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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
8
A reference to paragraph 12 of Mr. Bruce Shepherd's memorandum (Appendix No. VIII) shows that farmers or tenants have made a stand against the clans, their landlords. He states: "The clans and farmers agree that the farmers are absolute owners of the soil in perpetuity, but have been paying money or produce to the clans for generations, which the clans claim to be rent payable to them. The case for the farmers is that the land is and always has been theirs absolutely, free from rent, and that the amount paid by them to the clans was the Government land tax, which they claim to pay direct to the Hongkong Government without the intervention of the clans." It is hoped that some way out of this difficulty will soon be found.
A further source of delay has arisen from the fact that much of the land under cultivation has never been reported to, or registered by, the Chinese Government. According to Chinese law all cultivated land must be registered, and should any land be discovered that has not been registered, the Government either enforces registration or confiscates the property, after due notice has been given and a reasonable time allowed for registration. Long experience of their own Government methods has made the inhabitants distrustful of officials generally—a distrust which cannot be easily overcome at once, and which will require time to remove entirely. This want of faith in the justice of Government, and the fact that they are the possessors of land which has not been registered, have made owners most reluctant to report their land. They are afraid that the Government, having learned all the circumstances, might resume possession of their holdings.
Delay has also been due to disputes between individual landlords, as distinct from clans, and tenants as to whether rent is to be paid to the landlords or to the Government. These disputes have arisen owing to the tenants having confounded the rent due to their landlords and Crown rent due to the Government. The tenants have been under the impression that, if they made payment to the Government, they would not have to pay rent to their landlords. They thought that, if they paid taxes directly to the Government, they would forthwith be regarded as the owners of the land, because, according to Chinese law or custom, whoever pays the tax on any land is regarded as the owner of that land. They hoped by this step they would gain the land and be freed from the payment of rent to their landlords.
The landlords, being afraid of losing their rent as well as their land, were in great perplexity. Moreover, they did not seem to know for certain whether the tenants had the sanction of the Government for refusing to pay rent. At first they seemed inclined to refrain from reporting their claims to land altogether, but they finally represented the matter to Government, as did also the tenants on their side, the work of land registration being in the meantime at a standstill. At this juncture the proclamation, dated the 20th of October, was issued, informing tenants that they should pay their rents to their landlords as heretofore (see Appendix No. XI).*
This proclamation proved so satisfactory that the work of registration of claims proceeded rapidly.
The small owners of land have shown themselves the most eager and willing to report, while the large owners of land and the clans have not been so prompt, and have always asked for time to find out particulars regarding their property, of which they are ignorant. As a rule, the tenants of the clans have extended the area of land cultivated by them without having informed the clans. The result is that the returns furnished by the clans and their tenants seldom agree, the returns from the clans showing much less land under cultivation than that returned by their tenants. This is owing to the clans being willing to pay Crown rent only on such land as was originally leased to the tenants, while at the same time they receive increased rent from their tenants for their encroachments. Under these circumstances, the importance of obtaining returns from both landlords and tenants, so that they may check each other, is obvious.
So far as can be judged, the areas reported have never been exact owing to lack of surveys and any fixed standard of measurement, the deeds of sale in many cases reciting that the boundaries are clearly defined but that the area has not yet been ascertained.
Up to the 20th January last Mr. Messer had registered at Táipó 21,736 claims and Mr. Kemp at Ping-shán 5,613 claims.
It was thought advisable to have the question of claims settled before proceeding to collect any Crown rent.
Crown rent. Now that such satisfactory progress has been made with the
• Not printed.