TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,-In The Times of September 14 appears the third of a series of articles on Studies of Administration in the Tropics, by Mr. Alleyne Ireland, who was commissioned by the University of Chicago to visit all the Eastern Colonies and report upon the systems of administration under which the various Indo-Malayan people live—a work of very great importance and utility carried out with unbiased intelligence.
The article in question is a report upon the administration of Hong-kong, in which Colony he arrived supported by such recommendations as ensured his accommodation in a room in the already much congested Colonial offices and his access to official sources of information. He remained in the Colony for four months, and the result is a paper so inaccurate, and giving so distorted a picture of the Civil servants of the Colony, that I must ask permission to correct some of his misapprehensions.
Having in the second paragraph acknowledged that the officials are not corrupt, that justice is honestly administered, and that life and property are as secure as they are in London, Mr. Ireland adds that:
A number of men possessed of high qualifications fail to be useful servants only because in Hong-kong, as in some other places in the British Empire, it is considered the worst of bad form to be interested in one's work.
As one who has administered the Governments of various Colonies for 19 years I may claim to speak with some authority on this subject. A more groundless statement has never been made by one assumed to write with a sense of responsibility. In my experience at home and abroad I have never known a body of men on the whole more faithfully devoted to their duties than are the European public officers engaged in the administrative work of the Colony. I was in England at the time of Mr. Ireland's visit, but I learned on my return that unfortunately between Mr. Ireland and some of the public officers with whom he came in contact there was a mutual lack of appreciation which may account for his conclusions.
But after all this is but a matter of opinion. Now for Mr. Ireland's facts, arrived at after four months' investigation. He cites two instances in which the interests of the Colony have been sacrificed to official dilatoriness—
In 1894 a serious outbreak of bubonic plague occurred in Hong-kong, and from that time onward the Colony has scarcely been free from it. Notwithstanding the serious nature of such a visitation, it was not until 1901 that the Government took the matter thoroughly in hand by calling for a report on the subject from Professor W. J. Simpson, and a Public Health and Buildings Ordinance was drafted as the outcome of Professor Simpson's report and of the advice of Mr. Osbert Chadwick, C.M.G., and of Dr. Francis Clark, medical officer of health, some eight years after the first outbreak of plague.
Immediately after the cessation of the outbreak in 1894 the Government resumed 6 acres of insanitary private property at a cost of $815,000, removing the houses and laying out the area at a further expenditure of $108,000. In that year an ordinance dealing with insanitary dwellings was passed, and in 1899 a further ordinance, the Insanitary Properties Ordinance, was passed. The Public Health and Buildings Ordinance alluded to by Mr. Ireland was in the main a consolidating ordinance. Apart from the sums mentioned above, $1,349,000 were spent in sanitation between the advent of the epidemic in 1894 and 1902, the year in which Professor Simpson visited the Colony at my request, the large expenditure and exertions of an ever-increasing sanitary staff being ineffectual to stay the annually recurring ravages of the epidemic. A further sum of $712,000 has been expended since 1901, and the expenditure of the Sanitary Department, which in 1893 stood at $59,000, stands in this year's estimates at $580,000.
Again, the other instance to which I refer is the water supply of the Colony. About 20 years ago Mr. Osbert Chadwick was called upon to make a report upon the water supply of Hong-kong. He supplied the Government with a number of suggestions which were only carried out in part.
After an interval of 20 years Mr. Chadwick had to be again called in to report once more upon the water supply of the Colony.
In 1882 Mr. Chadwick reported. In 1883 the great reservoir at Tai Tam was begun, and completed in 1899 at a cost of $1,257,000. Another reservoir at Wong Nei Chong was also added, and a general distribution carried out not only on the lower levels but throughout the Peak district to an elevation of 1,800ft., while in Kowloon waterworks were also established. Between 1883 and 1900 the sum of $2,131,000 was expended in waterworks alone, and in 1901 a scheme was entered upon for increasing the water supply of Kowloon estimated to cost $835,000, of which $200,000 has already been expended. I have Mr. Chadwick's report of April 10, 1902, before me. He recapitulates his recommendations made in 1882, which were adopted by Mr. Cooper, the then Director of Public Works, and in paragraph 55 he writes with reference to these recommendations:
The conclusions which I have arrived at may be summarized as follows;—(a) The works recommended by Mr. Cooper as urgently required have been carried out with good results.
In pursuance of further recommendations made by Mr. Chadwick in his report of 1902 the construction of a very large additional reservoir has been determined upon and preliminary work has been begun. This large work will take some years to complete, during which period I fear that the population will continue to suffer great inconvenience in dry summers.
Mr. Ireland speaks of the inadequate size of the Government offices. The Colonial offices were built and the Supreme Court building was acquired in 1848, when the population was 21,000. The Post Office was built in 1865, when the population was 125,000. The population is now 412,000. New Law Courts and Post Office are being erected at an ultimate cost of over $1,300,000.
The publication of Mr. Ireland's most misleading statements in The Times means the publication in every Colony in the Empire, in some of which the future lot may be cast of public officers with whose work he has failed to make himself acquainted. It is in justice to them that I write. In such an investigation as Mr. Ireland has undertaken literary capacity without accuracy is an ignis fatuus. If the report to be submitted to the University of Chicago be no more accurate as regards other Colonies of the British Empire than that with which he has favoured you on Hong-kong, it will be but a sorry vade mecum for the study of British Colonial administration.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
HENRY A. BLAKE, Government House, Hong-kong, Oct. 18.
notice shimmed h
kken off
Sir
H.A. Blake's actio
to
2. Patly.
Rel.
20111
thx Die Ho
Die Le Blake's letter
L
open to
to be entirely justified & not
any
objection.
Jul 201711
Put By
21
C.P.L
at once
THE ADMINISTRATION OF HONG KONG.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,-In The Times of September 14 appears the third of a series of articles on Studies of Administration in the Tropics, by Mr. Alleyne Ireland, who was commissioned by the University of Chicago to visit all, the Eastern Colonies and report upon the systems of administration under which the various Indo-Malayan people live-a work of very great importance and utility carried out with unbiased intelligence.
The article in question is a report upon the administration of Hong-kong, in which Colony he arrived supported by such recommendations as ensured his accommodation in a room in the already much congested Colonial offices and his access to official sources of information, He remained in the Colony for four months, and the result is a paper so inaccurate, and giving so dis- ! torted a picture of the Civil servants of the Colony, that I must ask permission to correct some of his misapprehensious.
Having in the second paragraph acknowledged that the officials are not corrupt, that justice is honestly administered, and that life and property are as secure as they are in London, Mr. Ireland adds thut:
A number of men possessed of high qualifications fail to be useful servants only because in Hong-kong, as in some other places in the British Empire, it is considered the worst of bed form to be interestel in one's work.
As one who has administered the Governments of various Colonies for 19 years I may claim to speak with some authority on this subject. A more groundless statement has never been made by one assumed to write with a sense of responsi- bility. In my experience at home and abroad I bave never known a body of men on the whole more faithfully devoted to their duties than are the European public oflicers engaged in the administrative work of the Colony. I was in England at the time of Mr. Ireland's visit, but I learned on my return that unfortunately between Mr. Ireland and some of the public officers with whom he came in contact there was a mutual lack of appreciation which may account for his con- clusions.
But after all this is but a matter of opinion. Now for Mr. Ireland's facts, arrived at after four months' investigation. He cites two instances in which the interests of the Colony have been sacrificed to oficial dilatoriness -
In 1894 a serious outbreak of bubonic plague occurred in Hong-kong, and from that time opward the Colony has scarcely been free from it. Notwithstanding the seriona
mature of such a visitation, it was not until 1801 that the Government took the matter thoroughly in hand by calling for a report on the subject from Professor W. J. Simpson, and a Public Health and Buildings Ordinance was drafted as the oatcome of Professor Simpson's report and of the advice of Mr. Osbert Chadwick, C.M.G., and of Dr. Francis Clark, medical officer of health, some eight years after the first outbreak of plague.
Immediately after the cessation of the outbreak in 1894 the Government resumed 6 acres of insanitary private property at a cost of $815,000, removing the houses and laying out the area at a further expenditure of $108,000. In that year an
C.O
605
42100
RECO
&
1 - į pa AINA
ordinance jakelbaliba (with insanitary dwellings, ani în 1999 a furtirde ordinance, the Insanitary Properties Ordinance, was passed. The Public Health and Buildings Ordinance alluded to by Mr. Ireland was in the main a consolidating ordinance. Apart from the sums mentioned above, $1,349,000 were spent in sanitation between the advent of the epidemic in 1894 and 1902, the year in which. Profossor Simpson visited the Colony at my request, the large expenditure and exertions of an ever-increasing sanitary staff being ineffectual to stay the anoally recurring ravages of the epidemic. A further sum of $712,000 has been expended since 1901, and the expenditure of the Sanitary Department, which in 1893 stood at $59,000, stands in this year's estimates at $580,000.
Again
the
The other instance to which I refer is the water supply of the Colony. About 20 years ago Mr. Osbert Chadwick was called upon to make a report upon the water supply of Hong-kong. He supplied the Government with a number of suggestions which were only carried out in part.
After an interval of 20 years Mr. Chadwick had to be again called in to report once more upon the water supply of the Colony.
In 1882 Mr. Chadwick reported. In 1833 the great reservoir at Tytam was begun, and com- pleted in 1899 at a cost of $1,257,000. Another reservoir at Wong Nei Chong was also added, and a general distribution carried ont not only on the Jower levels but throughout the Peak district to an elevation of 1,800ft., while in Kowloon water- works were also established. Between 1883 and 1900 the sum of 82,131,000 was expended in waterworks alone, and in 1901 a scheme was entered upon for increasing the water supply of Kowloon estimated to cost $835,000, of which $200,000 has already been expended. I have Mr. Chadwick's report of April 10, 1902, before me. He recapitulates his recommendations made in 1882, which were adopted by Mr. Cooper, the then Director of Public Works, and in para- graph 55 he writes with reference to these rscom- mnendations:----
The conclusions which I have arrived at may be sum- smarized as follows ;--(a) The works recommended by Mr. Cooper as urgently required have been carried out with good results.
In pursuance of further recommendations made by Mr. Chadwiek in his report of 1902 the construe- tion of a very large additional reservoir has been determined upon and preliminary work has been begun. This large work will take some years to complete, during which period I fear that the popu-: Jation will continue to suffer great inconvenience in dry summers.
Mr. Ireland speaks of the inadequate size of the Government offices. The Colonial offices were built and the Supreme Court building was acquired in 1848, when the population was 21,000. The Post Office was built in 1865, when the population was 125,000. The population is now 412,000. New Law Courts and Post Office are being erected at an ultimate cost of over $1,300,000.
The publication of Mr. Ireland's most mislead- ing statements in The Times means the publica- tion in every Colony in the Empire, in some of which the future lot may be cast of public officers with whose work he has failed to make himself acquainted. It is in justice to them that I write. In such an investigation as Mr. Ireland has ander- taken literary capacity without accuracy is an ignis fatuus. If the report to be submitted to the University of Chicago be no more accurate as regards other Colonies of the British Empire than that with which he has favoured you on Hong- kong, it will be but a sorry vade mecum for the sady of British Colonial administration.
Lam, Sir, your obedient servant,
HENRY A. BLAKE, Goverment House, Hong-kong, Oct. 18.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.