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There is also, I submit, much force in the following observations made by the Colonial Secretary in speaking to Supply in Committee.

"We have here no statistics of exports and imports and it is therefore impossible actually to prove the volume of our trade by the irrefragable evidence of incontestible figures. In default of such we must have recourse to inferential indications. These are not wanting. One of them is the amount of shipping frequenting the port. It must be presumed that ships do not come here for nothing. In 1890 the shipping of the port exceeded that of any previous year; it was, however, surpassed by that of the following year, and the present year bids fair to eclipse the record of 1891. Another indication is the amount of bank notes in local circulation. So far from this amount falling off, the returns show that it has largely increased. In November, 1882, it amounted to $4,757,055; in November, 1890, to $5,565,538; in November, 1891, to $5,702,198; at date it is $5,999,712. Then again, to take an article which has come rather prominently before the public lately, petroleum. My Office has been recently besieged with applications for temporary licences, the usual accommodation being quite insufficient for the supply. I am aware that there was an exceptional glut in the island owing to some alteration of the lekin in China, but the figures with which I was made acquainted in connection with recent applications for temporary licences show that the trade is simply enormous. In addition to this my honourable friend on my right, the senior Unofficial Member, has applied for leave to erect extensive premises in Kennedy-town to be permanently licensed for the storage of petroleum.

And as if this were not enough, Messrs. ARNHOLD, KARBERG & Co. are erecting tanks for storing importations in bulk on a scale sufficient to supply a large portion of Southern China. This is but one item; if we knew as much about others we should perhaps gain a clue to the explanation of the extraordinary increase in the shipping of the port. To take another item: a correspondence which I have recently had with those concerned in connection with the amount of water they require from Government for their business shows that the out-put of sugar is on a vast scale. As to the coal trade of the port and the immensely important and extraordinarily favourable prospects that await Charbonnages in the immediate future, my honourable friend on my right has himself given me some very interesting information, but as it was given in the course of conversation, I do not feel at liberty to repeat it. I should only weary the Council if I were to dilate further on this branch of the subject, but before leaving it I would like to draw attention to a very significant circumstance, and that is that the Manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank recently stated in public that in the month in which he was speaking the Bank had received more applications for bank shares than had been received in any single previous month during the whole period of his connection with the Bank. What inference are we to draw from these circum- stances? That there is a general depletion and stagnation of legitimate business? Trade is usually considered a good thing to have and it would seem that we have it in abundance; shipping has often been termed-especially by the honourable member who represents the Chamber of Commerce-as the "life-blood of the Colony"-if so the Colony is not in any present danger from anæmia; and the circumstance mentioned by the Manager of our principal bank points to no lack of general confidence. The inference that I draw is that while individuals have in recent years lost heavily by gambling, the condition of the community at large is sound and progressive. Turning now to indications from revenue, what do we find? In 1882 the revenue was $1,227,847; for the five years ending with 1886 it averaged $1,291,407, and for the following five years ending with 1891 it averaged $1,863,229. In 1889 the revenue largely exceeded that of any previous year; for 1890 the revenue exceeded that of 1889 by $33,584; the revenue for 1891 exceeded that for 1890 by $13,443; and it can be already said with certainty that the revenue for the current year will exceed that of 1891. So far, that is up to the moment at which I am speaking, I can find no evidence of a shrinking, dwindling revenue; on the contrary, what I find is a continuously expanding revenue. It would unduly tax the indulgence of the Council if I were to proceed I have done so for my own to analyse the component details of the revenue.

satisfaction and the result has served to confirm the impression that the annually increasing revenue connotes a steady increase of the prosperity of the community taken as a whole. The year 1891 has been described as a year of terrible depres- sion ; so far as the revenue returns afford a criterion, the fact would appear to be that during that year, as also in 1890 and 1889, in spite of some persons in the Colony having lost a lamentable amount of money through speculation, the Colony as a whole progressed. The revenue exclusive of land sales for 1889, 1890, and