COPY.
Enclosure in No. 408 C. O. 35018 From REG 26 Nov 99
Estimate of the Area of Land Under Cultivation in the New Territory.
In the Chinese register of land in the San On District, the area of cultivated land is in round numbers 420,000 maus.
This land, as registered, includes land which has been built upon, wooded slopes of some hills and a small proportion of uncultivated ground.
The area of that part of the mainland of the San On district, leased to Great Britain, has been calculated by the Honourable Director of Public Works to be 286 Square Miles, and the combined area of the various islands to be 90 Square Miles.
The area of that part of the mainland of the San On district remaining Chinese territory, according to the Italian Missionary map, is approximately 384 Square Miles.
If the islands be excluded, the proportion of cultivated to uncultivated land, in the newly leased mainland, is approximately the same as that in the area remaining under Chinese jurisdiction; if anything, this proportion is greater in that part of the San On district which has not been leased to Great Britain.
The amount of cultivated land in the various islands, registered in the San On register, is about 2,000 mau.
Hence the amount of cultivated land in the mainland leased to Great Britain, which has been registered in the Chinese register, is about 418,000 x 286 / (286 + 384) = 178,429 maus.
Therefore