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Shán range tea and pineapple were observed growing at an elevation of 1,500 feet. The range of Taimò Shán, stretching to the west towards Castle Peak Bay, is covered with good grass, which appeared to be such as would suit cattle, horses, and sheep, many thousands of which could find pasturage on the slopes of these hills. At present cattle are used entirely for agricultural purposes. The animals seen were small and well shaped, and generally black or red in colour. Their good condition showed the excellence of the pasturage. In the poorer and rocky soil the hills are covered with bracken and ferns, and in the sheltered ravines with. brushwood and scrub jungle. There are no extensive forests, but some of the lower hills are clothed with pine trees, and round many of the villages are found thick clumps of well-grown trees and groves of bamboo.
CULTIVATED LAND.
The valleys between the hills and the land between the bases of the hills and the sea are all under cultivation. It is impossible in the absence of any reliable statistics to form an accurate estimate of the extent of land under cultivation. The land registers of the district, which ought to be a reliable guide, are worse than useless, as they contain not more than half the land under cultivation. From in- formation received from a reliable source it appears that the land under cultivation is about double the amount shown in the registers. These give the land under cultivation in the San On District, on which taxes are paid, in round figures, as 420,000 mau,* or, say, 60,000 acres, the double of which would make 840,000 mau, or 120,000 acres. Taking the area to be leased as three-fifths of the whole of the district of San On, the total extent of land under cultivation in that area would amount to 504,000 mau, or 72,000 acres. The total area of the new territory is 376 square miles, or 240,640 acres. Deducting the land under cultivation, viz., 72,000 acres, from the total area, 240,640 acres, leaves a balance of 168,640 acres avail- able as Crown land.
This calculation presumes that all the land under cultivation is owned by private individuals, but from inquiries made, there is reason to believe that a con- siderable portion of cultivated land is held without any proper title, and that most of, if not all, the land reclaimed from the sea has never been officially reported to the Government. Both classes of land, though fairly large in extent, have hither- to, it is understood, evaded the payment of taxes.
The land question will be a difficult one to deal with, and as it will affect practically the entire population, the members of which are particularly sensitive on the subject of their holdings, it should be taken in hand at once, and settled as quickly as possible.
To do this effectively, and in a manner that will be satisfactory to both the Government and the owners of property, it will be necessary to hold an inquiry into each title. Such inquiry will involve an accurate survey of each holding, and, as the quantity of land held by individuals is, as a rule, very small, it will require much time and labour to complete the necessary surveys.
I recommend that, as soon as the territory has been taken over, a notice be issued informing the inhabitants that all claims to land must be filed in the Land Office within a period of six months, and that all lands not claimed within that period will revert to Government.
Wherever a claim is lodged, an inquiry into the title of the claimant should be held, and, if that is satisfactory, a survey of the land in question should be made.
To facilitate a speedy settlement of the land question, a large staff of surveyors should be engaged for the first year or two,
ISLANDS.
There are thirty-three islands within the leased territory. Some of these are uninhabited, and most of them are very small and of little or no importance.
The total area of the islands is 90 square miles, and the estimated population 13,720.
acrc.
* 6.61 mau = 1 English acre. For convenience of calculation, 7 mau have been taken as the equivalent of 1