We are afraid that things in general are not very satisfactory at present in Hongkong. The Colony is probably now feeling the effect of the cessation of the troubles between France and China, and the loss of the profitable business which that state of affairs brought to it, Six months ago every one was jubilant; an improved condition of business was to compensate Hongkong for the loss of war profits; shares rose, What has taken place in business generally during the last half year has shown that the anticipations of a groat improvement taking place wore premature, and thedisappointmenttherefrom has been increased by the heavy fall that has ocourred in silver. These causes combined have not made the mercantile mind cheerful, and possibly some may be troubled in spirit about the Opium Commission which has been sitting for some weeks with closed doors. Any way, it is evident that the cold fit is now on Hongkong. There has been a good deal of over-speculation in shares, particularly in bank shares, and a very heavy fall has taken place, partly the effect of some losses and the condition of the silver market, but chiefly brought about by the operations of the bears, Our Hongkong contemporaries do not say much upon the subject, and if we are to believe what one of them says the decline Las solely been brought about by one unprincipled gang of brokers worrying another equally bad. Bat there is good groand for believing that others than brokers have been engaged in the operations for bre down the value of bank shi reports which reach here are true, we should say that the time has come when the Directors, for their own sakes, and the sake of the bank, must do what they can to put o stop to gambling in the Bank's shares. It is useless to say that such speculations cannot be stopped; nothing of the kind occurs with the shares of any other bavk in any part of the world. The Directors of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank can do pretty nearly what they like in Hongkong, and they would be heartily supported by the shareholders and by public opinion if they took measures to stamp out the unprincipled gambling in their shares. IE they do not do so, they will infiot great injury on what ie the finest business pro-porty in the East, but one which at the same time requires to be mos) judiciously Laudled while the condition of the silver market places trade in this part of the world—and especially dealing in money—under some suspicion. If the Directors of the bank oan look with equanimity on the shares of their company being made counters in a game between two sols of specu-Jators, and beared and bulled like a Jay Gould railway, they are the only people in the Hast who oan do so.
There must be fow residents in Hongkong outside of the official circle who gau be ollerwigo than much dissatisfied with the way in which the Colony has been treated in the gaus sent out for the fortifications, and in the Newspaper Ordinance. The Legislative Council voted large sums for the fortifications, and received assurances that the guns would be of the newest and most efficient breech-loading kind. The guns which are now arriving are of an old muzzle-loading type, and it is clear that some one has treated Hongkong in the same way that unprincipled sellers of arms have been accused of treating the Chinese officials. Then, again, the progress in coustructing the fortifications is unentisfactory to the public, while we gather from the newspapers that the design of the fortifications is considered very faulty some respects. Wo pointed out some time ago that out of consideration for the feelings of the officer in charge of the works, the unofficial members of the Council deprecated asking any questions as to what he was doing, and this "gentlemanly" view of the manner in which they should exercise their funotio 8 resulted in a great waste of public money, and in a tate of affairs for which a Chinese mandarin would be sent to mond the roads on the nor-them frontier. That the chief blame in this matter should be given to the officials is undoubtedly true, but our contemporaries in Hongkong are to blame for the feeble mauner in which they watch the public interests. Their criticisms of the small powers that be lave been so impotent that it is no wonder if War Office people and their own officials think they can do pretty much on they please with the Colony, A most glaring onso of this is the mauner in whioh the Colonial Govern. ment has dealt with the Newspaper Ordinance, which was passed, after much opposition from the non-official members of the Legislative Council, at the beginning of this year. There never appeared to us to be any necessity for this Ordinance, which in one clause required the registered printer and publisher of a newspaper who might be leaving the colony, even for a trip of a day or two, to make declaration of ousibility for the person left in charge of the paper. Ie objections to such a useless and irritating require. ment were so forcibly stated by the non-official members of the Council that the Attorney General undertook on the part of the Government that if the Ordinance was passed the law of England on -the subject should be introduced by resolation. On the faith of that undertaking the Ordinance was passed, but it now turns out that when it was sent to the Secretary of State for his approval, nothing was suid by the Hongkong Government of the understanding that bad been come to with non-official members. of the Council; and the Ordinance has been approved, and is now law, without the very sensible amendment which the Attorney-General had ogreed to. Those two instances, occurring within one yenr, of the conduct of the Hongkong Government, will waste much of the large sum—£116,000 in all,—voted for defences, and place in the laws of the Colony a ridiculous and irritating Ordinance, which does not agree with the law of England and takes it for granted that newspaper proprietors are not to be trusted to take care of their own interests, Altogether the conduct of the Colonial authorities in these matters wears a very suspicious look,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.