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Military Contribution of this Colony was fixed at 20% of its Revenue exclusive of Land Sales; it was stipulated that such contribution should be in full return for the annual cost of the Imperial Garrison, including all capital expenditure required for Military Lands and Buildings. The stipulation is embodied in Ordinance No. 1 of 1901.
The effect of your instruction would therefore be that the Colony would pay in money or money's worth (land) the sum of $493,177 for the area to be devoted to the "King's Park".
4.
But the Colony never contemplated making the Park on any such condition. I beg to refer you to the telegram from Major-General Gascoigne, at the time administering the Government, dated the 28th of April, 1902, in which your predecessor was first asked to sanction the conversion of a portion of the Military Reserves at Kowloon into a Public Park. It is distinctly stated in that telegram that the Military Authorities would receive a suitable equivalent area in exchange.
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In his telegrams of the 13th of May and 4th of June, 1902, Major-General Gascoigne re-affirmed that the local Civil and Military Authorities were anxious to and would ultimately come to an agreement for the transfer of the land, and in a telegram of the 7th of June in the same year, your predecessor sanctioned the opening of the Park on the understanding that the Rifle Ranges could not be surrendered till new ones were provided. Copies of the telegrams in question are enclosed for facility of reference.
Enclosure 1.
13th May and the June, 1900.
Finally, in his Despatch No.258 of the 18th.