CO129-024 - Bonham - 1848 [3-6] — Page 128

14.

its place.

Though he does not venture to make the assertion from his personal knowledge, Mr

A. Matheson states he has "heard "that the

Now

supply of provisions at Hongkong is all monopolized by one individual from whom the Government collects £. 1,500 a year. there are four conspicuous markets in four different parts of the Town, rented by four different precsons, and so far are these four to separate markets from having, the monopoly

of provisions that not

any single shop of the hundreds in Honghong is debarred from selling any provisions whatever, except meat and fish, the indiscriminate exposure of which would be a muisance. An honorable member of the Committee, Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, pushed Mr Matteson on this point.

A

with searching questions, which sufficiently, neutralized

the mischievous tendency of the Witness's first assertions.

The fact

fact is that

126

one main reason

which brings the whalers from the Pacific to

Hongkong

is the cheapness and abundance of the supplies, and the absence of all shipping,

dues whatever. Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane, who had umanded a man-of-war

com

from the

Hongkong.

age of

eighteen,

was as

was

of opinion that

cheap and well supplies

a

station as most that he had ever visited, and

it has only existed as a

since 1842

Colony With regard to the Opium farm, to

is

which the pretended failure of the Colony attributed, this has been since altered into separate licenses to Opium shops, precisely the same as licenses for retailing. wine and spirits. No apparent change has resulted from this

1 except the silence of the objectors to the former

Colony continues to

system. The Colony

neither more nor

less

less

continues to prosper as usual;

After what has gone line, it becomes

surprising to find Mr. A. Matheson assert

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