CO129-018 - Others - 1846 — Page 506

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HONG KONG AND

and while at Chusan, on sick certificate, I examined into the value of that island.

These inquiries have produced on my mind a strong conviction of the inutility of Hong Kong as a British colony, and of the necessity of retaining Chusan, if we desire to preserve peace with China, to secure our trade, and to extend our influence.

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The expenditure from the British Treasury on this coast is about half a million sterling per annum; and of this sum the civil expenditure on Hong Kong alone is upwards of one hundred thousand pounds sterling per annum.

I have in vain sought for any justifiable reason, either as regards the existing state of the island, or any rational expectation as to the future, which can sanction a civil expenditure on this barren, useless, unhealthy rock, of more than 10,0007, or 15,000l. per annum.

The possession of Hong Kong is not of the slightest aid to the tea trade at Canton.

The presence of a single ship of war, one of Her Majesty's frigates or steam-vessels at Whampoa would be a more effectual protection to the tea trade and commerce of Canton, than any army or force that could be established at Hong Kong, which protects nothing, produces nothing, and may within thirty-four hours have its daily supplies of food entirely cut off by even the Chinese resident on the island, as has been shown during the past fortnight, when the markets were emptied, the shops shut, and all labour stopped for forty-eight hours, until an obnoxious Government ordinance (No. 16, of 21 August, 1844) was rescinded.

My opinion of the worthlessness of this rock is confirmed by the entire absence of trade, after three and a-half years continued British occupation, and an immense expenditure for civil, military, and naval disbursements; by the dreadful waste of life-for, according to Major General D'Aguilar, one European regiment will be entirely destroyed by death within the space of three years; by the incapability of forti- fying the island at almost any expense if a garrison could be kept alive, or if there were a necessity of defending anything-or commanding any point or pass of the slightest value; by the impossibility of raising a revenue to defray one-tenth of the amount of the mere civil expen- diture; and by the failure of all attempts to induce any class of respectable Chinese to settle here with their families.

An examination of the Map of China will show that Hong Kong is situated at the extremity of a line of coast extending nearly 2000

CHUSAN COMPARED.

miles; that its geographical position is disadvantageous for even com- manding the wide entrance or estuary of the Canton river; and that the navigation of the entire China seas from north to south, is entirely independent of Hong Kong.

The adjacent main land, nearly as rugged, rude, and barren, as the island, is occupied by a scanty but hostile population, of predatory habits, and devoid of the civilization and peaceful commercial character of the people to the northward.

Should, unfortunately, another war take place between England and China, the seat of belligerent operations would be the Yang-tze-kiang river, and not that of Canton.

The distance of Hong Kong from the Yang-tze-kiang, and the difficulty of proceeding thither with a large armanent in the cold and practicable season during the north-east monsoon, demonstrates its valuelessness for military or nautical purposes.

As a commercial station Hong Kong is a decided failure, from the landing of Captain Elliot here in January, 1841, to the present moment, there has been no Chinese trade; no European or native craft attracted hither for mercantile gain; Mr. Davis is unwilling to impose even a small tonnage or harbour duty, lest the few European vessels that now touch here might be deterred from entering*.

As regards social influence, or Christian principles, their dissemi- nation in China through Hong Kong is utterly impossible. The island is a receptacle for any thief, pirate, or robber, who can escape from the main land; and in the worst penal settlement life and property are more secure than in this island. It was only yesterday that an ordi- nance passed the Legislative Council, enabling the Governor to pro- claim martial law in any part of the island, with a view to the imme- diate destruction of bands of robbers and pirates. Taking every point into consideration, and examining it in the most favourable aspect, I

* We have no native merchants settled in the colony; neither is produce imported, nor goods exported, to any of the five ports, except it be on British account; and all mercantile transactions are concluded at these ports, whilst the harbour of Hong Kong is completely deserted. Not an anchor of a junk is dropped in the bay of Hong Kong; they flee from it as man would from a pesti- Hong Kong, a free port, is deprived of all

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lence. trade further than the transshipment of goods, and a supply of articles for local consumption, the commissions upon which would barely pay the expenses of a first. class mercantile establishment.-(Extract from editorial article in the "Friend of China, and Hong Kong Gazette," No. 185, for November 1844.)