J 2
These generally behaved tamely, but in one case a servant blew a whistle and sounded a drum, unfortunately without effect. The articles stolen included money, jewellery, and clothing. The leader was finally arrested on information, and two others of the gangsters rounded up. They were all Hakka from Chinese Territory. At the sessions the leader was sentenced to a total of five years' hard labour and the other two to three and a half and three years respectively.
In October a bold deliberate attempt was made to steal cash, $9,000, which was being taken by motor-van carrying an armed guard to the mine at Lin Ma Hang as the month's pay of the employees there. Four men, at least two of whom were armed with revolvers, suddenly attacked the van as it came round a bend in the road not far south-east of Tai Po. At the sessions each of the three apprehended was sentenced to ten years' hard labour. They were all Hakka, from Waiyeung.
4. 128 deaths in unusual circumstances were reported over twice as many as in 1937, when the number was greater than ever before. It must be noted, however, that the figures given under this head in 1937 did not include the victims of the Typhoon of the 2nd of September. The very high figure for 1938 is explained chiefly by mortality among refugees, especially their children.
19 death inquiries were held, as against 11 in 1937, and an average of under 5 a year for the eight years preceding that.
Two
There were twelve deaths on the roads and an equal number by drowning. Seven persons were killed on the railway, and five miners were killed at the mine at Lin Ma Hang, chiefly by falls of rock. Four persons were killed by gunfire in this District during the Japanese attack on Sham Chun and Lo Wu on the 26th of November. There were four verdicts incriminating "a person, or persons, unknown." Young married women, both Hakka living on the northern shores of Tolo Harbour, being unhappy in the families into which they had married, committed suicide by swallowing the leaves of a plant called gelsemium elegans benth., whose common local Hakka names are t'ai ch'a yok (= big tea medicine), or ch'ai ch'a yok (= pluck tea medicine). This plant apparently occurs at infrequent intervals in the hills and is familiar to the experienced as an occasional food for pigs and a fatal poison for human beings. As a poison it turned out to be well known to the Government Analyst, whose records showed that it had at intervals in the Colony's history been used in criminal poisonings.
5. The Small Debts Court was busier than the year before: 125 cases and 30 distress warrants compared with 87 cases and 21 distress warrants.
LAND AND AGRICULTURE.
The
6. Statistics regarding the sale, etc., of Crown Land are shown in Appendix X. There was a marked rise in the value of land throughout the District. This fact was apparent in the prices paid in the private transactions registered in this land registry as well as in the sale of Crown Land, much more of which was sold than in 1937, and at higher premia and rates of Crown Rent. A pleasing feature was the increased demand for Crown Land for planting orchards. Purchasers are almost without exception townspeople, and much capital is thus sunk in the District. The result is to make productive and beautiful areas, always the lower slopes of hills or mountains, which have hitherto been barren or at best thinly planted with pine trees. If his orchard grows successfully, the owner often builds a house there. The estate then catches the eye of another townsman or returned emigrant with money to invest; and there is reason to hope that the planting of orchards in the New Territories will increase as the facilities become better known. The chief obstacle is lack of water.
Over seventy acres of marshy land were sold in the neighbourhood of Yuen Long for conversion into fish ponds.
18