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HONG KONG.
ANNUAL GENERAL REPORT FOR 1926.
PREFACE.
The Colony of Hong Kong is situated off the south-eastern coast of China between latitude 22° 9′ and 22° 17′ N. and longitude 114° 5' and 114° 18′ E. The island is about 11 miles long and 2 to 5 miles in breadth, its circumference being about 27 miles and its area 28 square miles. It consists of an irregular ridge of lofty hills rising to a height of nearly 2,000 feet above sea level, stretching nearly east and west, with few valleys of any extent and little ground available for cultivation.
The island, then desolate and sparsely inhabited by fishermen, was ceded to Great Britain in January, 1841, the cession being confirmed by the Treaty of Nankin in August, 1842; and the charter bears the date 5th April, 1843. All that part of Kowloon peninsula lying South of Kowloon Fort to the northernmost point of Stonecutter's Island together with that island was ceded to Great Britain under the Convention signed at Peking in October, 1860, and under the Convention signed at Peking in June, 1898, the area known as the New Territories including Mirs Bay and Deep Bay was leased to Great Britain by the Government of China for 99 years.
The area of the New Territories and Islands is about 345 sq. miles.
Trade gradually developed as China became accustomed to foreign intercourse and it increased greatly owing to the opening of the Suez Canal. It now stands at about 200 million pounds sterling per annum.
Large local banking, dock, steamboat, and insurance companies were established between 1865 and 1872, and their numbers are being continually added to.
The Colony is the centre of an incessant flow of Chinese emigration and immigration.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The boycott of British trade and shipping which began at the same time as the strike in June, 1925 did not, like the strike, collapse rapidly. It continued in full force throughout nearly the whole of 1926 by means of armed strike pickets, whose livelihood depended on it. Officially it was called off by the Canton authorities on 10th October, but intimidators managed to enforce its continuance for some time longer. The trade of the Colony consequently suffered severely, but despite all the difficulties in their way, the British merchants in South China managed to do a certain amount of business, and all confidently looked forward to the better times to come.
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