373
33225
SIB,
No. 280.
COLONIAL OFFICE to FOREIGN OFFICE.
[Answered by No. 283.]
Downing Street, December 8, 1899. WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 4th instant,* respect- ing the cessation of Chinese jurisdiction in Kowloon City, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquess of Salisbury, a copy of a lettert which has been addressed to the Law Officers of the Crown, sub- mitting the draft of an Order in Council to amend the Order in Council of the 20th October, 1898, making provision for the Government of the territories leased to Her Majesty's Government by the Emperor of China.
2. I am also to enclose a copy of the reply, which has been received from the Law Officers, returning the draft as amended by them, and to say that with Lord Salisbury's concurrence Mr. Chamberlain now proposes to submit this Order in Council for Her Majesty's approval.
34629
No. 282.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received December 13, 1899.)
SIB,
Foreign Office, December 12, 1899. I HAVE laid before the Marquess of Salisbury your letter 32959/99 of the 4th instant, relative to the desire of the Chinese Government to resume jurisdiction in the city of Kowloon.
I am to state, for the information of Mr. Secretary Chamberlain, that the Chinese Minister, having been informed repeatedly that Her Majesty's Government could not comply with the wishes of his Government in this matter, Lord Salisbury decided to leave Sir Chibchen Loh Feng-luh's note of the 14th ultimo unanswered.
I am, &c.,
FRANCIS BERTIE.
I am, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
34747
No. 238.
34482.
No. 281.
GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE to MR. CHAMBERLAIN. (Received December 11, 1899.)
(No. 321.) SIR,
Government House, Hong Kong, November 10, 1899. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 201, of the 22nd September,§ in the second paragraph of which you ask for an estimate of the revenue to be derived from Crown rents payable on agricultural land in the New Territories.
2. Until the lands in question have been fully and accurately surveyed, it will be difficult to state even approximately the acreage of arable land, and it is of course im- possible to state with exactness the amount of revenue to be derived therefrom until such acreage has been determined. A task which would not be an easy one in any country which has never been subjected to a careful survey, becomes an exceedingly diffi- cult one in the case of an area deeply indented with bays and traversed by numerous valleys, defiles, and watercourses. Roughly speaking, the area of the mainland is 280 square miles or 183,040 acres. An equally rough estimate gives only one-tenth of this total area as arable, in spite of the fact that cultivation is carried on with characteristic endeavour to utilize every available land by means of fertilization, by the creation of elaborate terraces on mountain slopes, and by irrigation.
3. If these estimates are approximately correct, the total acreage of agricultural land upon which Crown rent will be payable is 18,304 acres; and the total annual Crown rent derived therefrom will be about $48,000. To what extent this may be increased by the introduction of newer and more scientific methods of cultivation, it is impossible to say; though it must be remembered that the Chinese are particularly slow to adopt innovations. Western science, moreover, is not always adaptable to the cultivation of rice or to the necessary conditions of Chinese agriculture.
4. The uncertainty which must at present attach to all speculations as to the revenues to be derived from the New Territories will no longer exist when the land has been surveyed. The officials who have recently arrived from India for the purpose of undertaking this important work are already engaged on their preliminary arrange
I have, &c.,
HENRY A. BLAKE,
ments.
Governor, &c.
SIE,
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received December 14, 1899.)
Foreign Office, December 13, 1899. I HAVE laid before the Marquess of Salisbury your letter 33225/99 of the 8th instant,† and I am directed by His Lordship to inform you that he concurs in the terms of the draft Order in Council relative to the territory near Hong Kong leased to Her Majesty's Government which Mr. Secretary Chamberlain proposes to submit for the Queen's approval.
I am to call attention to a clerical error on page 2 of the draft Order in Council, where "stations" should apparently be “ stationed.”
The draft is returned herein.
34997.
No. 284.
I am, &c.,
FRANCIS BERTIE.
GOVERNOR SIR H. A. BLAKE to Mr. CHAMBERLAIN.
(Received December 18, 1899.)
(No. 327.)
[Answered by No. 287.]
SIB,
Government House, Hong Kong, November 15, 1809. WITH reference to the second paragraph of your despatch, No. 234, of the 18th ultimo,‡ I have the honour to inform you that I do not propose to obtain more than one or two of the sugar mills referred to, and that it is intended to pay for them in the first instance out of colonial funds. These mills will not be given to the Chinese, bat lent to them for a sufficiently long period to have their utility proved and to interest the native sugar refiners in their working. If their introduction yielda `satisfactory results, the mills will be sold.
I may add that this system worked well with cotton gins in the Bahamas.
HENRY A. BLAKE.
I have, &c.,
Governor, dio
• No. 279.
+ No. 278.
↑ 30480; not printed.
No. 246.
• No. 279.
↑ No. 280.
‡ No. 257.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TILLC.O. 882
لسلتسليينا
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH--NOT TO
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