396
C.
TELEGRAM foam kha Offisor Admini abozți 1200 advernment
of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State for the Colonies
RESS (Received Colonial Office 12.40 a 14tMarch, 1919)
General Officer Commanding has informed me
that by the end of this year accommodation may be required for about fifty married officers and their
families.. I have informed him that no accommodation
exista and that the housing of the European civil population already presents great difficulties. Pending settlement question of military land in the centre of Victoria and Kowloon I am strongly opposed
to any allotment of land to the War Department.
18
The
only solution I can suggest/that Government of Hong Kong should immediately erect about fifty flats of a semi permanent nature at cost not exceeding 500,000
dollars on crown land close to Kowloon point and on
the eastern side of King's Park. I submit this
proposal by telegram because the problem of housing Europeans is already most serious and it is not possible to accommodate a number of new families at short notice.
The flats if later not required by military authorities would be in immediate demand by civil servants and
civilians and at moderate rent ought to repay capital
and cost of upkeep in 10 years when buildings at Kowloon Point may have to be removed. It is calculated that the expenditure could be met this year out of savings under Public Works Extraordinary. Erection of buildings would be done by private firms under super-
vision of Government and should be completed by summer
of 1920. I am satisfied that from every point of view the immediate provision of such buildings would be most beneficial to the Colony.
SEVERN