A FLOURISHING COLONY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2080, 6 March 1889, Page 3

A FLOURISHING COLONY

It la a relief (a ays ' The Times ') to turn from the Blue Books of most of the West Indian colonies, with their doleful talcs of debt and depression, to that of a flourish* ing colony like Hongkong, with an kcreas'ng revenue and a substantial balance to ;ho good at the year's end. The revenue for the past year amounted to 2.582,723 dol, and the txpenditnr?, including extraordinary wvrkß, to 2 023,002 101. The extrcordlaaty expenditure, including defensive works, amount bd to 744.820i01, i>r more than a third of the total expendluto. Tha revenue, ordinary and extraordinary, was higher than uny year during the past five. Every year the assets have exceeded the liabilities, and every year important publio works have beeu completed. The estimated population at the , «nd of the year was 212,951, the males numbering 152,427 and the females only 60,524' In both oases the numbers show a ateady increase year by year. Similarly, the expenditure m education, the money m circulation, and the number and tonnage of vessels arriving m harbor show increases eaoh year since 1882 The shipping m 1887 amounted m number to 22 599, with a total tun nape of 6 401,837 tons, ioolading native junks. Immigration and emigration of Chinese also show a very large Increase, 92,375 arriving and 82,897 departing from the colony. The statistics for the current year under this head will be interesting, as they will show the effect of the recent agitation In .Australia against the Chinese on the departures tcom Hongkong.