AS promised by the administrator in Hongkong, the estimates have been in the Legislative Council, i by item, and as some of the non-official members are evidently emulous of the fame of the Into Joseph Hume, the discussions, which are given in full in the Daily Press, are not uninteresting. Hongkong possesses n dredger, apparently worked by sloom power, and the Surveyor-Gonernl had, put down $1,200 in the estimates as the salary of sum. "We are rather fond here of the engineer for a year, not an excessive ridiculing the Chinese, if they put the engines of their ship ohergo engineer, and it is therefore rather aniuging to seo Mr, MucHwen objecting to this extravaganos, and suggesting that "a Chinaman would do the work just us well, and at a very runch less amount and this although the engineer appears to be the only European on board the craft, Hia suggestion fell through, In relation to the desired lighthouse on Gap Rook, Mr. Marsh suid that he thought the recommendation was one to which he should be able to give his support, From a subsequent conversation it appears that the colony only derives $3,900 from the licensing of chairs and jinrickehas, though Victoria has a population of 200,000 Chinese and 8,000 Europeans, while our Settlement, with less than half that population, draws nantly twenty-seven thousand taels a yarr from jinricshias alone, and in Singapore some 8,000 jinrickshas are generally licensed. The question was referred to a committee, On the vote of $15,000 for dredging foreshores, the Surveyor-General ox. plained that this was for the hire of ca: go-bouts at $8 each a day to remove mud, Mr, MacEwen suggested that it would be cheaper for the Government to build its own lighters, on which the Surveyor-General sagely remarked that they might all be destroyed in w typhoon. Mr, Ryrie cannily proposed that the Government should do as some private firms do—build one or two lighters and hire the rest, for this makes the cargo-bout people more ensy to deal with, as they four that if they ask too much, their customer will build more for himself, Mr. Marah
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.