March 5, 1898.]. unofficial members of the Legislative Council are divided in opinion and the Government therefore caunot derive much assistance from that quarter. We have on the one side Mr. CHATER and Mr. WHITEHEAD, and on the other Mr. BELILIOS, Mr. BELL-IRVING, Dr. Ho KAI, and Mr. WEI YUK. Imputations of interest- ed motives have unfortunately been thrown out as between some of these gentlemen. While we do not believe that any one of them would consciously allow his judgment to be influenced by his individual inter- ests the fact may be taken note of for what it is worth that Mr. WHITEHEAD is the only one who is uninterested in property. If it be granted that some of the remainder might benefit by the removal of the Post Office it must also be granted that others would equally benefit by its retention on the pre- sent site. In the long run we do not think it would make much difference to any of them, but we should think it would be a satisfaction to the Government, especially in view of General BLACK's remarks, to have an expression of opinion from a re- presentative body sufficiently numerous in its membership.to neutralise any possible bias arising from individual interests.
as
So far the subject has not received that amount of consideration and public discussion which its importance deserves. When Mr. ORMSBY's scheme was launched we expressed our approval of it. Like General BLACK, however, we are in- terested only in seeing the best scheme adopted, and as a contribution to the dis- cussion we propose to allude to one or two points that have not hitherto been men- tioned. We offer them simply for what they are worth and without expressing any further opinion upon the rival schemes as a whole. In the first place, in a city over four miles in length a difference of a couple of hundred yards one way or the other cannot make much difference in the relative cen- trality of the respective sites under discus- sion. We have to consider also not only absolute centrality as determined by bee- lines but also accessibility. As soon the Praya Reclamation is completed we will have a tramway running along the whole length of the old Praya, turning into Queen's Road by the Cricket Ground, con- tinuing along Queen's Road to Arsenal Street, and thence running along Praya East to East Point and in course of time no doubt to Shaukiwan. The stream of traffic will follow the line of the tram- way, and the proposed Praya site for the Post Office will be in at least as close touch with the tramway as the present site. The Colonial Treasurer in the course of the debate in Council said the residents of Kowloon ought to be considered and he suggested that the present site would be more convenient for them. We should have thought the Praya site would have been preferred by the Kowloonites, as it would be as near the wharf as the existing site and the road to it would be more agreeable. But if Kowloon should be considered so should the East Point and Wanchai districts, which are rapidly growing in importance and popula- tion. As already remarked, a hundred ards one way or the other does not make much difference, but the differ- nce, such as it is, is just as much on the one side as on the other.
The question of cost is in a somewhat azy condition, but as the difference 8 not very considerable, and as the colony is not in a poverty stricken con- lition, the choice ought not to be deter- ained solely by considerations of economy,
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
163
wholesale and manufacturing departments, but as regards the retail store the same considerations will weigh with them as with others. There still remains the New Club to give a European air to the district, but with the encroachment of the Chinese the members, it may be presumed, will look out for more agreeable surroundings else- where, and the property will also yield a bet into Chinese houses. Looking to the east- ter return to the owners upon being converted ward we have on the side of Pedder's Street opposite the Post Hongkong
Office the
perhaps
We are building for posterity, and the vote that would be most valuable if it were obtainable would be that of the residents of the colony fifty years hence given in the light of the conditions then obtaining. But as we connot obtain the opinion of posterity we must form our own opinion in the light of past experience. Those who bave been resident in the colony for the past twenty or thirty years have seen the Chinese steadily pressing eastward and the Europeans retiring before them. The movement has not reached fiuality nor is it likely to do so for some time to come. We already have Chinese shops in Queen's Road eastward of the Clock Tower, and although there are still some European establishments to the westward they are not likely to remain there.. In a few years the present Post Office site will be completely surrounded by Chinese houses, and if we want to know what posterity will think of the people who erected a new old Post Office there the present genera- tion may ask itself what it would have thought if its predecessors had placed the old Post Office in Chinatown. It is said that we should consider the Chinese an this matter and determine it according to their convenience; but there is a note of in- sincerity in that argument; the zeal for Chinese interests does not strike one as genuine. Moreover, as the city grows there will have to be branch Post Offices both east and west, which will meet local require ments, and the removal of the General Post Office two or three hundred yards away from its present site would not involve a sacrifice of anybody's interests.
The rival schemes being fairly evenly balanced as regards centrality and cost the consideration by which the choice must be mainly determined is that of
whether a Chinese quarter or the European quarter is the preferable location for the General Post Office. That the Chinese quarter will spread up to and overlap the site of the present Post Office there can be no doubt. The old Victoria Hotel is already in course of conversion; then, proceeding eastward, we have several shops in Chinese occupation, until we come to that ancient landmark, Messrs. LANE CRAWFORD & Co's establishment. Arrange ments, we hear, have already been made by that firm for a lease of premises on the Reclamation, and when the removal takes place the present premises are to be demolished and four storeyed Chinese houses erected in their stead. This brings us up to the Government property known as Crosby's Store, which adjoins the Supreme Court. Looking next to the north side of the present Post Office, it is under- stood that Messrs. JARDINE, MATHESON & Co. intend to build new offices on their Reclamation lot, and if that is so there can he no doubt the firm's present offices will be replaced by Chinese houses. We will thus have Chinese property adjoining the pre- sent site of the Post Office and Supreme Court on the west and, north. If we look to the south, we have on the opposite side of Queen's Road the premises of of Messrs. A. S. WATSON & Co., Limited, and the New Club. Further to the west- ward we have a few European stores mixed with Chinese stores, the offices above being occupied by lawyers and others. With the removal of the law courts there will be an exodus of the lawyers from Queen's Road and the European stores will probably find it to their interest to follow the general movement eastward. Messrs. A. §. WATSON and Co. may retain their present premises for their
the
Hotel, which many may be inclined to regard AS an impregnable buttress against any further Chinese encroachment in that direc tion. But the Hotel possesses in its Re- clamation lot a much better site for a hotel than the present one, and if it could dispose of its existing block of buildings on satisfactory terms, especially
especially the од building frontage, it would naturally be glad to Queen's Road do so. That it will before very long have an opportunity of 80 disposing of it may be taken for granted. The owners of contiguous property at present in European occupation may be inclined to look with some dismay at the changes thus fore- shadowed, but in the long run they will find that the changes will not prove pre- judicial to their pecuniary interests, for Chinese property pays well. Even were it otherwise, however, the retention of the Post Office on its present site would have but little effect in preserving the European character of the locality, and what little effect it might have would prove but temporary. Post Office or no Post Office, Queen's Road will inevitably become in the main a Chinese street as far as its junction with Ice House Lane.
The question then is whether the Post Office should be left in a district destined to become Chinese or should be removed into the European quarter, where there is a site available with a seventy-five foot road on all four sides and on which a really handsome building could be erected. The subject is still in the debatable stage, and as the Government professedly desires to ascertain the wishes of the com- munity, but has not yet taken any effective steps to that end, we would suggest a refer- ence to the Chamber of Commerce, and we would further suggest that the Committee of that body should call a general meeting of the members to pronounce upon the matter. We do not wish to be under-
ourselves stoed
condemning Mr. ORMSBY's scheme (of which we expressed our approval when it was launched), but we think that before being finally adopted the scheme requires much more careful and general consideration than it has yet received, and it is for the purpose of promoting discussion that we have ventured to offer a fer arguments that seem to tell against the scheme. Our columns are open to any one who has any ideas to offer on the subject, but we would request correspond-.. ents to argue the question on its own merits and not with reference to any bearing it may be presumed to have on the supposed in- terests of Mr. CHATER, or. Mr. BELILIOS, or any one else except the community at large.
as
A Taipah telegram. of the 16th February published in the Japanese vernacular papers states that the Government has arranged to undertake the construction of the Formosan railways, and Mr Kawai, a Commissioner in the Formosan Governor-General's Office, has left for Tokyo on this business. The Formosan Electric Light Co. has been wound up.