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dispute dragged on until 1864, when the Military Authorities.
got the lion's share and certain prescriptive rights over the
remainder, which was divided between the Colony and the Navy.
At a land sale, held in 1864 (July 25 to 29 ) , some 26 marine and
39 inland lots were sold, on short leases, at a premium of $4,050
and an annual rent of $ 18,793 (of which sum hardly one-fourth
was ever paid). The one portion which was of essential value
for the Colony was retained by the Military Authorities.
In spring, 1860, a novel proposition was under discussion .
The idea was mooted of appointing a Governor- General of
H.M. Insular Possessions in the East, who should combine the
civil and military government of Mauritius, Ceylon , the Straits
Settlements and Hongkong. Nothing further came of this
amalgamation scheme, however, beyond the appointment of a
Colonial Defence Commission .
The relations of the Colony with the Cantonese Authorities
were, after the evacuation of Canton (October 21 , 1861 ) , under
the care of H.M. Consul at Canton, subject to the control of the
British Minister at Peking. Nevertheless, when any pressing
case occurred, this circumlocutory process was occasionally
set aside. To give but one instance, it happened in January,
1865, that a Chinese resident of Hongkong was kidnapped from
a boat in the harbour and held for ransom in a village near
Shamtsün in the Sun-on District . The new Registrar General
(C. C. Smith), without loss of time, obtained the use of
H.M.S. Woodcock and proceeded to Deep Bay. A party of 25-
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 363

blue-jackets, under the command of Captain Boxer, of H.M.S.
Hesper, went inland with the Registrar General and captured ,
happily without resistance, both the kidnapper and his prisoner
who were brought to Hongkong .
One of the earliest subjects that engaged the attention of
Sir H. Robinson in Hongkong was Civil Service reform . Very
wisely he commenced his labours in this direction with an
attempt to revise official salaries. But when the draft of an
Ordinance ( 13 of 1860 ) for establishing a revised Civil List came
under discussion in Legislative Council ( December 26 , 1859 ) ,
the unofficial Members (J. Jardine, J. Dent and Geo. Lyall)
urged that , although the salaries of most of the Civil Servants
were inadequate, there were at present no available funds for
effecting a general increase of salaries. They recommended ,
however, to increase the salaries of four subordinate officers whom
they named. There was also thrown out a suggestion that
Hongkong officials, instead of having their salaries increased on
account of length of service, should have a chance of promotion
to other Colonies. Sir H. Robinson, though foiled to some
extent in his Civil List reforms, succeeded in establishing a
Pension Scheme (May 5, 1862 ) under Ordinance 10 of 1862
by which he definitely fixed the rate of pension payable to officers
of long and approved service.
Several new offices were established by Sir H. Robinson .
For the benefit of the mercantile marine, the Governor established
a Marine Court of Inquiry ( Ordinance 11 of 1860 ) and a Board
of Examiners for granting certificates of competency to masters
and mates (Ordinance 17 of 1860 ) . The first certificate so issued
was obtained by Mr. Samuel Ashton of the schooner Vinder
(August 31 , 1861 ) and between July, 1863 , and June, 1864 , as
many as 48 masters and 28 mates were passed by this Board of
Examiners. Sir Hercules also re-organized the Police Court
(Ordinance 6 of 1862 ) by substituting (July 23, 1862 ) two-
magistrates with equal power (Ch. May and J. Ch . Whyte)
for the former chief magistrate and his assistant . At the same
time (July 7 , 1862 ) a Court for Summary Jurisdiction, under
364 CHAPTER XVIII.

a Puisne Judge ( H. J. Ball ) was established by Ordinance 7 of
1862 as a branch of the Supreme Court.
But the principal and most beneficial addition to the Civil
Service machinery, devised by Sir H. Robinson, was undoubtedly
the series of reforms, culminating in his Cadet Scheme, which
he introduced for the better government of the Chinese
population of the Colony. Sir Hercules, who appeared to have
taken Sir Harry Parkes' dealings with the Chinese for his
model, took special pains to make sure of two things, first,
that the Chinese should be fully and correctly informed of
the nature, purport and details of every Government measure
affecting their interests, and, secondly, that in every case the
Governor should be accurately informed of what the Chinese
in any case, public or private, really wanted or needed or wished
to say . In harmony with the first part of this programme,
Sir Hercules organized a translation office and secured the
publication of correct translations of every decision he made
in Chinese affairs. He first recognized this need in connection
with the resistance offered by the Chinese pawnbrokers and
cargo boat people to firmer supervision by the Government and
had forthwith careful translations of the respective Ordinances
published (May 5 and November 24, 1860 ) . But he went
farther and established (March 1 , 1862) a separate Chinese
issue of the Hongkong Government Gazette. He not only
arranged that every Government measure affecting the Chinese
residents should be published in this Gazette, but took great
pains personally to test the fulness and correctness of the
translators' work. In pursuance of the second part of this
programme, Sir Hercules took a bold step. He deliberately
discarded the attempt to govern the Chinese directly through
their own headmen (Tipous), summarily dismissed all the Tipons
(June 30 , 1861 ) and made the Registrar General exercise,
with regard to the Chinese population , the same functions
which the Colonial Secretary performed in relation to the
European population . This measure was virtually a return to
the original bifurcation of government which Captain Elliot
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 365

aimed at when the Colony was formed in 1841. The first
number of the Chinese issue of the Hongkong Government
Gazette (March 1 , 1862 ) introduced this new policy by the
simple notification, which really constituted a revolution in the
government of the Chinese population, that thenceforth all
applications to the Government, on the part of Chinese residents,
must be made by petition (pien ) to the Registrar General.
Sir Hercules, however, clearly foresaw that for the success of
this measure it was indispensable that the Registrar General's
office should thenceforth be entrusted only to men who were
not only acquainted with the Chinese language and Chinese
modes of thought and life, but in sympathy and touch with
the Chinese people. It was, in the first instance, for this purpose
that he established his Cadet Scheme. On the model of the
system organized by Sir J. Bowring for the training of Consular
interpreters, Sir Hercules launched (March 23, 1861 ) a scheme
to provide the Colony with a staff of well-educated interpreters
who should study the Chinese language in Hongkong and be
eligible, when qualified , for promotion to the headship of several
departments. They were not intended to act as Court
interpreters but to fill eventually those of the higher offices
in the Service in which a knowledge of the Chinese mind and
character afforded some special advantage. This scheme having
met with the approval of H.M. Government, three such cadets
(C. C. Smith, W. M. Deane and M. S. Tonnochy) were appointed
(April 3 , 1862 ) student interpreters, and underwent two
probationary examinations in the year 1863. Mr. (subsequently
Sir) C. C. Smith was the first cadet who acted as Registrar
General, that is to say as Colonial Secretary for the Chinese
population (October 24 , 1864 ) , Mr. Tonnochy taking his place
in the same capacity later on (November 1 , 1865 ) .
The inquiry into the Civil Service abuses of the preceding
administration was entrusted by the Secretary of State to the
Governor in Executive Council and commenced on 13th August,
1860. As these meetings of Council were held in public and all
the records and evidence were printed and published, this terribly
-366 CHAPTER XVIII.

protracted investigation served only to stir up once more the
mud of old animosities and produced renewed mutual incrimina-
tions between the Registrar General (who resigned and withdrew
from his office) and the Superintendent of Police. Moreover,
the excessive latitude which the Governor allowed to all parties
in the case gave to the editor of the Daily Press fresh opportunity
to raise side issues and to produce even prisoners from the gaol
to aid him in hunting down the object of his hatred. The final
result of this distressing inquiry (continued until September 24,
1861 ) was that the Colony permanently lost the services of the
man who was indisputably the best Court interpreter the Colony
ever possessed, and who was never equalled in efficiency as a
detective police officer. But the rancour of the editor of the
Daily Press was not satisfied with the scope of the inquiry. He
clamoured for further investigations and desired the former
Acting Colonial Secretary to be impeached . When Sir H.
Robinson resisted any re-opening of the inquiry, the irate editor
appealed to the Secretary of State, hurling various charges
against the Governor and (in his absence) against the Adminis-
trator (W. T. Mercer). After a lengthy correspondence, the
Duke of Newcastle at last (in autumn 1862) informed the
complainant that, as he had five times been prosecuted for libel,
he was not entitled to any consideration and that the Colonial
Office would henceforth receive no more communications from
him. The same Secretary of State regulated also, by Circular of
August 20, 1863, the extent to which public officers might write
for or to the public papers. The Duke of Newcastle laid down
the rule that, whilst there is no objection to public servants
furnishing newspapers with articles signed with their names on
subjects of general interest, they are not at liberty to write
on questions which can properly be called political, nor to furnish
any articles whatever to newspapers which, in commenting on
the measures of the Government, habitually exceed the bounds of
fair and temperate discussion .
In the Legislative Council, Sir H. Robinson introduced an
important change by the inhibition now put, by order of the
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 367

Home Government, on the independence of vote formerly allowed
to official Members. A set of standing orders and rules had
been framed (July 12 , 1858 ) and, using these as a curb rein ,
Sir Hercules ruled his Council as with a rod of iron , confining
its functions strictly to legislation, allowing no criticism of the
acts of the Executive, and reducing public influence upon
the deliberations of the Legislative Council to the lowest possible
minimum. He acted on the principle that legislation should not
be influenced by the opinions of irresponsible parties outside the
Government . The only point in which he allowed much latitude
to the unofficial Members was the discussion of questions of
expenditure and taxation.
As to the legislative enactments of this period . the regulation
of commercial transactions received a large share of attention .
Hardly any other Governor bestowed so much care on commercial
legislation. Eleven Ordinances were passed bearing on ex-
clusively commercial matters, such as Chinese passenger ships
( 6 of 1860 ) , fees to be taken under the Merchant Shipping
Ordinance ( 10 of 1860) , exportation of military stores (3 of
1862) , protection of patents ( 14 of 1862 ) and trade marks ( 8
of 1863 ) , the law of debtor and creditor (4 of 1863 and 5 of
1864) , bills of sale ( 10 of 1864) , bills and promissory notes ( 12
of 1864) , commercial law ( 13 of 1864) and finally the incor-
poration, regulation and winding up of Trading Companies ( 1 of
1865 ) . The Ordinance empowering the Governor to prohibit
the export of military stores was caused by the abandonment of
that attitude of neutrality which the British Government had
-occupied in relation to the Manchu Government and the Taiping
Rebels until February 21 , 1862, when (as above mentioned) the
Taipings threatened Shanghai once more. The subsequent issue
of a proclamation prohibiting the export of arms and ammunition
was intended to stop the supplies which the Taipings had been
drawing from Hongkong, but was bitterly complained of as
unjust because no similar prohibition was extended to ports in
England and India. The consequence was a partial derangement
of the operations of firms hitherto connected with this trade in
 368 CHAPTER XVIII.

military stores, and numerous confiscations were made by the
Harbour Master in February, 1863. In 1862 , the discovery of
an extensive system of issuing false certificates for opium deposits
(June 14th) opened the eyes of the public to the imperfect
formulation of the law of debtor and creditor. The Attorney
General (J. Smale) drafted accordingly a Bankruptcy Ordinance
(November 16 , 1863 ) specially adapted to local circumstances,
but it was set aside by the advisers of the Colonial Office who
sent out another (5 of 1864) for acceptance by the Council. In
connection with that same opium case, it was decided by a jury
(August 7 , 1863) that a delivery order, though sold and paid
for, does not free the vendor from risk in case a mishap should
occur to the article sold after the order had changed hands .
When the draft of the Companies ' Ordinance ( 1 of 1865 ) was
under the consideration of the Council (in 1864) , the question
of incorporating companies with limited liability, which measure
the Governor at the time viewed as fraught with danger for
Hongkong, gave rise to much animated discussion. The position
which the Governor took in this matter was such as to provoke
a spirited protest by one of the unofficial Members of Council
(J. Whittall) whose language the Governor censured as offensive
to the Council.
Chinese trade also received a fair share of the Governor's
attention, and Sir Hercules was the first Governor who understood
how to deal with the common practice of the Chinese of offering
seditious resistance to a weak Government by combining to
strike work in order to mark their sense of irksome or imperfect
legislation. Unaware what stuff Sir Hercules was made of, the
Chinese resorted to this practice three times within four successive
years but gave in on each occasion when they encountered, on
the part of the Governor, calm but rigidly uncompromising
firmness. The Pawnbrokers' Ordinance (3 of 1860) evoked .
a general closing of pawnshops and the Ordinance remained for
a long time a dead letter whilst the pawnbrokers agitated for
certain concessions. They submitted , however, when they found
that the Governor turned a deaf ear to all their representations.
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 369

In order to provide a remedy against the habitual plundering
to which goods were subjected in transit between ship and
shore, an Ordinance ( 15 of 1860 ) was passed for the registration
and regulation of the men employed on cargo-boats. As soon as
this Ordinance came into force ( 1861 ) , a general strike ensued
on the part of cargo-boat people, but by unflinching firmness on
the part of the Governor and the community they were soon
brought to submit to registration . The chair coolies also resorted
to a strike (in 1863) when they were for the first time to be
brought under a system of regulating and licensing public
vehicles by Ordinance 6 of 1863. They also yielded , after
nearly three months ' passive resistance, and the new Ordinance
proved a great boon to the public.
An interesting trial (Moss versus Alcock) was concluded
in the Supreme Court on 27th December, 1861. A British
subject, having assaulted a Japanese officer at Kanagawa, had
been sentenced to fine and imprisonment by a British Consul
whose sentence was confirmed by Sir Rutherford Alcock, then
H.M. Minister at Tokyo. But when the prisoner was lodged
in the Hongkong Gaol, he appealed to the Supreme Court and
obtained a verdict for $2,000 damages, as the Consul had power
only to inflict either a fine or imprisonment. It was in
consequence of this case that subsequently (July 16, 1863)
letters patent were issued conferring upon the Chief Justice of
Hongkong appellate jurisdiction in respect to Consular decisions
made in Japan. In the course of the trial (Moss versus Alcock )
there occurred (December 12 , 1861 ) the first of those lively but
indecorous scenes of bickerings which for years after periodically
recurred whenever Mr. (subsequently Sir) John Smale, as
Attorney General or Chief Justice, was confronted in Court by
the leading barrister of the time (E. H. Pollard ) . A fruitless
attempt was made (April 23, 1859) by Dr. Bridges to induce
the Governor in Council to modify Sir J. Bowring's Amalgama-
tion Ordinance (12 of 1858 ) so as to permit barristers to form
partnerships with a view to enable them to recruit health in
Europe without breaking up their practice. So far from
24
370 CHAPTER XVIII .

extending the scope of this Amalgamation Ordinance, Sir
H. Robinson repealed it altogether to the infinite regret of
the public ( by Ordinance 12 of 1862 ) . It seems he was
instigated to this retrogressive act by the new Chief Justice
(W. H. Adams) and the new Attorney General (J. Smale) who,
like the Governor, knew little of the sad condition in which
the legal profession in the Colony had been before the
introduction of this Ordinance. The beneficial effects it had
produced were now considered a proof that it was no longer
needed. In vain did the community, who heard of this measure
only a few hours before it was read in Council, protest against
the repeal. In vain did the unofficial Members of Council
(F. Chomley, C. W. Murray, A. Perceval) demand that at least
an inquiry be instituted into the working of the Amalgamation
Ordinance and into the necessity for a repeal. The Governor
was going away on furlough and had made up his mind to settle
this matter before leaving, on the basis of the opinions of high
legal officers, whose credit was at stake in the utterance of their
opinions, rather than on the views of irresponsible outsiders.'
The Chief Justice (W. H. Adams) and the Attorney General
(J. Smale) thought the repeal necessary to preserve the purity
of the higher branch of the profession . The public interest
had to yield to that. But the impetuous haste with which the
Governor rushed the Bill through Council (July 3 , 1862 ) , and
the inexorable predetermination with which he brushed aside
all objections whilst refusing any inquiry or consideration, caused
the general public to stigmatise the conduct of Sir Hercules
in this case, as in some others, as marked by mulish obstinacy.'
As to other legal enactments of this period , the principal
Ordinance of permanent value was that (7 of 1860 ) which gave
authority to two Commissioners, H. J. Ball, Judge of the
Summary Jurisdiction Court, and W. H. Alexander, Registrar
of the Court, to compile an edition of the Ordinances in force
in the Colony and to consolidate particularly the criminal law.
This importaut work, by the starting of which the Governor
complied with one of the recommendations of the Parliamentary
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 371

Committee of 1847 , was satisfactorily completed in October,
1864, under the sanction which the Privy Council had given
(February 20 , 1864) to the introduction in the Colony of the
criminal law of England with such adaptations as circumstances
might render advisable...
Owing to the above-mentioned disturbances in the Canton
Province, the population of Hongkong made great strides in the
first few years of this period . In 1860 the population increased
by 8,003 persons. In 186 , when the cession of Kowloon also
contributed to swell the population, the increase amounted to
24,404 persons , having risen from 94.917 people in 1860 to
119,321 in 1861. After that year, however, the population
increased but slightly in 1862 , retrograded in 1863 and stood
in 1864 at 121,498 people.
The finances of the Colony, though severely strained by
liberal expenditure on public works, constitute one of the brightest
features of this administration. The revenue of the year 1860
exceeded that of 1859 by £ 28,958 . The expenditure of the same
period, however, increased by £ 6,281 . In consequence of the
transfer of the Hongkong Post Office to the local Government
(May 1 , 1860 ) , the Post Office receipts appeared for the first
time in the accounts for the year 1860. But the largest increase
of the revenue of that year was under the head of land revenue,
which exceeded that of 1859 by nearly £ 17,000 in consequence
of the great rise in the value of land. The revenue of 1860 was
thus the largest ever raised, up to that time, in Hongkong, and
four times greater than that of the year 1851. The Colony
had now at last become, fully self- supporting and commenced the
year 1861 with an excess of assets (over liabilities ) amounting
to nearly £4,300 . The revenue of the year 1861 (£33,058 ) was
nearly double of the revenue of 1859 , but owing to the large
public works now taken in hand and to the augmentation of
the establishment, the expenditure rose to £ 37,241 . The returns
for 1861 shewed an increase under almost every head of revenue
but particularly so the items of land rents and licences, the rapid
increase of the population, and the extensive purchases of land
372 CHAPTER XVIII.

connected with an attempt to develop the resources of Bowrington ,
having caused an enormous further increase in the value of land.
Following the example of Sir J. Bowring, Sir H. Robinson
deposited year by year all surplus funds in the local Chartered
Banks at five per cent . and £ 61,550 were thus deposited in 1861 ..
Since 1st July, 1862, the accounts of the Colony were kept in
dollars. The increase ($20,502) in the revenue of the year 1862
was ascribed chiefly to the increased yield of postage, police and
lighting rates, opium farm and pawnbrokers' licences, whilst the
increase ($ 61,400) of expenditure was caused by public works and
additions to the strength of the Police Force. The same items
caused the expenditure of the year 1863 to exceed (by $ 10,000)
the revenue which had decreased by $54,884 as compared with
the preceding year. In the year 1864, postage and profits made
on subsidiary coins (procured from England) caused the revenue
to increase by $61,471 , whilst, on the other hand, the expenditure
of the same year increased by $ 176,742 , owing to the erection of
the Mint and the investment of $250,000 in the purchase of land
and houses at Kowloon. But, owing to a commercial depression .
which now set in, the difference between receipts and expenditure
continued. On 4th March, 1865 , Sir H. Robinson stated in
Legislative Council that the total revenue for the preceding year
had come to $637,845 and the actual expenditure to $763,307, an
ominous indication of bad times in store for the Colonial finances.
As soon as the flourishing condition of the Colonial finances
became known at home, a claim was set up for a military con-
tribution. There was strictly speaking no surplus, as all available
surplus funds were urgently required to provide additional gaol
accommodation, additional water-works and most particularly a
comprehensive drainage scheme for the town , which one Colonial
Surgeon after the other urged as the indispensable preliminary
basis of sanitary reform, and which, owing to the demand for
a military contribution, Governor after Governor postponed for
want of funds. On 15th August, 1864, Sir H. Robinson stated
in Legislative Council that the Secretary of State insisted upon
payment of a military contribution of £ 20,000 per annum for
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 373

five years as a reasonable and just return for the protection of
life and property afforded by the military garrison , the amount
-charged being one-fifth of the Imperial military expenditure
incurred in the Colony. It appeared that Mr. Mercer, as
Administrator, as well as Sir Hercules had strenuously objected
to this demand when it was first mooted. Their arguments were
virtually those that thenceforth were repeated at every successive
period of Hongkong's history : that Hongkong is not a producing
Colony but a mere intermediate station of the China trade ; that
this station, being anyhow very profitable to India and to the
Imperial Exchequer, ought not to bear the burden of military
expenditure incurred for the benefit of British trade in China
and Japan ; that the settlement is a struggling one and needs
no garrison for its local protection ; that the Colony has, to
the great detriment of local revenue and commerce, been deprived
of so much building ground, appropriated for Imperial military
uses, that it ought to be considered to have paid, in land, its
quota towards a military contribution . But in this case, as on
all subsequent occasions, the Home Government confined itself
to the simple assertion that, as the Colony can afford to pay.
it must pay what is demanded. A public meeting, the largest,
it was said, that had been held yet, assembled in the Court
House (August 23, 1864) and unanimously resolved to memorialize
H.M. Government to protest against the measure. The senior
unofficial Member of Legislative Council (C. W. Murray ) acted
as chairman and the proposers and seconders of the several
resolutions to be embodied in the Memorial were- E. H. Pollard,
Th. Sutherland, A. Turing, J. Whittall, K. Brand, H. B. Lemann,
T. G. Linstead, G. J. Helland, R. S. Walker, H. Noble, C. H.
Storey and W. Schmidt. The Chamber of Commerce and the
Chinese community followed the example and likewise presented
protests in form of Memorials. When the estimates for 1865 ,
including the sum of $ 92,000 as military contribution were laid
before the Legislative Council, this item was passed only by the
Governor's casting vote, as even the Colonial Treasurer (who
was afterwards severely censured by the Secretary of State) joined
374 CHAPTER XVIII.

with the unofficial Members in voting against it. Moreover,.
with the single exception of the Chief Justice (W. H. Adams ),
all the Members of Council, both official and unofficial, agreed
forthwith in passing a resolution stating that the maintenance
of troops in Hongkong is not necessary purely for the protection
of Colonial interests or the security of the inhabitants, and
that the Colonial revenue cannot fairly be charged with any
contribution towards the Imperial military expenditure in China
and Japan .' In communicating to H.M. Government the
unanimous protest of the colonists, Sir H. Robinson ( September
7, 1864) suggested that, if there inust be a military contribution .
it had better be imposed by an Order of Her Majesty in Council.
The Secretary of State ( Mr. Cardwell) subsequently agreed to
take this course (August 11 , 1865) if the Legislative Council
should insist upon it. But when the point was discussed in
Council (November 16, 1865 ) , the Members agreed to appropriate
the amount by annual vote of the local legislature.
It has been stated above that Sir J. Bowring recommended
to the Lords Commissioners of H.M. Treasury the establishment
in Hongkong of a Mint and the issue of a British dollar. This
suggestion was publicly taken up again during Sir H. Robinson's
administration and the Governor was urged (October 4, 1860)
to remedy the embarrassing fluctuations in the value of the
Mexican dollar, and the constant complaints of the insufficiency
of small silver coins procured from England, by the local
establishment of a Mint. Sir Hercules, however, hesitated to
move in the matter, owing to the refusal which his predecessor's
recommendations had met with. Meanwhile the currency ques
tion became more pressing . In July, 1861 , clean Mexican dollars
bore a premium of 7 per cent. , above their intrinsic value as
compared with bar and sycee silver, and subsequently reached a
premium of nearly 12 per cent. which, however, fell again to
8 per cent. in spring 1863. It was felt that these excessive
fluctuations of the common medium of exchange in China and
Japan must tend to embarrass the operations of commerce. Sir
Hercules obtained , in 1862 , the sanction of the Colonial Office
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 375

for the principle on which he proposed to base a reform of the
currency of the Colony, viz. the official re-establishment of a
silver standard based on the Mexican dollar. By a Royal pro-
clamation, dated January 9, 1863, but not published until May
2 , 1863 , it was determined that, from a date thereafter to be
notified, the former currency proclamations of 1845 , 1853 and
1857 (mentioned above) should be wholly or partially cancelled;
and Mexican or other silver dollars of equal value should ,
together with those silver coins (of Mexican standard) and bronze
cents and cash (being hundredth or thousandth parts of the
Mexican dollar ) which were to be issuel by H.M. Mint, be
the only legal tender of payment in the Colony. The date here
referred to was, however, not fixed until the Hongkong Mint
was established ( 1865 ) . But meanwhile Sir Hercules did two
:
things he obtained from England a supply of subsidiary coins
(June 26, 1863 ) and set to work to move the Home Government
to sanction the immediate establishment of a Mint at Hongkong.
In April, 1863, the first consignment of subsidiary coins arrived .
They consisted of silver ten-cent pieces, bronze cents and bronze
mils (cash). The intrinsic value of the silver ten- cent pieces was
such as to make $3 face value equal to $2.987 intrinsic value.
With direct reference to the arguments previously advanced by
the Treasury Board in condemnation of Sir J. Bowring's proposal,
Sir Hercules represented to H.M. Government - that Mexican
dollars now passed current inlarge quantities even in Shanghai ;
that the dollar had already been declared the only legal tender of
payment in Hongkong ; that the supply of Mexican dollars had
become quite insufficient in consequence of the new demand for
Japan ; that even in the silk districts of Central China payments ,
formerly settled in sycee, had now to be made in undefaced
Mexican dollars which were at a high premium ; that consequently
a British dollar of a value equal to that of the Mexican was
urgently required . In consequence of these representations the
Lords Commissioners of H.M. Treasury approved (April 10,
1863) of the proposal of Sir Hercules and suggested that the
proposed Mint should be established in Hongkong by local
376 CHAPTER XVIII.

enactment to be approved by the Queen and that it should be
placed under the control and supervision of the Master of the
Royal Mint with a view to assay and verification of the coin to
be issued from it. Arrangements were accordingly made by
Sir Hercules, the site now occupied by the East Point Sugar
Refinery was appropriated for the purposes of the Mint, additional
land reclaimed from the sea at a cost of £ 9,000, a water supply
secured at a cost of $3,550, buildings commenced which cost
$25,000, and a staff ordered from home. Several Ordinances
were also issued, providing for the conversion of British currency
in all payments by or to the Government (1 of 1864) and for
the organisation of the Mint service (2 of 1864) . The former
of these two Ordinances ordained, with reference to the above-
mentioned proclamation of January 9, 1863, that, as soon as the
date referred to could be fixed, all payments due in British Sterling
to or by the Government should be made in dollars, cents or cash,
to be issued from H.M. Mint at the rate of 4s. 2d . to the dollar.
As regards public works, the principal undertaking of this
period was the so-called Victoria water-works scheme which had
been under discussion during the preceding administration . Sir
Hercules took it up with the vigour which characterized all
his doings. He commenced by offering (October 15, 1859 ) a
prize of $ 1,000 for the best plan. Several competitors entered
the lists ( S. G. Bird, J. Walker, S. B. Rawling) and sent in
elaborate plans. The Governor referred the papers to a Com-
mittee (Lieutenant- Colonel G. F. Mann, R.E. , J. J. Mackenzie,
Ch. St. G. Cleverly) and adopted on their recommendation the
scheme of Mr. Rawling, Clerk of Works to the Royal Engineers.
This scheme proposed to construct a large reservoir at Pokfulam ,
to connect it by an aqueduct with two large tanks above
Taipingshan and to provide thus, before the close of the year
1862 , a supply of water for the western and central parts of the
city at a cost of about £ 30,000. Tenders were immediately called
for and the work commenced in 1860 under Mr. Rawling's
supervision. An Ordinance ( 12 of 1860) was passed to empower
the Governor in Council to appropriate from current revenues
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 377

the sum of £ 30,000 as the works proceeded and to supply any
deficiency of funds, if necessary, by mortgaging the water rate,
which anyhow was to be levied, at the rate of 2 per cent. on
the gross annual value of house property, according to assessment.
An imperfect estimate of the cost of the materials ordered ont
from England, and the substitution of cement for mortar
(ordered by the Colonial Office) , caused an excess over the
original estimate by a considerable sum. It was not till the
close of the year 1863 that the works were completed so far
as to allow of the water rate being levied . The scheme was,
at the time, believed to have proved a great success. But the
experience of subsequent years revealed defects of construction.
Moreover, as the scheme did not provide for a sufficient quantity
of water (during the dry season) to provide for the wants of
a rapidly growing population, and left the town east of the
clocktower entirely without water, it was even at this time
foreseen that this scheme afforded but temporary relief.
The Praya works were, in public estimation , considered
unsatisfactory . These works, which had been commenced in
a desultory way by Sir J. Bowring, and in the face of
obstructions of all sorts, were energetically pushed on by Sir
H. Robinson and carried out in conjunction with the Crown
tenants under special arrangements with reference to the land
reclaimed. Landing piers for cargo boats were also provided .
The sections extending for a mile and a half west of the parade
ground and for a quarter mile east of the arsenal (there being
a break between) were completed in 1862. The construction
having, however, proceeded piecemeal, and under incompetent
(Chinese) overseers, the work was palpably deficient in solidity
and, although no typhoon had touched it yet, much of the
work had to be done over again in 1863. Sir H. Robinson
accordingly determined to rebuild the whole Praya wall and
to use this opportunity to extend the Praya seawards by
reclaiming from the sea a further strip of land 100 feet in
width. The Surveyor General (W. Wilson) addressed the holders
of marine-lots to this effect (August 15, 1864) stating the
378 CHAPTER XVIII.

necessity for re-constructing the defective and dilapidated sea-
wall and offering to the lot-holders the land to be reclaimed
in front of their respective lots free of premium, in compensation
for the reclamation expenses to be borne by them. But this
offer met with the same obstructiveness which had hampered
Sir J. Bowring's scheme. A public meeting of lot- holders,
held on 13th September, 1864, resolved to protest against the
proposal of burdening the lot-holders with the reclamation
expenses and declared the existing sea-wall to be good enough
for public purposes. A letter to this effect was addressed to the
Colonial Secretary (September 20, 1864) . Controversy ensued..
The Colonial Secretary not only contested that the sea-wall
needed rebuilding but that its original defective construction had
been caused by the obstructions which the lot-holders had placed
in the way of expenditure. This charge having been energetically
rebatted by the lot-holders (November 18 , 1864) , Sir H..
Robinson announced (November 20, 1864) that the extension
of the Praya wall would not be enforced where not desired by
the lot-holders . Meanwhile other public works had not been
neglected . A Lock Hospital was erected in 1861 , close to the
Civil Hospital . Shaukiwan was supplied with a police station
and a school-house. A new gaol was commenced, also in the
year 1861 , on Stonecutters' Island . By the year 1864 a new
Central Police Station, the reclamation and building works
connected with the Mint, a carriage road to Shankiwan, and
the construction of Stonecutters' Island Gaol were all completed .
Police and gaol management did not advance, even in this
periol of general administrative vigour, beyond the stage of
unsatisfactory experiments. At the close of the year 1860 ,
the personnel of the Police Force was considered as showing
no improvement and though no very great fault was found
with the Police as a preventive force, the whole question was
felt to be one that baffled the wits of all who were responsible
for the manifestly unsatisfactory condition of the Police..
Bombay and Madras were tentatively resorted to (February 8,
1861 ) as recruiting grounds. In January and May, 1862 ,
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 379

drafts of recruits arrived from those places and the entire force
was placed under the command of Captain W. Quin who had
previously served in the Army and in the Bombay Police. For
the convenience of the Water Police a ship was bought (April
1 , 1862 ) to serve as a floating Police Station. In spring 1864,
the Colonial Secretary, while acknowledging the intelligence and
zeal of the new superintendent (W. Quin) and his assistant
(J. Jarman), stated that the men of the corps, whether European
or Indian, were wanting in most of the essentials of a Police
Force . Bribery and corruption were particularly considered
ineradicable among the Indian contingent. The right of the
Police to use fire-arms , in the case of suspects refusing to stop
when challenged, was judicially inquired into ( July 28, 1864)
when a constable, who had shot a boatman trying to escape
search, was put on his trial on a charge of murder. The verdict
of the jury, who viewed the case as one of justifiable homicide,
was satisfactory to the Police. To stimulate zeal, regulations
were made ( October 25 , 1864 ) awarding gratuities in case of
special merit. Wholesale deportation of crowds of professional
beggars was resorted to in summer 1864, to relieve the streets
from these people, who were accordingly sent back to Canton.
Before the building of the new gaol at Stonecutters ' Island
was sufficiently advanced to occupy any portion of it , it became
necessary, in 1862, owing to the inhibition now laid on
transportation to the Andaman Islands and the pressing need
of a separate debtors ' ward, to relieve the congested state of
Victoria Gaol. Some 280 long sentence prisoners were accord-
ingly lodged on board a hulk (Royal Saxon) anchored close to
Stonecutters ' Island, the quarries of which afforded occupation
for the prisoners. At the same time the rules of Victoria Gaol
were revised (Ordinance 4 of 1863 ) and an expert was obtained
from England to act as gaol superintendent (Ch. Ryall) .
Owing to repeated escapes of gangs of prisoners, principally
through the gaol drains (January 12 and March 14, 1863) ,
a Commission was appointed (May, 1863 ) to inquire into the
condition and working of Victoria Gaol. The convict hulk
-380 CHAPTER XVIII.

at Stonecutters' Island was equally unsatisfactory. Things
went on well enough so long as a gunboat and a military
guard were provided to guard the hulk, but when these were
withdrawn, frequent attempts at rescue were made by outside
associates of the prisoners . A sad accident also occurred by
the upsetting of a boat, when 38 prisoners were drowned
(July 23, 1863 ) . Later on (April 21 , 1864) a body of about
100 prisoners made good their escape in junks, after disabling
their guards. The working of Victoria Gaol, however, appeared
to improve, after the dismissal of the expert, when a new
superintendent (F. Douglas) was appointed (December 12 , 1863 ) .
The gaol was thenceforth popularly referred to as ' Douglas
Hotel.'
The criminal history of this period presents some novel
features. In January, 1860, one of the most popular compradors,
Tam Achoy, distinguished himself by collecting in Hongkong
an armed corps of Puntis, officered by some foreign seamen,
whom he dispatched by the S.S. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy to the
San-ning District, S.W: of Macao, with a considerable supply
of arms and ammunition. On arrival at San -ning, this corps
of Hongkong freebooters took an active part in the internecine
war going on at that time between the Punti and Hakka clans
of that District . When the Hongkong Police learned that two
of the foreign leaders of this buccaneering expedition had been
killed in battle, Tam Achoy was arrested and charged with
murder. It appeared, however, that, before sending off that
expedition, Tam Achoy had given formal notice to a Government
officer of his intentions and received no warning of the illegality
of his proceedings. The indictment having broken down for
want of evidence, Tam Achoy was advised to plead guilty of
misdemeanour and was discharged with a reprimand. The
peninsula of Kowloon presented for several days in August, 1862 ,
the novel aspect of an animated battle field, as the Punti
inhabitants of the neighbouring villages were engaged in a
bloody warfare with the Hakka settlers at Tsimshatsui. But
the most renowned crime of this period was the so-called
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 381

opium swindle, above referred to, which was perpetrated by an
Indian merchant who, with the assistance of an Englishman
in charge of the opium stored in the receiving-ship Tropic,
defrauded the Chartered Mercantile Bank and others of some
two million dollars (July, 1862 ) by means of forged opium
certificates. Many daring burglaries and murderous attacks were
made, during this period, by armed gangs, such as the attack
on the signal station at Victoria Peak (July 27 , 1863 ), the
assault made on some men in the Artillery Barracks (October
11, 1863 ) , the murder of an Indian and his wife (January
29, 1864) and an attack made on the offices of Holliday,
Wise & Co. (May 11 , 1864) . Hongkong was now in daily
communication with Canton by American river-steamers which
took Chinese passengers at 20 cents a head in 1863 and 1864 .
These cheap fares caused the Colony to be inundated with
Chinese ruffians who considered Hongkong, with its indulgent
laws and humane treatment of criminals, to afford a temptation
they could not resist . But the most novel feature of the
depredations resorted to by Chinese burglars at this period was
the ingenuity and engineering skill displayed by the so-called
drain gangs. The godowns of Smith, Archer & Co. (January 30,
1864), the jewellery store of Douglas Lapraik (May 16, 1864),
and the treasure vaults of the Central Bank of Western India
(February 5, 1865 ) were successively attacked by burglars who
used the subterraneous storm -water drains as the basis of their
operations and drove from there tunnels by which they under-
mined the floors of treasure stores. The Central Bank was in
this way robbed of $63,000 in notes and £ 11,000 in gold ingots,
some of which were found strewn about in the street on the
morning of February 6 , 1865 .
A most deplorable series of riots, resulting in the murder
of two soldiers, three seamen and a boarding-house clerk, took
place on three successive days in September ( 12th to 14th) , 1864,
between Malay seamen, a body of policemen, and men of the
99th Regiment. The excitement was intense and it seemed
impossible to restrain either the soldiers or the police from
 382 CHAPTER XVIII.

renewing the contest. The Volunteers were called out to patrol
the streets (September 14, 1864) , and at the request of the
Governor the 99th Regiment were ordered at three hours ' notice
to move forthwith over to Kowloon (September 15 , 1864 ) where
a camp was hastily erected . This was done in the face of a
strong medical protest and the result was that a most extra-
ordinary amount of mortality decimated the troops encamped
on the site of which the Military Authorities had robbed
the Colony .
Piracy flourished throughout the administration of Sir
H. Robinson and the number of cases in which the pirates,
disdaining the less remunerative attacks on native junks,
successfully plundered foreign vessels, appears to be rather a
distinguishing feature of this period . The Taiping rebellion
was by this time extinguished in South China and the Cantonese
coastguard resumed again its former function as a preventive
force, but it was unable to make headway, without steam cruisers,
against the better equipped piratical fleets. Numbers of piracies
were reported in Hongkong in autumn (September to November)
1859, by owners of native junks. Few piracies occurred in
1860. But in May, 1861 , the brig North Star was attacked
some four miles off Hongkong. The captain, some of the officers
and crew, and a passenger were murdered . Seven months later,
the Dutch schooner Henriette Louise was plundered, just outside
the Lyee-moon, by pirates who wounded the captain and some
of the crew ( January 2 , 1862) . Three weeks after this outrage,
the British brig Imogene was plundered and burned (January
23, 1862 ) by pirates, five of whom were subsequently (March
6, 1862) convicted of murder and executed. Next, the British.
schooner Eagle was plundered near Green Island by pirates, who
were under the leadership of an Englishman (April 18 , 1862) .
The captain and some of the crew were murdered . Soon after,
the S.S. Iron Prince, when on her way to Macao, was attacked
by pirates disguised as passengers. They murdered two of the
crew. The captain, officers and European passengers were all
wounded in a protracted fight, at close quarters, for the possession
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 383

of the steamer. Happily the pirates were finally overpowered
and four of them captured, the vessel owing her safety principally
to the foresight and heroic conduct of her master, Captain
Harris . Next year (April 8 , 1863 ) the Government offered a
reward of $ 1,000 for information leading to the arrest of certain
lawless persons, English and American, employed on board of
piratical junks in the neighbourhood of Hongkong and Formosa.
This notification had no effect . The American barque Bertha
was unsuccessfully attacked by pirates near Stonecutters' Island
(July 22 , 1863 ) ; six months later (January 28 , 1864) some
pirates attacked the Danish brig Chiro and murdered some of
her crew, and on February 5th, 1865, the Spanish brig Nuevo
Lepanto was captured by pirates near Lantao.
As to the commercial history of this period, one of its
principal landmarks is the formation (May 29 , 1861 ) of the
Hongkong Chamber of Commerce. It was to be the aim of this
institution, to guard the liberties and interests of local commerce
and to procure, without any interference with the freedom of
the port, reliable commercial statistics. Various nationalities were
represented among the members of the Chamber, and the Com-
mittee elected at the first annual meeting ( April 23, 1862 ) included
American ( D. Delano ) , German ( D. Nissen) and Parsee (T. B.
Buxey) merchants. One of the first topics which occupied the
attention of the Chamber of Commerce was a subject which for
some years prèvions had been a burning question of the day,
viz . the establishment by the Chinese Government of the Imperial
Maritime Customs Service, under Mr. H. N. Lay. When this
scheme was first mooted, four Hongkong firms (Dent, Fletcher,
Turner and Birley) protested strongly against what they con-
sidered a needless superaddition upon the Consular Service and
from the working of which, under Chinese supervision but in
separation from the native Chinese Customs Service, they expected
interference with the freedom of commerce to result. Some
Canton firms joined this protest under the supposition that the
effect of the scheme would be to drive the import trade from
Canton to Hongkong and to confine the export trade to Macao.
 384 CHAPTER XVIII.

When Mr. Lay commenced the operation of the new Customs.
Service at Canton ( October 14, 1859 ) , the United States Consul
(0. H. Perry) objected to Mr. Lay's regulations, or rather to
certain threats of penalties contained in their original edition,
as an illegal interference with the American river-steamers.
Those regulations were, however, at once revised, approved by
the British and American Ministers and sullenly submitted to
by the mercantile communities of Canton and Hongkong. The
seizure by the new Customs Office of the Portuguese S.S. Shamrock
(November, 1859 ) , on a charge of smuggling, renewed the
excitement. So great was the general antipathy prevailing in
Hongkong against this Chinese Customs Service (from the
control of which, however, the junk trade of Hongkong remained
exempt), that the forcible and unlawful resistance which the
captain of the barque Chin Chin offered to seizure by the foreign
Customs Officers in Swatow (March, 1860) was unhesitatingly
justified by a Hongkong jury, although a native employee of the
Customs was killed in the mêlée. Shortly after the Hongkong
Chamber of Commerce had been established, a special meeting
(August 2 , 1861 ) took the whole subject of the Tientsin Treaty
and the new Inspectorate of Customs into consideration, and
eventually memorialized H.M. Minister at Peking who soon after
(October 30, 1861 ) issued regulations regarding transit dues,
exemption certificates and coast trade, which conceded the main
points for which the Chamber of Commerce had contended.
Local Post Office regulations also attracted the watchful
eye of the Chamber. Some transitory excitement was caused by
proceedings taken (September, 1862 ) against the master of the
American S.S. Firecracker, who was fined for detaining a portion
of the mail brought on by him from Mauritius. More serious.
was the attempt made by Sir H. Robinson (early in 1863 ) to
secure the sanction of the Legislative Council for a Bill intended
to give to the Post Office the right, not only to compel vessels
of all nationalities to carry mails without compensation, but also
to search and detain any vessel on account of contraband letters.
The Chamber stoutly resisted this Bill as an interference
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 385

with the spirit of free trade and the view thus taken by the
Chamber met even with the support of the Chief Justice.
Thanks to the energetic remonstrance addressed to the Governor
in Council by the chairman of the Chamber (J. Macandrew) ,
the Bill was thrown out (February 5 , 1863) by a majority. The
introduction of postage stamps (December 8 , 1862 ) was hailed
by the community with little satisfaction . On the contrary,
serious apprehension of inconvenience and confusion , supposed
to be the inevitable consequence of the compulsory use of postage
stamps, filled the mind of the community. This first issue of
Hongkong postage stamps consisted of stamps of the respective
value of two, eight, twelve, eighteen , twenty-four, and forty-eight
cents, reckoned at twenty-four cents to the shilling . Some
confusion did arise, at first, as the previous practice of keeping
running accounts with the Post Office had to be discontinued ;
but the Postmaster-General ( F. W. Mitchell) did everything
in his power to smooth matters and the community quietly
submitted to this very unpopular innovation . As regards the
conveyance of mails, the Secretary of State gave satisfaction
to the community by making an order (October, 1862 ) that
thenceforth no contract mail packets should, under any circum-
stances, be detained, except on the authority of the Governor,
acting on his own responsibility, upon occasions of special
urgency. An attempt, made by the Superintendent of Native
Customs (Hoppo) at Canton , to induce the Foreign Customs
Service to levy duties on cargo shipped in Hongkong for England,
by vessels which, after partially loading in Hongkong, proceeded
to Whampoa to fill up, was successfully resisted by the Chamber
of Commerce (December, 1860) , through the energetic action of
II.M. Consul at Canton (Ch . A. Winchester) .
Several new commercial ventures, started during this period,
gave expression to the enterprising spirit which animated the
community, both native and foreign . The native boat- building
trade particularly, rose, during the year 1859, sevenfold over
what it was in 1858, and fishing junks increased from 2,000
to 2,500. In the year 1860 a movement was set on foot to
25
386 CHAPTER XVIII.

light the city with gas through a Company formed in London.
Next year, however, a hitch occurred in the negotiations between
the local promoters of the Gas Company and the directors in
London, and doubts were entertained of an understanding being
arrived at. The Colonial Secretary (W. T. Mercer) subsequently
stated that interested individuals had misled the community and
caused opposition but that he set the community right on the
subject and removed all obstacles . The city was for the first
time lighted with gas on November 12, 1864. There remained,
however, a general complaint that the directors in London had
allotted an unduly small number of shares (70 only) to local
applicants, and this emphazised the regret felt by the public
that the gas works had not been started by a purely local
Company. In January, 1863 , the first strong timber pier in
Hongkong was erected, at Spring Gardens, for the godowns
of McGregor & Co. All former piers had been built of bamboo.
This timber pier, jutting out into Wantsai Bay to a distance
of 250 feet, gave at low water a depth of 26 feet. The
Aberdeen Docks, which were commenced under the preceding
administration, were kept fully at work from 1860 to 1863 .
A new Dock for the use of H.M. Navy having been approved
by the Admiralty (January 22, 1863 ) , a site was purchased
(November 16 , 1864 ) at Hunghom, on the Kowloon Peninsula,
for the nominal sum of $50, by a Union Dock Company which
was formed to work the existing and projected docks and
proved the beginning of a large establishment, growing in
importance from year to year. But there is yet another
institution , of equal importance, to be mentioned which like-
wise originated during this fruitful period . In July, 1864,
the firm of Dent & Co. issued the prospectus of the newly
formed Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Company (to be
incorporated by charter) with a capital of five million dollars.
in 20,000 shares of $250 each. The fact that this new venture
was undertaken when there were already six Banking Institutions
in the Colony , viz. the Agra and United Service Bank (Henry
Noble), the Central Bank of Western India (W. M. Davidson) ,
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR H. ROBINSON. 387

the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (A. Hay
Anderson ) , the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London
and China (W. Ormiston) , the Commercial Bank of India (P. R.
Harper) , and the Oriental Bank Corporation (W. Lamond) ,
indicates the views then taken of the growing prosperity of
Hongkong. The broad international basis on which this new
banking enterprise was constructed is observable from the names
of the merchants who formed the provisional committee of the
Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, viz. F. Chomley, A. F. Heard ,
Thomas Sutherland, G. F. Maclean, D. Lapraik, W. Nissen,
H. B. Lemann, W. Schmidt, A. Sassoon, R. Brand, Pallanjee
Framjee, W. Adamson, G. J. Helland, and Rustomjee
Dhunjeeshaw. This new bank, whose first manager (V. Kresser)
entered upon his duties ou January 1 , 1865 , was the first to
profit by the Limited Liability provisions of the Trading
Companies' Ordinance (1 of 1865) .
During the first four years of this period ( 1859 to 1862)
the stream of Chinese emigrants, paying their own passage,
continued to flow forth from Hongkong at an average rate of
12,166 emigrants per annum. Contract emigration was, since
the year 1859 , almost entirely confined to Macao or Whampoa,
the only exception being the shipment of Chinese coolies to
British Colonies . In September, 1861 , an attempt was made.
to ship coolies under contract to some other place, but the
Police seized the ship and liberated the coolies. The emigration
agent for the British West Indies (J. Gardiner Austin) succeeded
in securing (November 15, 1859 ) , through the influence of
Protestant missionaries, numbers of Chinese families for
Demerara, whereas it had previously been asserted that Chinese
women could not be induced to emigrate. As many as 2,756
respectable Chinese women. were (with their husbands and
children) shipped from Hongkong during those four years,
and mostly to the West Indies. Unfortunately, however, San
Francisco took advantage of this new departure and sent
thenceforth for annually increasing numbers of single Chinese
women, most of whom were probably required for immoral
388 CHAPTER XVIII.

purposes. In August, 1862, the Hongkong Office of the British
West Indies' emigration agent was closed and the business
transferred to Canton, to admit of more searching supervision
of the modes in which the coolies were procured. But, owing
to this measure, the number of Chinese emigrants, annually
shipped from Hongkong, fell from 10,421 in 1862, to 7,809
in 1863, and to 6,607 in 1864. In the year 1863 the number
of emigrants leaving Hongkong was equalled by the number
of those who returned from abroad . These returning emigrants
generally brought considerable quantities of gold or gold dust
into the Colony . In the year 1861 one single ship (Minerva)
brought from Melbourne 350 Chinese coolies possessing gold
of the aggregate value of £ 43,000. In the same year as many
as 2,370 Chinese were shipped, as free emigrants, to India,
and emigration to Tahiti commenced as a new venture.
The shipping returns of the year 1861 , shewing a decrease of
217,003 tons, as compared with the returns of the preceding
year, do not indicate any real falling off of the shipping trade
of the Colony. On the contrary, those returns show an increase .