J 5
Territory and robbed and kidnapped. This outbreak was entirely due to the lack of any reasonable system of policing on the other side of the frontier. Some fear and uneasiness was evinced in the Territory but the prompt measures taken by the Police soon restored confidence and suppressed disorder.
The war continued to exercise practically no influence on the people of the district. There are no local newspapers from which they could follow the course of events, even if they could read, which the vast majority of them cannot. The only purveyors of war news are the occasional firemen and stokers who return to their homes from foreign parts and it is probable that their views on the war are not very illuminating. With the exception of kerosene, the war does not affect the price of local commodities.
There has however been a considerable increase in the cost of living. I estimate that the cost of living in Tai Po Market is now 50 per cent. higher than it was ten years ago. Prices and rentals have all gone up. A house which one of my clerks rented ten years ago at $4 a month now costs $7.50. Pork is six cents a catty dearer than it was and the cost of wine has gone up 2 cents a catty. Fish, owing to the railway, has become dear and difficult to get. All good fish goes to Hongkong by train and if one wishes to buy good fish locally it can only be obtained at Hongkong prices. Wages have also risen. The accountant of a shop in the market who used to receive a salary of $150 a year with board and lodging now receives $200 and the wages of coolies have also increased. There can be no doubt that there is more money in the Territory than there used to be ten years ago, and the largely increased sales of aerated waters and foreign cigarettes point to a general rise in the standard of luxury.
On the whole in spite of the bad crop, it may be said that the year was prosperous. The Crown rent and other dues were paid without a murmur and with practically no arrears and as far as the people of the Territory were concerned there was no serious crime and no actual want.
19th February, 1917.
S. B. C. Ross,
District Officer.
J 5
Territory and robbed and kidnapped. This outbreak was entirely due to the lack of any reasonable system of policing on the other side of the frontier. Some fear and uneasiness was evinced in the Territory but the prompt measures taken by the Police soon restored confidence and suppressed disorder.
The war continued to exercise practically no influence on the people of the district. There are no local newspapers from which they could follow the course of events, even if they could read, which the vast majority of them cannot. The only purveyors of war news are the occasional firemen and stokers who return to their homes from foreign parts and it is probable that their views on the war are not very illuminating. With the exception of kerosene, the war does not affect the price of local commodities.
There has however been a considerable increase in the cost of living. I estimate that the cost of living in Tai Po Market is now 50 per cent. higher than it was ten years ago. Prices and rentals have all gone up. A house which one of my clerks rented ten years ago at $4 a month now costs $7.50. Pork is six cents a catty dearer than it was and the cost of wine has gone up 2 cents a catty. Fish, owing to the railway, has become dear and difficult to get. All good fish goes to Hongkong by train and if one wishes to buy good fish locally it can only be obtained at Hongkong prices. Wages have also risen. The accountant of a shop in the market who used to receive a salary of $150 a year with board and lodging now receives $200 and the wages of coolies have also increased. There can be no doubt that there is more money in the Territory than there used to be ten years ago, and the largely increased sales of aerated waters and foreign cigarettes point to a general rise in the standard of luxury.
On the whole in spite of the bad crop, it may be said that the year was prosperous. The Crown rent and other dues were paid without a murmur and with practically no arrears and as far as the people of the Territory were concerned there was no serious crime and no actual want.
19th February, 1917.
S. B. C. Ross,
District Officer.
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