7. Most of the land resumed for public purposes was to provide for the road to Canton.
8. There was of course a great demand for house accommodation: all flats in the towns were occupied, and the construction of new buildings was general throughout the District.
9. In January H.E. the Governor opened Joseph Hall, the fine new building at Fan Ling presented to the New Territories Agricultural Association through the generosity of Mr. J. E. Joseph. A beginning was made there with the long-projected agricultural school; but later in the year it was turned over to the Government as a temporary hospital for refugees and police sub-station for the military internment camp temporarily pitched nearby. The Agricultural Association continued its experiments on crops more actively and leased more land for this purpose.
The Tai Po Rural Home and Orphanage completed its boys' hostel, the need for which had been clearly demonstrated in the 1937 typhoon.
10. Nearly a hundred more matsheds were permitted to be erected than in 1937, and it is doubtful if the present number will be much exceeded, since the medical authorities object to the generally poor sanitary grounds. There were in addition many unpermitted matsheds, some very flimsy and impermanent, put up by temporary refugees.
11. The weather in 1938 favoured both the farmers and the refugees. February and March were exceptionally wet, and the hours of sunshine in April were longer than ever before recorded. There was plenty of water again for the second crop of rice, and unusually heavy rain in October. Statistics of rainfall are now kept at Sai Kung, Tai Po, Lok Ma Chau, and Ping Shan Police Stations, and at Fan Ling Golf Club, Lok Ma Chau and Ping Shan were considerably drier than the stations further east. The only high winds occurred during the extraordinary storm in May, so that there was much less damage to fruit than in 1937. The Ch'ing Ming festival, falling as it did after a long spell of dry sunny weather, caused more fires, originating round graves, than usual. November and December were unusually mild, which was fortunate in that the refugee influx was at its height during these two months.
12. Under such favourable conditions both crops of rice were above the average, and prices were good, especially towards the end of the year, as a result of the hostilities in China. The strong demand, for the same reason, for poultry, pigs, and cattle, assured farmers of good prices for these, too. There is no doubt that the idea of growing vegetables in winter is now really generally accepted. Both in volume of output and in quality last winter showed a great advance, and the demand increased considerably.
13. The large modern farms, dealing in fruit, vegetables, poultry, pigs, and honey, continue to increase in number. The owners nearly all make roads to them, which benefits the District as a whole, since the roads are mostly over Crown Land, and public. These farms and the fish-ponds, of course, shared in the boom. The same strong demand benefited the sea-folk, and the waters of the District were apparently sufficiently richly stocked to satisfy these people, in spite of the fact that the sea-folk were at times about four times as numerous as usual, particularly in the weeks following the Japanese landing in Bias Bay.
14. Pineapples did badly and several leases of land on which pineapples were grown were not renewed on expiry.
15. The licensees of forestry lots found an excellent market for their wood and cutting in excess of the stipulated one-tenth of the trees on the lot was undoubtedly general. Proper control of these lots would require a staff very much greater than is now available. It is hoped, however, that the high price now obtainable for pine-tree wood is stimulating planting more intensively than hitherto.
J 3
7. Most of the land resumed for public purposes was to provide for the road 'to Canton.
8. There was of course a great demand for house accommodation: all flats in the towns were occupied, and the construction of new buildings was general throughout the District.
9. In January H.E. the Governor opened Joseph Hall, the fine new building at Fan Ling presented to the New Territories Agricultural Association through the generosity of Mr. J. E. Joseph. A beginning was made there with the long- projected agricultural school; but later in the year it was turned over to the Government as a temporary hospital for refugees and police sub-station for the military internment camp temporarily pitched nearby. The Agricultural Association continued its experiments on crops more actively and leased more land for this purpose.
The Tai Po Rural Home and Orphanage completed its boys' hostel, the need for which had been clearly demonstrated in the 1937 typhoon.
10. Nearly a hundred more matsheds were permitted to be erected than in 1937, and it is doubtful if the present number will be much exceeded, since the medical authorities object to the generally on sanitary grounds. There were in addition many unpermitted matsheds, some very flimsy and impermanent, put up by temporary refugees.
11. The weather in 1938 favoured both the farmers and the refugees. February and March were exceptionally wet, and the hours of sunshine in April were longer than ever before recorded. There was plenty of water again for the second crop of rice, and unusually heavy rain in October. Statistics of rainfall are now kept at Sai Kung, Tai Po, Lok Ma Chau, and Ping Shan Police Stations, and at Fan Ling Golf Club, Lok Ma Chau and Ping Shan were considerably drier than the stations further east. The only high winds occurred during the extraordinary storm in May, so that there was much less damage to fruit than in 1937. The Ch'ing Ming festival, falling as it did after a long spell of dry sunny weather, caused more fires, originating round graves, than usual. November and December were unusually mild, which was fortunate in that the refugee influx was at its height during these two months.
12. Under such favourable conditions both crops of rice were above the average, and prices were good, especially towards the end of the year, as a result of the hostilities in China. The strong demand, for the same reason, for poultry, pigs, and cattle, assured farmers of good prices for these, too.) There is no doubt that the idea of growing vegetables in winter is now really generally accepted. Both in volume of output and in quality last winter showed a great advance, and the demand increased considerably.
13. The large modern farms, dealing in fruit, vegetables, poultry, pigs, and honey, continue to increase in number. The owners nearly all make roads to them, which benefits the District as a whole, since the roads are mostly over Crown Land, and public. These farms and the fish-ponds, of course, shared in the boom. (The same strong demand benefited the sea-folk, and the waters of the District were apparently sufficiently richly stocked to satisfy these people, in spite of the fact that the sea-folk were at times about four times as numerous as usual, particularly in the weeks following the Japanese landing in Bias Bay.)
14. Pineapples did badly and several leases of land on which pineapples were grown were not renewed on expiry.
15. The licensees of forestry lots found an excellent market for their wood and cutting in excess of the stipulated one-tenth of the trees on the lot was undoub- tedly general. Proper control of these lots would require a staff very much greater than is now available. It is hoped, however, that the high price now obtainable for pine-tree wood is stimulating planting more intensively than hitherto.
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