"J" That the cost of all resumptions
of land and all compensations to be paid to the landholders in connection with the scheme be bome and paid by the Marine Lot holders as part of the expenses of the scheme, the estate or interest of the lessee so resumed being sold for the benefit of the fund, unless the Government elects to resume and pay the cost of resumption or compen-
sation:
-K." That all blocks laid out for Chinese renement houses be provided with a scavenging lane 10 feet wide opening to a public street at both ends, and in addition with open back yards in the rear of each house open to the said scavenging lane in accordance with following scale :-----
Houses not exceeding 40 feet in depth, for each foot of widtir---5 square feet.
Houses over 50 feet but not exceeding 50 feet in depth, for each foot of width --6 square feet.
Houses over 50 feet, but not exceed- ing 60 feet in depth, for each foot of width--8 square feet.
No tenement house to excved 60 feet in depth, without the permission of the Governor in Council.
($)
3. His Excelleney accepts the modi- feation of your original proposal, cour- tained in your letter of the 15th November, namely that the reclamation should extend 75 feet further into the harbour.
4. His Excellency is of opinion that a premium should be paid to flovermuent by the Marine Lot holders. for every foot of building and reclaimed and handed over to them, and that suck premium should be at least 25 cent, per Square foot.
5. Tu conclusion, I am to add that the principle of reclamustion in sections as adopted in the Western Praya re- clamation scheme will be followed if the proposed reclauition is carried out, and that the expenses of a preliminary survey and estimate must be borne by the Marine Lot Holders.--I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant,
(Signed) J. IL. STEWART LOCKHART,
Colonial Secretary.
The Honourable
C. P. CHATER, C.AU.
MEETING OF LOT HOLDERS.
On April 17, on the invitation of How. C. P. Chater, C.M.G., a meeting of the owners and agents of Lots in the Praya at Wanchon, franding the sea from Arsenal Street to Causeway Bay, was held in the City Hall. There were about forty present, and Mr. Chater presided.
Mr CRATER said -Curtlemen, I Inve asked you to meet me here today for the purpose of taking your opinion, as the Owners of Lots along the Eastern Praga, upon the project for the reclamation of that. portion of the sea front of the City which I have, with professional assistance; elaisrated and submitted to the Govern÷ ment and which has been provisionally ap- proved of and accepted by those 1} authority.
My correspondence with the Colonial Secretary on the subject has been SI recently published in the local papers that the details of the scheme must be fresh is your memories. I have, therefore, only to remind you of the broad outlines of it and to put before you the reasons which, in my opinion ought to intense you to accept the proposals which I have the au- thority of the Governor to suburit for you consideration.
I have dwelt at considerable length in my letters on the advaranges to accrue toy the Colony at large and to the revenue, from the prosecution of this work. There now to point out, how you, individually, are likely to benefit by it and to what extent, and I hope to satisfy you, as have, I believe, suoceeded in satisfying the Government, that it is a work which ought
to be taken in hand as speedily as possible' and carried through with the least possible delay.
The idea is to reclaim from the sea a* strip of land, very nearly a mile in length, extending from the Arsenal to the Bast Point Sugar Works and (except in front of Jardine's premises and the Sagar Works) not less than five hundred and twenty (620) fest in depth from front to back. This will allow of the widening of the present prayu from 541 fect to 75; of a new praya 75 feet in width, and of a main street running through the centre of the reclaimed land, from West to East, also of 75 feet in width. Thirteen thoroughfares, each fifty feet in width, wit rau from the present; praya to the new one dividing the reclaimed arex into convenient blacks. There wit then be left 345 feet in depth of building land in two blocks, to be divided out among the Lot Holders in proportion to their respective frontages. A Lot Iider, there. fore having a from age of 50 feet will be entitled, Beadly speaking, to 34 › by 50 or 17,250 square feet if Fud, for which the Govenment propose to charge 25 cents a fout by way of premium, "und $20 a quarter sere by way of Crown rent, and for whiely they are prepared to graut n Crown lease for 99 years with the option of renewal for
another period of 99 years at a rent to be fixed by the Governor for the time being. I estimate the cost of reclamation, sea wall, praya, streets, sewers and all expenses at a figure not exceeding 75 cents per square foot of available building land aud, even if the cost should, through any unforeseen events, run up even to $1 a square foot, the land will still be worth having at that figure.
In my first communication to the Govern- mont I suggested a reclamation to a depth of 445 feet only, and that the Government should not demand any premium for the building land acquired by the owners of lots fronting the sex. I found the Goveru- ment, however, enlightened by the results of the reclamation in the Central part of the City now nearing completion, most un- willing to forego the exaction of a premium in addition to the benefit to be derived to the Colony at large from the largely increased area of building land and to the Treasury from prospective rents and taxes. The first proposals by Government wore for a valuation of the reclaimed land and a division between the Lot Holders and the Treasury of the surplus, after pay- ment of all expenses. The Colonial Secre- tary's letter of the 13th September last gives expression to that view. In my let- ter in reply of the 29th September, I com- batted this proposal, pointing out the wide- ly different character of the Wanchai dis- trict and of the properties there, as com- pared with the Central district and the pro- perties in that neighbourhood, and the little prospect of any considerable profit. At a later date I had an interview with His Excellency the Governor on the subject, and, while I found him willing to recon- sider and modify the terms referred to in the Colonial Secretary's letter of the 13th September, I found him fully determined to secure for the Treasury some direct and in- mediate benefit out of the proposed reclam- ation in the shape of a premium on every foot of building land acquired by the Lot Holders. Under these circunsts ces, there nothing to do but to re-cast my proposals and to see if some alteration could not be rundo which would enable the Lot Holders to pay and the Government to receive the desired premium.
On careful reconsidera- tion of my calculations, it seemed to me that the Lot Holders could only afford to to pay a premium by getting permission from the Government to take in further land from the sea, and, on submitting this idea to His Excellency, it proved to be an acceptable solution of the difficulty, and therefore I assented to a payment of # premium of 25 cents a square foot on all building land reclaimed, on the under- standing that a further 75 feet in depth might be included in the scheme, the 75 feet to be thrown into the seaward blocks, so that they should have a depth of 225 feet as against the 100 feat originally pro posed.
Wax
This proposal is embodied in my letter to the Colonial Secretary of the 15th Novem- ber last.
Since that date another trifling alteration has been made in the design as set out in that letter. The first proposal was that the new reclamation should terminate, to the eastward, at Jardine's East Point pro- perty. It is now proposed to carry the reclamation along the front of Jardine, Matheson's premises and in front of the Sugar Works and to give them an interest in the scheme to the extent of 160 feet in depth of building land along their Northern boundary.
This appeared to be due to them, as the carrying out of the reclamation involves the destruction of their harbour frontage to the West.
(9)
I deeply regret that it has been found impracticable to carry out my original sug- gestion for the acquisition of Morrison Hill and of the Naval Hospital Hill and for the removal of both theas impediments to the expansion of our City eastward and to its more perfect ventilation. You will have noticed in my published letters to the Go- vernment what a magnificent area of build- ing land would have been placed at the disposal of the Colony if that part of my original scheme had met with acceptance. Unfortunately, the Naval Authorities had, before my proposals were subraitted to the Government, made all arrangements for the enlargement of the present Naval Hospital and for the construction, on the opposite spur, of an Epidemic Hospital in con- nection therewith. and ᎦᏅ were. I to assent to the sug- presume, unable gestion for the removal of their establish ments to more healthy and less crowded sites at Kowloon. I do not, how- over, despair of the ultimate acquisition by the Colony of the ground in question and of the ultimate expansion and develop- ment of that neighbourhood on the lines indiented in my letters. I have much pleasure in stating here that from His Excellency the Governor and from the Colonial Secretary and from the Director of Public Works, I have received every courtesy and attention in the course of the correspondence and negotiations that have resulted from my first letter of the 12th June last, as well as from His Excellency Major- General Gascoigne, who was Administering the Governmentat that dareand before whom the matter came in the first instance, and I feel assured that, if you, gentlemen, deter- wine to accept the Government proposals, as embodied in the Colonial Secretary's letter of the 12th February last, any sug- gestions you may have to make with a view to the improvement of the general plan, or, to the modification of the details or condi- tions, will be gladly received and will meet with the fullest and the fairest considera- tion at the hands of His Excellency and of bis officers.
With the substitution of Leighton and Caroline Hills for Morrison and Hospital Hills, the cost of filling in will be slightly but very slightly increased by the greater distance of the former sites from the sea, but there will be economies in other diree- tions more than sufficient to compensate, and while the scheme, as a whole, will be less advantageous to the Colony and to the Treasury, it will be no less advantageous to you, and more simple and more easy of execution.
Now, Gentlemen, why do I recommend you to undertake this work and to accept the Government conditions. In the first place, because your Wanchai property has never been of a very profitable description and is becoming daily less profitable because of the rapid silring up of the forestore fron the Arsenal to Jardine's; secondly, because the extension of the Naval Yard and Arsenal now in hand will still further intensify the unfavourable character of your location and render still more rapid the silting up of the foreshore in your vicinity. Your present Wanchai property will soon become of less value to you than it is now and if it is to pay at all it will only be by substituting Chinese houses for the present erections and by taking your godown business else- where. If you ask me whether my pro- posed extension seaward of this Wan- chai District will lead to any general improvement in rents and values out there, I think I may safely say yes. The new Henwall will be a continuation of the new frout of the Naval Yard and Ar- senal and will be constructed in a depth of 16 or 17 feet of water, giving easy access to the new praya for the largest cargo bouts
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