383
ga 4 of my Confidential Despatch of the 1st March I have 20406.
177
6.
advocated the acquisition of this site for the purpose of building Government Quarters thereon, and you have, in your Confidential Despatch of the 7th May, approved the opening of negotiations with Sir R. Ho Tung for this purpose.
The necessity for keeping the Chinese away from the Peak is considerably stronger now than it was in 1904. The number of well-to-do Chinese, living with their wives and concubines in semi-European fashion, has largely increased and they have been steadily ousting the European from the so-called European Reservation on the lower levels. I may draw your attention in this connection to paragraph 2 of my Confidential Despatch of the 17th April, 1913, in which I advocated a European Reservation at Taipo. The Portuguese, by reason of their comparative poverty, were the first to go; as recoded in the petition by Mr. C. M. Ede which was enclosed in Mr. Severn's despatch No. 178 of the CAC9 3rd May, 1912. The Europeans in their turn have been very
12.
largely displaced, and almost all the well-built European
houses in the upper part of the Western End of the town
are now in Chinese occupation. The latest example is the
purchase by Sir R. Ho Tung of one of the best situated
bouses at West Point over the head of its occupier, a
prominent Europem resident, who has been in occupation for
twenty-two years but could not afford to pay the high price
esked. It is reported that this house also is to be given
to Sir R. Ho Tung's doughter on her marriage.
7.
h
The result has been that the demand by
Europeans for houses at the Peak gets more and more in
excess of the supply, and rents are continually rising. For
example, at the last general Assessment in 1914 the house
occupied by the Chief Justice was returned as having a
rental of 81,800. The rent is now $2,520. The First
Magistrate