302
THE DEFENCE OF THE ISLAND.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
自觉
*
"
(1
<<
44
to be a case of locking the stable door after the steed has been stolen. The scout The report that the south side of the island launches, it appears, would be placed on is to be provided with defensive works
watch from the very first indication of sufficient to prevent any attempted landing
war;" but a little earlier in his article the by an enemy will be received with general writer says it is "conceivable that war may satisfaction. With the powerful batteries be declared before we in Hongkong may protecting the harbour o
enemy, it is
"be aware that it is imminent and that believed, would attempt to force either
we may wake up one morning to find an the eastern or western entrance, and the
enemy's squadron in the act of landing an city may therefore he deemed safe from
invading force covered by troops already attack from that direction, unless, indeed, the enemy managed to come over the Kow-indication of war, and the scouts are only to "in position." If that is to be our very first loon hills and establish himself in force be sent out when such indication appears. on the peninsula. That is a danger which has been recognised and is one of the chief they would not under those particular cir- It would seem, reasons for desiring a rectification of the therefore, that however elaborate and well frontier, in order that it may be guarded designed may be our provision against attack against. A more immediate danger, however; by an enemy we must still, as the saying was the unprotected condition of the south
is, "take some chances,' side of the island, where an enemy might make a sudden landing in force and occupy important positions before the defending troops could be brought up to oppose him. Under the new scheme we understand all
the available landing places will be covered by guns, so that the way will no longer be left open to the enemy to attack us from the To provide for the working of the guns there will of course have to be a pro- portionate increase to the garrison,
rear.
cumstances be of much use.
TAXATION' AND THE MILITARY CONTRIBUTION.
In laying the census returns of 1881 before the Legislative Council the late Sir JOHN POPE HENNESSY made a long and interest- ing speech-(his speeches, whatever else they might be, were always interesting)-in which he dwelt on the remarkable progress made by the colony. He propounded the ques- The danger of an attack by way of Mirs tion, Does Hongkong fulfil the object for Bay and the Kowloon hill passes will still which it was established? and pointed to his remain, but further representations as to the resume of the census returns in reply. But, importance of a rectification of the frontier he said, it had sometimes been discussed are being made by the local authorities to
what the object of the colony was; he had the Imperial Government. It is to be hoped heard it said it was a military object, or a that success may attend those representa naval object. As to this, His Excellency tions, for the rectification is urgently required referred to an official despatch as All- not only for defensive purposes but also to thoritatively settling the point. Sir allow of the industrial expansion of the JOHN DAVIS had to forward to Her colony. A great opportunity was lost when Majesty's Government a memorial from this item was not included in the recently the foreign merchants complaining of concluded Burmah Convention, for Great the taxation of Hongkong; they repre- Britain was then in a position to dictate her sented that Hongkong hal been establisher, own terms and could have had the desired as they thought, for military objects in territory for the asking. China had to China, and on that account they begged make amends for breach of faith that the Imperial Government would and Great Britain had to say what terms undertake to pay the cost of the establish- she would accept. That matter having ments and that they themselves should be been adjusted we are not in such a favour-relieved of taxation, The Secretary of able position for negotiating as we were, State who had to decide this question-it but it is to be hoped nevertheless that Sir was in 1846-was Mr. GLADSTONE, who, CLAUDE MACDONALD may be authorised to having reviewed the whole question, ex- press for the desired rectification. The policy pressed the opinion that the occupation of of the British Government is to maintain Hongkong was decided on solely and ex- the integrity of the Chinese empire as far as clusively with a view to commercial interests, possible and we believe it is feared that any that it was established in the interests of territorial demands on our part might lead trade alone, and that the traders naturally to equivalent demands on the part of other should pay the expenses of the colony. powers and so weaken that policy. The fear, if it exists, is chimerical. Our absten-tablished has naturally some bearing on the tion from acquiring the small strip of terri- tory so urgently required would have no effect whatever in deterring Russia, France, or Germany from asking for what they want and taking it.
a
[October 21, 1897.
thorny one. At first the contribution was £20,000 per annum; this was raised at one bound to £40,000, and, finally, a fixed per- centage of the revenue, namely, 17), was appropriated to this purpose, without any rebate
on
account of purely municipal revenue, so that the colony cannot raise money for any useful local object without paying to the Imperial Government 171 cents out of every dollar.
ft
$
In the speech of Sir Jons POPE HEN-
said:"Now, there is NESSY already alluded to His Excellency one aspect of "this progress and prosperity which con- cerns us as a. legislative body dealing with financial matters, and it is this, that as the colony makes progress the revenue should improve without the imposition of any new taxes. This has also taken · place." At that time the municipal rates were twelve per cent., as they had been for years. Since then they have been raised to thirteen per cent., and there is now some prospect of their being further raised to sixteen per cent., and though it is reported that strong efforts are being made to find some way of solving the financial difficulty with- out having recourse to that unwelcome ex- pedient it is to be feared that at best it is only postponing the evil day. It is true the revenue has gone on increasing, but the ex- penditure has also gone on increasing, and at a more rapid ratio, and this demand of the Imperial Government for 17 cents out of every dollar raised makes it difficult to adjust matters. In consideration of the extraordinary expenditure incurred in con- nection with the plague and the sanitary improvement of the colony, coupled with the increased burden of the gold charges, good ground exists for an appeal to the Imperial Government for some consideration as regards the amount to be appropriated for military contribution during the next few years, though it is much to be feared such an appeal would fall ineffective. It certainly seems hard that whenever there
a deficit to be met that deficit should be
automatically enlarged by 17 per cent. to meet the Imperial demands, but the hard- ship is not likely to be recognised in Down- ing Street.
Perhaps we have done ourselves some harm injuliciously boasting of being the third port in theworld, the reby creating a fictitious estimate of our wealth and importance and our capacity to bear increased taxation. But the comparison with other ports has been made on an entirely false basis, inas- much as in the returns for the home ports
only the foreign trade has been taken account of, the coasting trade being
excluded, Here in this small island the whole of the shipping trade is neces- sarily foreign in a technical sense, but in effect our trade with the China Coast Ports is as much a coasting trade as that between England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man and the inter- port traile of the various divisions of the Kingdom. In gauging ourselves with such ports as London and Liverpool this point onght to be borne in mind, so that we may confine ourselves to actual facts and avoid inflated estimates. The tonnage engaged in the coasting trade of the United Kingdom is nearly half as much again as that en- gaged in the foreign trade, and it is on the basis of the whole sum of the tonnage of any port that this colony should make its comparisons. even to
The object with which the colony was es- question of the military contribution. It must be admitted that the memorial to which Sir Joux POPE HENNESSY referred was a foolish one. No military contribution had at that time been imposed and the In connection with the defence of the taxation from which the memorialists island attention will no doubt have been Wished to be relieved was the ordinary attracted by the interesting article by Cap niunicipal and general taxation. Such a tain RUMSEY published in yesterday's issue. request could not be supported by any We have a large fleet of steam-launches reasonable argument. When the military in the harbour, which Captain RUMSEY Contribution was imposed, however, the would utilise as scouts and as a flotilla question presented itself in a different aspect. to attack the boats of any possible land- By that time the residents had become re- ing party. If war should actually break conciled to taxation for local purposes, out no doubt the numerous steam-launches it was contended that the military establish would be found extremely valuable in ment being maintained for Imperial and not the ways mentioned by Captain RUMSEY for local purposes its whole cost should be and emergent measures would be taken to borne by the Imperial exchequer. On that organise them; but it is desirable that the point also they were overrule, and in course organisation should be provided beforehand, of time they became reconciled and hence the value of Captain RUMSEY's the military contribution, on the principle communication, which we trust will receive that every portion of the Empire should due consideration. It will be remarked, contribute according to its means to the however, that even under Captain RUMSEY'S cost of Imperial defence; but the ques- scheme as outlined by himself it might prove' tion of the amount has always proved a
but
On the 8th October as the extra P. & O. s'eamer Japan was coming to an anchorage at Singapore she ran into and damaged the Blue Funnel steamer Ixion, at anchor in the 'harbour.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.