626
16
new reclamations must be on the same centre line as the present cross streets, I would be obliged by your informing me whether it is meant that the entire extensions of these cross streets shall be a continuation in the same straight line of the present streets, or whether you adhere to the original plan and make these extensions at right angles to the line of the proposed sea-wall. The passage in your letter which I refer to may have either meaning, and I therefore would be obliged by your elucidating this point for the information of the marine lot-owners.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
In accordance with the desire of many of the lot-owners, the survey has been divided into seven sections, which, owing to differences in the depth of water and in the configuration of the present frontage, shew corresponding differences in the expense of the reclamations relatively to the areas of land reclaimed. This discrepancy is, however, to a certain extent neutralised by the fact that, speaking generally, the reclamation will be most costly where the reclaimed land is likely to be most valuable.
The estimate of the cost of reclaiming the several sections, exclusive in each case of the Government reclamation, is as follows:
The Hon. F. STEWART, LL.D.,
Colonial Secretary.
C. P. CHATER.
Section 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 $ 374,232 318,854 845,233 153,044 270,690 440,315 251,860SIR,
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 22nd November, 1887.
In reply to your letter of this date on the subject of the street extensions on the proposed Praya Reclamation, I have the honour, by direction of the Governor, to express His Excellency's regret that the explanation given in my letter, No. 1781 of the 18th instant, was not more lucid.
With the view of clearing up the doubt which has not unnaturally arisen, I am to refer you to the plan signed by the Acting Governor, whereon the directions of the streets are precisely indicated.
The Honourable C. P. CHATER,
SIR,
I have the honour to be
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
FREDERICK STEWART, Colonial Secretary.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 23rd June, 1888.
Referring to previous correspondence on the subject of the proposed Praya reclamation, I have the honour, by direction of the Governor, to apprise you, for the information of the marine lot-owners concerned, that the preliminary surveys of the foreshore and sea-bed, undertaken by their desire, have now been completed,
and the plans and estimates connected therewith are herewith enclosed.
The prolonged rainy weather during the beginning of the year, and the necessarily laborious nature of the investigations rendered it impracticable to complete these surveys at an earlier date.
I am, however, to point out that these estimates of cost are taken as only approximate. They will be subject to revision when the competitive tenders are received for the contracts; and they may also require to be modified in accordance with whatever directions Her Majesty's Government may give in respect of the contemplated works, in the event of their approval of the scheme as a whole.
As the shipping and landing facilities of the port would be too seriously obstructed by the commencement of the reclamation works along the entire line of the foreshore, I am to request you to be good enough to inform the lot-owners that only two, or at the most three of the sections can be undertaken at the same time, and that commencement will probably be made with those sections at the extreme ends.
With a view to carry out that part of the general scheme which consists of the widening of the present Praya roadway, His Excellency finds that it will be necessary to purchase from the Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, Limited, a portion of the reclamation conceded to them in 1886 before the question of a continuous reclamation was mooted; and as this necessity has arisen only in connection with the present scheme, His Excellency is of opinion that the cost, involving a sum of $104,000, should be added to the general cost of the work, and borne proportionately by the different owners of frontage, the Government included. The amount of this cost has therefore been added to the estimates of total cost above given.
His Excellency notices that, making a liberal allowance for the cost of the work to be done, the private lot-owners will be charged an estimated sum of $2,154,228, in return for which they will receive for their private use and ownership twenty-six and one-fifth acres of building sites (charged only with an annual Crown rent of $800 per acre), which according to the present market price of land means an estimated total value $7,910,821, in other words, that they will reap an estimated profit of $5,764,593. This estimate, however, is based on the present value of frontage land, and would probably require to be increased if the fact were taken into account that there would be deep water along the whole of the new frontage, thus rendering the land upon it free of the wholesome exhalations which proceed from the present foreshore, and also saving great expense in lighterage and in the cost of wharves by affording free access to vessels and boats.
But however this may be, as the profit is likely in any case to be far larger than would be the compensation awarded by arbitrators to the existing owners of frontage for the loss of that frontage and the conversion of their marine lots into inland lots, His Excellency deems it possible that Her Majesty's Government may