Page:Europe in China.djvu/424

406 feature in this season of prosperity was the wonderful advance in the value of building land by which many individuals, as well as the Colony as a whole, found themselves rich in an unexpected manner; that Sir H. Robinson turned these adventitious circumstances to good account for the benefit of the public weal and of his own reputation; that nevertheless he left the residents heavily taxed, the town undrained, the sanitation of the place neglected, owing to his paying more attention to laboured balance sheets and the accumulation of a surplus than to public works and the most vital interests of the Colony; that his duties carried him to the extreme verge of his abilities and that he would certainly have been infinitely less successful as a Governor if he had not enjoyed the assistance of Mr. W. T. Mercer who, as Colonial Secretary, so ably assisted him in every respect and maintained his policy, as Administrator, during the long period of the Governor's absence; that Sir H. Robinson, while naturally affable and possessed of pleasing social manners, treated the Colony, especially during his first few years, with a certain amount of contempt; that he habitually displayed towards the unofficial Members of his Council much self-willed obstinacy, and affected towards his official subordinates a tone of dignified reserve and disciplinarian rigour which was rather humiliating to the officials at the head of the different departments; that the former bitterness between officials was kept quiet, and that the amount of social engineering required on the Governor's part to keep matters smooth, was perhaps the most creditable feature in his tenure of office; that Lady Robinson exercised in private society a most extensive and beneficial influence which went a long way to atone for the Governor's social shortcomings; but that taking all in all, Sir H. Robinson had been the most fortunate and successful Governor the Colony was so far ever ruled by.

After leaving Hongkong, Sir H. Robinson served as Governor of Ceylon (1865 to 1872) and, whilst administering the government of New South Wales (1872 to 1879), arranged the cession to England of the Fiji Islands (1874). He next became Governor of New Zealand (1879 to 1880), Governor