THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 12TH DECEMBER, 1896. 1191
Turning now to the orders of the day, the first item which claims attention is a Bill entitled "An Ordinance to appropriate a Percentage of seventeen and a half per centum of the Colonial Revenues as a contribution for the Defence of the Colony."
This Bill is the outcome of lengthy correspondence and negotiations with which you are familiar, and it is introduced under instructions from the Secretary of State. I may mention that the Unofficial Members have recently forwarded a memorial praying that the contribution may be again fixed at the former figure of £40,000. I can, however, hold out no hope that this request of the Unofficial Members will be acceded to. I have no option therefore but to ask you to pass this Bill into law, and so finally settle the much-vexed question of the Military Contribution.
The next item of importance, and indeed the most pressing one on the order paper, is the Appropriation Bill for 1897.
From the Draft Estimates, which have been in your hands for some time, and which I now lay upon the table, you will have observed that the Revenue for 1897 is estimated to yield $2,438,823. This estimate has been arrived at with due caution it is less than the actual revenue for 1895 and the probable total for the current year, and I have every reason to expect that it will be realised. The various items do not, I think, call for any special remark at this stage. The total expenditure for 1897 is estimated at $2,769,083, but of this $368,000 is chargeable to the Loan. The estimated sum chargeable to current revenue is therefore $2,401,083, or $37,740 less than the estimated revenue.
The principal increases in expenditure, as compared with the Estimates for 1896, appear under the following heads :-
1. Public Works Extraordinary chargeable to Loan,
2. Military Expenditure,........
3. Pensions,
4. Public Works Recurrent,
5. Post Office,
6. Public Debt,
7. Sanitary Department,
8. Medical Department,.
$170,800
30,079
26,000
23,300
22,181
11,447
9,800
4,542
The increase in Military Expenditure is due partly to an increase of $9,000 in the amount set apart for "Barrack Services," but chiefly to increased (estimated) revenue. Only $61,000 of the estimated total Military Expenditure is included in the Appropriation Bill, viz., $49,000 for Barrack Services and $12,000 for the Volunteers, as the Bill to which I have already referred and which is designed purposely to remove the question of voting the Defence Contribution from the arena of yearly debate, will provide for the appropriation of 17 per cent. of the revenue, less premia on land sales, to meet that contribution.
The increase under the item of Public Works Recurrent is accounted for chiefly by the cost of maintaining the new waterworks at Shaukiwan and Aberdeen, and increased cost of maintenance of roads and bridges, and of the repairs to buildings which will probably be necessary during next year.
The additional charge on account of the Public Debt is due to the increase in the contribution to the Sinking Fund, which commenced only in October last.
The large increase in the cost of the Sanitary Department calls for some special explanation.
It has been found that the present staff of inspectors is not sufficient to provide for the inspection of the Chinese houses with the frequency and regularity which are necessary. The Sanitary Board has accordingly recommended, and the Secretary of State has sanctioned, the appointment of two more inspectors of nuisances, with the necessary additional inter- preters and foremen of street cleansers. The salaries for these new appointments, with various stipulated increments in the pay of other officers, and the salary of a temporary clerk who was appointed in April, 1895, and whose salary does not appear in the 1896
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