322-
NEW PRAYA RECLAMATION
SCHEME.
MERTING IN THE CITY HALL.
At the invitation of the Hon. C. P. Chater, quite a large number of the owners and agents of lots on the Prays fronting the Harbour in Wanchai District from Arsenal Street to Causeway Bay, met in the City Hail on the 17th inst, to consider the proposals embodied in his recently published correspondence with the Government for a reclamation of the fore-
shore.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
on
In my letter in reply of the 29th September, I combated this proposal, pointing out the widely different character of the Wanchai district and of the properties there, as compared with the central district and the properties in that neighbourhood, and the little prospect of any considerable profit. At a later date I had an interview with His Excellency the Governor the subject and, while I found him willing to reconsider and modify the terms ra ferred to in the Colonial Secretary's letter of the 13th September, I found him fully deter mined to secure for the Treasury some direct Mr. CHATER, in opening the proceedings, and immediate beuefit out of the proposed re- said: Gentlemen,-I-have asked you to meet me
clamation in the shape of a premium on every here to-day for the purpose of taking your foot of building land acquired by the lot opinion, as the owners of lots along the holders. Under these circumstances there was Eastern Praya, upon the project for the re- nothing to do but to recast my proposals and clamation of that portion of the sea front of
to see if some alteration could not be made the city which I have, with professional assis-
which would enable the lot-holders to pay, `tance, elaborated and submitted to the Gov-and the Government to receive, the desired pre ernment, and which has been provisionally minm. On careful reconsideration of my cal- approved of and accepted by those in authority. culation it seemed to me that the lot-holders
My correspondence with the Colonial Secre-
could only afford to pay a premiam by getting tary on the subject has been so recently publish-
permission from the Government to take in ed in the local papers that the details of the further land from the sea, and on submitting schemet must be fresh in your memories. I
this idea to His Excellency. it proved to be an have, therefore, only to remind you of the acceptable solution of the difficulty, and there broad outlines of it and to put before you fore I assented to a payment of a premium of the reasons which, in my opinion, ought to 25 cents a square foot on all building land influence you to accept the proposals which reclaimed, on the understanding that a further I have the authority of the Governor to sub- 75 feet in depth might be included in the mit for your consideration.
scheme, the 75 feet to be flown into the sea- ward blocks, so that they should have a depth of 225 fe t as against the 150 feet originally proposed.
(April 20, 1901.
With the substitution of Leighton and Caro- line Hills for Morrison and Hospital Hills, the cost of filling in will be slightly; but very slight- ly, increased by the greater distance of the former sites from the sea, but there will be.
eci nomies in other directions more than snf- ficient to compensate, and while the scheme, as a whole, will be less advantageons to the colony and to the Treasury, it will be no less adv.ntageous to you, and more simple and more easy of execution.
Now, gentlemen, why do I recommend you to undertake this work and to accept the Government conditions? In the first place, because your Wanchai property his never been of a very profitable description, and is becoming daily 1-ss profitable because of the rapid silting up of the foreshore from the Arsenal to Jardine's. Secondly, because the extension of the Naval Yard and Arsenal now in hand will still further intensify the unfavourable character of your location and render still more rapid the silting up of the foreshore in your vicinity. Your present Wanchai property will 8009 become of less value to you than it is now, and if it is to pay at all it will only be by substitu ting Chinese houses for the present erections and by taking your godown business elsewhere. If you ask me whether my proposed extension seaward of this: Wanchai district will lead to any general improvement in rents and values out there, I think I may safely say yes. The new. seawall will be a continuation of the new I have dwelt at considerable length in my
front of the Naval Yard and Arsenal and will letters on the advantages to accrue to the
be constructed in a depth of 16 or 17 feet of water, giving easy access to the new praya for colony at large and to the revenue, from the I have now to point prosecution of this work.
This proposal is embodied in my letter to the the largest cargo-boats and lighters and for small steamers. There will be little future out, how you, individually, are likely to benefit Colonial Secretary of the 15th November last." by it and to what extent; and I hope to satisfy
Since that date, another trifling alteration risk of silting up when the shore line is carried you, as I have, I believe, succeeded in satisfying has been made in the design as set out in that, ont into deep water and into the main line of the currents. The front blocks, 225 feet in the Government, that it is a work which ought letter. The first proposal was that the new ta be taken in hand as speedily as possible and reclamation should terminate, to the eastward, depth, will give ample room for godowns of the carried through with the least possible delay:
at Jardine's East Point property. It is now latest and best patterns. The back blocks and The idea is to reclaim from the sea a strip of proposed to carry the reclamation along the the ground now occupied by godowns will afford land, very nearly a mile in length, extending front of Jardine, Matheson's premises and in room for a large number of Chinese houses on from the Arsenal to the East Point Sugar front of the Sugar Works and to give them an the most approved sanitary principles, for which Works and (except in front of Jardine's pre-interest in the scheme to the extent of 160 feet there must be, with our rapidly increasing mises and the Sugar Works) not less than
population, an ever increasing demand. The five hundred and twenty feet in depth from
inprovements now being effected in the Queen's
the Parads Ground to front to back. This will allow of the widening
Road, from of the present praya from 50 feet to 75
Arsenal, and the advent of the Tram, now as- feat; of a new praya 75 feet in width, and
sured, will facilitate the movement of population from West to East, and the character of the of a main street running through the can- tre of the reclaimed land, from West to
I deeply regret that it has been found im-new district with its broad thoroughfares, wide East, also of 75 feet in width. Thirteen practicable to carry out my original suggestion streets and sanitary buildings must attract & The Wanchai property thoroughfares, each fifty feet in width, will for the acquisition of Morrison Hill and of the large population. run from the present praya to the new one,
Naval Hospital Hill and for the removal of owners will have, sooner or later, to reconstract dividing the reclaimed area into convenient both these impediments to the expansion of our their properties, and the present is the most blocks. There will then be left 345 feet in City eastward and to its more perfect ventila suitable time for doing so and the proposals depth of building, land in two blocks, to bation. You will have noticed in my published now submitted allow of its being done, if you divided out among the marine lot-holders in
letters to the Government what a magnificent will only combine together, at the least possible A proportion to their respective frontages.
area of building land would have been placed at expense and on a scale which will most assured- marine-lot holder, therefore, having a frontage the disposal of the colony if that part of my ly make the undertaking a profitable one to the of 50 feet, will be entitled, broadly speaking, to original scheme had niet with acceptance undertakers as well as a blessing to the colony 345 by 50 or 17,250 square feet of land, for Unfortunately the Naval Authorities had, generally. We have before us, to guide us in which the Government propose to charge 25 before my proposals were submitted to the coming to a decision, the result of the Praya cents a foot by way of premium, and $200 a
Government, made all arrangements for the en- Reclamation in the Central District and we quarter acre by way of Crown rent, and for largement of the present Naval Hospital and for shall have, in carrying out the work, the bene- which they are prepared to grant a Crown the construction, on the opposite spur, of au fit of the experience there obtained as to the lease for 99 years with the option of renewal Epidemic Hospital in connection therewith, and precautions to be observed and the errors to be for another period of 99 years at a rent to be
so were, I presume, unable to assent to the avoided. fixed by the Governor for the time being. I suggestion for the removal of their establish estimate the cost of reclamation, sea-wall, praya,
ments to more healthy and less crowded sites at streets, sewers and all expenses at a figure not Kowloou. I do not, however, despair of the exceeding 75 cents per square foot of available ultimate acquisition by the Colony of the building land, and, even if the cost should, ground in question and of the ultimate expan- through any unforeseen events, run up eren tosion and development of that neighbourhood on $1 a square foot, the land will still be worth baving at that figure.
In my first communication to the Govern ment I suggested a reclamation to a depth of 445 feet only, and the Government should not demand any premium for the building land acquired by the owners of lots fronting the ses. I found the Government, however, en- lightened by the results of the reclamation in the central part of the city now nearing com pletion, most unwilling to forego the exaction of a premium in addition to the benefit to be derived to the colony at large from the largely increased ares of building land and to the Treasury from prospective rents and taxes. The first proposals by Government were fór a valuation of the reclaimed land and a division between the lot-holders and the Treasury of the surplus," after payment of ali expenses. The Colonial Secretary's letter of the 13th September last gives expression to the view.
in depth of building land along their northern boundary.
This appeared to be due to them, as the carrying out of the reclamation involves the destruction of their harbour frontage to the
west.
the lines indicated in my letters. I have much pleasure in stating here that from His Excel- fency the Governor and from the Colonial Secretary and from the Director of Public Works, I have received every courtesy and at- tention in the course of the correspondence and negotiations that have resulted from my first letter of the 12th June last, as well as from His Excellency Major-General Gascoigne, who was administering the Government at that date and before whom the matter came in the first instance, and I feel assured that, if you, gentle men, determine to accept the Government pro- posals, as embodied in the Colonial Secretary's letter of the 12th February last, any sugges- tions you may have to make with a view to the improvement of the general plan, or to the modification of the details or conditions, will be gladly received and will meet with the ful- lest aud the fairest consideration at the hands of His Excellency and of his officers.
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The Eastern reclamation will be a
much easier task than the work done in the Central district because of the much less depth of water in which the sea-wall has to be constructed: because a wall of much less sec tion and constructed of smaller blocks will'snf- fice in the sheltered position of the Wanchai Praya, and by reason of the fact that the re- quisite earth and stone for the work is much nearer at hand and can be brought to the spot by land carriage instead of by boat, a good deal of stone from the present sea-wall being also available. The total cost will also be very much less-75 cents to $1 as compared with $2. On the other hand the value of the land re- claimed cannot well exceed, unimproved, $4 a square foot, while unimproved value of the pre- sent reclamation was fairly estimated at $7 per square foot and now considerably exceeds that figure. You have also to bear in mind that, as pointed ont in my letter to the Colonial Secre- tary of the 29th September last, your present property, during the Reclamation works, will probably not maintain its value as effectively as did the property of the lot-holders along the Central Praya, but loss and inconvenience arising in that way will be diminished,” as för as possible, by the carrying out of the“works in
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