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REPORT of the Committee appointed to advise the
Government as to whether any and if so what relief er
monetary assistance should be granted to the Kowloon
Tong & Now Territories Development Company, Limited, or
to the Subscribers te the Kowloon Tong Scheme.
The Kowloon Tong Scheme took definite shape in the year
1922.
Its object was to build houses for persons of small
means whose work or circumstances caused them to regard
the Colony as their home, and to enable such persens te
reside in their own houses or homes in more healthy and
pleasant surroundings than the usual alternative, namely,
flats, Chinese or otherwise, in congested areas, and
directly or indirectly to relieve the housing shortage
which at the time was a question of considerable moment.
The scheme contemplated a small community, living in
detached or semi-detached houses with small gardens, and
enjoying a common recreation ground.
For any such scheme a comparatively large arxa and
more or less level area was required. There was no
available land on the Island of Hong Kong. Cheap land
and the further requirement of nearness and easy access
to the City of Victoria, to enable workers to get to their
work, resulted in the selection of Kowloon Tong on the
south or Island side of the Kowloon range of hills, about
two miles from the Kowloon Point Hong Kong ferry and
about one and a half miles from the Yaumati- Hong Kong
ferry.
-
The late Mr C. Montague Ede, Manager of the Union
Insurance Society of Canton, Limited, interested himself
in the scheme. Almost until the conclusion of the agree-
ment with the Crown hereinafter mentioned Mr Ede had the
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