Your Petitioners submit that in order effectually to secure the object they have in view it is necessary directly to prohibit Chinese, other than servants, from occupying houses built in the Hill District, and further that, in imposing this limitation of residence, no hardship would be inflicted on the Chinese, for hitherto they have shewn no desire to occupy houses in that district, and, as they are living here in their native climate, they do not suffer from the oppressive heat of the lower levels during the Summer months as Europeans do. To shew how pressing is the need amongst the European section of the Community for securing dwellings at the Peak, Your Petitioners may mention that the rent of houses there is on the average nearly treble that which was paid ten years ago, and this notwithstanding the fact that the number of houses has very greatly increased in the interval.
The extension of the principle of Ordinance 16 of 1888 for which Your Petitioners ask is not very great, and their request for this reservation is made solely out of regard for the welfare of those who belong to non-tropical countries and who are now compelled to live in this enervating climate for the best part of their lives. It was the European section of the Community that opened up and developed the Hill District. They were impelled to do so by considerations of health alone, for the locality is more expensive and less convenient to live in than the lower levels. The number of reasonably available sites for houses in the Peak District is limited. Already the large majority have been built upon and very few remain for additional houses. Your Petitioners desire that this small proportion of Hongkong shall be reserved as a place of abode for those who cannot dwell in equal well-being elsewhere upon the Island, and they submit it is for the advantage of the Community as a whole that each section of it should live in the environment to which it is best adapted.
In conclusion, Your Petitioners submit that the future welfare of this Colony, the welfare, that is, of its inhabitants as a whole, and its consequent value to the Empire, depends to a very large extent on the well-being of the European section of the Community whose health it is therefore essential to preserve, and that every year conditions render it more and more important that this section should be able to reside in a district where its members can live under the most favourable conditions possible and where the rising generation may spend their childhood amidst the healthiest obtainable surroundings.
Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that Your Excellency may be pleased to consider favourably their request and to take prompt steps to preserve the Hill District as a residential quarter for the non-Chinese residents of the community. And Your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.
Dated the 22nd day of February, 1904.
165
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6. Your Petitioners submit that in order effectually to secure the object they have in view it is necessary directly to prohibit Chinese, other than servants, from occupying houses built in the Hill District, and further that, in imposing this limita- tion of residence, no hardship would be inflicted on the Chinese, for hitherto they have shewn no desire to occupy houses in that district, and, as they are living here in their native climate, they do not suffer from the oppressive heat of the lower levels during the Summer months as Europeans do. To shew how pressing is the need amongst the European section of the Community for securing dwellings at the Peak, Your Petitioners may mention that the rent of houses there is on the average nearly treble that which was paid ten years ago, and this notwithstanding the fact that the number of houses has very greatly increased in the interval,
7. The extension of the principle of Ordinance 16 of 1888 for which Your Peti- tioners ask is not very great, and their request for this reservation is made solely out of regard for the welfare of those who belong to non-tropical countries and who are now compelled to live in this enervating climate for the best part of their lives. It was the European section of the Community that opened up and developed the Hill District. They were impelled to do so by considerations of health aloue, for the locality is more expensive and less convenient to live in than the lower levels. The number of reasonably available sites for houses in the Peak District is limited. Already the large majority have been built upon and very few remain for additional houses. Your Petitioners desire that this small proportion of Hongkong shall be reserved as a place of abode for those who cannot dwell in equal well-being else- whore upon the Teland, and they submit it is for the advantage of the Community as a whole that each section of it should live in the environment to which it is best adapted.
8. In conclusion, Your Petitioners submit that the future welfare of this Colony, the welfare, that is, of its inhabitants as a whole, and its consequent value to the Empire, depends to a very large extent on the well-being of the European section of the Community whose health it is therefore essential to preserve, and that every year conditions render it more and more important that this section should be able to reside in a district where its members can live under the most favourable conditions possible and where the rising generation may spend their childhood amidst tho healthiest obtainable surroundings.
Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that Your Excellency may be pleased to consider favour- ably their request and to take prompt steps to proserve the Hill District as a residential quarter for the non-Chinese residents of the community. And Your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.
Dated the 22nd day of February, 1904,
165
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