Duse
Admiralty
2
PENT
113
Rent.
It will be remembered that the general question was reviewed in a letter from this Board of the 19th of March 1849. I was then of the opinion of the Governor that the existing rents were excessive and from this cause he apprehended much discontent, a continual abandonment of Land and consequent diminution of Income, and the stoppage of the growth of native establishments, upon which the value of Victoria was considered greatly to depend as an entrepot. Holding these views he recommended the appointment of a Committee to examine into the Tenure of Land at Hong Kong and this recommendation was approved by Lord Grey in his Despatch of the 15th April 1849.
In October the Committee was nominated accordingly consisting of the Colonial Treasurer, the Surveyor, the Commissary General, and two unofficial members.
As a first step the Committee invited, by advertisements in the papers and otherwise, complaints from any persons who considered themselves aggrieved by the present system.
No more however than 22 complainants...