Sessional_Paper_1901 — Page 748

HONGKONG.

743

No. 41

DESPATCH BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR ON THE BLUE BOOK FOR 1900.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.

No. 382.

SIR,

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 25th September, 1901.

1901

I have the honour to forward the Blue Book for 1900. The statistics quoted in the Report of the Colonial Secretary show that the Colony is in a sound finan- cial position, and that its business, which is mainly that of a great transhipping port, continues to increase with the expanding trade of the East. The shipping returns show that during the year 1900, 82,456 ships of the aggregate registered tonnage of 18,445,133 tons, carrying 9,862,868 tons of cargo and 2,031,079 pas- sengers arrived and cleared.

2. But this considerable increase of shipping over the previous year by no means represents the enormous increase in the number of ships that entered the harbour during this year of abnormal activity. The Boxer troubles in the North broke out in June, and in July the first contingents of the China Expeditionary Forces began to arrive. Hongkong was practically the British base, and for months the man-of-war anchorage was filled with British and Foreign warships and trans- ports. At first it was feared that there was no available space in which to accom- modate the Indian Brigades landed here to await the settlement of details as to future operations. I gave the Major-General Commanding Troops carte blanche to occupy every spot of ground on which a tent could be pitched, and sufficient accommodation was found in the immediate neighbourhood. I may add that the conduct of the Indian Troops landed here left nothing to be desired.

3. With the new road now being completed to Taipo, opening up the plains and hillsides of the New Territory, there is now ample accommodation for any number of troops likely to be required in the East.

4. It will be easily understood that with the paralysis of trade in the North on the outbreak of active hostilities the entire trade of China was affected, and the godowns in Hongkong and Shanghai were filled to overflowing with imported merchandise of which the Chinese merchants were slow to take delivery. In the month of September a rebellious movement was started in the district of Weichou north of the New Territory and Mirs Bay. The movement was not anti-foreign, and the insurgents refrained from interference with the villages in Tung Kun Dis- trict in which the Basel Missions were established, uor, so far as I could learn, were any atrocities committed by them. It was a movement of a section of re- formers that was not joined by the followers of KANG-YU-WEI. The disturbance lasted for about a fortnight and collapsed after several engagements with the Viceroy's troops under Admiral Ho, in one or two of which the rebels had some success. About four thousand lives were lost in the fighting, and the movement died out from the want of arms and ammunition, to prevent the smuggling of which the Police of Hongkong left nothing undone. The movement created con- siderable uneasiness in the district around Canton, one result of which was the transfer of a large amount of Chinese money to Hongkong for investment under the protection of the British flag. This may to some extent account for the increased sale of Crown land at enhanced prices during the year,

The Right Honourable

JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,

His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,

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