HONGKONG
1891 Sir William Robinson, G.C.M.G. 1898 Mj.-Gl. Wilsone Black, C.B. (Adminr.) 1898 Sir Henry Arthur Blake, G.C.M.G. 1902 Mj.-Gen. Sir W. Gascoigne, к.Ç.x.G. (Adr.) 1902 Sir Henry Arthur Blake, G.C.M.G. 1903 Francis H. May, C.M.G. (Administrator) 1904 Sir Matthew Nathan, K.C.M.G. 1906-7 Hon. F.H.May,C.M.G., Ad'tor. (for1month) 1907 Sir Matthew Nathan, K.C.M.G.
863
1907 Brigadier-Gen. Sir F. D. Lugard, R.C.M.G. 1907 Hon. Mr. F. H. May C.M.G. (Adminis.) 1909-10 Sir H. May, к.C.м G. (Administrator) 1910-12 Brig.-Gen. Sir F. D. Lugard, K.C.M G. 1912 Hon. Mr. Claud Severn (Administrator) 1912 Sir Henry May, K.C M.G.
1913 Hon. Mr. Claud Severn (Administrator) 1914 Sir Henry May, K.C.M.G.
1917-18 Hon. Mr. Claud Severn, C.M.G. (Adır.)
The Government is administered by a Governor, aided by an Executive Council of six officials and two unofficials. The Legislative Council is presided over by the Governor, and is composed of the Officer Commanding the Troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, the Director of Public Works, the Captain Superintendent of Police, and six unofficial members, one of whom is elected by the Chamber of Commerce and another by the Justices of the Peace. The other four, two of whom are Chinese, but British subjects are appointed by the Government.
FINANCES
The estimated revenue for 1919 is $16,884,215, being $2,120,625 in excess of the approved estimates for 1918. In October it was estimated that the revenue for 1918 would amount to the unprecedented sum of $17,079,640, or $2,316,050 more than the original estimate. The expenditure for 1918, originally estimated at $12,140,475, was, in October, expected to exceed that amount by $3,612,015. The estimated expenditure for 1919 is $14,677,896, leaving a balance of $2,206,319 which, added to the estimated balance at the end of 1918, will make a total of $6,801,531. The Colony has a small public debt. A loan of £200,000 was contracted in 1886. Another loan of £200,000 was contracted in 1893, and in 1894 the unredeemed balance of the first loan was converted from 4 per
per cent. debentures into 3% in- scribed stock, thus bringing it into uniformity with the loan raised in 1893. In 1906 the Government raised a loan of £1,100,000 in London at an average price of £99 1s. per cent., bearing interest at the rate of 3 per cent. This money was originally lent to the Chinese Government for the purpose of redeeming the Canton- Hankow railway concession from the various persons who had acquired interests in it from the original American concessionaires. The total cost of the loan, including expenses of issue, was £1,143,933. It has now been fully repaid and expended on railway construction within the Colony. A sum of $5,000,000 was presented in 1916 and 1917 to His Majesty's Government for war purposes. In 1918 a sum of £550,000 was given for the same object while the special war assessment produced $304,984 in 1917 and $756,000 during the first nine months of 1918, all of which was paid over to the Imperial authorities.
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The rateable value of the whole Colony in 1917 was $14,410,153, showing an increase of 0.89 per cent. over the previous year. The rateable value of the Colony shows an increase of 33·22 per cent, in the decade 1908-17.
The following is a statement of the revenue and expenditure of the Colony for the five years 1913-17 :—
1913... 1914.. 1915... 1916... 1917...
-
...
...
...
...
*
**
*
**
T
J
T
-
Expenditure
J
Revenue $8,512,308
$8,658,012
11,007,273
10,756,225
11,786,106
15,149.267
...
...
13,833,387
11,079,915
15,058,105
14,090,828
...
DESCRIPTION
The island of Hongkong is about 11 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad; its circum- ference is about 27 miles. It consists of a broken ridge of lofty hills, with few valleys of any extent and scarcely any ground available for cultivation. The only valleys worthy of the name are those of Wong-nai Chung and Little Hongkong, both of which are remark- ably beautiful and well wooded, being in fact the only parts where any considerable arborescent vegetation was formerly to be found. The island is well watered by numerous streams, many of which are perennial. The city of Victoria and suburbs are supplied with water from the Pokfolum, Tytam, and Wong-nai Chung reservoirs. The first-named, constructed in 1866-69, has a storage capacity of sixty-eight million gallons, while the Tytam reservoir, constructed in 1883-88, and extended in 1896, as an area of about 20 acres and a storage capacity of about three hundred and
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