1904-1919
HONG KONG, 1909.
149
15
Shade trees in Kowloon and Hong Kong have been replanted where necessary. Large quantities of brushwood have been removed from the plantations in various parts of the Colony and given to the villagers as payment for work done by them for the Government. A contract extending over three years has been made whereby 710 acres of old pine tree plantations at Mount Davis, Aberdeen, and Tytam have been sold for felling. Several hundred thousand square feet of brushwood have been cleared in the neighbourhood of dwellings at Shaukiwan, West Point, the Peak, and elsewhere, in connection with the crusade against mosquitoes and malaria.
The crops of vegetables, rice, and fruits in the New Territories have not been so good as in the previous year.
Lists and samples of local plants and vegetable drugs were prepared and submitted to the Honourable Dr. Ho Kai, who was good enough to make a prolonged investigation into their uses by Chinese druggists and herbalists. The lists with Dr. Ho Kai's recommendations as to which of the plants and drugs were worthy of scientific investigation were then forwarded to the Director of the Imperial Institute, London, for report as to whether any of them contained medicinal or toxic qualities, or had economic value. The lists were sent by the Imperial Institute to the Pharmacopoeia Committee of the General Medical Council, who reported that there were not sufficient indications of the extent or employment of individual plants to justify the inclusion of any of them in the Colonial Addendum to the British Pharmacopoeia. Professor Dunstan added that none of the plants seemed likely to yield products of economic value which are not already known.
Seeds of Aleurites Fordii, Aleurites cordata, Soja hispida, and Perilla ocymoides, barks of Aleurites Fordii, Aleurites cordata, and Aleurites triloba, as well as several kinds of vegetable oils were also sent to the Director of the Imperial Institute for a report as to their commercial value and suitability for the English market.
Work on the flora of Hong Kong, the New Territories and province has been carried on during the year, and a list with a key to the species, genera, and orders is now nearly complete.
(e)-LAND GRANTS AND GENERAL Value of Land.
The net amount received from sales of Crown Land and pier rights after deducting expenses of sales was $40,665, a decrease of $28,693 on the previous year and $155,230 less than the average amount received for the last 5 years. Of this amount $14,401 was received in respect of the sale of various pier sites and extensions to existing piers, $5,318 was received in respect of sales of land in the New Territories, and the remainder from sales of new lots of Crown Land and grants of extensions to existing lots in the island of Hong Kong and Old Kowloon. The chief items were received in respect of sales of building lots in Hollywood Road (Inland Lot No. 1836) and at Shaukiwan (Shaukiwan Inland Lot No. 418).
There has been little demand for new building sites in the City but a general improvement in the land market appears to have