Secretariat file No.25/4841/47 •
50. 244
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG.
Brd
544-5/17
October, 1947.
3
13
(31) a 19275/90/1/+7
sir,
I have the honour to refer to Mr. MacDougall's telegram No.1169 of 18th July, 1947, and to my despatch No.207 of 1st September, 1947, on the subject of the recommendations of the Hong Kong Colonial Development and Welfare Committee and to forward for your consideration an interim report, dated 9th October, 1947, by the Chairman.
2.
It will be observed that the recommendations contained in this report envisage a total expenditure of £500,000 and are confined to projects which, for geographical reasons, are outside the scope of Sir Patrick Abercrombie's forthcoming survey. Proposals for development in the urban areas of the Colony must necessarily be subject to revision in the light of whatever recommendations Sir Patrick Abercrombie may make, but this consideration does not apply to the recommendations now put forward, and bearing in mind the instructions contained in paragraph 15 of Lord Hall's circular despatch of 12th November, 1945, I should not feel justified in delaying the submission of the schemes proposed in the report until those for the urban area had been formulated and submitted to the inspection mentioned above. I therefore now commend the proposals contained in the enclosed report to your early consideration. Nothing is included for educational and medical schemes in the New Territories, for the reason that it is considered better that these should be dealt with as a whole for both the urban and rural areas, and the former necessarily depends to some extent on the outcome of Sir Patrick Abercrombie's survey.
3.
The opportunity for development which is afforded at the present time is an unique one and there is room for ambitious projects to benefit the fishing and agricultural population on whose economy the enemy occupation had a progressively disastrous effect. Indeed the fishing industry came almost to a standstill, and the land became progressively less productive through lack of fertilisers and other causes. The needs of fishing and agriculture have been given a high priority in this Government's post-war policy and the operation of a scheme for the wholesale marketing of fish has been observe by your Fisheries Adviser who will no doubt have reported to you on its potentialities. A similar scheme for the marketing of vegetables is in operation and other projects include the establishment of co-operatives, the maintenance of a pig-breeding station and the organisation of a system for supplying matured urban night soil for the use of fertiliser. The proposals now recommended seek to extend and to amplify, to a degree beyond the means of the Colony's present finances, the existing project: for the development of the natural resources of the rural areas.
I feel that I should point out that development schemes are circumscribed by considerations of the uncertainty
Kurs
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
RECEIVED 4 NOV .47
A. CREECH JONES, M.P.
of