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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 11TH FEBRUARY, 1882.
with violence from the person, the number was 35 in 1878, 39 in 1879, 25 in 1880, and 19 in 1881. Cases of burglary, or larceny from dwelling houses, amounted to 113 in 1878 to 101 in 1879, to 53 in 1880, and to 60 in 1881. There were two assaults with intent to rob in 1880, and none in 1881. Taking the total of these really grave crimes, which formerly caused so much apprehension and alarm, -in 1878 they amounted to 173, in 1879 to 145, in 1880 to 81, and in 1881 to 81.
DECREASE IN KIDNAPPING.
The only other class of crime to which I will refer is one which has engaged a good deal of the attention of his honour the Chief Justice, and that is kidnapping. With reference to that crime, you are aware that Lord KIMBERLEY instructed me to approve in his name of a Chinese Society, which now deals practically with the suppression of that crime, acting in concert with the Captain Superintendent of Police. The consequence is that the smallest number of kidnapping cases that occurred in the four years I have referred to was in 1881, when we had only 50 such cases. This is owing to the operations of the Chinese Society, the skill and energy of the Police Force, and the action of the Supreme Court in passing heavy sentences on those who are convicted of that offence. I believe that by these means the principal kidnappers are at the present moment locked up in our gaol.
COMPANIES ORDINANCE.
Amongst the other Ordinances passed in 1881, is Ordinance No. 14, the Companies Ordinance, which introduced some reforms that were pressed upon my attention by my honourable friend, the senior un-official member of the Legislative Council. It is an Ordinance that facilitates the work of those commercial associations that are doing so much to utilise the surplus capital of the Colony.
REVENUE.
In connection with the Appropriation Ordinance for 1882, which Her Majesty has sanctioned, I am laying to-day upon the table some dispatches and some financial papers.
The financial papers I am putting before you consist, as usual, of the comparative statements of revenue and expenditure of the past year in comparison with that of the preceding year that is the statement of 1881, compared with that of 1880. I find that the revenue for the year 1881 amounted to over $1,100,000 being the largest revenue ever collected in this Colony. You are aware that for some years past I have impressed upon you the fact that in my opinion it was not proper to treat as actual revenue the proceeds of the sale of Crown lands. The proceeds of the sale of Crown lands I have always held to represent the capital of the Colony, and therefore in the figures I have given you I do not include that important item. But adding that item, we find that the sum actually collected amounts to $1,309,428. The receipts of the preceding year amounted to $1,056,329, and thus last year the amount collected was more than a quarter of a million in excess of that of the preceding year. Taking the item of stamp revenue, the total sum collected in 1881 amounted to $173,641, in the preceding year it had reached $127,623, showing an increase of $46,000. In looking through the stamp Returns, I find an increase under the great majority of items:-bank notes in circulation, bills of exchange, bank cheques, bills of lading, bottomry bonds, charter parties, transfer of shares, ordinary adhesive stamps, and a large item for conveyances and assignments. This, I need hardly tell you, is the largest revenue ever collected under our stamp Ordinance. When I called upon the Collector of stamps in 1880 to estimate the amount which would be collected in 1881, he estimated it at $115,000, so that the increase which occurred that year was largely in excess of his anticipations.
OPIUM REVENUE.
Now, there is one item in our revenue which, compared with the two previous years, showed in 1881 no change, viz., $205,000 from the opium farmer because it had been sold in 1879 for three years. I had the satisfaction of selling the opium farm in 1879 at an increase of price from $132,000 to $205,000. But it was said that I had rather unduly forced up the price of the farm, and it was anticipated that when next I should have to dispose of the farm, it would be sold at a smaller figure than the current rate; and indeed one of my officials, a man of ability and knowledge of the Colony, in a communication he made in London to one of the gentlemen in the Colonial Office, expressed great apprehension with respect to the opium farm, and in a memorandum which was trans- mitted to me by the Secretary of State, he said that there would be a falling off in the opium revenue when the opium farm was sold this year. However, these anticipations have not been verified; I have sold the opium farm for 1882-83 for $210,000, so there has been no falling off in the current revenue, which is $205,000.
INCREASE IN JUNK TRADE AND IN FOREIGN SHIPPING.
Now, in looking through the items of revenue which I am putting upon the table, you will see that in this return it states that there is a considerable increase in what are called fees of office. The increase in 1881 amounted to $20,215. On analysing that increase, which I do from a return furnished me by my honourable friend, the Colonial Treasurer, Captain DEANE, I find the items of
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