29
Loure 2.
broadens northwards, a belt of low lying cultivation appears
between the foothills and the flats. Further north the main Kowloon mountain range sets a sharp limit to any large scale of development. The most intractable of the foothills lie, unfortunately, in the south of the peninsula, but notwith- standing this the whole aree south of the Old Boundary has been or is being fully developed. It was, therefore, imperative that the scheme of development should push on into the area known as New Kowloon, comprising roughly all the land between the Old Boundary and the main Kowloon mountain range, and being part of the Territories leased under the Convention. Here the foothills are lower and more tractable and a considerable amount of housing accommodation could no doubt have been provided on those hills themselves which are indisputably Crown property. But it would have been very haphazard and scattered accommodation and by reason of its distance from the sea and from the ferries connecting Kowloon with the main business-area in Victoria, quite useless to the working population. Moreover the continued presence of the swampy cultivation in the centre and on the flanks of these foothills would have constituted a very grave sanitary menace. Mosquitoes swarm in such country and the consequent risk of malaria would alone be sufficient to veto such a system, or rather absence of system, of development. The enclosed plans and photographs will give
7.
a clear picture of the New Kowloon terrain. Photograph D shows in the nearer background the barren but workable foothills. In the centre is the native village of Kau Lung (Kowloon) Tsai, and on the near side of it the remains of one of the swampy gullies of cultivation. Beyond it is the New Kowloon Tong Garden City. The formation level requisite for proper drainage is shewn by the newly made land in front
of