1841-1886
105
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS. 507
I have much satisfaction in speaking in the highest terms of the several officers of the department, who have uniformly given the utmost attention to their several duties, and executed them all to the best of their abilities. It is unnecessary to make further allusion to each individually, and I only express a wish that if the probable changes of which I made mention before, viz., the reduction of further civil works, the civil engineer and clerk of works, the Hon. W. Napier, may obtain other suitable employment under Her Majesty's Government, suited to his professional acquirements; and, further, that His Excellency the Governor may be pleased to take into consideration the proposition made for attaching to the department one or two carpenters and a blacksmith, to enable me to repair in a more effective and satisfactory manner the several buildings under my charge—26 in number, and the preservation and repair of the convict tools.
I have, &c.,
The Honourable Major W. Caine,
Colonial Secretary.
(True Copy.)
(Signed)
W. CAINE, Colonial Secretary.
CHAS. ST. GEO. CLEVERLY,
Surveyor-General.
Enclosure 3 in No. 38.
SIR,
Victoria, Hong Kong, March 3, 1849. In making our Report for the half-year ending 31st December, 1848, on the schools in this colony receiving Government aid, we have little to add to that of the last half-year.
Ninety-five boys are in course of education at the three schools—forty at Victoria, twenty-five at Stanley, and thirty at Aberdeen. Over the schools at Stanley and Aberdeen we have been unable as yet to exercise any very effectual supervision. The school at Victoria has been visited at least once a-month, and the progress of the scholars is as great as can be reasonably expected.
We believe the assistance given to these schools to be properly appreciated by the Chinese inhabitants of the place, and to be of substantial benefit to a number of poor people who would be otherwise unable to procure education.
The Honourable Major W. Caine,
Colonial Secretary.
(True Copy.)
W. CAINE, Colonial Secretary.
Remarks upon
Enclosure 4 in No. 38.
We are, &c.,
(Signed)
C. B. HILLIER.
V. STANTON.
A. L. INGLIS.
the NATIVE TRADE at HONG KONG during 1848.
In the absence of regular returns we can only talk in general terms of what comes under immediate observation. The Chinese traders are, moreover, very reluctant to give a true detail of their actual transactions, for fear of provoking competition; their statements are always under the real amount.
Much business is done here by small traders, who come to Hong Kong from the neighbouring cities, such as Tung-kwan, Nan-tow, Kwei-shen, and other places. They generally bring an investment of sugar or produce for immediate consumption. Their agents attend auctions, and buy up things wherever they find them at reduced prices. In these they invest their proceeds, and sell them in the interior at a more advantageous rate than the small traders at Canton can ever do. This is a very numerous class: the boats ply constantly between this colony and their respective native places. Individually they possess little capital; their dealings are beneath the notice of a British merchant; but could the whole be summed up, it would be something very large through the year. The returns being very profitable, their numbers have considerably increased, and are likely to do so in future; the market supplies have in consequence become as abundant and various as those of the largest cities in the empire. A corresponding increase of large fast-boats, who trade to this port periodically, has also taken place, and the local Government has not as formerly thrown obstacles in the way.
A great drawback upon this small trade is the absence of capitalists. Many men of desperate fortunes arrive here, engage in dangerous speculations in order to obtain credit, and suddenly abscond after having sold the goods intrusted to their care at a ruinous rate. There are others who realize a fair profit, but withdraw from the colony as soon as they have accumulated a few thousand dollars, never to appear again, except to recruit their finances on a new venture. There exists no local attachment, which may be ascribed to the absence of respectable families born on the island with which the adventurers could contract marriages. As long as their relations live elsewhere they will look upon Hong Kong as a mere temporary abode, which they may abandon and revisit at pleasure to suit their convenience. This is a most serious obstacle to the increase of trade, though it cannot be charged to local arrangements made during our occupation of the island. The rent of houses and shops is at present low enough to enable any man who carries on a middling trade to lodge his family, yet very few decent
1841-1886
105
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS. 507
I have much satisfaction in speaking in the highest terms of the several officers of the department, who have uniformly given the utmost attention to their several duties, and executed them all to the best of their abilities. It is unnecessary to make`further allusion to each individually, and I only express a wish that that if the probable changes of which I made mention before, viz., the reduction of further civil works, that the civil engineer and clerk of works, the Hon. W. Napier, may obtain other suitable employment under Her Majesty's Government, suited to his professional acquirements; and, further, that His Excellency the Governor may be pleased to take into consideration the proposition made for attaching to the department one or two carpenters and a blacksmith, to enable me to repair in a more effective and satisfactory manner the several buildings under my charge-26 in number, and the pre- servation and repair of the convict tools.
I have, &c.,
The Honourable Major W. Caine,
Colonial Secretary.
(True Copy.)
(Signed)
W. CAINE, Colonial Secretary.
CHAS. ST. GEO. CLEVERLY,
Surveyor-General.
Enclosure 3 in No. 38.
SIR,
Victoria, Hong Kong, March 3, 1849. In making our Report for the half-year ending 31st December, 1848, on the schools in this colony receiving Government aid, we have little to add to that of the last half-year.
Ninety-five boys are in course of education at the three schools-forty at Victoria, twenty- five at Stanley, and thirty at Aberdeen. Over the schools at Stanley and Aberdeen we have been unable as yet to exercise any very effectual supervision. The school at Victoria has been visited at least once a-month, and the progress of the scholars is as great as can be reasonably expected.
We believe the assistance given to these schools to be properly appreciated by the Chinese inhabitants of the place, and to be of substantial benefit to a number of poor people who would be otherwise unable to procure education.
The Honourable Major W. Caine,
Colonial Secretary.
(True Copy.)
W. CAINE, Colonial Secretary.
Reмaaks upon
Enclosure 4 in No. 38.
We are, &c..
(Signed)
C. B. HILLIER.
V. STANTON.
A. L. INGLIS.
the NATIVE TRADE at HONG KONG during 1848.
In the absence of regular returns we can only talk in general terms of what comes under immediate observation. The Chinese traders are, moreover, very reluctant to give a true detail of their actual transactions, for fear of provoking competition; their statements are always under the real amount.
Much business is done here by small traders, who come to Hong Kong from the neigh- bouring cities, such as Tung-kwan, Nan-tow, Kwei-shen, and other places. They generally bring an investment of sugar or produce for immediate consumption. Their agents attend auctions, and buy up things wherever they find them at reduced prices. In these they invest their proceeds, and sell them in the interior at a more advantageous rate than the small traders at Canton can ever do. This is a very numerous class: the boats ply constantly between this colony and their respective native places. Individually they possess little capital; their dealings are beneath the notice of a British merchant; but could the whole be summed up, it would be something very large through the year. The returns being very profitable, their numbers have considerably increased, and are likely to do so in future; the market supplies have in conse- quence become as abundant and various as those of the largest cities in the empire. A corre- sponding increase of large fast-boats, who trade to this port periodically, has also taken place, and the local Government has not as formerly thrown obstacles in the way.
A great drawback upon this small trade is the absence of capitalists. Many men of desperate fortunes arrive here, engage in dangerous speculations in order to obtain credit, and suddenly abscond after having sold the goods intrusted to their care at a ruinous rate. There are others who realize a fair profit, but withdraw from the colony as soon as they have accumulated a few thousand dollars, never to appear again, except to recruit their finances on a new venture, There exists no local attachment, which may be ascribed to the absence of respectable families born on the island with which the adventurers could contract marriages. As long as their relations live elsewhere they will look upon Hong Kong as a mere temporary abode, which they may abandon and revisit at pleasure to suit their convenience. This is a most serious obstacle to the increase of trade, though it cannot be charged to local arrangements made during our occupation of the island. The rent of houses and shops is at present low enough to enable any man who carries on a middling trade to lodge his family, yet very few decent
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