Directory_and_Chronicle_1909 — Page 1208

HONGKONG

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fishing village on its northern shore facing Aberdeen. Lantao and Lamma Islands were brought under British jurisdiction by the Kowloon Convention of 1898. The former has a considerably larger area than Hongkong, but both this island and Lamma are sparsely populated by agriculturists and fishermen.

POPULATION, Garrison, and Defences

The total population of the Colony, according to the census taken in January, 1901 numbered 281,782, compared with 221,441 in May, 1891, and 160,402 in 1881. A census was taken on November 20th, 1906, and the report gave the total civil popu- lation (exclusive of the New Territories) as 319,803, which included a non-Chinese civil population of 12,415. In addition the army returns showed a strength of 4,537 and the Navy 4,698 making the total population of the Colony 329,038. The returns showed an increase in the civil population of 17,992 (exclusive of New Kowloon and the rest of the New Territories) on the census return of 1901.

The Garrison consists of three companies Royal Garrison Artillery, one company Royal Engineers, one battalion of Infantry, Army Service Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, four Indian infantry battalions--two in North China and two at Hongkong ; four companies native artillery and one local company native engineers. There is also a Volunteer Corps consisting of one troop of Mounted Infantry, two companies of Garrison Artillery, and one Company of Engineers. On the initiative of H. E. Sir Matthew Nathan, a Volunteer Reserve Association was formed in 1904 composed of British residents over the age of 35.

The approaches to the harbour are strongly fortified, the batteries consisting of well-constructed earthworks. The western entrance is protected by three batteries on Stonecutters' Island and two forts on Belcher and Fly Points, from which a tremendous converging fire could be maintained, completely commanding the Sulphur Channell Pine Wood battery, on the hill above and west of Richmond Terrace, has a wide range of fire. The Ly-ee-mùn Pass is defended by two forts on the Hongkong side and another on Devil's Peak on the mainland, and if vessels survived that fire they would then have to face the batteries at North Point and Hunghom 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. The Colony of Hongkong pays a military contribution fixed at 20 per cent of the revenue.

In addition to the fortifications the Colony possesses a small squadron for harbour defence. This consists of the obsolete turret ironclad Wivern, 2,750 tons, now dismantled and being used as a distilling ship, and six torpedo boats. The crews of these vessels are borne in the receiving ship Tamar, which is also the headquarters of the Commcdore and his staff. The Naval Yard is an extensive range of workshops and offices east of the Artillery Barracks, and the Naval Authorities have another large establishment on the Kowloon side near to Yau-ma-Ti.

CLIMATE

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 malarial fevers. A great deal of the sickness in the early days of the Colony was believed to have been 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 and the training of nullahs on the slopes have 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 1905 was 17.45 as compared with 16.94 during the previous year. In 1907 the death rate among the Chinese was 22.52 per thousand and among the Non-Chinese community 15.46. In 1906 the death rate was abnormal being 26.41 for the Chinese population, the typhoon, plague, and the burning of the Hankow being responsible for the exceptionally large figures. The death rate for the Non-Chinese community was only 14.02.

The following table shows fifteen years' means of the annual and monthly values of the principal meteorological elenients:—

33*