Peking 29th May, 1876. Received 15th June, 1876.
Her Majesty's Minister
Sir Thomas Francis Wade KCB
to
Governor
Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy, KCMG, CB,
Elementary School Books
Chinese.
Reply to enquiries on the subject of--
Enclosure no.2 in Governor Sir Arthur Kennedy's Despatch no 149 of 9th August, 1876.
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No. 45.
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SURVEYOR General's Office,
HONGKONG, 25th April, 1876.
SIR,
Having been honoured by His Excellency's commands to prepare a memorandum of the sites which I have examined for the proposed Central School, with a view to the selection of the best, I have now the honour to report as follows:--
2. As the search for a sufficiently large and level piece of ground in a good neighbourhood (the two essential requirements which it is sought to fulfil) has for so long a time occupied the attention of Government, almost every available site west of the City Hall has in turn come under discussion, so that in reviewing the advantages and drawbacks which attach to each property respectively, I have to touch upon matters with which His Excellency is already conversant.
3. The sites referred to in the following paragraphs will, I think, be the only ones which can be considered in the present enquiry. Better ones of course abound, but as they are thickly covered over with valuable house property, the great cost of their acquisition places them beyond the reach of the Government.
4. Site I. Inland Lot No. 591, the property of the Trustees of Messrs. Augustine Heard & Co., situate on Bonham Road overlooking the Berlin Mission House. (See Drawing 4.) The slope of the ground is very gentle and extremely favourable to the construction, at a moderate cost, of a level plateau. Area 61,500 square feet. Sufficiently large for school buildings and play-ground. Probable cost of resumption by the Crown from two to three thousand dollars. The objection to this site is, in Mr. STEWART's opinion, its distance from the Chinese quarters of the City and from the homes of the scholars whose attendance at the new school might be seriously reduced thereby.
5. Site II. Possession Point. This is the open circular space known as the Recreation Ground. It is level and contains an area of 56,500 square feet. If the benevolent object of its reservation by Government as a place of public resort for natives has not been fulfilled owing to the want of appreciation for open spaces and fresh air so characteristic of the Chinese race, it is worth while considering whether it might not be utilised as a school site, in which case, it would be advisable to include the adjoining block of buildings, coloured blue in Drawing B attached. By this addition, the total area would be increased to 72,400 square feet, and a site formed for the new school and play-ground. The advantages of this site would be: (i) that the larger portion of it already belongs to the Crown; (ii) that it is level, a merit so extremely rare as to greatly enhance values in Hongkong; and (iii) that the locality is central. Its drawbacks, according to Mr. STEWART, would be the vicinity of the theatres, to which may perhaps be added the disadvantage of the outlay of $29,000 for the purchase of the land and buildings coloured blue in Drawing B. All these considerations, however, are subordinate to the main question of the inadvisability or otherwise on sanitary or philanthropic grounds of putting an end to the place as an open air public resort for the working classes after their day's labour. On this point, there appears to be an equally balanced diversity of opinion among those whom I have consulted.
6. Site III. This site, as seen in Drawing (coloured purple), includes that on which the present school stands as well as the Bamboo Garden adjoining, coloured yellow, the whole comprising an area of 61,000 square feet, amply sufficing for all purposes. The new buildings would stand on the purple plot, while the yellow would be converted into a level plateau to form the play-ground. Both places belong to the Crown and their position is central, but these two advantages are...
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