London. Oct 9th 1901
To the Under Secretary of State
Colonial Office
Sir,
I have the honour to reply to your letter No. 34346 of the ... as follows:
2. In Hong Kong, quarrying stone is a Government Monopoly, which is usually disposed of either through public Auction or by sale by calling for sealed tender.
3. The quarrying of stone on private land is restricted by the terms of the leases, to obtaining material for building work on the land itself, and no stone can be removed ... . The Colonial Government reserve the right to obtain stone for their own works outside the Colony if the ground-
4. ... the right to obtain stone for their own works outside the Colony is reserved by the quarry farm-
5. The operations of the quarry farmer are restricted to certain defined areas on Hong Kong Island and in British Kowloon.
6. Until the commencement of the Admiralty works under Messrs Punch and Lowther, the system worked well.
7. ... I was aware that Messrs Punch and Lowther were aware of the system before they tendered. The Farm for 1901 was put up to public Auction in Nov or Oct last,