82
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Utilization Survey of arable land. This work was completed in 1955 and maps prepared on a scale of 1:20,000. The work of both teams forms the data for a new report entitled Land Use in Hong Kong and the New Territories by T. R. Tregear, which was published by the University in 1958.
The Colony's total area of 391 square miles may be classified from the viewpoint of land utilization as follows:
Class
Area (sq. miles) of whole
Percentage
Remarks
(i) Built-up (urban areas)
21
5.4
(ii) Steep country
110
28.1
Includes roads and railways.
Rocky, precipitous hillsides,
incapable of plant establish-
ment.
(iii) Woodlands -
13
3.3
Natural and established
woodlands.
(iv) Grass & Scrub lands
171
43.7
Natural grass and scrub.
(v) Eroded lands
18
4.6
Stripped of cover. Granite
country. Capable of re- generation under pine.
(vi) Swamp & Mangrove
lands
7
1.8
Capable of reclamation.
(vii) Arable
51
13.1
Includes orchards and vege- table gardens.
[L
In 1937 it was estimated that the total afforested area was 103 square miles and the total wooded country approximately 130 square miles. During the Japanese occupation most of the timber was stripped from the hills and catchment areas. This is being replaced and extended by a vigorous afforestation policy. During 1958 an additional area of 2.127 acres was afforested. Of the land under Class (iv), about 13 square miles of marginal land could be brought into cultivation for a limited range of crops by terracing and the provision of irrigation water. This is being done in several localities as population pressure increases. The balance of this land class will be used for the establishment of forest plantations.
All readily cultivable land, including a considerable and grow- ing area of terraced country, is highly cultivated; skilled use being made by traditional practices of natural sources of irrigation. A survey of arable land made early in 1958 indicates that this
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