376
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 21st APRIL, 1888.
Building of Chinese
tenements in
European
District
prohibited,
Surveyor General's inspection of tenement.
Penaltics.
Existing tenements, repairs, and Chinese
owners.
Land in occupation of War
Department.
As to existing practice of submitting plans to Surveyor General.
Chinese other than domestic servants. The words Euro- pean District shall mean that portion of the City which is situated on the Southern or South Eastern side of a dividing line beginning from a point on the Pokfoolum Road at No. 1 Bridge and passing along the Pokfoolum Road, High Street, and Bonham Road, as far as Ladder Street, thence along the Northern boundaries of Inland Lots Nos. 573 and 574 and bisecting Inland Lots Nos. 523, 423, 157 and 94, thence along the Northern boundaries of Inland Lots Nos. 100, 1086, 122 and 123, thence along Shelley Street and along the Northern boundary of Inland Lot No. 125, thence along Chancery Lane, Arbuthnot steps, Wyndham Street, Ice Houso Lane, Battery Path, Beacons- field steps and the North boundary of the Military Parade Ground, thence along Queen's Road East as far as Inland Lot No. 73, thence along the Western, Southern, and Eastern boundaries of the same, thence along Queen's Road East as far as the West boundary of Inland Lots Nos. 47A and 47, thence along a line parallel with and 200 feet to the North of Kennedy Road as far as the Wantsai Nullah and thence along Kennedy Road to its junction with Queen's Road East, and which dividing line is more specially.set forth and denoted in the Official map of the City of Vic- toria to be signed by the Governor and to be registered in the Land Office of the Colony,
3. After the passing of this Ordinance it shall not be lawful to build any Chinesc tenement within the European District, and no non-Chinese tenement whether now built or hereafter to be built within such European District shall be divided with the object of providing for its occupation by more than one person to every one thousand cubic feet of clear internal space, nor shall such non-Chinese tenement be at any time occupied by more than one person to every one thousand cubic feet of clear internal space.
4. Upon the complaint of any person-whether such person be aggrieved or not-that a Chinese Tenement has been built within the European District or that any Tene- ment in such District is subdivided, or is occupied by an undue number of persons in contravention of the provisions of this Ordinance, it shall be lawful for the Surveyor Geucral or any Officer deputed by him for the purpose, to inspect such tenement, and any person in any way obstructing such inspection shall be deemed to be acting in contravention of this Ordinance.
5. Every person contravening any of the provisions of this Ordinance shall be liable on summary conviction by a Magistrate to a penalty not exceeding one hundred Dollars or in default of payment to imprisonment not exceeding three months and every tenement built, sub-divided or occupied in contravention of this Ordinance shall be deemed a nuisance within the meaning of Ordinance No. 8 of 1856 which nuisance may be abated accordingly.
6. Nothing in this Ordinance shall be held to prevent the owners of Chinese tenements now existing within the European District from repairing such tenements in accord- ance with their present structure nor shall anything in this Ordinance be held to preclude any Chinese or other person from owning or occupying or residing in, any lawful tene- ment in the European District.
7. This Ordinance shall not apply to any land in the occupation of the War Department but shall apply to any land now in the occupation of the War Department whenever any such land ceases to be in such occupation.
8. Nothing contained in this Ordinance shall be held to affect the right, which has hitherto been exercised by the Government, of forbidding the erection in any part of the Colony, (whether in the European district or elsewhere) of buildings of a different character from those previously cxisting on the same site, or the practice which has hitherto existed of submitting plans for the erection of new buildings or the alteration of the old ones for the approval of the Surveyor General, and such right is hereby expressly de- clared to exist, and such practice is declared to be obligatory.
Any person erecting any new buildings or making any substantial alteration in any buildings already existing without the approval of the Surveyor General in respect of the plan of such buildings or alterations having been first obtained, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fiue not exceeding Five hundred dollars, and to a further fine not exceding One hundred dollars for cach week subsequent to such conviction during which such buildings remain in situ without the authorization of the Surveyor General as aforesaid,