The double payment involved in reclaiming and building the proposed new Naval establishment would be equivalent to paying for the cause twice over, first in land and then in money.
I have carefully reviewed the assessment contained in my first Report and find nothing to alter or amend.
The present Naval Yard on Queens Road, in my opinion, could not be appraised at $4 a square foot because it is not in the Chinese business centre of the City. It is only the more valuable class of business premises in Chinese centres that are able to command prices of this kind.
East of the Parade ground, there is no land, however valuable, that would realize even four or perhaps four and a half dollars a square foot, and in order to attain this high value, the property must be put exclusively to Chinese uses.
The War Office have lately expended a large sum of money in the purchase of landed property adjoining the present Naval Yard, with the sole object of ridding the cantonment of the Chinese traders that need to reside in that neighbourhood, and it is not likely, therefore, on Military grounds that the Naval Yard premises, if vacated by the Admiralty, could ever be utilized or disposed of by the Colonial Government for Chinese tenements. If they cannot be so utilized, their value will not exceed my original estimate, for the erection of European buildings in this particular locality will not be as lucrative an investment as Chinese dwellings and shops.
Viewed from a purely Colonial standpoint, it cannot be gainsaid that the presence of the Naval Yard in its present unfortunate site is a serious