PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
'ग'य'ग
Reference :-
C.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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this expression to mean that the contribution was to be raised to a higher
rate on a future occasion."
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5. The garrison in 1863-4 was estimated at 1,000 of all ranks, and its annual cost at 100,000l. In 1888 the garrison numbered 1,445 of all ranks (exclusive of volunteers), and its cost has risen to about 160,000l. a year, while the Colonial contribution has remained at 20,0001.
6. The future garrison, including local regulars, but excluding militia and volunteers, will be approximately as follows:-
Imperial troops, 2,525 of all ranks.
493
Local regulars,
99
29
The details are given in the Table A. annexed to this despatch.
7. The cost of this garrison will be about 280,000l. a year and will consequently be nearly three times as great as was the expense of the garrison in 1863 when the Colonial contribution was fixed. Her Majesty's Government, however, do not propose that the contribution should now be increased in the same proportion, and will only call upon the Colony to provide 40,000l. a year for each of the three years 1890-1-2, the Colony bearing in addition the cost of any militia and volunteers which it may raise, and the contribution to be paid after 1892 being subject to re-consideration daring these three years.
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8. You will remember that Lord Derby's despatch, No. 213, of the 17th of September 1884, enclosed with other correspondence a letter from the War Office of the 9th of September, which stated that "Lord Hartington con- "siders that it should also be intimated to the Governor that the present arrangement as to incidence of charge only applies to the works now to be "constructed and armed, and that the military contribution paid by the Colony will have to be reconsidered with reference to the increased garrison which may become necessary in consequence of these works, and "to the general defence of the Colony." And in now informing you of the amount which Her Majesty's Government demand from the Colony as its contribution to the increased garrison, I desire to draw your attention to the following considerations, which have been duly weighed before that amount was determined.
"
9. Hong Kong is the centre of great commercial activity, and the mercantile prosperity of the port continually increases in a very remarkable degree, as is evidenced by the following figures extracted from the Blue Books:→
Shipping.
1868
Ships. Entered 1,822
Tonnage.
894,924
1866
Cleared 1,895 Entered 27,500 Cleared 27,090
911,957
2,501,818
Entered 28,779
2,478,887 4,352,668
1878
Cleared 28,377
4,340,419
1888
6,400,410 6,309,974
Entered 27,779 Cleared 27,869
10. During the same period the increase of the public revenue has, similarly, been very marked. The figures have been ;-
1863
1868
1878
1888
8 576,375
1,131,106 including fees on gambling houses,
since abolished. 947,637 1,557,300
In other words the public revenue has nearly trebled itself in 25 years, while the shipping visiting the port has multiplied seven-fold.
The population, which was shown by the census of 1881 to be 160,402, is now estimated at not less than 215,000.
11. It is evident that the prosperity, I may almost say the existence, of the Colony, and the welfare of this large population, depend upon the continuance and security of its trade with other places. If the trade is secure, the pros-
perity may be expected to continue and increase, and the first instincts of self-interest would lead the community to make every effort to protect and defend their trade.
12. The present defences of Hong Kong, with their powerful armament, will suffice, in the opinion of Her Majesty's professional advisers, to afford the necessary protection against any attack likely to be made upon it; but I need scarcely remind you that another and more powerful safeguard is pro- vided by the ships of Her Majesty's navy, whose duty would be to prevent any hostile force from approaching the place, and in whose absence alone would any attack upon it become possible. The combination of the two forms of defence will, it may be hoped, effectually secure the safety of the trade of the Colony, and of the population which lives and thrives upon it.
13. I frankly recognise that the merchants of the Colony have always been ready to acknowledge the value of the navy to them. At the same time the changed conditions of warfare, and the sudden and rapid nature of the opening operations, have made it necessary for Hong Kong, like other impor tant Colonial ports, to be always ready to repel an attack in case of the absence of the fleet, and to have its garrison permanently at full strength, and not dependent upon the doubtful possibility of receiving reinforcements on the outbreak of war.
14. It will doubtless be urged, as has been urged before, that the defence of Colonial ports is a matter of Imperial concern, and that the maintenance of their garrisons should be mainly borne by the taxpayers of the United Kingdom. Her Majesty's Government have, however, never admitted, and cannot now admit, this ples. Self-preservation is the first law_of_nature, and if the capture of Hong Kong would be a serious blow to the Empire, the capture would mean ruin to many inhabitants of the Colony, and serious loss and hardship to all. Hong Kong, in common with every other British possession, is directly benefitted by its connexion with the rest of the Empire, and, while enjoying the benefits, cannot escape from the responsibilities, entailed by that connexion. The larger dependencies, such as the Australian Colonies, accept their responsibilities without demur, and not only provide the whole of their land defence, but contribute to the cost of the navy in order to strengthen the squadron, and obtain more complete protection for their shipping and floating trade.
15. The estimated cost of the navy to the Imperial Exchequer is, as you will see from the Statesman's Year Book (page 247), over 13,000,0001. for the year 1888-9, and as the population of the United Kingdom (page 255) is more than 37,000,000, these figures show that the mother country contributes 78. per head of its population to the naval defence of the Empire, and it might reasonably expect its dependencies to make provision for their own defence to an equal amount. Questions of jurisdiction beyond the, three-mile limit, of the flag, and of discipline, stand in the way of Colonial war ships, so that the navy will always be that of the mother country, and in dealing with the great question of the defence of the Empire it is difficult to lay down any other broad principle for dividing the cost of Colonial defence, except that of the mother country undertaking the sea defence of the Colonies by means of her navy, and of the Colonies, so far as their means allow, respectively providing for their own land defence. But even this principle admits of extension, as, for instance, when a Colony agrees to contribute, as most of the Australian Colonies now do, to the cost of additional ships to be employed in local waters for the protection of the floating trade within those waters.
16. In some cases, as I need scarcely inform you, the poverty of the Colony renders any realisation of the general principle laid down in the preceding paragraph practically unattainable; in others, the contribution, though sub- stantial, falls short of the full cost owing to the inability of the Colony to provide more; and in both cases the difference is borne by the heavily taxed mother country. The Army Estimates (page 245 of the Year Book) are considerably over 16,000,000l., or more than 8s. 9d. per head of the popula tion. And this, added to the naval charges, makes a payment by the mother country of 15. 9d. per head per annum for the defence of the Empire in 1808-9. But I am informed by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury that the corresponding payment for the current year may be estimated at
A 2
E 61097.