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foreshore from the Arsenal to East Point may be profitably considered. In con- nexion with these proposed Eastern reclamations I submit herewith a plan by which it will be seen that 90 acres may be recovered from the sea, of which 56 acres may be made available for house building, the remaining 34 acres being left for roads and streets. The 56 acres of new reclamation would accommodate 2,240 tene- ments capable of housing 67,000 people. The Eastern reclamation must however be viewed as a second instalment of the Western scheme, and can only be embarked in, after the Colony has secured a connexion between the East and West by means of a Praya embankment along the Cantonments. It will be premature there. fore to discuss the Eastern scheme here.
37. The only question that now remains to be considered is how and to what extent will so much new building land thrown on the market, affect current lease- hold values in the City? The answer is obvious: it will not affect present house- property materially, if at all, for after all, Mr. CHATER's project gives room only to 39,000 people. The present influx from China is at the rate of 8,000 persons a year, and as it would be five years before the houses were built and ready for occu- pation under Mr. CHATER'S scheme, the latter will not do more than give house- room to the influx that will have accumulated during the five years of construction. In other words, if Mr. CHATER's project is realized by 1892, and that by that year 1,320 new tenements have been added to the present number of houses, those 1,320 new tenements will represent only the additional accommodation required for the 39,000 or 40,000 fresh arrivals which we must expect between 1888 and 1892. Therefore notwithstanding the reclamation with its 1,320 new dwellings we shall be in precisely the same plight that we are at the present moment. But what a worse plight shall we be in, if by 1892 we have not these 1,320 new dwellings wherein to house the 39,000 or 40,000 people that are to arrive between this and then! So long therefore as demand for house-room keeps ahead of the supply leasehold values will never be affected by reclamations, and who can tell that the stream of settlers that has set in from the mainland will stop at 8,000 arrivals per annum? When I first came to this Colony in 1873 the annual immigrants were computed at 1,500. Now they number 8,000 every year. May not this number grow before long to 10,000 or 12,000 ?
38. In conclusion I desire to state that the estimates of cost of reclamation and the appraisals of value of the lands to be reclaimed, though approximate, may be taken as erring if at all on the right side. I have deemed it prudent in this report to understate rather than over estimate the pecuniary advantages to Govern- ment resulting from this Reclamation Scheme. The exact costs can be given only after the completion of detailed estimates and final settlement of the designs of wall to be adopted.
18th July, 1887.
:
No. 1221.
(3.)
(Acting Colonial Secretary to Mr. Chater.)
J. M. PRICE.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
SIR,
HONGKONG, 11th August, 1887.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th ultimo submitting a proposition to reclaim the foreshore from West Point to the Govern- ment Wharf, and offering your services with the marine lot-owners in order to obtain their co-operation in the project. In reply I am directed to inform
you that the Governor in Council has had your letter under careful consideration and that in view of the congested state of the population of Victoria and the importance to the town of the large areas which you propose to throw open for building purposes,