W
1919 revenue from land-sales
1920
do.
1921
do.
1922
do.
1923
do.
1924
do.
1925
do.
1926
do.
Q
$ 263,960
556,349
1,634,098
2,721,804
3,488,797
1,909,236
570,243
286,342
We were, therefore, last year back again at the pre-boom figures of 1919: but at the height of the boom, during 1923, the Colony derived more money from land sales alone than the amount of its total annual revenue prior to the beginning of this century.
The land-boom was already on the decline, when Bolshevik intrigue Jaunched against this Colony the anti-British boycott which began in June, 1925. It is interesting in retrospect to observe how little injury that boycott did to Hong Kong. In one way it even did good, for it united the Chinese and European communities of this Colony, as they had never been united before, in a fixed determination to destroy the menace of Bolshevism and to root out communism from among us I venture to believe that the same determination now animates the Government of the Kuangtung Province and I hope, therefore, that it may not be long before the old spirit of friendship and co- operation will again prevail between Hong Kong and Canton to our mutual advantage.
In considering the stability of our financial position it is, of course, necessary to examine the principal sources from which our revenue is derived, and in this respect also a comparison between the years 1897 and 1926 is full of interest. Such a comparison has been made in detail in the sessional paper to which I have already referred. I need, therefore, only deal with the chief items and my task is simplified by the fact that of last year's total revenue 77.7 per cent. was derived from no more than fifteen sources, the figures for which I have tabulated for convenience's sake side by side with the corres- ponding figures for the year 1897.
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