1887-1903
COLONIAL REPORTS.
-ANNUAL.
15
on the individual resident is as light as ever, viz, between $8 and $9 a head.
It is not possible to trace here the direct incidence of taxation or to prove that any particular class has not gained at the expense of others, but it may be assumed that, whilst the additional taxation which has been imposed during the last 25 years may have fallen directly more hardly upon one class of the community than upon another, the process of filtration through which all taxation passes until it indirectly touches all classes preserves the balance, so to speak, of its incidence, and the above comparison may therefore be taken as a reliable illustration of the constancy of individual contributions to the revenue during the last 25 years.
Again, taking the respective sterling value of the revenues for the years 1869 and 1894 as an indication of the effect on Colonial finances of the recent steady decline in the value of the dollar, the year 1869 produced an income in sterling of 192,464, whilst the exceptionally large revenue collected in 1894 (taking the dollar at two shillings as a convenient and approximate average rate for the year) is represented in gold by some 228,720l., or an increase of 36,256l. in 25 years, during which period payments in sterling have necessarily become considerably more numerous. Looking at the financial position of the Colony from this point of view, the state of affairs would appear to be less satisfactory than it was a quarter of a century ago, but, seeing that the bulk of the Colony's liabilities are incurred locally and discharged in silver, the position is purely a fictitious one for practical purposes, and is only useful as an illustration of what the financial position of Hong Kong might have been but for the depreciation in silver.
The Public Health, &c.
The mortality statistics of a year darkened by the visitation of a disastrous epidemic must necessarily disclose an increase in the death-rate and compare unfavourably with those of previous years. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the total number of deaths from all causes recorded in 1894 amounted to 7,362, giving a death-rate of 30.3 per 1,000 as against 23.3 in 1893 and 21.3 in 1892. The number of deaths reported from plague amounted to 2,552, or over 10 per 1,000, leaving a balance of 4,810 deaths due to ordinary causes or less than 20 per 1,000. It thus appears that but for the plague, which is the key-note of all our misfortunes, the year 1894 would have shown a death-rate lower than that of the remarkably healthy year of 1892, and very far below that of other years.
Against the above mortality returns, the number of births registered in 1894 was 1,455, giving a birth-rate of 5.91 per thousand of the estimated population. The difference between the birth and death-rate would with a normal population point to a considerable decrease in the population during the year, but, as a matter of fact, it is estimated that there was little, if any, decrease in this respect, the vacancies in the labour market being filled as
137
1887-1903
COLONIAL REPORTS.
-ANNUAL.
15
on the individual resident is as light as ever, viz, between $8 and $9 a head.
It is not possible to trace here the direct incidence of taxation or to
prove that any particular class has not gained at the expense of others, but it may be assumed that, whilst the additional taxation which has been imposed during the last 25 years may have fallen directly more hardly upon one class of the community than upon another, the process of filtration through which all taxation passes until it indirectly touches all classes preserves the balance, so to speak, of its incidence, and the above comparison may therefore be taken as a reliable illustration of the constancy of individual contributions to the revenue during the last 25 years.
Again, taking the respective sterling value of the revenues for the years 1869 and 1894 as an indication of the effect on Colonial finances of the recent steady decline in the value of the dollar, the year 1869 produced an income in sterling of 192,464, whilst the exceptionally large revenue collected in 1894 (taking the dollar at two shillings as a convenient and approximate average rate for the year) is represented in gold by some 228,720%, or an increase of 36,2567. in 25 years, during which period payments in sterling have necessarily become considerably more numerous. Looking at the financial position of the Colony from this point of view, the state of affairs would appear to be less satisfactory than it was a quarter of a century ago, but, seeing that the bulk of the Colony's liabilities are incurred locally and discharged in silver, the position is purely a fictitious one for practical purposes, and is only useful as an illustration of what the financial position of Hong Kong might have been but for the depreciation in silver.
The Public Health, &c.
The mortality statistics of a year darkened by the visitation of a disastrous epidemic must necessarily disclose jan increase in the death-rate and compare unfavourably with those of previous years. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the total number of deaths from all causes recorded in 1894 amounted to 7,362, giving a death-rate of 30-3 per 1,000 as against 23-3 in 1893 and 21.3 in 1892. The number of deaths reported from plague amounted to 2,552, or over 10 per 1,000, leaving a balance of 4,810 deaths due to ordinary causes or less than 20 per 1,000. It thus appears that but for the plague, which is the key-note of all our misfortunes, the year 1894 would have shown a death-rate lower than that of the remarkably healthy year of 1892, and very far below that of other years.
Against the above mortality returns, the number of births registered in 1894 was 1,455, giving a birth-rate of 591 per thousand of the estimated population. The difference between the birth and death-rate would with a normal population point to a considerable decrease in the population during the year, but, as a matter of fact, it is estimated that there was little, if any, decrease in this respect, the vacancies in the labour market being filled as
137
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