Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
344 REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
Imperial Treasury, but be enabled to resume all those undertakings which have from time to time been reported on, many of which have received your sanction, but have been necessarily suspended in order to avoid financial embarrassments. This may be a fit occasion to state, that though on the departure of Mr. Rienaecker it was officially reported to me that, whatever irregularities there may have been, the balances of public money were found to be quite correct, subsequent discoveries have caused me much solicitude, and I wait with anxiety the report of the commission which I have charged with a thorough investigation of all the accounts since the period of the last audit by the London board. The illness of the Lieut. Governor, who has been confined by gout to his house for the last six weeks, has impeded the progress of the inquiry, in which I shall have the assistance of members of the commissariat, whose practical knowledge of accounts will on this occasion be invaluable.
Mr. Bridges' opinions on the subject of legal reforms are entitled to much attention. I can confirm those opinions by the results of my own observation. The general Legislation of 1856 has, I believe, been of a most salutary character.
In the eulogiums on Mr. Caldwell's services, and the estimate of the value of his assistance, I cordially concur. To no one individual has the colony been so much indebted on its passage through our troublous times. The check upon the growing population of the colony is less than might have been anticipated; the blanks are gradually filling up; the respectable Chinese are returning, and I am persuaded there will be (if nothing unexpected occur) a gradual and a growing increase, all concurring to render Hong Kong one of the most prosperous and progressive of colonies under the protection of the British flag. When the Praya is completed, when the docks are built, communications facilitated, our sewerage and drainage improved, new markets provided, and various public buildings undertaken (as the state of our finances will allow), I think we may safely look forward with pride and confidence to a satisfactory futurity.
Whatever remains to be done for the melioration of the public health (and there is much required), the small average mortality of the colony is the best answer to those who are constantly demanding more than we are able to concede. I have had great satisfaction in receiving of late frequent testimonies to the great superiority in the salubrity and cleanly appearance of the portions of our colony inhabited by the native population, as compared or contrasted with similar localities in the towns and cities of British India, or other oriental regions.
I am as dissatisfied as ever with the state of public education in the colony. The commission I nominated never made any report, and lent me no assistance whatever in this great work. Mr. Hillier was removed first to Siam, and then from this world's cares. Mr. Medhurst was shifted to Foochau. Mr. Wade has been absolutely overwhelmed with his own duties (and has been lending habitually great and gratuitous assistance to the colonial department). To confess the truth, I have wholly failed in discovering any really efficient co-operation in this important work. You will better estimate the difficulties of this question when I mention that for the last six years £2501, a year has been voted by Parliament to the bishop's college, for the education of six persons destined to the public service, and that not a single individual from that college has been yet declared competent to undertake even the meanest department of an interpreter's duty, though I have no doubt of the bishop's zeal and wish to show some practical and beneficial result from the said parliamentary grant. I must also add, that to the missionaries alone I can at present look for active assistance, and that their special objects do not usually fit them for the direction of popular and general education.
As to the trade returns, though unable to furnish any accurate statistics of imports and exports, the enormous augmentation of the tonnage entering the harbour in 1856, namely, 811,307 tons, being an increase of 206,727 tons on the shipping of 1855, is undeniable evidence of the prosperous state of that department of commerce; and I may add, that the enormous importations of rice from Siam since the treaty of 1855 have created a new trade, and have been most instrumental in keeping the food of the people at tolerably reasonable rates, which otherwise might have mounted (as in many parts of China) to famine prices.
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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
344 REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
Y
Imperial Treasury, but be enabled to resume all those undertakings which. have from time to time been reported on, many of which have, received your sanction, but have been necessarily suspended in order to avoid financial embarrassments. This may be a fit occasion to state, that though on the departure of Mr. Rienaecker it was officially reported to me that, whatever irregularities there may have been, the balances of public money were found to be quite correct, subsequent discoveries have caused, me much solicitude, and I wait with anxiety the report of the commission which I have charged with a thorough investigation of all the accounts since the period of the last audit by the London board. The illness of the Lieut. Governor, who has been confined by gout to his house for the last six weeks, has impeded the progress of the inquiry, in which I shall have the assistance of members of the com- missariat, whose practical knowledge of accounts, will.on this occasion be invaluable.
*
Mr. Bridges' opinions on the subject of legal reforms are entitled to much attention. I can confirm those opinions by the results of my own observation. The general Legislation of 1856 has, I believe, been of à most salutary character.
In the eulogiums on Mr. Caldwell's services, and the estimate of the value of his assistance, I cordially concur. To no one individual has the colony been so much indebted on its passage through our troublous times. The check upon the growing population of the colony is less than might have been anticipated; the blanks are gradually filling up; the respectable Chinese are returning, and I am persuaded there will be (if nothing unexpected occur) a gradual and a growing increase, all concurring to render Hong Kong one of the most pros- perous and progressive of colonies under the protection of the British flag. When the Praya is completed, when the docks are built, communications facili- tated, our sewerage and drainage improved, new markets provided, and various public buildings undertaken (as the state of our finances will allow), I think we may safely look forward with pride and confidence to a satisfactory futurity.
Whatever remains to be done for the melioration of the public health (and there is much required), the small average mortality of the colony is the best answer to those who are constantly demanding more than we are able to concede. I have had great satisfaction in receiving of late frequent testimonies to the great superiority in the salubrity and cleanly appearance of the portions of our colony inhabited by the native population, as compared or contrasted with similar localities in the towns and cities of British India, or other oriental regions.
I am as dissatisfied as ever with the state of public education in the colony. The commission I nominated never made any report, and lent me no assistance whatever in this great work. Mr. Hillier was removed first to Siam, and then from this world's cares. Mr. Medhurst was shifted to Foochau. Mr. Wade has been absolutely overwhelmed with his own duties (and has been lending habit- ually great and gratuitous assistance to the colonial department). To confess the truth, I have wholly failed in discovering any really efficient co-operation in this important work. You will better estimate the difficulties of this question when I mention that for the last six years 2501, a year has been voted by Parliament to the bishop's college, for the education of six persons destined to the public service, and that not a single individual from that college has been yet declared. competent to undertake even the meanest department of an interpreter's duty, though I have no doubt of the bishop's zeal and wish to show some practical and beneficial result from the said parliamentary grant. I must also add, that to the missionaries alone I can at present look for active assistance, and that their special objects do not usually fit them for the direction of popular and general education.
As to the trade returns, though unable to furnish any accurate statistics of imports and exports, the enormous augmentation of the tonnage entering the harbour in 1956, namely, 8113,07 tons, being an increase of 206,727 tons on the shipping of 1855, is undeniable. evidence of the prosperous state of that department of commerce; and I may add, that the enormous importations of rice from Siam since the treaty of 1855 have created a new trade, and have been most instrumental in keeping the food of the people at tolerably reasonable rates, which otherwise might have mounted (as in many parts of China) to famine prices.
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