Enclosure 1.
Copy
May it please Your Excellency
1. WE, the undersigned Residents in Hongkong, desire to address Your Excellency on the subject of the acquisition of the Mount Austin Hotel by the War Department for the purposes of Barracks. We regard this purchase on the part of the War Department as a serious blow to the welfare of the European civil population residing in the Colony and to the best interests of the Colony itself, and we would respectfully state that in opening up this matter we do so merely with the desire of securing a fuller consideration of the case from all points of view.
2. We applaud and heartily agree with the intention of the War Department to give cool quarters to the troops, but we ask for a further consideration of the site as it appears to us that it is possible to select others more likely to secure the general comfort of the whole community.
3. The Peak may now be said to be the summer resort of a large proportion of the European and American civil community, and it is becoming more and more the place of residence of such portion of the community throughout the entire year, and it is especially sought after as a place of residence by those who have wives and families in the Colony, the cooler atmosphere being found to be very beneficial to women and children;
4. Moreover the pressure of the Chinese population in Victoria is such that year by year the European population is being steadily pushed further up on to higher levels. Chinese have already reached the Caine Road, which ten years ago was exclusively inhabited by Europeans and Americans, and it is evident that within a comparatively short space of time the Peak will become almost the sole place of residence for the European and American population in the Colony.
5. The area available for building sites at the Peak is extremely limited, and if, as has been rumoured, it is the intention of the Military Authorities to buy other sites between the Mount Austin Hotel and Victoria Peak for officer's quarters and for other purposes, the residential area of the civil community will be still further diminished.
6. The loss, therefore, to the civil population of a Hotel situated on one of the finest sites on the Peak and containing over seventy bed-rooms is a most serious curtailment of the residential accommodation on the high levels which is already too limited.
7. This deprivation to the community would also be a loss to places such as Singapore, Saigon, Tonquin, Manila, Canton and other of the treaty ports of China, as the Mount Austin Hotel is much used as a health resort by Europeans from those places, who are attracted to this Colony by its existence.
222
17029 MES
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Enclosure 1.
Copy
May it please Your Excellency
1. WE, the undersigned Residents in Hongkong, desire to address Your Excellency on the subject of the acquisition of the Mount Austin Hotel by the War Department for the purposes of Barracks. We regard this purchase on the part of the War Department as a serious blow to the welfare of the European civil population residing in the Colony and to the best interests of the Colony itself, and we would respectfully state that in opening up this matter we do so merely with the desire of securing a fuller consideration of the case from all points of view.
2. We applaud and heartily agree with the intention of the War Department to give cool quarters to the troops, but we ask for a further consideration of the site as it appears to us that it is possible to select others more likely to secure the general confort of the whole community,
3. The Peak may now be said to be the summer resort of a large pro- portion of the European and American civil community, and it is becoming more and more the place of residence of such portion of the community throughout the entire year, and it is especially sought after as a place of residence by those who have wives and families in the Colony, the cooler atmosphere being found to be very beneficial to women and children;
4. Moreover the pressure of the Chinese population in Victoria is such that year by year the European population is being steadily pushed further up on to higher levels. Chinese have already reached the Caine Road. which ten years ago was exclusively inhabited by Europeans and Ameri- cans, and it is evident that within a comparatively short space of time the Peak will become almost the sole place of residence for the European and American population in the Colony.
5. The area available for building sites at the Peak is extremely limited, and if, as has been rumoured, it is the intention of the Military Authorities to buy other sites between the Mount Austin Hotel and Victoria Feak for officer's quarters and for other purposes, the residential ares of the civil community will be still further diminished.
6. The loss, therefore, to the civil population of an Hotel situated on one of the finest sites on the Peak and containing over seventy bed-rooms is a most serious curtailment of the residential accommodation on the high levels which is already too limited.
7. This deprivation to the community would also be a loss to places such as Singapore, Saigon, Tonquin, Manila, Canton and other of the treaty ports of China, as the Mount Austin Hotel is much used as a health resort by Europeans from those places, who are attracted to this Colony by its
existence.
222
17029 MES
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