Directory_and_Chronicle_1940 — Page 861

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HONGKONG

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for a length of between three and four miles, and buildings rose rapidly. But a check was received owing to the unhealthy conditions which were developed by "the breaking of the 'malarious' soil," and in 1844, soon after the arrival of Sir John Davis, who assumed the government in June, the advisability of abandoning the island altogether as a colony was seriously discussed. Mr. Montgomery Martin, H.M.'s Treasurer, drew up a long re- port, in which he earnestly recommended the abandonment of a place which, he believed, would never

never be habitable for Europeans. Sir John Davis, in a despatch dated April, 1845, strongly combatted Mr. Martin's pessimistic conclusions and expressed a firm belief that time alone was required for the development of the colony and for the correction of some of the evils which hindered its early progress. Sir John (who died in November, 1890, in his ninety-sixth year) lived to see his predictions most amply verified, and in after years must have reflected with satisfaction on the fact that his views had prevailed in Downing Street. On the 26th, May, 1846, the Hongkong Club house, situated in Queen's Road Central., at its junction with Wyndham Street, was opened with a ball, and was occupied by the Club for over fifty years, being vacated in July, 1897, when the Club moved into new and more commodious premises on the New Praya. Sir John Davis resigned in January, 1848, and left the colony on the 30th, March of that year. On the 13th, April, 1854, Sir John Bowring took the oaths as Governor, and held the reins until May, 1859. Sir John Bowring was the last Governor who united that office with that of Minister Plenipotentiary and Superintendent of British Trade in China. During his administration various public works were carried out, and the Bowrington Canal was constructed. On the 1st, October, 1857, The Hong Kong Daily Press made its appearance. September, 1859, Sir Hercules Robinson arrived and assumed the administra- tion. In 1860 the peninsula of Kowloon was placed under British control, and soon afterwards became a great camp, the English and French troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force being for some time quartered there In Novem- ber, 1867, a great fire occurred, which swept the whole district between the Queen's Road and the Praya, from the Cross Road to the Harbour Master's Office. During Sir Richard MacDonnell's vigorous administration the revenue of the Colony, which had fallen much below the expenditure, was augmented by the imposition of the stamp duties and other measures. One of His Excel- lency's last official acts was to preside at the opening, in February, 1872, of the Tung Wah (Chinese) Hospital. By March, 1882 the trade of the Colony increased greatly and Governor Hennessy accumulated a large surplus, but public works made little progress, the Breakwater at Causeway Bay being the principal work completed during his administration, while the Observatory was projected. On Christmas Day, 1878, a fire broke out in the Central District of Victoria which destroyed 368 houses and entailed enormous loss on the community. March, 1883 was the signal for great activity in the prosecution of public works, amongst others being the Tytam Waterworks, the Victoria (now Queen's) College, the Lunatic Asylum, the Observatory, and the enlargement of the Government Civil Hospital; also the residents were given the privilege of nominating two of the unofficial members of the Legisla- tive Council. A petition addressed to the House of Commons in favour of Constitutional Reform resulted, in 1894, in the addition of a second Chinese member to the Legislative Council, in return for an increase in the Official element by the inclusion of the General Officer Commanding the Troops, and the introduction of two nominated Unofficial members into the Executive Council. The year 1894 will be memorable, also in the annals of the Colony as the most disastrous year of the plague. The disease reached its climax on the 7th of June, when 107 deaths and 69 new cases were reported. After that date its virulence decreased, and on the 3rd, September the proclamation declaring the Colony infected was withdrawn. The total number of deaths recorded was 2,547. In the meantime the trade of the Colony had suffered severely. Large numbers of the natives fled, it being estimated that the population was reduced at one time by no less than 80,000,

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