CO882-(4-5) — Page 497

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

PERC.O. 882

سائسنس

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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I recommend that, as soon as the territory has been taken over, a notice be issued informing the inhabitants that all claims to land must be filed in the Land Office within a period of six months, and that all lands not claimed within that period will revert to Government.

Wherever a claim is lodged, an inquiry into the title of the claimant should be held, and, if that is satisfactory, a survey of the land in question should be made.

To facilitate a speedy settlement of the land question, a large staff of surveyors should be engaged for the first year or two.

ISRANDS.

There are thirty-three islands within the leased territory. Some of these are unin habited, and most of them are very small and of little or no importance.

The total area of the islands is 90 square miles, and the estimated population 13,720.

The small islands, if inhabited, contain a few fishermen only, and are not cultivated. The six chief islands are:-

Tring I

Ma Wan

Lantaot

Ping Chau

Ch'eung Chau‡ Lamma...

Population.

400

400

6,860

600

5,000 460

The island of Lantao is about 15 miles long and 5 miles wide, being considerably larger than the island of Hong Kong, which is about 9 miles long and from 2 to 5 miles broad. Along the west coast are several towns and some cultivated land up to the base of the hills. These hills, which are really a continuation of the southern range of the mountain system of the San On district, present a most imposing appearance, and con- tain lofty peaks, the highest of which rises to an elevation of 3,050 feet. The two most flourishing towns in Lantao are Tung Chung, containing nine villages, the inhabitants of which are engaged in agriculture and fishing; and Tai Ŏ, the busiest town on the island, with a population of 3,000. The latter is a great fishing centre, and owing to the large number of fishing junks and other vessels that visit it, the shopkeepers seem to do a flourishing business. The only representatives of the Chinese Government on the island are two military officers, one, a captain, stationed at Tung Chung, the other, a Lieutenant stationed at Tai O, subject to the colonel commanding stationed at Taipang on the mainland. The island of Lantao contains magnificent building sites, and, as it is only five miles from Hong Kong, and open to the south-west monsoon during the hot months, it is not unlikely that the residents of Hong Kong may during the summer make use of this island, the fine white sandy beaches of which afford excellent sea-bathing.

The island of Cheung Chau is a busy place, at which many of the steamers, launches, and junks plying between Hong Kong and Macao call. There is a station of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs on this island, as there is also on the island of Ma Wan, commonly known as the Kap Shui Mun Station (see Map XI.).

The deep anchorage at Ch'eung Chau affords good shelter, especially during an easterly gale,

The island of Lamma, called by the Chinese Pok Liu, is four miles long and two miles wide. Near its centre it is so narrow that it is only a quarter of a mile across The chief bay is Picnic Bay, on the east side, which affords secure anchorage for a vessel in about 6 fathoms of water. This island has four villages, the largest of which has a population of about 250.

The island of Waglan, situated to the south-east of Hong Kong, has a lighthouse on it, which is at present under the control of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, and which will, I presume, in future be placed under the Harbour Master of Hong Kong.

Admiralty Chart No. 1180 (Map V.) gives clearly the size and position of all the islands within the new extension.

POPULATION.

There are no reliable statistics possessed by the Chinese Government of the present population of the San On District. No census appears to have been taken for many

• See Photographs, Album II., No. 8.

3

"

III.,

25, 27.

"

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II..

"

9, 11.

III..

,, 24, 28.

41

years. It has, therefore, been necessary to base an estimate of the population on inquiries made from the inhabitants of the villages and on personal inspection of the villages themselves. With these as guides it is estimated that the population of the new territory, including the Shan Chun and Shat'au Kok divisions, and allowing 5,000 for that portion of the Shat'au division, which will most probably be included in the new area, amounts in round figures to one hundred thousand (100,000).

Map VI., giving the population and divisions of the area to be leased, shows how this population is spread over the mainland and islands.

The population is contained in six main divisions, inhabiting 423 villages. These villages vary in population from 10 to 5,000 persons.

The eastern portion of the district, being more mountainous and less fertile, is not so thickly populated as the western portion. The Un Long Tung, or the division in- cluding the fertile valleys and plains of Pat Heung and Shap Pat Heung, is the most populous, its population, amounting to 23,020, being distributed among 59 villages. The Sheung Tung or western division, though much larger in area than the Un Long division, contains a population of only 20,870, distributed among no fewer than 182 villages.

The total area of the territory to be leased being 376 square miles, the population is about 266 persons to the square mile. Though by no means at present thickly populated, it is anticipated that when the new territory comes under British occupation its population will rapidly increase.

VILLAGES.*

The total number of villages amounts to 423. The houses in these villages are, as a rule, well and solidly built. The foundations and lower courses of their walls are, in many cases, of granite masonry, the upper courses being made of blue or of sun-dried bricks. The door posts and lintels are of dressed granite slabs with tiled roofs on rafters made of China fir. The floors are generally concreted, and frequently paved with red brick or with granite. Well built and handsomely decorated temples exist in all the important villages, and in many places large and expensively constructed build- ings, in which the ancestral tablets are kept, were seen.

As usual in China the streets are narrow and paved with large slabs of stone. Such drainage as exists is on the surface, underground drains never being used in Chinese villages.

There are several walled villagest in the territory, which are invariably inhabite by the members of one clan only. They are rectangular or square in shape, and are enclosed within brick walls about 16 feet in height, flanked by square towers, and surrounded by a moat some 40 feet in width. They have one entrance, protected with iron gates.

Within the walls, houses of the usual type are found, built with great regularity. There is one main street from either side of which small lanes branch off in parallel rows. The object of these villages being walled is to afford the inhabitants greater security in case of attack, and to place them in a stronger position of defence in the event of clan feuds, which were formerly very common, and are still not infre- quent. In one of the villages visited was found a temple specially dedicated to the memory of those members of the clan who had fallen in the fights against a neighbouring village. The feud between these two villages, the inhabitants of which are descended from a common ancestor and possess the same surname, extended over many years, during which great numbers were killed. Peace has now been restored, and we had the pleasure of being entertained at the same table by the heads of the two villages which were so long at enmity with each other.

Those who are able to express an opinion on the subject state that the villages in the territory compare favourably with those of Southern India and Ceylon.

Appendix 5 contains a list of the name and population of each village in the area to be leased.

INHABITANTS.

The inhabitants are composed of three races of Chinese, the Puntis, the Hakka, and the Tankas.

• Sue Photographs, Album I., Nos. 1, 4, 6, 11, 13, 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30.

ກ

II. 6, 7, 8, 15, 19, 21, 22.

↑ See Photographs, Album I., No. 25.

II., No. 8.

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