green verdure at the present time, and the sea, there is a strip of sandy soil, not many ards wide, along which meanders in uare- strained freedom the main road' from Samahaipo to Liobikok. The land is flat, and will require very little making up for building purposes. From the neighbouring billa an excellent and perennial flow of fresh water ought to be enjoyed at all essons of the year. This land, together with a portion of the foreshore, is held by three separate and distinct Chinese com. panies the Tung Fuk, the Fak Tio and the Oo Fuk. Altogether it is about two milos long and perhaps two hundred yarda wide. So far as we have been able to dia- ouver, the load of the Tung Fuk Company was originally held by Tang Blu, the Co. lonel of the Kwong Chau-fu Prefecture. After his death, the management was taken over by Tang Lai Un. We have the Chin. ere measurements of the property, but it is manecessary to repeat these in detail. A Company has been formed by Wai Yuk Ting, Wong Ho Chun, Cheung Chung Mi, Lam Hang Fong, Mak Ngan Wan, and Tang Lai Uo, the latter of whom might, in Company prospective phraseology, be re- ferred to as 'the original vendor.' This Company takes over the ground on the oon. dition that it pays $1300 a year to the Tung cluo, a sum of $13,000 to be paid within the first four years. In addition to this, the five Directore, exclusive of the original vendor, agree to pay a num of $400 a year sach to the five principal men of the To Hing Tong (the committee of the clan having charge of the ancestral worship, &o.), the aggregate of the frat ten years to be paid within four years. The capital of Company is $50,000, made up of 400 or dinary shares of the value of 860 ench, eix founders' shares of $3000 each, leaving a balance to be taken up of $12,000. The Com- pany expects, to repay itself by selling lots of 60 feet by 15 for about $60 each, with au annual ground rent of from $2 to $2.60.
The Fuk Tio lot consists of about 60 mow. It was purchased by Li Yuk Hang. of the Lai Hing firm in Hongkong, from the Hakka and Punti inhabitants, for 6000 or $7000. We were informed that this property consisted of inland lots lying to the north of the Tung Fuk properly, from which it was said to be divided by the publle road (an ill-defined, irregular foot. path) leading from Samshuipo to Laiuhtkok, but an examination of the boundafy stolen leads us to believe that if the two Oom. panies wish to avoid protracted litigation in the Hongkong law sourts and to escape the tender mercies of Hongkong lawyers, they should endeavour to have an immediate 'reatifcation of boundaries.'
The holding of the On Fuk Company lies. nherent to Bamahyipo. It consists of ten Baglish aores (there or thereabouts), and was purebaued for 10,000. The four
purchasers
purchasers are Fung Bau Bang, Tang Ying Sang, Mak Ngan Wan and Wai Yuk Ting. It will be seen that the two last-mentioned gentlemen figure on the directorate of the larger Tung Fak Company, and we believe negotiations are in progress for the smal gamation of the three concerns.
It may perhaps be noticed that neither the name of Mr Ho Amei nor that of Mr Li Sing appear at all. What in their con- nection with Li-town' Why does Mr Ho Amei soratch Mr Li Sing's back?
Do
To return to the published description in our contemporary: It is there stated, Considerable headway has now been made, and already several soores of houses have been almost completed. The house are being made with bricks and good mortar, with tile roofs, two stories high, and with ample air-space between each block. We have no intention of doubting Mr Ho Amei our esteemed evening con- temporary; but we were at the site of the new city (by our representative) so re cantly as Saturday last, and we JAW houses made with brick and good mortar, no houses made of anything, in fact. The air- space was ample, liberal for a Chinese city! Indeed, there was not a single brick placed in position. If we had been gifted with a pair o' pitent double million magnifyin'. gas microscopes of hextra power' we might perhaps have seen theeveral scores of houses' mentioned by Mr Ho Amei, but beyond a new junk-building yard about a milo away, just below the Ĺsichikok Our- toms bungalow, there is not a new honse or building of any sort within sight! Quoting again from our contemporary (which we do not blame in the least for pablishing this full and particular account of the mythical city), No attempt has yet been made to reclaim the foreshore for the reason that the managers of what you may possibly term Li-town have not yet finished levelling the area on which it is intended to build several hundred houses, There is an element of truth about this, But it so happens that the only visible work our representative saw consisted of over half-a-mile of dykes enclosing a con- siderable portion of the foreshore, with gape at intervals, ready for the reception of reclaiming debris The levelling was not finished certainly; so far as we saw, it had not begun 1 However, that is the merest detail. It is a discrepancy which time will reotify 1 The materiala, especially the bricks and timber, have been obtained at a great bargain." Here we get down to solid fact, at last. The bricks and timber were bought at Taipingaban and consist of debris from the condemned plague houses! questioned the men who were carrying the relics ashore, to verify what we had been previously told in Hongkong. Possibly the bricks and timber from the Taipingehan houses may be innocuous, but if we are ever in the happy position of being able to build our own palatial residence, if there is one thing we will insist upon more than another it is that the bricks and timber shall come from a purer source than Tai. pingshan. We should think the respect- able Chinese of Hongkong will Book to the new suburb as soon as the fact of the origin of the building material becomes known, 'Hongkong's latest enterprise !!
Well, well, if Hongkong otonot rise above this it says little for the enterprise of its capi- talists.
&ta.
Wo
Our own information is that the Com- panies propose to make three alresta run- Ding parallel with the aes, each street to be about 25 feet wide. There is to be one main drain or sewer four and a half foot square, to be constructed of dressed granite, with branch drains of similar material. The houses are to be chiefly two stories in height, but there will be no restriction.
202
Persond
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference me
.537
ALLY WIRE BE REPRODUCTS "HOTR@TAPYBOS COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOI TO
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