Victoria, prove that
the rates then established.
they do to
rising as they are a natural vent of
of
£340 per acre, cannot independently be maintained, But if so, it must almost certainly follow that if the scale of payment be lowered prospectively, it will at no distant period be impossible to enforce upon present land owners
the continued payment of their present rates.
the
3. It is not without
reluctance that I
contemplate any
alteration,
the immediate effect
of which may be
to diminish the
174
present Revenue of Hong Kong. The question
has become so urgent that it is impossible to postpone its settlement, and it is clear that any attempt to maintain the existing rents, if they be really excessive,
would in the end be more
fatal to the progress, and consequently to the Revenue of Hong Kong,
than any
immediate loss could be.
4. Under these circumstances I have
no alternative but to authorise
you
to constitute the
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