CO129-018 - Others - 1846 — Page 531

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BRITISH POSITION

precipitancy. No drainage-no sanatory measures, can ever render Hong Kong even moderately salubrious.

It is not alone the military who die. Out of a very small European population the civil interments during the past year were, in the Pro- testant burial-ground, sixty Europeans; in the Romanist cemetery, eighty ditto. The name, sex, age, and grade of the deceased are given in the cemetery registers. In the public offices it is difficult to obtain long consecutive labour from the clerks; and, as was aptly remarked by the head of the Ordnance department here, "a man is but half a man at Hong Kong*”

A strata of decomposed granite and disintegrating sandstone, porous to the depth of several hundred feet, imbibes and holds water like a sponge, until the fervid rays of a vertical sun raise this moisture like a steaming vapour, dense and noxious, and which vapour, by reason of the peculiar formation of the mountain ridge, and exclusion from the south-west monsoon, is seldom dissipated until occasional gales of wind pervade every part of the island.

But deadly and debilitating as is the climate of Hong Kong, this is the least of the evil. If any great or useful object, immediate or prospective, depended on the maintenance of a large civil and military establishment in Hong Kong, there is no want of patriotic spirit to make the requisite sacrifice; but when it is considered that, in no one point of view—political, commercial, or social—is this island beneficial to England, the destruction of valuable life, and the waste of national resources, becomes a serious misfortune.

*During the past year, from May to December, the civil service of the Government of Hong Kong shows the following details :-Governor Davis ill in August, and went to Chusan; colonial treasurer ill in July, went on sick leave to Chusan; colonial secretary very ill, went on sick leave to Macao; surveyor- general very ill, went on sick leave to Europe; officiating surveyor-general ill, went on sick leave to Macao; colonial engineer twice ill, went on sick leave to chief justice Macao; auditor-general very ill, went on sick leave to Macao; very ill, given over, slowly convalescing (his eldest daughter died, his son obliged Two to go to England); colonial chaplain very ill, went to Manilla; colonial surgeon

cent. per ill, and resigned; of twelve European ladies three died, or 25

At this chief clerks in the treasury dead; most of the clerks ill in succession. moment, the harbour-master and marine magistrate is gone on sick leave to England, his successor is gone on sick leave to Macao (since to England); and the The governor, colonial secretary, two European clerks in his office are very ill. chief magistrate, and treasurer, are unwell, and occasionally unable to attend

office.

AND PROSPECTS IN CHINA.

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Were Hong Kong a healthy island, its value to Great Britain would be in nowise enhanced, as its limited size, rugged and rock surface, and unfavourable geographical position, renders it impossible ever to make the place a colony, a military post, or a commercial emporium.

In examining, therefore, our present position and future prospects in China in a financial aspect, the above facts must be taken into con- sideration, when finally sanctioning a scale of civil, military, and naval expenditure on this coast, and will, it is to be hoped, be deemed worthy the mature deliberation of Her Majesty's Government. I respectfully repeat my formerly-expressed opinion, that all Hong Kong requires for its efficient military protection and due civil administration is,~

-a local corps of 500 Malays, 200 marines afloat in the "Minden" 74 (of/ these, 50 to be marine artillery-men); a Commandant and Governor, at 2000l. per annum, with his military rank and pay; a Recorder, at 18007; Colonial Secretary and Receiver-General of Crown Revenues, 1000%.; Assistant ditto and Collector of Crown Revenues, 600; a

Lecture höre

Land Officer and Surveyor, 6002.; Assistant ditto, 3002.; a Crown by benditure

Solicitor and Officiating Counsel for the Crown (enjoying the benefits

of Registrar of the Court), 600%; a Police Magistrate and Superin- tendent of Police, 6007.; Assistant ditto, 300%.;--thus showing a charge for salaries of about 90001. per annum. To this must be added about 3000l. per annum for clerks, servants, and ordinary contingen- cies, making a total yearly expenditure of 12,000l., which, in my opinion, is the utmost amount of revenue it will be possible to collect for several years in Hong Kong, without utterly crushing this poor and struggling settlement.

The Government servants, in addition to their salaries, ought to be allowed house quarters in the extensive structions now erecting by the Ordnance for officers' quarters, hospitals, barracks, &c.; the Governor to have the General's house that is being at present con- structed.

Thus the civil expenditure of Hong Kong may be reduced from 50,000%. a-year to about 12,000l., with a perfectly sufficient civil admi- nistration, and the military from 130,000l. or 150,000l. a-year to 30,000%, without the slightest disadvantage to the public service. In the Consulates and Superintendent of Trade department, a consider- able saving may be made by retaining only a Vice-Consul and Inter- preter (to act as assistant), at each of the ports of Amoy, Foochoo, and Ningpo; by abolishing the Superintendent of Trade department, and

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