484
I pointed out to them that at first the inhabitants of Tai Po had not objected at all to the erection of the matshed, and that in deference to the wishes of the neighbouring village of Pan Chung, the nearest village to the hillock on which the matshed is built, the site of the shed had been changed from that originally selected by me to one which the elders of Pan Chung had themselves approved and marked out in my presence.
One of the elders then said that the hill was his private property - he being the third party that has now claimed the hill - and I told him, as I have told the other claimants, that if he could produce an official title deed of the hillock, the Hong-Kong Government would purchase the property from him. He remarked that as it had been handed down to him by his ancestors, he could not possibly consent to sell it.
After some further discussion, which was continually interrupted by the bystanders, some of whom became very offensive in their language and demeanour, the elders asked if I would remove the matshed to another site or not, to which I replied that the site it now stood on having been chosen by the representatives of the village nearest to it, and declared free from objection on the ground of interference with Fung Shui, it would not be reasonable to again change it. I added that Government would pay the rightful owner for the property.
Thereupon