PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE. REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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village of Kam T'in. The Un-Long river is navigable by small junks as far as Un Long, a market town three miles distant from Deep Bay to the north.
The Kam T'in river has a depth of from three to six feet at high tide all the way from its mouth in Deep Bay to the town of Kam T'in, a distance of about six miles.
The first steamer that ever went up this river was the pinnace of H.M.S. Plover, which had no difficulty in conveying the members of the Commission as far as the market town of Kam Tin, with a cutter in tow.
Within the basins of these two river systems are found the most fertile soil and the most populous villages in the area about to be leased.
WATER SUPPLY.
The water supply appears to be excellent everywhere. During the month of August, when the inspection of the territory was made, there were streams of water pouring down the hill sides in every direction, and the village wells contained ample water, as a rule within six or eight feet of the surface. Sufficient water to raise two crops of rice a year seems always to be available throughout the district.
It is probable that the high mountain ranges attract more rain clouds from the China Sea during the south-west monsoon than is the case at Hong Kong, where the average rainfall is 90 inches. Mr. Ormsby is of opinion that in many places the con- struction of storage reservoirs, if required, will be a simple matter. He considers that the construction of such a reservoir on the southern or eastern slope of Taimò Shán for the supply of Kowloon is very desirable, in order to meet the wants of the rapidly in- creasing towns on that peninsula, by gravitation, and thus set free the large acreage now reserved as a catchment area, and render it possible to dispense with the present expensive pumping establishment.
IRRIGATION.
Irrigation of the paddy fields is effected simply by leading the water along the sides of the hills by means of channels, from which the water is allowed to run on to the terraced fields as required. In addition to the ordinary paddy fields in the valleys, works of reclamation have been carried out, by which a large quantity of land has been reclaimed from the sea. Walls of rough rubble, backed by earth, have been constructed to keep out the water. Along the top of these embankments there is a foot path, and sluices made of timber planking sliding in grooves cut into the stone side walls enable the villagers to keep out the sea and get rid of their surplus fresh water at low tide. By the improvement and extension of such works of reclamation, many large areas could be brought under cultivation.
GEOLOGY.
An interesting report by Mr. Ormsby on the geology of the district will be found in Appendix II.
I agree with him that a mining expert should be deputed to examine and report on the minerals in the territory. There is no such expert at present resident in Hong Kong, so it will be necessary to secure the services of a suitable person at home.
Son.
The soil is formed from the decomposition of volcanic trap rock in the north-east and east, and is alluvial in the broad valleys drained by the Sham Chun and Un-Long rivers. It is generally fertile, and yields annually two crops of rice. Even the hillside are in many places brought under cultivation, and rice was found growing at a height of over 1,200 feet.
By the Chinese the soil is divided into three classes, and is taxed according to its quality. The first class is supposed to pay about 36 cents per acre; the second clas about 24 cents, and the third class about 15 cents per acre. In reality, fully double these amounts are levied, though not officially accounted for.
Payment in kind is also made, but this payment is commuted for a money payment at the rate of 4.8 taels, or $6.67 per picul of rice (a picul is equal to 1 bushel 2 pecks 2 quarts).
PRODUCTS.
Rice is the principal article of cultivation, and the quality of this product is so highly esteemed that à quantity of it is exported to San Francisco for the use of the See Photographs, Album I., Nos. 10, 11, 14, 15.
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Chinese resident there. There is also a large area of land devoted to the growing of sugar cane, indigo, hemp, peanuts, potatoes of different varieties, yam, taro, beans, sesamum, pumpkins, and vegetables of all kinds.
Experiments are now being made to ascertain whether the cotton plant will flourish in the newly-leased area, and there seems to be no reason, as far as soil and climate are concerned, why these experiments should not succeed. If they are successful, the cotton mill which is now being erected in Hong Kong would find this a convenient source of supply for at any rate a portion of its raw material.
FRUITS.
The fruits are pumeloes, pineapples, oranges, lungngans, pears, lichis, persimmons, pomegranates, wongp'is, and mangoes.
VEGETATION.
The mountain ranges and lower hills are covered with vegetation, and cultivation is found high up on the hill sides. In some places a crop of rice was growing at an elevation of 1,300 feet, and on the northern slope of the Taimò Shán range tea and pine apple were observed growing at an elevation of 1,500 feet. The range of Taimò Shán, stretching to the west towards Castle Peak Bay, is covered with good grass, which appeared to be such as would suit cattle, horses, and sheep, many thousands of which could find pasturage on the slopes of these hills. At present cattle are used entirely for agricultural purposes. The animals seen were small and well shaped, and generally black or red in colour. Their good condition showed the excellence of the pasturage. In the poorer and rocky soil the hills are covered with bracken and ferns, and in the sheltered ravines with brushwood and scrub jungle. There are no extensive forests, but some of the lower hills are clothed with pine trees, and round many of the villages are found thick clumps of well-grown trees and groves of bamboo.
CULTIVATED LAND.
The valleys* between the hills and the land between the bases of the hills and the sea are all under cultivation. It is impossible in the absence of any reliable statistics to form an accurate estimate of the extent of land under cultivation. The land registers of the district, which ought to be a reliable guide, are worse than useless, as they contain not more than half the land under cultivation. When the Chief Secretary of the Land and Revenue Department of the District was pressed on this point, he stated that the land under cultivation was about double the amount shown in the registers. These give the land under cultivation in the San On District, on which taxes are paid, in round figures, as 420,000 mau,t or, say, 60,000 acres, the double of which would make 840,000 mau, or 120,000 acres. Taking the area to be leased as three-fifths of the whole of the district of San On, the total extent of land under cultivation in that area would amount to 504,000 mau, or 72,000 acres. The total area of the new territory is 376 square miles, or 240,640 acres. Deducting the land under cultivation, viz., 72,000 acres, from the total area, 240,640 acres, leaves a balance of 108,640 acres available as Crown land.
This calculation presumes that all the land under cultivation is owned by private individuals, but from inquiries made, there is reason, to believe that a considerable portion of cultivated land is held without any proper title, and that most of, if not all, the land reclaimed from the sea has never been officially reported to the Government. Both classes of land, though fairly large in extent, have hitherto, it is understood, evaded the payment of taxes.
The land question will be a difficult one to deal with, and as it will affect practi- cally the entire population, the members of which are particularly sensitive on the subject of their holdings, it should be taken in hand at once, and settled as quickly as Dossible.
To do this effectively, and in a manner that will be satisfactory to both the Govern- nent and the owners of property, it will be necessary to hold an inquiry into each title. Such inquiry will involve an accurate survey of each holding, and, as the quantity of land held by individuals is, as a rule, very small, it will require much time and labour to complete the necessary surveys.
* For Views of Valleys, see Album I., Nos. 10, 17, 20; Album II., Nos. 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 23.
† 6.61 mau ➡ ] English acre. For convenience of calculation, 7 mau have been taken as the
•quivalent of 1 acre.