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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS-MISCELLANEOUS.
SOME NOTES ON LAND TENURE IN THE NEW TERRITORY.
General Theory of Chinese Tenure.
It is the commonly received opinion that in China the Crown is the universal landlord in whom the ultimate ownership of all landed property is vested.
Williams says (Middle Kingdom Vol. II., pp. 1-2):
The land is all held directly from the Crown, no allodial property being acknowledged; if mesne lords existed in feudal times they are now unknown. The conditions of common tenure are, the payment of an annual tax; the fee for alienation; a money composition for personal service to the Government, a charge generally incorporated with the direct tax as a kind of scutage. The proprietors of land record their names in the district and take out a ‘hung-k'i,' or red deed, which secures them in possession as long as the ground tax is paid," that is to say that land once granted by the Crown remained the property of the grantee as long as but no longer than Crown Rent was paid on it.
2. In many parts of the Empire and notably in the San On District of the Kuang Tung Province there are large tracts of land so infertile as to possess hardly even a nominal value. These lands it would be the natural desire of Government to see taken up on almost any terms and it is not surprising to find that it was the custom for a grant of such lands to be made to proper persons without premium on their complying with the regulations laid down for applicants.
The name of the person applying was entered on the register with the area desired—a description of the land—and the class of tax proper to be paid.
The following extract from a translation by T. T. Meadows of the Provincial Laws and Regulations of the Province of Kuang Tung, published in 1846 by the Governor and Governor General, gives the prescribed form of application for persons wishing to take up land hitherto uncultivated:
(a.) The party who intends bringing a piece of land, no matter of what extent, into cultivation, must first repair to the local authority and present a statement containing his individual and family names, and indicating the piece in question; which will then be registered as ground being brought under cultivation. After it has been brought into cultivation, so as to form a regular piece, a plan must be drawn showing its extent in every direction, which must be presented to the local authority, with the request that it may be surveyed: and the latter will after the survey grant a deed placing the cultivator in full possession.
(b.) Odd patches not forming complete lots, the extent of which does not perhaps amount to 10 mau, and which are barely fit for growing vegetables and miscellaneous produce, need not be reported, &c., &c., as above, at the time their cultivation is undertaken, but only after they have been reclaimed; an exemption granted, "in order to manifest compassion for the cultivators." Whoever has at a former period spent labour and money in cultivating any such piece of land without the cognizance of the authorities, and who has succeeded in reclaiming it, shall be allowed to give information thereof; on which the land in question will be surveyed, and a deed given for it by the local authorities.