Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/67

 fatal to life. As for the Europeans, those who survived a brief residence in the climate "generally got a lassitude of frame and an irritability of fibre which destroyed the spring of existence." In the previous year (1843), though the troops only numbered 1,526, the admissions to hospital reached the high figure of 7,893. In other words, on an average each man went through the hospital more than five times. The total deaths were 440, or 1 in 3½. "Her Majesty's 98th Regiment lost at Hong Kong in 21 months 257 men by disease. One half the men of a company are frequently unable to attend the parade; out of 100 men there are sometimes not more than five or six men fit for duty.&hellip;General D'Aguliar (in command of the troops) says that the maintenance of a European garrison at Hong-Kong would cost the Crown one regiment every three years." While the deadly climate was creating this havoc the commercial prospects of the island were as bad as they could be. "There is scarcely a firm in the island," continued this very candid chronicler, "but would, I understand, be glad to get back half the money they have expended in the colony and retire from the place. A sort of hallucination seems to have seized those who built houses here; they thought that Hong-Kong would 'rapidly outrival Singapore and become the Tyre or Carthage of the Eastern hemisphere.' Unfortunately the Government of the colony fostered the delusion respecting the colony. The leading Government officers bought land, built houses or bazaars which they rented out at high rates, and the public money was lavished in the most extraordinary manner in building up and pulling down temporary structures, making zig-zag bridle paths over hills and mountains, and forming the Queen's Road of three or four miles long on which about 180,000 dollars have been expended, but which is not passable for half the year. The straggling settlement called Victoria built along the Queen's Road was dignified with the name of city, and it was declared on the highest authority that Hong Kong would contain a population 'equal to that of ancient Rome.'" After three and a half years' uninterrupted settlement there was not one respectable Chinese inhabitant on the island. "The European inhabitants, independent of those in the employ of Government, consist of the members of about 12 mercantile houses and their dealers, together with several European shopkeepers. A few persons have arrived here from New South Wales to try and better their fortune, many of whom would be glad to return thither." Finally Mr. Montgomery Martin delivered himself of a confident declaration that there did not appear to be "the slightest probability under any circumstances that Hong-Kong will ever become a place of trade."

It is not remarkable that the report of the Select Committee was influenced by these gloomy vaticinations. The facts were in many instances uncontrovertible, and Mr. Martin's survey undoubtedly as a whole produced upon the mind an overpowering impression of the unsuitability of the choice that had been made of a settlement. In summing up their conclusions the Committee made this reference to the subject:—

"From Hongkong we cannot be said to have derived directly much commercial advantage, nor, indeed, does it seem to be likely by its position to become the seat of an extended commerce. It has no considerable population of its own to feed or clothe, and has no right to expect to draw away the established trade of the populous town and province of Canton, to which it is adjacent. From the only traffic for which it is fitted, that of a depôt for the neighbouring coasts, it is in a great degree debarred, except in regard to the five ports, by treaties, which stipulate distinctly for the observance of this restriction. In addition, however, to these natural and necessary disadvantages it appears to have laboured under others created by a system of monopolies and forms and petty regulations, peculiarly unsuited to its position and prejudicial to its progress."

By the time the Committee's report reached China the condition of things which had led to the expression of the unfavourable views cited in the foregoing paragraph had passed away. The period of reaction had spent itself, and with the improvement of trade a healthier spirit, both moral and physical, pervaded the settlement. Sir John Davis, in some observations upon the Committee's report, penned on January 21, 1848, was able to show how very inadequate a notion the Committee had formed of the Colony's condition and prospects. "The population, exclusive of troops," he wrote, "has gradually increased from less than 5,000 on its first occupation in 1842 to 23,872. This population, instead of consisting of mere vagabonds, comprises in its number contractors for expensive works, executed (by the testimony of the engineer officers) as well as they would be in England, and of numerous owners of respectable shops, where almost any of the productions of China can be obtained. Life and property are now acknowledged to be