THE COLONY OF HONG KONG
189
good effects. It would have been more fruitful, however, if it had been better carried out, first by Sir Hercules Robinson, and then by Sir Richard MacDonnell. The materials supplied to them from home, in one relay of students and another, were excellent; but there should have been no diverting them away from their proper business of study, until they had given proof of their proficiency by actual interpretation in the Supreme Court; after which, every other office in the Colony, under that of the Governor himself, should have been open to them according to their aptitudes.
To Sir Hercules also we are indebted for the beginning of our Water Works; and if they were not constructed at first on a sufficiently large scale, where are we still, after so many years, and so continued an expenditure? With all their deficiency, they are a great boon; and when I have read the lucubrations of grumbling complainers, I have laughed in recollecting the scenes of early years, when, every night in the dry season, hundreds, of a small population comparatively, might be seen streaming on the hills with pitchers and buckets, searching for the precious element.
In Sir Hercules' time also it was that the present Gaol was built, to take charge of which there came out in November 1863, its model governor, Mr. Douglas. Then came gas to illuminate our streets and houses, and a commencement of the Public Gardens was made. The conception of the Mint always appeared to me admirable, and I thought there would be in it an institution that would greatly contribute to the prosperity and influence of the Colony. It has not turned out so. The refining of sugar is a good thing, but I had much rather that the buildings had continued to be employed for coining money.
In two only of his undertakings did Sir Hercules fail,--the building the prison on Stonecutters' Island, and his management of the newly-acquired territory on the Kowloon side of the harbour. I have heard that he could not get his way with that through the clashing of his views and those of the naval and military Authorities. However that was, the delay in offering the ground for sale to the public, which was done at last at upset prices absurdly high, allowed the ebbing of the tide of factitious prosperity to set in. Perhaps it was well. The impulse from abroad once removed, there was nothing in the Colony itself to sustain
THE COLONY OF HONG KONG
189
good effects. It would have been more fruitful, however, if it had been better carried out, first by Sir Hercules Robinson, and then by Sir Richard MacDonnell. The materials supplied to them from home, in one relay of students and another, were excellent; but there should have been no diverting them away from their proper business of study, until they had given proof of their proficiency by actual interpretation in the Supreme Court; after which, every other office in the Colony, under that of the Governor himself, should have been open to them according to their aptitudes.
To Sir Hercules also we are indebted for the beginning of our Water Works; and if they were not constructed at first on a sufficiently large scale, where are we still, after so many years, and so continued an expenditure? With all their deficiency, they are a great boon; and when I have read the lucubrations of grumbling complainers, I have laughed in recollecting the scenes of early years, when, every night in the dry season, hundreds, of a small population comparatively, might be seen streaming on the hills with pitchers and buckets, searching for the precious element.
In Sir Hercules' time also it was that the present Gaol was built, to take charge of which there came out in November 1863, its model governor, Mr. Douglas. Then came gas to illuminate our streets and houses, and a commencement of the Public Gardens was made. The conception of the Mint always appeared to me admirable, and I thought there would be in it an institution that would greatly contribute to the prosperity and influence of the Colony. It has not turned out so. The refining of sugar is a good thing, but I had much rather that the buildings had continued to be employed for coining money.
In two only of his undertakings did Sir Hercules fail,--the building the prison on Stonecutters' Island, and his management of the newly-acquired territory on the Kowloon side of the harbour. I have heard that he could not get his way with that through the clashing of his views and those of the naval and military Authorities. However that was, the delay in offering the ground for sale to the public, which was done at last at upset prices absurdly high, allowed the ebbing of the tide of factitious prosperity to set in. Perhaps it was well. The impulse from abroad once removed, there was nothing in the Colony itself to sustain
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.