HONG-KONG 6 3S 



to reorganise the administrative departments of this small state. The population (1911) 

 numbers 32,746 persons (16,808 males and 15,938 females)., Of these 29,497 are Malays 

 1,627 Chinese, 1,388 Siamese and only 5 Europeans (3 British); 29,665 are Mahommedans 

 and 8 Christians. 



The state is governed by the Council, consisting of the Raja, the Adviser, and three 

 other members. In 1910 it passed 8 enactments, one abolishing debt bondage. The State 

 Council is the Appeal Court. There is a police force of 65 Malays and Indians. 



As there was no proper register of titles for land and no rent-roll, Mr. Frost, soon after 

 his arrival in 1909, set himself to draw up both, with the result that the collection of land 

 rents in 1910 realised $20,586 as compared with $14,875 in 1909. The land office has issued 

 a notice that no unregistered grant will be considered valid after a certain date. 



Revenue (1910) $114,834; expenditure $101,493. When the transference of suzerainty 

 from Siam to Gjeat Britain occurred in 1909 there was a debt of $474,796, which the Fed- 

 erated Malay States took over. In 1910 the debt was reduced by $20,000. 



In 1910 the State Council abolished the miscellaneous import duty of 3 per cent on all 

 imported goods not specifically mentioned, and now the only duties raised are on spirits, 

 beer, wine, tobacco, and kerosene or other oils used for heating or lighting purposes. The 

 miscellaneous export duty of 5 per cent on all goods not specifically mentioned (such as tin- 

 ore and guano) has also been abolished. 



Except in the Coast districts, where there were excellent crops and plenty of cattle, the 

 padi season of 1910 was a failure. Owing to the lack of bullocks the cultivators could not 

 plough and they left off hand tillage till it was too late. Rinderpest wiped out the cattle, 

 upwards of 7,490 head succumbing to the disease. The direct loss to the small cultivators 

 was $i 13,000, but there was a large indirect loss as well. The State Council came to the aid 

 of the people, and loans are granted for restocking against land titles. 



In 1910 there were 150 tons of tin-ore exported. 



Many of the limestone hills of Perlis contain caves rich in deposits of guano. A company 

 has been formed by some Dutchmen in Penang, called the Straits Guano Company, to 

 work the deposits, and they have obtained a lease of seven hills. (The government retained 

 the best-known hill for the use of the local cultivators.) The company has made two miles 

 of earth road, which opens up good country, where people are anxious to take up land. The 

 quantity of guano exported in 1910 was 838! tons, which paid export duty at the rate of 

 $2.00 per ton. After a certain date the company is bound to extract not less than 500 tons 

 per month, and the export duty will be 10 per cent ad valorem of the market price in Penang. 



HONG-KONG ' 



According to the census taken on May 25, 1911, the civil population of the colony 

 numbered 456,739. The non-Chinese community numbered 12,075, while the Chinese 

 population was thus distributed: city of Victoria (including the Peak) 219,386; villages 

 of Hong-Kong 16,106, Kowloon (including NewKowloon)67,6o2; New Territories 80,62 2; 

 population afloat 60,948. The general death rate for 1911 was 21.13 P er 1000 among 

 the Chinese community and 13.38 among the non- Chinese. 



Public Health. The colony has outlived its former notoriety for unhealthiness. The 

 influence of the young pine forests created by the Afforestation department and the training 

 of nullahs on the slopes have tended to check malaria, while the attention recently bestowed 

 on sanitation has also had beneficial effects. 



The gradual replacement of old Chinese dwellings by new premises, erected in accordance 

 with the Public Health and Building Ordinance of 1903, is effecting an improvement in 

 the healthiness of the native quarters, but the abnormal influx of refugees, estimated at some 

 20,000, who arrived in Hong-Kong during the revolutionary movement in south China, 

 somewhat discounted the improvement by contributing largely to the number of cases of 

 plague and smallpox which occurred towards the end of 1911. The number of deaths from 

 beriberi during 1911 was only 320 as compared with 566 during 1910. This reduction was in 

 some measure due to the dissemination of a circular of information among employers of coolie 

 labour, which set forth the cause of beri-beri and advised the use of beans for food with rice 

 in the absence of fresh meat or fresh fish. 



The records at the Observatory, Kowloon, showed in 1911 a highest temperature of 

 93.1 F. in August, a lowest temperature of 47.1 F. in February, and a rainfall of 90.55 inches, 

 occurring on 145 days. 



^Industries. -Of the total area of the colony, which, including the New Territories, is 

 estimated at 249,551 acres, some 41 ',967 acres are cultivated; that is, practically the whole 

 available area, the remainder being steep hillsides. The government Pine Plantations occupy 

 6800 acres and there are about 43,000 acres of Licensed Pine Plantations. With the exception 

 of brewing, the manufacturing industries of the colony under European supervision increase 

 in importance yearly, although the Chinese revolutionary disturbances in 1911 were adverse 



1 See E. B. xiii, 657. 



