Sessional_Paper_1896 — Page 432

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They, however, appear to be summed up in the last paragraph of the petition as follows:-

1. The election of representatives of British nationality in the Legislative

Council.

2. A majority of such representatives in the Council.

3. Freedom of debate for the Official Members with power to vote as

they desire.

4. Complete control in the Council over local expenditure.

5. The management of local affairs.

6. A consultative voice in questions of an Imperial character.

As petitioners point out, Hongkong was founded over 50 years ago on a barren rock, the abode of a few fishermen. To-day the Colony has upwards of a quarter of a million inhabitants, a trade estimated at £40,000,000 annually, and a revenue of some two millions of dollars wholly derived from internal taxation.

As regards the population of Hongkong, the actual figures as ascertained at the last Census held in 1891 were 221,441; out of this total there was a Chinese resident population of 210,995; a resident British civil population of 1,448; a Portuguese population of 2,089; a German population of 208; and an American "population of 93.

Of the British resident population the number of male adults was 795; of the Chinese population the number of male adults was 127,690; that is to say, for every male adult Britisher in Hongkong there were 160 adult Chinese.

The male adult Britishers of this Colony (exclusive of Anglo-Chinese who are not a large class and who, as it is difficult to ascertain their numbers and as it is not possible as a rule to distinguish them from ordinary Chinese, whose views and sentiments they for the most part share, may be counted as Chinese) are composed of heads of and assistants in mercantile, banking, and shipping firms and stores.

The British population of Hongkong is by no means a permanent one as petitioners seem to suggest. The number of persons, to quote the words of the Petition," who have passed large portions of their lives in the Colony," is very small. Their object in coming to the Colony is to acquire wealth and to return to Great Britain as soon as they possibly can.

It is true that fortunes are not now made so rapidly as formerly, and enforced residence abroad is under the present condition of things of longer duration than it once used to be. But even under these altered circumstances the British popula- tion of Hongkong is always changing. Heads of houses often leave Hongkong to superintend their business in other parts of China or at home, and mercantile assistants are being continually moved from agency to agency. During the last ten years the heads and staff of almost every firm in the Colony have been changed, in many instances, more than once. Undoubtedly there have been British residents who have devoted both time and labour to promoting the welfare of the Colony, but the instances of "self-sacrifice" of personal interests to the public good have been very rare.

Indeed, merchants and others make no secret of the fact that the good of their firms is the first object of their consideration, and that everything, public or private, must yield to it; and they have little or no time to devote to outside matters not intimately connected with their own business relations. There is no leisured class in this Colony, which bas the time, even if it had the will, to devote to matters of public interest.

It must also be borne in mind that the mass of the population of this Colony consists of Chinese. Between the Chinese and the British merchants there is