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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
20
The most common practice in the case of landowners who do not farm their own land is for them to let it out to tenants, who pay them a fixed rent in kind or in money, the amount of which is settled beforehand. In bad seasons the landlords grudgingly reduce their rent on being asked by their tenants, but they are not compelled to do so.
Small villages and hamlets often place themselves under the protection of large and influential clans, to which they refer all their complaints, and from which they expect assistance in case of attack, robbery, and lawsuits. In some instances the smaller villages pay their land tax to the Government through the influential clans.
These clans gain their local influence, not through numbers alone, but owing to the fact that certain of their members have official rank, gained through competitive examinations, or obtained by purchase, which keeps them in touch with the Magistrate and even higher officials.
The clans have, as before stated, claimed large tracts of land, which they have never occupied, but which they have leased in perpetuity to others, who undertake to bring the land under cultivation.
The greater part of the land claimed by clans was never registered, and, as a rule, it appears that no land tax was ever paid on this land to the Government. The cultivators, who have paid rent for years to the clans, in view of the fact that the land had not been registered, were afraid to dispute the rights of ownership, as they anticipated it would result in the land being resumed by Government, and they would thus be deprived of their right of cultivation.
Appendix IV.
ENGLISH VERSION
OF
CHINESE PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY HIS EXCELLENCY
SIR HENRY ARTHUR BLAKE, G.C.M.G., Governor, &c.
I, Sir HENRY ARTHUR BLAKE, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, hereby inform you, the landowners in the New Territories, that an Officer will visit the sub-districts for the purpose of registering landowners on a date due notice of which will be given to you. All
you who can show that you have had possession of landed property for some time must fill up a schedule in the following form :--
1. Name of owner.
2. Nature of title.
3. Date of lease or grant (if any).
4. Number of years in occupation. 5. Description of land.
6. Dimensions of land.
7. Situation of land.
When these schedules are distributed to a village, any person who claims land as his property must fill up a schedule and bring it in person to the Visiting Officer, when he comes to the village in which such person resides; and the Officer will make an entry in the register that such person is the owner and will add such other particulars as may be necessary. A list of those who have been registered as landowners in the village, and of their holdings, will be posted in the village for seven days, and afterwards an extract of the entry of each holding will be made to be handed to the owner. But before it is handed to the owner he must pay the amount of Crown Rent fixed as due by him. If no rent is paid, the land will be forfeited to the Government without fail.
If there is any unsettled dispute about property, the name of the person in actual possession will be registered, and he must pay the Crown Rent, but an extract of an
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