When Hongkong was ceded to Great Britain
at the conclusion of a war in which China was defeated,
it was a bare island containing only a few fishermen's huts.
In order to make it a trading port and encourage people to live there,
the British Government spent large sums of money year after year
for its improvement and development, and through the wise administration
of the local Government every facility was afforded for free trade.
It is now a prosperous British colony with a population of nearly
half a million. But what have been the advantages to Great Britain?
Financially she has been a great loser, for the Island which she received
at the close of her war with China was for many years a great drain
on her national treasury. Now Hongkong is a self-supporting colony,
but what benefits do the British enjoy there that do not belong
to everyone else? The colony is open to all foreigners, and every right
which a British merchant has is equally shared with everyone else.
According to the census of 1911, out of a population of 456,739
only 12,075 were non-Chinese, of whom a small portion were British;
the rest were Chinese. Thus the prosperity of that colony
depends upon the Chinese who, it is needless to say, are in possession
of all the privileges that are enjoyed by British residents.
It should be noticed that the number of foreign firms and stores
(i.e., non-British) have been and are increasing, while big British hongs
are less numerous than before.
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