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outlet for the production in Hongkong. Scarcity of water and greatly increased cost of labour were factors which further conduced to an unfavourable result to local Refineries.
In other respects the outlook for industrious enterprise in Hongkong is on the whole promising.
(c.)—FISHERIES.
A considerable proportion of the boat-population of Hongkong supports itself by deep-sea fishing, in which pursuit a large number of junks are engaged. In the immediate neighbourhood of the Colony, or within its territorial waters, the fishing industry has not assumed any considerable dimensions. About $2,000 was paid into the Treasury during the year from fees for fishing stakes and station licences in the New Territory.
(d.)-FORESTRY, BOTANICAL, SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE.
Nearly 6,500 new trees were planted in Hongkong during the year, and more than 31,500 in the New Territory, the majority being pines. It has been found that camphors will grow sucessfully in the New Territory and nearly 3,000 of these trees were planted in the neighbourhood of the new Taipo Road.
Forestry and Botanical work generally made good progress during the year, though hampered to a considerable extent by the excessive drought in the Spring and the severity of the typhoons during July.
Good experimental work is carried on by a Chinese gentlemen in the New Territory, who has under cultivation sugar cane, mulberries, and various fruit trees, flowers and vegetables. As the cultivation is carried on strictly according to Western methods, and with the assistance of Government, it is hoped that the Chinese of the New Territory will benefit by this excellent object-lesson.
In another district of the New Territory a considerable area is being cul- tivated by a small company under European supervision. So far success has attended the growing of vegetables, and both hemp and Chinese tobacco give promise of repaying cultivation.
(e.)—Land GRANTS AND GENERAL VALUE OF Land.
Sales of Crown land for the year 1902 amounted in value to $571,361.22, or more than $70,000 in excess of the estimated receipts from this source, and more than $330,000 over the actual receipts for 1901. The only year in which a larger sum has been realized was 1900, when the receipts were $816,222. The value of the land in the New Territory which is contiguous to the harbour or south of the Kowloon range of hills has enormously increased in value since the Bristish oc- cupation commenced. As an example of this, a case may be cited of a small land- owner who before the New Territory was taken over held about 127 acres of land near Devil's Peak, west of the Lyeemon Pass, and paid a tax to the Chinese authorities of $5 per annum. As soon as his title to the land was confirmed by the Hong- kong Land Court, he sold it to a local Company for $50,000.
The cadastral survey of the New Territory and the demarcation of the farm lots was a difficult and costly work owing to the rugged and mountainous nature of the ground and the small size of the holdings. This work is now practically finished, and rapid progress is being made with the new rent-roll.
Building land in the urban portion of the Colony is limited in extent and continues to be very costly.
III-LEGISLATION.
Forty-seven Ordinances were passed during 1902, of which twenty-two were amending and twelve private Ordinances.
The dependence of the Colony for its water-supply on the annual rainfall, and the occurrence of a serious water famine in the Spring of the year under review, showed the necessity of introducing new legislation to regulate and control the supply. The result was the Water-works Consolidation Ordinance, which had for its object the economising of water.
Four Ordinances dealt with the New Territory, chiefly in connection with Crown lands resumption, rent recovery, and the registration of titles.