6
7
203
FRUITS.
The fruits are puneloes, pineapples, oranges, lungngans, pears, lichis, persimmons, pomegranates, nongp'is, and mangoes..
Jaims Shan
VEGETATION.
The mountain ranges and lower hills are covered with vegetation, and cultivation is to be found high up on the hill sides. In some places a crop of rice was found growing at an elevation of 1,300 feet, and on the northern slope of the Tai Me Shan- The range range tea and pine apple were seen growing at an elevation of 1,500 feet. of Tai Mo Shan, stretching to the west towards Castle Peak Bay, is covered with good "grass, which appeared to be such as would suit cattle, horses, and sheep, many thousands of which could find pasturage on the slopes of these hills. At present cattle are used entirely for agricultural purposes. The animals seen were small and well shaped, and generally black or red in colour. Their good condition showed the excellence of the pasturage. In the poorer and rocky soil the hills are covered with bracken and ferns, and in the sheltered ravines with brushwood and scrub jungle. There are no extensive forests, but some of the lower hills are clothed with pine trees, and round many of the villages are found thick clumps of well-grown trees and groves of bamboo.
CULTIVATED LAND.
The valleys* between the hills and the land between the bases of the hills and the sea are all under cultivation. It is impossible in the absence of any reliable statistics to form an accurate estimate of the extent of land under cultivation. The land registers of the district, which ought to be a reliable guide, are worse than useless, as they contain not more than half the land under cultivation. When the Chief Secretary of the Land and Revenue Department of the District was pressed on this point, he stated that the land under cultivation was about double the amount shown in the registers.
Inn These give the land under cultivation in the Saft Of District, on which taxes are paid, in
In In
round figures, as 420,000 mau,† or, say, 60,000 acres, the double of which would make 840,000 mau, or 120,000 acres. Taking the area to be leased as three-fifths of the whole of the district of Sat Of, the total extent of land under cultivation in that area would amount to 504,000 mah, or 72,000 acres. The total area of the new territory is 376 square miles, or 240,640 acres. Deducting the land under cultivation, viz., 72,000 acres, from the total area, 240,640 acres, leaves a balance of 168,640 acres available as Crown land.
This calculation presumes that all the land under cultivation is owned by private individuals, but from inquiries made, there is reason to believe that a considerable portion of cultivated land is held without any proper title, and that most of, if not all, the land reclaimed from the sea has never been officially reported to the Government. Both classes of land, though fairly large in extent, have hitherto, it is understood, evaded the payment of taxes.
The land question will be a difficult one to deal with, and as it will affect practi- cally the entire population, the members of which are particularly sensitive on the subject of their holdings, it should be taken in hand at once, and settled as quickly as possible.
To do this effectively, and in a manner that will be satisfactory to both the Govern- ment and the owners of property, it will be necessary to hold an inquiry into each title. Such inquiry will involve an accurate survey of each holding, and, as the quantity of land held by individuals is, as a rule, very small, it will require much time and labour to complete the necessary surveys.
I recommend that, as soon as the territory has been taken over, a notice be issued informing the inhabitants that all claims to land must be filed in the Land Office within a period of six months, and that all lands not claimed within that period will revert to Government.
Wherever a clain is lodged, an inquiry into the title of the claimant should be held, and, if that is satisfactory, a survey of the land in question should be made.
* Por Views of Valleys, see Album I., Nos. 10, 17, 20; Album II., Nos. 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 23.
* 661 mau = 1 English acre. For convenience of calculation, 7 man have been taken as the equnt of 1 acre.
To facilitate a speedy settlement of the land question, a large staff of surveyors should be engaged for the first year or two.
ISEANDS.
There are thirty-three islands within the leased territory. Some of these are unin- abited, and most of them are very small and of little or no importance.
The total area of the islands is 90 square miles, and the estimated population
3,720.
The small islands, if inhabited, contain a few fishermen only, and are not cultivated. The six chief islands are:-
Paing I
Ma Wan*
Laylaot
Ping Chan
Cheung Chaut Lamina...
Population.
400
400
6,860
600
5,000
460
The island of Laftao is about 15 miles long and 5 miles wide, being considerably rger than the island of Hong Kong, which is about 9 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles Road. Along the west coast are several towns and some cultivated land up to the base the hills. These hills, which are really a continuation of the southern range of the ountain system-of the Say On district, present a most imposing appearance, and con- in lofty peaks, the highest of which rises to an elevation of 3,050 feet. urishing towns in La tao are Lung Chung, containing nine villages, the inhabitants of The two most ich are engaged in agriculture and fishing; and Tai Ŏ, the busiest town on the island, th a population of 3,000. It is a great fishing centre, and owing to the large number ishing junks and other vessels that visit it, the shopkeepers seem to do a flourishing siness. The only representatives of the Chinese Government on the island are two itary officers, one, a captain, stationed at Tung Chung, the other, a lieutenant rationed at Tai O, subject to the colonel commanding stationed at Tai Pang on the maland. The island of Laftao contains magnificent building sites, and, as it is only five miles from Hong Kong, and open to the south-west monsoon during the hot months, it is not unlikely that the residents of Hong Kong may during the summer make use of
sland, the fine white sandy beaches of which afford excellent sea-bathing. The island of Ch'eung Chau is a busy place, at which many of the steamers, hes, and junks plying between Hong Kong and Macao call. There is a station of the se Imperial Maritime Customs on this island, as there is also on the island of Ma commonly known as the Kap Shui Mun Station (see Map XI.). rage at Ch'eung Chau affords good shelter, especially during an easterly gale.
The deep he island of Lamma, called by the Chinese Pok Liu, is four miles long and two vide. Near its centre it is so narrow that it is only a quarter of a mile across. ef bay is Picnic Bay, on the east side, which affords secure anchorage for a vessel in abt 6 fathoms of water. The island has four villages, the largest of which has a population of about 250.
The
I
In p
17
に
Taipang
In
the island of Wag-, situated to the south-east of Hong Kong, has a lighthouse / Waglan
on it, which is at preser nder the control of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, and which will, I presume, in future be placed under the Harbour Master of Hong Kong.
Amiralty Chart No. 1180 (Map V.) gives clearly the size and position of all the 'slands within the new extension.
ars.
POPULATION.
There are no reliable statistics possessed by the Chinese Government of the present pulation of the Saf Of District. No census appears to have been taken for many It has, therefore, been necessary to base an estimate of the population on quiries made from the inhabitants of the villages and on personal inspection of the v. 'lages themselves. With these as guides it is estimated that the population of the v territory, including the Sham Chun and Shat'au Kok divisions, and allowing 5,000
See Photographs, Album I., No. 8.
*
HIL, 25, 27.
73
*
21
IT.,
» 9, 11.
21
III. 24, 28.
In/u
1
=