Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
PAPERS RELATING TO
of compelling greater attention to security and sanitary requirements in the construction of buildings.
32. (c.) The Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance, 1889, is intended to make better provision for the acquirement of land for public purposes, and constitutes a tribunal of arbitration for the award of compensation. One of the principal objects of the measure is to facilitate a contemplated experiment having for its object a permanent improvement in the sanitary condition of the town. A large portion of the population is densely crowded in houses which are without yards or windows at the back, and which as regards five-sixths of the rooms are in perpetual and complete darkness. It is proposed to acquire one or more portions of land covered with such houses and to re-sell them (1) either after the replacement of the present houses by others constructed under better sanitary conditions, or (2) with an obligation attached to the purchase for the building of such houses. Probably the first alternative will have to be adopted at the outset; and if that should prove financially successful there would be comparatively little difficulty in respect of the second and more convenient one. It is hoped that the cost of reconstruction and the loss of building area from the provision of “back-yards” will be largely compensated by demand for the improved dwellings. If the event should prove otherwise the project need not be pushed further; but I apprehend that it would be worth some cost to the public to get rid of a grave scandal and a serious danger to the public health by the only method yet suggested which would not cause widespread distrust and discontent among the Chinese population. It will, however, be worth consideration in the future, whether a portion or all of the loss, if any, which may be incurred on resale should not be recouped by a special rate levied on the district benefited or by a quasi-penal rate on houses unprovided with back-yards.
33. (v.) The title of "The Protection of Women and Girls Ordinance, 1889," sufficiently explains itself. The system of purchasing or kidnapping girls, often of very tender age, for the purpose of training them to a life of prostitution seems to be generally prevalent in China, and its suppression in Hong Kong is attended with many difficulties. So many are interested in it, and so much of the extraordinary cunning of the Chinese is employed in concealing its operation, that its complete extinction at an early date can scarcely be anticipated. It is hoped, however, that this measure, which occupied many days in its consideration by the Executive and Legislative Councils, will at least impose a serious check upon it, and will eventually render this abominable trade too dangerous to be any longer attractive.
34. But while the greater part of this Ordinance may be hoped to be productive of unmixed good, there is one special provision of it, passed in deference to the present condition of public opinion in England, which I cannot conscientiously approve and in respect of which, therefore, I have felt it an obligatory duty to give