To His Excellency
Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy,
Knight Commander of the most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Companion of the most Honourable Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies and Vice Admiral of the same.
The Humble Petition of the undersigned, Kowloon Garden Lot Holders:
Your Petitioners most respectfully beg to apply for the new leases of their Garden Lots, and that the conditions may be similar in all respects to those of the Hongkong Farm Lease.
For the following reasons it is hoped your Excellency will grant your Petitioners' request,
1. A short lease without adequate provision for compensation is a bar to great or permanent improvements to the Lessor's property.
2. The ground at Kowloon being partly a barren waste and the soil generally very inferior (the high land in most parts being decomposed granite and rock, and the low land marshy, requiring extensive drainage) good gardens cannot be made in such places without great outlay and a risk of heavy pecuniary loss under the present lease.
3. The restrictive clauses of the Garden Lot Lease, the small amount of compensation awarded in case of resumption by Government, and the difficulties of transfer, prevent a Lessee from obtaining a loan upon his investment in the ordinary course.
4. A Garden Lot Holder of limited means, who desires to make a garden or build a house, is unable to carry out his wishes until he has saved sufficient money to enable him to do so. Under an ordinary Government lease the Lessee would not have any difficulty in obtaining funds to complete his object and would feel secure of a return for his outlay.
5. At the end of fourteen years when fruit trees would become valuable (for instance, the cocoa nut and date, the Indian bael, lichee, pear, and mango) they would become absolutely the property of Government and the planter would not derive any benefit.
6. It is desirable for the advancement of Kowloon as a place of Summer residence.
7. The benefit to residents who must remain here many years, and the encouragement of those who may desire to make a permanent home in this Colony.
8. The benefit to the Colony generally from savings being invested here in permanent improvements.
9. To afford facilities to Lot Holders of small means to build comfortable detached residences suitable for this climate.
10. To offer a safe and popular form of investment for the savings of persons of limited means.
11. To enable persons who expend money freely on their lots to realize the value when they leave the Colony.
12. The occupation of ground formerly a harbour for thieves by a law-abiding community.
13. The encouragement of Lot Holders who at first began gardening on a small scale and have become so much interested in their ground that they wish to make further and permanent improvements but fear to do so under the present lease.
14. In the event of a Garden Lot Holder becoming Bankrupt his Creditors would be deprived of a portion, it may be all, of his assets: while his liabilities may have been incurred in improving his lot, which Government can resume without compensation. As a guarantee that an extended lease is not desired for more speculative purposes and the keeping of large plots of ground lying waste, your Petitioners pray that no present or future lease for Fourteen years be exchanged for an improved lease until the Lessee has improved his land up to a certain value per acre, such value to be fixed by your Excellency. This would leave those who do not wish to improve their ground in no worse position than they are now and would prove a great boon to your Petitioners who have become more and more interested in their lots as they have gone on working and who would like to spend much more money on improvements than would be prudent under the present lease.
Your Petitioners for the reasons aforesaid pray that your Excellency will be graciously pleased to grant to them leases similar to Farm leases for 75 years.
And your Petitioners will ever pray.
HONGKONG, April, 1870.