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foreshore from the Arsenal to East Point may be profitably considered. In con- nexion with these proposed Eastern reclamations I submit herewith a plan by which it will be seen that 90 acres may be recovered from the sea, of which 56 acres may be made available for house building, the remaining 34 acres being left for roads and streets. The 56 acres of new reclamation would accommodate 2,240 tene- ments capable of housing 67,000 people. The Eastern reclamation must however be viewed as a second instalment of the Western scheme, and can only be embarked in, after the Colony has secured a connexion between the East and West by means of a Praya embankment along the Cantonments. It will be premature there. fore to discuss the Eastern scheme here.
37. The only question that now remains to be considered is how and to what extent will so much new building land thrown on the market, affect current lease- hold values in the City? The answer is obvious: it will not affect present house- property materially, if at all, for after all, Mr. CHATER's project gives room only to 39,000 people. The present influx from China is at the rate of 8,000 persons a year, and as it would be five years before the houses were built and ready for occu pation under Mr. CHATER'S scheme, the latter will not do more than give house- room to the influx that will have accumulated during the five years of construction. In other words, if Mr. CHATER's project is realized by 1892, and that by that year 1,320 new tenements have been added to the present number of houses, those 1,320 new tenements will represent only the additional accommodation required for the 39,000 or 40,000 fresh arrivals which we must expect between 1888 and 1892. Therefore not withstanding the reclamation with its 1,320 new dwellings we shall be in precisely the same plight that we are at the present moment. But what a worse plight shall we be in, if by 1892 we have not these 1,820 new dwellings wherein to house the 39,000 or 40,000 people that are to arrive between this and then! So long therefore as demand for house-room keeps ahead of the supply leasehold values will never be affected by reclamations, and who can tell that the stream of settlers that has set in from the mainland will stop at 8,000 arrivals per annum?
When I first came to this Colony in 1873 the annual immigrants were computed at 1,500. Now they number 8,000 every year. May not this number grow before long to 10,000 or 12,000?
38. In conclusion I desire to state that the estimates of cost of reclamation and the appraisals of value of the lands to be reclaimed, though approximate, may be taken as erring if at all on the right side. I have deemed it prudent in this report to understate rather than over estimate the pecuniary advantages to Govern- ment resulting from this Reclamation Scheme. The exact costs can be given ouly after the completion of detailed estimates and final settlement of the designs of wall to be adopted.
18th July, 1887.
No. 1221.
SIR,
(3.)
(Acting Colonial Secretary to Mr. Chater)
J. M. PRICE.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONGKONG, 11th August, 1887.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th ultimo submitting a proposition to reclaim the foreshore from West Point to the Govern ment Wharf, and offering your services with the marine lot-owners in order to obtain their co-operation in the project. In reply I am directed to inform you that the Governor in Council has had your letter under careful consideration and that in view of the congested state of the population of Victoria and the importance to the town of the large areas which you propose to throw open for building purposes,
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His Excellency is disposed to approve of the proposed reclamation, and I am to add that whilst the Government would prefer having this great scheme carried out in its entirety by the marine lot-holders themselves, in preference to undertaking the reclamation as a public work at its own risk, it would have no objection in the general interests of the Colony, should a minority refuse to join in the scheme, to exercise the rights of the Crown and to undertake the reclamation itself in con- junction with the consenting majority of the lot-owners.
His Excellency is therefore prepared to recommend the project strongly to the Secretary of State, subject to the conditions which follow:---
(1.) That the proposed reclamation, including the extension of streets and a new Praya roadway, be carried out in accordance with the general plan dated the 6th of August, 1887, which has received the approval of the Acting Governor and which may be seen on application to the Surveyor General.
(.) That the whole of the works, including the removal and re-erection of piers, and the extension, formation, sewering and channelling of the proposed new streets and new Praya wall and roadway, except on such portions of the foreshore as are situated in front of Government properties, be carried out by the Public Works Department at the cost of the marine lot-owners.
(iii.) That the Colonial Government shall not be called upon to incur any expense whatsoever in connexion with the proposed works, other than the wall and reclamation in front of Government properties.
(iv.) That the proposed works, except as aforesaid, be defrayed from a General Fund to be constituted by the marine lot-owners for the purpose, and that before the commencement of the works each marine lot-owner enter into a written contract with the Government binding himself to be appor- take up such allotment of the general reclamation as may tioned him by the Government, and that each marine lot-owner deposit at the Bank 25 per cent of the total value of the contribution to the General Fund by way of a guarantee of his bona fides, such deposit of 25 per cent to be forfeited to the Crown in the event of the marine lot-owner subsequently failing to take up his allotment of the reclamation. The interest accruing on these deposits to be handed over by Government to the marine lot-owners.
(v.) That during the progress of the works all calls of money for works that may be made by the Government upon the marine lot-owners shall be duly honoured by the latter, provided that the amount of such calls does not exceed the value of the works actually done in their respective allotments.
(vi.) That immediately upon the completion of the reclamation of his allotment, including the construction of the extension of new streets and of the new Praya as aforesaid, each marine lot-owner take ont a Crown lease for said allotments, paying an annual Crown Rent for the same at the rate of $200 per quarter acre.
(vii.) That no rebatement of annual Crown Rent shall be claimed by the marine lot-owners for their present holdings upon the issue to them of new marine lot leases for the reclamations, in consideration of which the Government undertakes not to levy any premium on the latter.
any houses to be erected on the proposed reclamations shall be (viii.) That
subject in respect of light, space, and ventilation to the following struc- tural provisions:-
(a.) No private lane on which the houses shall front to be of a
less width than 15 feet.
(b.) Every one-storied house to have a back-yard not less than 10 feet in width, and such width to be not less than 15 feet for houses of more than one story.
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