Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1898. Hong Kong.

Manawatu Herald, 28 May 1898, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1898. Hong Kong.

A very old saying in the Old Country to a person who was troublesome was "Go to Hong Kong." Since then a great many people have gone there and in the year 1841 Great Britain took possession of the island bearing that name, and formed it into a Crown colony. A glanoe at the map of China will show you that this island, which is only eleven miles lpDg and from two to five miles wide, lies close to the mainland, just at the mouth of the Canton river. The importance of this position for trade has been always recognised and upon the cession of the island to the British a portion of the peninsula on the mainland, to the north of the estuary, was also ceded. For the purposes of a more thorough protection of the harbour, which is that piece of water lying between the island and the maiulard, which has a water area of some ten square miles, and considered the finest harbour in the world, we now are told by the cablegrams that Britain has secured an extra sixty square miles of country. As matters come to light it is seen that British Statesmen if not openly pushing their way, get to their point all the same, and the acquisition of country securing the 6afety of a port of so much consequence as Hong Kong clearly goes to show. The harbour is a military and naval station and possesses excellent docks capable of holding the largest vessels, and it 13 well fortified. To show yet further what a remarkabla busy place Hong Eong is, it is calculated that exclusive of the traffic which merely passes through the harbour without breaking bulk, the actual trade of the colony amounts to twenty million pounds sterling per annum, and in the year 1896 shipping to the extent of 8,250,853 tons entered the port. Such a property is well worth thoroughly safeguarding.