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Conclosure 6.
Enclosure 7
373
houses at a low rate of interest, the money being repayable
by instalments over a series of years. The advantage of such
a scheme from the point of view of public health would be
that the Government could insist on the type of house to ba
built, could limit the number of inmates and could regulate
the rents to be charged for each house or part of a house. I
brought this proposal before the members of the Legislative
Council in a memorandum of which I enclose a copy and I have
since received a letter from Mr. Holyoak, the Senior Un-
-official Member in the Colony, of which I also enclose a copy. I am not disposed to recommend the loan of public funds
for the purpose of building houses for European occupation,
or for well-to-do Chinese. The overcrowding which is a menace
to the public health occurs among the small shop-keeping,
industrial, and labouring population md it is for that
portion of the community only that I advocate Government
assistance. For do I agree with the Unofficial Members that
there would be any advantage in reclaiming the area between Mongkoktsui and Taikok tsui in preference to the reclamation beyond Shamshuipo. Both reclamations can proceed together
and will form one continuous stretch of land. The reclama-
-tion recommended on the North side of Aplichau Island is a
comparatively small matter, that can be dealt with separate-
-ly.
12.
The new ferry service between Shamshuipo
and Victoria is to be inaugurated on the 1st. of January
next and will provide rapid and cheap means of transit. There
will also exist, I hope, before very long a good service of
tram cars throughout the Kowloon peninsula, and it will there-
-fore be possible for considerable numbers of persons living between Shanshuipo and Laichikok to go to and from their business in Victoria and Kowloon at a small cost. My main
object,