To be decided was entirely undefined, especially as none of the plans I have seen have to any degree the requisite accuracy for proper property record plans; and it has therefore resulted that the land practically remains up to the present time in the hands of the Mass Department.
This is the deduction to be drawn from Surveyor M. Hardy's confidential report dated 2nd August 1876, in which he states to Lieutenant Colonel De Butts, the then C.M.G., with reference to the erection of huts by the boatmen in the ravine behind Murray Barracks, it suggested that the Police Authorities should be requested to visit and destroy the erections as often as they may consider it necessary, as it has been found that burning these huts at long intervals is not an efficient check to the encroachment. And Lieutenant Colonel Gordon's letter dated 27th August 1873, in which he states that "I do not consider I am in a position to state knowing many requirements at the present time for various buildings for military purposes for which land may be required, that the time has arrived to place the Colonial Government in possession of any more of this Reserve than that defined in H.K. Letter No. Hong Kong dated 19th March 1868; on the formation of a proposed new road." This deduction is strengthened by the fact...
Page 497
...dir