners; they have declined from 25 to 15, and tanners from 7 to 1. Tobacco manufacturers have increased from 44 to 96. Tooth-powder makers appear also for the first time; they number 57. Umbrella-makers have increased from 97 to 169, vermilion manufacturers and dealers from 111 to 123, and Weavers, who appear for the first time in our census, number 6. It is, therefore, clear that we have in this Colony numerous local manufactures which have every prospect of extending.
But apart from the question of such manufactures, there are in this Colony, as you all know, various industries employing Chinese artizans. Carpenters have increased from 2,510 to 2,923, blacksmiths from 690 to 708, pewter-smiths from 60 to 173, tinsmiths from 88 to 172, and braziers from 488 to 864. Masons show a falling off from 845 to 542. Rice-pounders have increased from 954 to 1,083, and in stone-cutters there is a large increase, from 449 to 1,439. The number of tailors now in the Colony, who work with sewing machines mostly, amounts to 1,857. It is an interesting fact, that for these tailors drill is imported into the Colony from England; they make it up with their sewing machines, and the made clothes are then exported to New Zealand and Australia. In that way Chinese cheap labour, even without leaving the atmosphere of China, is, to a certain extent, successfully competing with Australian and English manufacturers of clothes.
There are certain special occupations of the Chinese which are worth noting, as they indicate the prosperity of the natives. We have the birds' nest sellers, who have increased from 12 to 35, the sharks' fins dealers, from 9 to 15, beancurd sellers, from 93 to 107, jadestone dealers, from 8 to 18; but cinnamon dealers have fallen from 8 to 7. Sesamum oil dealers appear for the first time, and number 5, and ginseng dealers also appear for the first time and are 4 in number. Joss-paper sellers have increased from 30 to 47, joss-house keepers, from 17 to 41, and chair coolies, from 859 to 980.
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In addition to those who are concerned in our commerce and trades, there is a certain amount of professional life amongst the Chinese, as shown by the census returns. We had in 1876, 198 Chinese doctors; now we have 333. Well, the question has often been asked, whether Chinese doctors do much good, but I think we may, perhaps, rely upon the good sense of those who employ them and have confidence in their empirical knowledge and skill. But even the European community and the Government of the Colony owe a debt of gratitude to some of those Chinese doctors. Hongkong is peculiarly situated with respect to the possibility of an influx of small-pox. Perhaps no other port in the world is more liable to a visitation from that disease, and yet, though occasionally I get a report from the Harbour Master of a case or two that may be brought here, it does not spread in the Colony. How does that come to pass? I was talking not long since to the Health Officer, Dr. ADAMS, and he tells me he has to examine the Chinese who emigrate, and he finds nearly all the young Chinese have three or four vaccination marks, or inoculation marks, upon the arms. He says he was often puzzled to know how this vaccination came to be apparently so perfect among the Chinese. Well, the fact is, that for some years past the doctors of the Tung-wá Hospital have vaccinated extensively, and some of them have been employed as travelling vaccinators, who go about this Colony, and who, since 1878, visit the mainland and vaccinate all through the neighbouring province of China. Thousands upon thousands have been vaccinated by them. The returns are printed in our annual Blue Books. Thousands upon thousands have been vaccinated during the last four years. But when I saw the annual returns sent in by the Colonial Surgeon not many weeks ago, I appended the following minute to that document:- "I cannot find any return showing the number of vaccinations by the Medical Officers of the Colony. Ascertain how many persons have been vaccinated every year for the last four years by the Colonial Surgeon, the Health Officer, the Superintendent of the Civil Hospital, and the Deputy Superintendent." This appears to have been sent to the Colonial Surgeon for a report. The report of the Colonial Surgeon was very brief:- "No return has ever been kept." Whereupon, my honourable friend on my left (the Acting Colonial Secretary) writes to the Colonial Surgeon asking him if he could from his memory, and approximately, furnish the number he has himself vaccinated, and get the same information from the other Medical Officers of the Government. The reply of the Colonial Surgeon is: "I have the honour to inform you that ten persons were vaccinated in the Hospital by the Superintendent. I have not been able to obtain any more information from the Superintendent. The Acting Health Officer vaccinated his own child twice without success. I have performed 32 vaccinations on children, fifteen unsuccessfully, and about as many more on adults." And then he proceeds to state that he distributed lymph, which I send to him (it comes to me every mail in my despatch bag from Downing Street), amongst his professional brethren in the Colony and at Canton. He adds, that in future he will take care that a record of the vaccinations by the Government Officers is kept. It may, of course, be said that the Colonial Surgeon and the other Officers of the Government were aware of the fact that this semi-administrative duty, in fact, a duty of no slight importance to the Government and the Colony, was actually being performed for them by the directors of the Tung-wá Hospital; and, therefore, they did not think it necessary to interfere with the Chinese doctors, who were vaccinating thousands of people and doing it so well, and who have protected the Colony so thoroughly. Passing from the doctors, we come to the druggists, who have also increased from 164 to 243. I find, for the first time in the professional life of the Chinese in this Colony, that we