"Improved state of Macao"

"The improved state of Macao has been the subject of remark lately and we accordingly visited that Brighton of the Far East on Saturday last, doing the whole trip in forty six hours. The physique of the Praya Grande has undergone a change for the better and it forms a contrast to our own Praya which is not flattering to Hong Kong.

The entire course of the Praya has been raised two feet and evidently laid with very good metal. The retaining wall has been correspondingly heightened and trees planted about five feet in its rear all along the course so that a tasteful promenade may be expected in a couple of years time. Between these trees and the parapet the road is flagged with good granite pavement and the main road is ensured against becoming sloppy in wet weather by being bevelled in outline.

The grass plot where the band plays has been enclosed and Chinese are not admitted inside except in the cases of nurses in charge of children. Bamboo chairs are placed within this enclosure at the expense of a few public spirited people and these chairs are for the time being at the service of those who may find them unoccupied.

Praia Grande ca. 1860. Pintura sobre madeira

The new Governor is said to be untiring in his efforts to improve the place and is at any rate rendering Macao more agreeable to its residents and more attractive to strangers. We hear that he leaves for Peking and Japan very shortly in order to submit his credentials to the highest authorities of the Celestial Empire and the Rising Sun.

We are glad to hear that the state of education is in a flourishing condition in Macao both as regards English and other foreign languages and we may remind the Portuguese that a classical acquaintance with their own and our language tends vastly to improve their position and influence in China.

Besides the improvements we have alluded to there is a sort of je ne sais quoi improvement in everything about Macao. There is a liveliness and good humour about the people that did not show so strongly before, the houses have put on their spring clothing having in almost all instances been freshly coloured within the last few months. The Governor's official residence has been relieved of the curious pink garment which it formerly wore, and a blue tinted coat has been substituted; indeed all along the Praya, which seems to be the aristocratic quarter, a great deal of paint has been laid out and in various hues, as is the wont of the Portuguese in dress and decoration. 

There is something in this as rendering the place attractive to Hong Kong people in its capacity as a watering place. Macao never wearies us but is ever charming ever new. But improvements such as these do not affect the root of a colony's prosperity. The time was when Macao might have been set off with a good fresh start as a thriving mart of business but the refusal of the Portuguese Government to make the place a free port and to allow foreigners to hold property turned the flow of trade towards Hong Kong.

Look at both places now. The one is poor and the other thrives. Macao drives an iniquitous trade in human flesh by exporting men to the Guano Islands to the disgrace of humanity not to say religion which latter is evidently run upon, if we may judge, by the number of padres and sacred edifices with which the streets and squares of the holy city is dotted over.

Barracões onde os cules viviam antes de seguir viagem
Ilustração publicada em 1864

There is still one strong practical measure that might probably bring trade to Macao, we mean the deepening and dredging of the harbour. If the Portuguese Government were only equal to facing the outlay we feel sure that the money would come back to them tenfold. At present the matter is a topic of conversation as it has been at various intervals during the last few years. There are some places where improvements have to be detained a long time at the talking stage and Macao is one of these.

It is a most charming place for invalids, gossips, pleasure seekers and hard worked Hong Kong men in search of change. But it should and could be made more is the mere empty shell of a commercial town.

The lower stories of the houses on the Praya are furnished with strongly barred windows but they protect no bales of goods or chests of tea. In many houses there is a strong room with an iron door and treble rows of stanchions but there is no treasure to plunder in the inside. The needless precautions however tell of a time when they were necessary safeguards and they savour of past commercial prosperity.

When the Governor has done trimming the trees we would recommend him to set about doing something that should send legitimate trade into renewed motion. Let one of the able writers in the local journal write out a few masterly essays on the subject in his most terse and trenchant style so that serious inquiry may determine whether the whited sepulchre cannot be improved inside and the dry bones made to shake. We recommend our readers to visit Macau frequently this season; all that meets the eye is pretty and pleasing and the improvement since last year is very marked"

Artigo publicado na edição de 13.6.1864 do The London and China Telegraph.

Nota: O governador era José Rodrigues Coelho do Amaral (1863-1866). As imagens não fazem parte do artigo referido.