THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Tobre
HONGKONG AND THE POSTAL that they were
SUBSIDY
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of opin that the gener advantages derived by the public f the present system of subsidising The demand made by the home Govern-service have been very great and have ment for an increase in the contribution of " fully justified the cost at which the mails this colony to the cost of the mail subsidy "have been carried with such singular igeno new thing, the same question having regularity and freedom from casualty?" been very exhaustively debated in 1883 There can be little doubt, we think, that and 1884. The claim for a contribution the reply of the Chamber would be the same from the colony was first advanced in 1879, to-day if the question, were repeated and the amount then asked being £13,771, that the discontinuance of the mail and after departmental correspondence had subsidy would only be recommended in the gone on for some time the subject came event of the cost proving prohibitive. forward for public discussion in the years The question therefore presents itself above mentioned. The result was com- whether the colony can afford the contribu- municated to the Legislative Council in tion now asked by the Imperial Government, a financial minute in which the Governor or, whether there are any grounds on which (Sir GEORGE F. BOWEN) recommended the a reduction may be urged. On the former Council to vote a sum of $63,000 "in occasion £6,000 per annum was accepted payment of the contribution due from instead of the £13,700 claimed, and although "Hongkong to lessen the loss sustained by we may not be successful in altogether "the Imperial Treasury on the Eastern escaping an increase now there may still be mail service from the 1st of February, some possibility of keeping the amount within «1883, to the 31st December, 1884, at modernte limits. In England the Post Office "the rate of £6,000 per annum.' His yields a substantial revenue, whereas in Excellency in his minute said that from Hongkong it barely covers expenses, the papers on this subject which had and the payment of £16,000 a year already been presented the Council was would, we believe, cause the establishment aware that since 1879 this question had to show a dead loss amounting to some been under the consideration of Her five or six per cent, of the total revenue of Majesty's Government, successive Secre- the colony from all sources. It is an un- taries of State had done their utmost to heard of thing that any State should carry obtain the assent of the Imperial Trea- on its postal service at such a cost as that, sury to a reduction of the sum originally and it may fairly be urged upon the home put forward as this colony's share of the Government that the subsidised mail service loss, the final decision of the Imperial Go-exists more in the interests of Great Britain's vernment had now been communicated, and
enormous commerce in the Far East Lord DERBY's words were quoted as follows: than in the local interests of this colony, "The Lords of the Treasury have finally that the Imperial Government should there "consented to an arrangement by which the fore bear the bulk of the cost, and that the "Government of Hongkong shall contribute amount demanded from Hongkong should at the proposed rate of £6,000 from the not be so large as to leave the colony "1st February, 1883, only, the claim for the working its Post Office at a dead loss.
arrears of this increased payment for the is needless to dwell on the importance of "period anterior to that date being waived." great commercial nation maintaining at The claim for the full loss has now againquate postal facilities with its lying been advanced, and the amount, according to report, has risen from £13,771 to £16,000. Presumably the larger sum has been arrived at on the same principle as the smaller şum of eighteen years ago, namely, that this colony should bear the whole of the loss on the section of the mail service between Singapore and Hongkong.
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When the subject was under discussion the former occasion it was referred to the Chamber of Commerce, and the Committee of that body passed the following resolutions:- 1st. That the surplus revenue derived from the Post Office in Hongkong, notwithstanding that the rates of postage are higher than those charged by the French Post Office in Shanghai, on cor- respondence by Messageries boats, being only $8,000 annually, it is manifestly impossible for the Post Office to bear the increased burthen which the proposed impost would throw upon 1.—- That the question is being agitated among the mercantile community as to the policy of sub- sidising any special line or lines of steamers between this colony and Europe, considering the numerous means of direct and speedy steam
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dependencies or on the impolicy of bleeding those dependencies to such an extent as to retard their natural development.
this season 80
to quite as p
with which steamer communication. It Health Departinent to make a of energy in connection with the of steamers, but if no useful purpo served thereby the mercantile is justified in objecting to being made for the display.
pay
The existing quarantine, regulations were framed principally—we mig solely with reference to chole whose period of incubation smaller than that of smallpox and possibly may be more effectually guarded against. The regulations provide that every vessel arriving in the waters of the colony after a voyage of less than three days from, any infected port, or having, any infectious or contagious disease on board, or having on board passengers less than three days from an infected port, shall fly the quarantine flag and remain in quarantine until released by the Health Officer. The Sanitary Board now proposes to delete the limit of time from the above! first suggestion was to make it fifteen
medical inspectio days, thus subjecting to m all vessels arriving from infected ports after a voyage of less than that pe but finally the mention of the of the voyage was struck out altogether, so that no matter how long a voyage may have occupied the vessel would be liable to inspection on arrival.
Medical inspection is a very different thing from quarantine and much less objec tionable, since it only delays the ship and those on board for the time necessary
the inspection and, in case of disease being discovered, for disinfection, excepting of course the diseased persons, who are isolated: The operation, however, necessarily takes time and in a large port like this the aggre
reckoning
THE QUARANTINE REGULATIONS gate loss would be concurrent rates for
AND SMALLPOX. ·
The question of quarantine, which has been so often and so fully debated in this colony, and which so vitally affects the com- mercial interests of the port, has once more been raised, owing to the introduction of a few cases of smallpox. That persons suffer- ing from such a disease should be allowed to land from steamers and move about freely on shore is a regrettable circumstance, but, as the Colonial Surgeon remarked at Thurs- day's meeting of the Sanitary Board, small- pox is endemic every winter everywhere in China and all over India; he might have added Japan also. To adopt any rigid system of quarantine would therefore mean largely restricting our intercourse with the neighbouring countries and our chief com- mercial dependencies. Dr. CLARKE, the Medical Officer of Health, proposes, as we understand, that steamers arriving from places where smallpox is known to exist should be subjected to medical inspec- tion, but for our own part we fail to see what advantage is to be derived from sub- jecting European vessels to the detention and consequent loss which medical inspection entails while on the other hand Chinese crn the second of the above resolutions, which are
are more likely to, introduce the as not long in arriving at a disease, are to be exempted. The Medical dverse to the agitation re- Officer of Health says he would not include en in the following year its Canton among the infected ports, and junks
tinuing the mail arriving from Canton would therefore.
ee replied, free from inspection. It is tru
communication now available.
That in the event of any further payment g_required from the colony towards the cost of the subsidy the means could only be obtained either by an increase of the rates of postage or from some other branch of the revenue such as stamps, which would enhance the taxation on trade, already too onerous, and he Chamber protests in the strongest manner proposed measure, and still more retrospective payment on account
subsidy was solicited the
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it simply according demurrage. The question is whether the danger arising from the possible introduction of smallpox, a disease of which we almost invariably have a few cases every year arising in the colony itself, is sufficient to justify the measure. The Colonial Surgeon y, there is no earthly says rather forcibly, "t
reason why a person in this colony should get smallpox so long as there is any vaccine, * su it is nonsense to talk about it.” If that be so, why inflict a daily loss on shipping arriving in the colony? If, however, it be decided to adopt the course recommen
will the Sanitary Board, it ;)]
the medical necessary to largely augmen staff, for looking at the matter from a purely point of view it would be arithmetical cheaper for the colony to pay $6,000 a year to medical officers than to loss on shipping of not to speak of resulting and the
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