26
contribution to be paid after 1892 being subject to reconsideration during these three years,
8. You will remember that Lord Derby's despatch, No. 213, of the 17th of Sep- tember, 1884, enclosed with other correspondence a letter from the War Office of the 9th of September, which stated that "Lord Hartington considers that it should also be intimated to the Governor that the present arrangement as to incidence of charge only applies to the works now to be constructed and armed, and that the Military Contribu- tion paid by the Colony will have to be reconsidered with reference to the increased garrison which may become necessary in consequence of these works, and the general defence of the Colony." And, in now informing you of the amount which Her Majesty's Government demand from the Colony as its contribution to the increased garrison, I dosire to draw your attention to the following considerations, which have weighed before that amount was determined,
duly
9. Hong Kong is the centre of great commercial activity, and the mercantile pros- perity of the port continually increases in a very remarkable degree, as is evidenced by the following figures extracted from the Blue Books :—
Shipping.
Ships.
Tonnage.
Entered
1863
Cleared
1,822 1,835
894,924 911,957
1868
Entered
27,500
2,501,815
Cleared
27,090
2,473,887
1878.
Entered
28,779
4,552,668.
Cleared
28,877
4,340,419
Eatered
27,779
6,400,410
Cleared .. 27,369
6,809,974
1888
10. During the same period, the increase of the public revenue has, similarly, been very marked. The figures have been--
1863.
1868
1878
1888
576,375
1,134,106 including fees on gambling houses, since abolished.
947,637 1,557,300
In other words, the public revenue has nearly trebled itself in 25 years, while the shipping visiting the port has multiplied seven-fold.
The population, which was shown by the census of 1881 to be 160,402, is now esti- nated at not less than 215,000.
11. It is evident that the prosperity, I may almost say the existence, of the Colony and the welfare of this large population, depend upon the continuance and security of its trade with other places. If the trade is secure, the prosperity may be expected to continue and increase, and the first instincts of self-interest would lead the community to make every effort to protect and defend their trade.
12. The present defences of Hong Kong, with their powerful armament, will suffice, in the opinion of Her Majesty's professional advisers, to afford the necessary protection against any attack likely to be made upon it; but I need scarely remind you that another and more powerful safeguard is provided by the ships of Her Majesty's Navy, whose duty it would be to prevent any hostile force from approaching the place, and in whose absence alone would any attack upon it become possible. The combina- tion of the two forms of defence will, it may be hoped, effectually secure the safety of the trade of the Colony, and of the population which lives and thrives upon it.
13. I frankly recognize that the merchants of the Colony have always been ready to acknowledge the value of the Navy to them. At the same time the changed condi tions of warfare, and the sudden and rapid nature of the opening operations, have made it necessary for Hong Kong, like other important Colonial ports, to be always ready to repel an attack in case of the absence of the fleet, and to have its garrison permanently at full strength, and not dependent upon the doubtful possibility of receiving reinforce ments on the outbreak of was.
27
14. It will doubtless be urged, as has been urged before, that the defence of Colonial ports is a matter of Imperial concern, and that the maintenance of their garrisons should be mainly borne by the taxpayers of the United Kingdom. Her Majesty's Government, have, however, never admitted, and cannot now admit, this plea. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and if the capture of Hong Kong would be a serious blow to the Empire, the capture would mean ruin to many inhabi- tants of the Colony, and serious loss and hardship to all. Hong Kong, in common with every other British possession, is directly benefited by its connection with the rest of the Empire, and, while enjoying the benefits, cannot escape from the responsibilities entailed by that connection. The larger dependencies, such as the Australian Colonies, accept their responsibilities without demur, and not only provide the whole of their land defence, but contribute to the cost of the Navy in order to strengthen the squadron, and obtain more complete protection for their shipping and floating trade.
15. The estimated cost of the Navy to the Imperial Exchequer is, as you will sce from the Statesman's Year Book (page 247), over 13,000,0001. for the year 1888-89, and as the population of the United Kingdom (page 255) is more than 37,000,000, these figures show that the mother country contributes 7s. per head of its population to the naval defence of the Empire, and it might reasonably expect its dependencies to make provision for their own defence to an equal amount. Questions of jurisdiction beyond the 3-mile limit, of the flag, and of discipline, stand in the way of Colonial war- ships, so that the Navy will always be that of the mother country, and in dealing with the great question of the defence of the Empire it is difficult to lay down any other broad principle for dividing the cost of Colonial defence, except that of the mother country undertaking the sea defence of the Colonies by means of her Navy, and of the Colonies, so far as their means allow, respectively providing for their own land defence. But even this principle admits of extension, as, for instance, when a Colony agrees to contribute, as most of the Australian Colonies now do, to the cost of additional ships to be employed in local waters for the protection of the floating trade within those
waters.
16. In some cases, as I need scarcely inform you, the poverty of the Colony renders any realisation of the general principle laid down in the preceding paragraph practically unattainable; in others, the contribution, though substantial, falls short of the full cost owing to the inability of the Colony to provide more; and in both cases. the difference is borne by the heavily-taxed mother country. The Army Estimates (page 245 of the Year Book) are considerably over 16,000,000l., or more than 88. 9d. per head of the population. And this, added to the naval charges, makes a payment by the mother country of 15s. 9d. per load per annum for the defence of the Empire in 1888-89. But I am informed by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury that the corresponding payment for the current year may be estimated at 168, 5d. per head. These are the net amounts, after allowing for contributions received from India and the Colonies, but are exclusive of a very large expenditure chargeable to special defence loans.
17. If these payments are contrasted with the contribution asked from the Colony under your Government, you will see that 40,0001. a-year is not only a very much sroaller charge per head of the population, but, as I shall proceed to show, its payment is well within the ability of the flourishing Colony of Hong Kong. There are other objects on which the money might usefully be spent, but self-protection is the first duty of a com- munity, to which other matters should be postponed, and it is hardly necessary to point out that, unless that is secured, very much of the other outlay may prove to have been undertaken in vain.
18. The revenue for 1888 amounted to 1,557,300 dollars, and 40,0007. (the contribu tion proposed for the next three years) taken only at 3s, a dollar amounts to about 17 per cent of the revenue, and to about 1-24 dollars (say 3s. 9d.) per head of the popula- tion of the Colony, the whole of which is vitally interested in the security of the port. It cannot be said that such a payment is excessive, either as a charge upon the people who throng to Hong Kong to seek the protection to life and property afforded by the British flag, or in its proportion to the total public revenue of the Colony, or by comparison with the expenditure on similar purposes in the United Kingdom.
19. I will only further point out in reference to the annual payments, what doubtless you will not have failed to notice, that the 40,000, which the Colony will pay in each of the next three years, is only one-seventh of cost of the garrison, while the remaining six-seventhe, 240,0002, will still be borne by the mother country,
New Barracks.
187
20. A separate correspondence is proceeding with respect to the details of the additional barracks which will be required for the increased garrison, and I do not propose to touch upon these details; but I will state the reasons which influenced Her
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