PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.C

133

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH......NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHICALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

103

The cheap and efficient labour of Chinese. The execution of the buildings is such as can be rarely met with in any Colony. A good road now extends within five miles of the circumference of the island, 10 miles being completed out of 23, and another road crosses the island from Victoria to Stanley. The excellent contour Survey of Hongkong, made by the Engineer Department, leaves nothing to be desired on that point.

The drainage of the Town, so important on every account, may be considered as nearly completed by the Ordnance Department. With the prospect of having the principal Civil buildings executed by the Ordnance Department, I have confined those erected by the Land Office to three Police Stations, and the Building now occupied by the Post Office Department, the latter yielding a rent of £150 a year to the Colony.

Legislation

Population

Under the head of Legislation, fourteen Ordinances were passed during the year 1845, some of them amending previous enactments. The first and immediate wants of the Colony may now be considered as supplied, and future Ordinances will be required only as occasion shall arise.

The Population Return in the Blue Book is entirely exclusive of Troops, which, including the Madras Native Regiment, amount to nearly 1600.

The above Return exhibits a total Population of 23,740 persons. Of these, the Whites are 634, of whom 501 are males, and 133 females. The Coloured Population, consisting almost entirely of the Registered Chinese, amounts to 23,114.