CO129-215 - Governor Sir Bowen - 1884 [1-4] — Page 338

The Daily

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Press.

HONGKONG, MARCH 1st, 1884.

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"GOVERNORS and Legislatures should speak by their actions" was among the concluding remarks in Sir GEORGE BOWEN's able ad- dress at the opening of the Session of the Legislative Council on Thursday, and the sentiment will be most thoroughly endorsed in this Colony. In our present GOVERNOR we have, fortunately, a man of action as well as promise: during the brief period of his administration he has displayed not only a strong interest in the welfare of the resi- dents but great energy in pushing on public works and initiating legislation. In the ten months of Sir GEORGE BOWEN's rule marked progress has been made. The Civil Hospital has been nearly completed; the new Water Police Station at Kowloon has been erected ; the Observatory has been built, and started; the new Lunatic Asylum is steadily progress. ing; a new Mortuary has been erected Causeway Bay is being filled in, and some thirty-five acres reclaimed from the sea; a noxious swamp at Yau-ma-ti is being con- verted into eligible building sites; operations! for redeeming the foreshore at Belcher's Bay have been commenced; the works on the Taitam Waterworks, so long delayed, are being energetically pushed forward; and a Sanitary Board for the conservation of the public health, and the regulation of sanitary matters generally has been estab.. lished. These are among the leading mea- sures and works which have been either inau- gurated or carried to a successful issue since the arrival bere of Sir GEORGE BOWEN, and they most amply justify the assertion that His Excellency prefers to be judged by his į deeds rather than by mere words, Nor is this all. The GOVERNOR, by dint of forcible ropresentation and his great personal in- fluence with the Imperial Government, bas succeeded in gaining for the Colony some share in the actual Government, by a te- constituted Legislative Council to which re- presentative bodies in the Colony now have the privilege of nominating two of the un- official members. To Sir GEORGE BOWEN'S representations, also, is due the attention recently directed to the Colony by the War Department, and the late reinforcement of the garrison. It is not therefore surprising that the legislative programme, presented in the Speech from the Chair on Thursday, should have proved remarkable for its scope and fulness.

The

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The GOVERNOR's opening Speech covers so much ground, indeed, that it is difficult even to pass its clauses in the briefost review in the limits of a single article. We have al- ready enumerated many works commenced or completed, and will now refer shortly to those new undertakings and measures which Sir GRORGE BOWEN mentioned as likely to engage the attention of the Council during the present session. The proposal to form Committees for the consideration of measures prior to their coming before the Council is a most desirable change, and was most favour. ably received by both the senior unofficial members. As Mr. JOHNSON suggested, it might be useful also to appoint a fourth Committee to deal with Police and Gaol matters, which in this Celony unfortunately absorb a rather large share of attention. The public works to be forthwith under- taken, which include among others the long promised new Central School, the much needed new Central Market, and the drainage of the marsh within the Racecourse at Wong-nei-Chung, and its conversion into a public park, are all mea- sures of great importance and practical uti- lity which command the approval of the entire colony. The sanitary measures pro- mised, and particularly the dredging of the foreshore along the Praya, will give special gratification

the thousands who have for

many years past auffered from the noxious effluviam arising from it at neap and low tides. It is only wonderful that this horrible nuisance has not long ere this given birth to an opidemic, and the im- munity enjoyed from disease so far has cer- tainly been due only to good fortune. The list of legislative measures set down for the consideration of the Council is a lengthy one, and several of the proposed Ordinances are urgently needed, Their introduction to and discussion in the Council will be watch. ed with much interest by the community. The cause of education in Hongkong will not be neglected during the present Admin- istration; the oVERNOR has given proof of his interest in the matter by urging on the erection of the new building for the Go- vernment Central School and by bis proposal to send two of the most promising students from the principal educational establishments every alternate year to England to complete their training for some professional career. We are glad to find His Excellency has not, in the multifarious matters that have en- gaged his attention, overlooked the scheme of afforestation, almost the only work which bis predecessor really persevered with. The benefits derivable from tree-planting in this unclothed semi-tropical island are too ob-

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