upon the Government the acceptance of the following positive recommendations, viz. (1) that regular post-office communication by steamboats be established from Hongkong to Canton and northern ports; (2) that the dependence of the Governor on both the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office be simplified; (3) that a short Code of Law be substituted for the present system of general references to the laws of England; (4) that draft ordinances and regulations be published for three or six months before they are enacted; (5) that a share in the administration of the ordinary and local affairs of the Island be given, by some system of municipal government, to the British residents; and (6) that facilities be given in Hongkong for the acquisition of the Chinese language and encouragement to Schools for the Chinese.
No one ever discerned with greater clearness Hongkong's true path to higher destinies, than this Parliamentary Committee.
After his retirement from the Governorship of Hongkong, Sir John Davis was honoured by being appointed a Deputy-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (in 1852), a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (June 14, 1854), and a Doctor of Civil Law of Oxford (June 21, 1876). He died on November 13, 1890, in his ninety-sixth year, full of days and ripe for glory.
