638
262
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
PAPERS RELATING TO
128. Accordingly in the summer of 1877 I advised the officer then in temporary charge of the plantations that, on sanitary and other grounds, the operation of the so-called Forest Department should be extended. In reply to my inquiries on the subject, he had informed me that the waste lands of the Colony capable of being wooded comprised about 10,000 acres, and the average number of seedling trees planted per annum was about 15,000. In his report of August 1877, he said:—
"If our planting operations were continued at their present tortoise speed, viz., at the rate of 15,000 trees a year, it would take us 1,100 years to complete the job."
129. In laying this Report before the Legislative Council in November 1877, I expressed the opinion that the time had come when the Colony should deal in a more comprehensive manner with the question of tree planting, that with an adequate annual vote for forming nurseries for seedlings and paying a regularly organized staff of tree planters, we should be able in a few years to transform the appearance of the Colony and permanently improve its sanitary condition. The Legislative Council not only sanctioned an immediate vote of $2,000 but, having watched its beneficial effect, they have allowed me to increase it from year to year, and they have now agreed to an expenditure of $10,000 a year on tree planting, instead of an annual expenditure of about $700, which had been allowed up to 1877.
130. That afforestation has been taken thoroughly in hand, your Lordship will have seen from Mr. Ford's recent reports. Instead of planting out 15,000 trees per annum, Mr. Ford has planted 781,986 this year.
131. With the co-operation of the Chinese farmers in Hong Kong, to which the Superintendent refers in his report, it will, I trust, be possible to plant for the future a million trees per annum. If we can proceed at that rate, it will only take 10 years to fairly plant the Island.
132. I have not confined the planting to the native pine tree, the Pinus Sinensis, only. Bamboos are planted in ravines as well as on the steepest hills and hill tops, and the Banyan tree along the road sides. Some of the latter that have been transplanted this year to the roads leading from each end of the town have been successfully moved considerable distances, though with trunks from 4 to 7 feet in girth.
133. The success with which this fine shade-giving tree can be transplanted, even when 30 feet high, makes it possible to transform glaring roads into green avenues with a rapidity that would surprise arboriculturists in Europe. The nurseries contain seedlings of indigenous oaks, Casuarinas, and other hardy and valuable timber trees.
134. Three years ago, about 1,000 cocoa-nut palms were planted on Stone Cutters' Island at Bowrington, and close to the village of Aberdeen, and some are now being planted along the sea beach to the east of the town of Victoria. These trees will