May 20, 1901.]
he extended to the city of Victoria, for which a municipality could be granted con- sisting of a majority of members representing the taxpayers with
a
proportion of officials to represent the Government,
CHINA OVERLAND THADE REPORT.
THE LAND COURT AND THE
NEW TERRITORY.⠀⠀⠀
(Daily Press, 16th May.) In the last number of the Government Gazette appears the Report of Mr. H. H. J. GOMPERTZ, Member of the Land Court, on HONGKONG'S WATER SUPPLY, the work of the Court last year. To the
(Daily Press, 13th May.)
Of the Report of the Director of Public Works, for the year 1900, no section will be read with more public interest than that which deals with the water-supply of the Colony This question is one which comes to the front at some time in the course of every year. This year, owing to the eccen- tric action of the Water Authority in the second week in April, the Colony was "en- joying" the intermittent supply which at one period or another becomes an annual feature. At the present moment we are abundantly supplied with water, but this is only seasonable. We are not yet in a posi- tion, either on the island or on the mainland, to look forward with equanimity to a long dry suminer. However, from Mr. ORMSBY'S Report we can see what is being done to put us eventually in such a position. It has been decided, he says, to proceed with the construction of three more reservoirs in the Tytam Valley, one of which is being coinmenced this year. The three reservoirs are to hold seventy, forty, and twenty mil- lion gallons respectively, and all are expected to fill in a wet year, bringing up the total holding power of Tytam Valley to five hundred and thirty million gallons. The raising of Pokfulam to the extent of two feet will add another four million gallons to the supply. A new service reservoir was commenced at the end of last year above the Military Hospital, to be filled from the Bowen Road beds and reservoir. Mr. ORMSBY is not optimistic about the Peak supply, which will remain "in a somewhat precarious and unsatisfactory state" until the Mount Gough reservoir is completed. With regard to Kowloon, residents there will be glad to read Mr. OEMSBY's assurance that " in a
.few
407
small
return from the New Territory. It is hitherto affairs then have been completely impossible to avoid the conviction that mismanaged from the financial point of view.
PRACTICAL CHINESE TEACHING IN LONDON.
enjoy and, in which the majority of them may ultimately be confirme for, as the Report points out, by far the major port on ́ of the land under cultivation or covered by buildings is held by persons whose claims to the ownership is not disputed. In these circumstances, it is not unreason- able to expec
expect that those who enjoy Report are appended some "Notes on Land privileges should commence to pay for Tenure in the New Territory," which go them, partially at least, now. They have anomalies in the New Territory, and the position. Anything tending to relieve into the general theory of Chinese tenure, too long been in an entirely anomalous system of land registration. Anyone read- the burden on our exchequer of the New ing the Report will appreciate that the Laud Territory is to be welcomed, we should Court undertook a long and arduous trek imagine. The Land Court occupies the when it commenced to settle claims and time and labour of valuable officials, and it survey the New Territory. With regard to must be a matter of many years before the the claims, Mr. GoMPERTZ points out that New Territory can be made to pay its way. it would accelerate the work considerably to In the meantime we have at least one way, have two more Cadets as Assistant Registrars involving no hardship or injustice to the to work in advance of the Court and pre-occupiers of land, of obtaining pare the ground for its operations. In Colony had the services of a staff of survey work, on the other hand, the trained Indian surveyors, which, in the absence of any properly qualified Chinese surveyors, was a great advantage. Mr. GOMPERTZ gives a general sketch of the procedure of the Court, which is briefly as follows. A district is selected and its boundaries marked out, and a date is then fixed after which no claims will be received
(Daily Press, 17th May.) by the Court, notices being sent out. A Association, 1900-1901, the following pară- In the Report just received of the China demarcation party goes out, and persons are graph deals with the scheme for teaching invited to attend and give particulars of practical Chinese in England-The ownership, pointing out their land, the out- lines of which are put into the map. On" of founding a School of Practical Ch
project, outlined in the last Report, the last day of claim, the Court has in its possession the maps, the Survey Depart- ment's statement giving areas of every claim, the actual claim-forms, and the demarcation books. falls to the Crown.
All unclaimed land are next separated from the undisputed, The disputed claima
and the latter are first carefully examined to ascertain whether there has been any effective occupation, for, as the Report says, now that there is a ready market for the land, many are anxious to assert rights of ownership which they have never possessed, or which have long lapsed to the Crown in consequence of abandonment of the land. Concluding his sketch, Mr. GOMPERTZ says: "It will be “seen that until a good deal of work has been "done on the land the judicial functions of "the Court do not begin to be exercised. "As soon as the last day for receiving "claims is past, all the land in a District "that has not been claimed should be "marked off as Crown Land. When all "the claims are collected, the separation of “those which are undisputed will leave a comparatively small residuum for the Court to deal with.
The undisputed "claims are immediately available, and can be handed over to form the basis of a per- “manent rent-roll.”
*
44
番滋
"
26
44
the
nese has been carried into effect. The "teachers whom Mr. Bнown went out to China to select arrived in July. As the University had not yet been fully consti- tuted, rooms were taken in Vernon Place, and tuition was begun. The organisa "tion of the University having since been completed, application has been made to
"tion which the Association was encouraged “the authorities for the measure of recogni
'to expect; and there is reason to believe The Report goes on to say, and everyone, "that à favourable answer will bɔ returned." we imagine, will agree, that it is a little remarkable that no previous attempt has been made in England to supply a need long recognised in Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. It is part no doubt of general neglect of Chinese affairs which has been so marked in England of late years and which has only partly been disturbed by the momentous events of the present crisis in China. The ('bina Association rightly feels some satisfaction at having supplied the defect. It will be noted in an appendix to the Report that subscriptions to the scheme are coming in well, many names well known here appearing on the list. Mr. Gundry purposes to devote to this object £600 of the Association as a testimonial, and it placed at his disposal last year by members is evident that there will be n support. Finally we may note that the no lack of
scheme is intended for every grade of Chi- nese study, from that of the general learner (whose aim in the majority of cases will ba a commercial equipment for the Far East) to that of the sinologue pure and simple.
years Kowloon will have a plentiful supply of good water, without any pumping, from a reservoir to the north of the hills bounding the harbour." A site has been found, five miles and a quarter from Tsim Sha Tui, below the new road to Taipo, for a reservoir with a drainage area of 517 acres, impounding over three hundred million gallons. It is to be noted that valleys now reserved for Kowloon's water-supply will be available for sale after construction of the new reservoir, aud, as Mr. ORMSBY says, good building-sites both for Europeans and for Chinese will be opened up by the con- struction of cross-roads. He adds that, with the growth of British Kowloon in view, broad and straight roads are being, and should continue to be laid out, and open spaces for parks and recreation grounds reserved a point for which we have always pleaded and which we are glad to think is kept in Bight by the authorities. The general purport of the Report with regard to our water supply is that within a few year's time the Colony will be exceedinly well equipped. The prob- able date of completion of the Mount Gough reservoir is not stated, and we do not there- fore gather when the Peak district is likely e en a portion of the rent for land. It be handed over by the latter to be relieved of its present inconvenience. is likely, we fear, to be long before the
We
From the last sentence of the above it will be seen that the work is now in band by which districts in the New Territory are to be made to pay their contribution to our Colonial revenues, as they should have done long ago. Hitherto during our three years' occupation of the Territory the owners or presumed owners of land have apparently been enabled to enjoy their claims free of rent. We have not heard of any payment on nccount of
A Chinese gentleman Hiring has presented to the Rev.
Council for the benefit of the fore
alty there, kis ma
a number
one that Mr. HOLLINGsworth's Report | Land Court finishes its work, unless the | com
Water and Drainage Works, which is included in Mr. Ormany's, alludes to the steady încrense in consumption of water in the Hill district, necessitating the steam pumps being being kept working day and night
available Staff is increased as suggested by Com Mr. GoжPENTE. The question is worth serious consideration whether it is not possible to ask the present holders of unsettled land to make some payment at | least for the privileges which they now
dollars for
val Asiatic Bo Daily News,