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HONGKONG
well constructed earthworks. The western entrance is protected by three batteries on Stonecutter's Island and two forts on Belcher and Fly Points, from which a tremendous converging fire could be maintained, completely commanding the Sulphur Channel. Another small battery, on the hill above and west of Richmond Terrace, has a wide range of fire. The Ly-ee-mun Pass is defended by two forts, and if vessels survived that fire they would then have to face the batteries at North Point and Hungham, which completely command the eastern entrance. Another battery on the bluff at Tsim-tsa Tsui, Kowloon, commands the whole of the centre of the harbour. The batteries are armed with the latest breech-loading ordnance.
In addition to the fortifications the Colony possesses a small squadron for harbour defence. This consists of the turret iron-clad Wivern, 2,750 tons, carrying 4 guns, the gunboats Esk and Tweed, each carrying 3 guns, and four torpedo boats. The crews of these vessels are borne in the receiving ship Victor Emanuel, a hulk moored opposite to the Cricket Ground, and which is also the headquarters of the Commodore and his staff. The Naval Yard is an extensive range of workshops and offices cast of the Artillery Barracks, and the Naval Authorities have another large establishment on the Kowloon side near to Yau-ma Ti.
CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE.
As intimated in earlier paragraphs, Hongkong formerly enjoyed a most unenviable notoriety for unhealthiness, and in years past the troops garrisoned here suffered grievously from malarious fevers. A great deal of the sickness in the early days of the Colony was caused by excavating and otherwise disturbing the disintegrated granite of which the soil of the island mainly consists, and which appears to throw off malarious exhalations when upturned. At the present time, however, the Colony is one of the healthiest spots in the world in the same latitude. The influence of the young pine forests created by the Afforestation Department has no doubt been beneficial in checking malaria, and the attention latterly bestowed on sanitation has not been without its due effect. The annual death rate per 1,000 for the whole population in 1890 was 22.9, for the British and foreign population 17.13.
The following table shows the barometer, temperature, and mean rainfall for Hongkong on sea level averaged for ten years, compiled by the Director of the Observatory :—
BAROMETER.
BAROMETER.
TEMPERATURE. RAIN.
Mean, Hight. Lowst. Mean. Hight. Lowst. Mean. Jan. 30.17 80.47 29.80 60 74 42
1.47 ins. Feb. 30.15 30.45 March 30.06 30.36 April 29.96 30.27 29.70 70 29.88 30.11 29.59 76 May
88 June 29.76 39.99 29.40 80 89 29.72 29.99 29.22 82 93 July
Aug,
29.87 55 70
41
1.68
Sept.
29.80 62 78
49
3.53
Oct.
85
50
6.55
Nov.
66 9.82
Dec.
69 12.67 74 16.41
YEAR
29.97 30.47
TEMPERATURE. RAIN, Mean. Hight. Lowst. Mean. Hight. Lowst. Mean 29.75 29.96 29.38 81 90 72 16.93 29.83 30.09 28.99 80 01 TI 9.89 30.02 30.31 29.72 76 80 30.13 30.43 29.78 69 88 30.18 30.42 29.87 62 76
28.99
61 5.06
55 1.04
45 0.49
93
41 85.52
TRADE.
Hongkong is a free port, and there is no official return of the imports and exports compiled, but the value of its trade is estimated at about £40,000,000 per annum. During the year 1891 the following tonnage entered and cleared with cargoes:-
NATIONALITY
American
Austrian
British
Chinese
ENTERED
Vessels. Tons.
CLEARED
Vessels. Tons. 48.. 69,204.. 36.. 54,985
14.. 24,318.. 15.. 25,079
2,764.. 3,529,016.. 2,702.. 3,393,826
326.. 356,663..
337.. 367,689
CLEARED
NATIONALITY
ENTERED
German Italian
23.. 95..
65.. 25,258.
73.. 30,085.. 23.. 141,288.. 95..
Japanese Norwegian Peruvian 29,544 Russian 30,085 Spanish
16,489.. 13.. 31..
48,533.. 44.. 60,371..
Vessels. Tons. Vessels. Tons
681.. 857,494.. 654.. 617,006
11..
18,782
8..
14,569
22..
16,943
2.. 3,819. 26..
16,580..
1.. 2.. 26..
398
8,810
16,095
142,755
Chinese Junks.. 14,158.. 1,077,750.. 14,817.. 1,244,854
Danish Dutch.. French
A total of 18,288 vessels, of 6,052,867 tons entered, and 18,824 vessels, of 5,976,429 tons, cleared with cargoes. There also entered in ballast 8,869 vessels, of 720,376 tons, and there cleared 8,129 vessels with 792,489 tons. The total arrivals show an increase as compared with the previous year.
The trade chiefly consists in opium, cotton, sugar, salt, flour, oil, cotton and woollen goods, metals, earthenware, amber, ivory, sandalwood, betel, vegetables, granite, &c., &c. There is still an extensive Chinese passenger trade, now chiefly restricted, however, to the Straits Settlements, Netherlands India, Borneo, the Philippines, Siam, and Indo-China.
Hongkong possesses unrivalled steam communication. The P. & O. S. N. Co. and the M. M. Co. convey the European mail weekly, the Norddeutscher Lloyd Co. maintain a regular monthly mail service between Bremen and Hongkong, the P. M. S. S. Co. and the O. & O. S. S. Co. maintain a mail service with San Francisco, the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. a regular mail service with Vancouver, B.C., a regular line has been esta-
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