374
12
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS-ANNUAL,
In another district of the New Territory a considerable area is being cultivated by a small company under European supervision. So far success has attended the growing of vegetables, and both hemp and Chinese tobacco give promise of repaying cultivation.
(E.) LAND Grants and General Value of Land.
Sales of Crown land for the year 1902 amounted in value to $571,361.22, or more than $70,000 in excess of the estimated receipts from this source, and more than $330,000 over the actual receipts for 1901. The only year in which a larger sum has been realized was 1900, when the receipts were $816,222. The value of the land in the New Territory which is contiguous to the harbour or south of the Kowloon range of hills has enormously increased in value since the British occupation commenced. As an example of this, a case may be cited of a small landowner who before the New Territory was taken over held about 127 acres of land near Devil's Peak, west of the Lyee-moon Pass, and paid a tax to the Chinese authorities of $5 per annum. As soon as his title to the land was confirmed by the Hong Kong Land Court, he sold it to a local company for $50,000.
The cadastral survey of the New Territory and the demarcation of the farm lots was a difficult and costly work owing to the rugged and mountainous nature of the ground and the small size of the holdings. This work is now practically finished, and rapid progress is being made with the new rent-roll.
Building land in the urban portion of the Colony is limited in extent and continues to be very costly.
III.-LEGISLATION.
Forty-seven Ordinances were passed during 1902, of which 22 were amending and 12 private Ordinances.
The dependence of the Colony for its water-supply on the annual rainfall, and the occurrence of a serious water famine in the Spring of the year under review, showed the necessity of introducing new legislation to regulate and control the supply. The result was the Water-works Consolidation Ordinance, which had for its object the economising of water.
Four Ordinances dealt with the New Territory, chiefly in connection with Crown lands resumption, rent recovery, and the registration of titles.
Of the private measures the most important was the Tramway Ordinance (No. 10 of 1902), by which the construction of an electric tramway within the Colony was authorized and the necessary legal powers conferred upon the Company by which the tramway is to be constructed.
374
12
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS-ANNUAL,
In another district of the New Territory a considerable area is being cultivated by a small company under European super- vision. So far success has attended the growing of vegetables, and both hemp and Chinese tobacco give promise of repaying cultivation.
(E.) LAND Grants and General Value of Land.
Sales of Crown land for the year 1902 amounted in value to $571,361.22, or more than $70,000 in excess of the estimated receipts from this source, and more than $330,000 over the actual receipts for 1901. The only year in which a larger sum has been realized was 1900, when the receipts were $816,222. The value of the land in the New Territory which is contiguous to the harbour or south of the Kowloon range of hills has enor- mously increased in value since the British occupation com- menced. As an example of this, a case may be cited of a small landowner who before the New Territory was taken over held about 127 acres of land near Devil's Peak, west of the Lyeemon Pass, and paid a tax to the Chinese authorities of $5 per annum. As soon as his title to the land was confirmed by the Hong Kong Land Court, he sold it to a local company for $50,000.
The cadastral survey of the New Territory and the demarca- tion of the farm lots was a difficult and costly work owing to the rugged and mountainous nature of the ground and the small size of the holdings. This work is now practically finished, and rapid progress is being made with the new rent-roll.
Building land in the urban portion of the Colony is limited in extent and continues to be very costly.
III.-LEGISLATION.
Forty-seven Ordinances were passed during 1902, of which 22 were amending and 12 private Ordinances.
The dependence of the Colony for its water-supply on the annual rainfall, and the occurrence of a serious water famine in the Spring of the year under review, showed the necessity of introducing new legislation to regulate and control the supply. The result was the Water-works Consolidation Ordin- ance, which had for its object the economising of water.
Four Ordinances dealt with the New Territory, chiefly in connection with Crown lands resumption, rent recovery, and the registration of titles.
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Of the private measures the most important was the Tramway Ordinance (No. 10 of 1902), by which the construction of an electric tramway within the Colony was authorized and the necessary legal powers conferred upon the Company by which the tramway is to be constructed.
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