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the term of the contract, which was for 6 months, was brought to an abrupt termination by the war; and the coolies, who had already got utterly out of hand in their novel surroundings, had to be deported from France. On their return to Hongkong the men, who had already demanded with threats and obtained a higher rate of wages than had been originally agreed upon, made further and unreasonable demands, which led to the arrest and banishment of their ringleaders. The remainder of the batch were later given facilities for leaving the Colony.
25. The disappearance of all assisted emigration to British possessions from July 1st and the embargo placed by the Straits Settlements Government at the outbreak of war on all deck passengers from China were felt very severely by the emigration boarding houses in Hongkong.
65 Emigration Hotel Licences (6 new) and 35 Assisted Boarding House Licences (6 new) were issued in 1914. The former had accommodation for 5,680 boarders and the latter for 1,637.
During the year 22 Emigration Hotels were found closed either on account of distress for debt or because of dull business; 2 of them afterwards re-opened after paying off their debts. 25 Assisted Boarding Houses closed their premises; one of them re-opened afterwards, and 9 others were closed without having renewed their licences in May. The number of houses holding licences at the end of the year was thus reduced to Hotels 15, and boarding houses for assisted emigrants 7, as compared with 61 and 33 respectively at the end of 1913.
26. One of the hotels, the "Tai Tung", was not allowed to renew its licence under the Emigration Ordinance. It was later allowed to take out a Restaurant Licence. The Chung Hing hotel had its licence suspended for 3 months for encouraging the presence of undesirable women on the premises but was afterwards allowed to take out a new licence.
27. 18 duplicate licences were issued for removal of premises or transfer of names during the year.
REGULATION OF CHINESE.
Ordinance No. 3 of 1888.
(i.)-REGISTRATION OF HOUSEHOLDERS.
28. 2,502 householders were registered, of which 92 were first registration. (In 1913 the numbers were 3,259 and 264.) 10,102 changes of tenancy were also notified for registration as against 15,987 in 1913. These figures, although falling considerably below those for 1913, are still higher than the 1912 totals. The very high figures for 1913 were due to the registration campaign mentioned in last year's report and to the abolition of