Water Supply. — In the rainy season water is generally abundant in the numerous mountain streams from which it is carried by artificial channels to the land where it is required, but when the rains are late in beginning crops occasionally suffer from want of water. This deficiency might be avoided by providing storage tanks in suitable places from which the water could be conveyed to the grounds through the channels already formed.
Existing Crops. – The chief crop is rice, which is grown in the best soils where irrigation is available. The next crop in importance and extent is sugar-cane, which is mostly grown on land not irrigated where irrigation is difficult or impossible. The remaining crops are of minor importance and consist chiefly of sweet-potato, peanut, and vegetables.
Population. — The inhabitants are more numerous than is required for the present industries of the country, but if industries were developed, the people would be available for the labour needed.
Roads & Communications. – Of roads there are few, except the one from Kowloon to Castle Peak, which is about 17 miles long but was made by the Government since the new Territory was occupied; it is well maintained, but there are numerous foot-paths along which all material is carried from place to place, and the numerous and convenient sea-side places provide transport by boats and junks.
Prospects of Cotton Cultivation. – Consideration of the conditions enumerated, quality of the soil, and the rainfall and climatological conditions lead one to consider that cotton could be successfully cultivated in the new Territories. But remembering the limited area of land available under the British flag, it would suggest that efforts might be made to induce the Chinese to take up cotton cultivation in the adjacent Chinese territory, from which it might spread to large tracts in the Kwangtung province where great quantities of cotton could be grown if it were substituted for existing crops. The projected Hongkong-Kowloon railway...
Page 108