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the cost of private Authorities, and 300,000 square feet at individuals in connection with the crusade against mosquitoes and malaria.
The first crop of rice in the New Territories was poor owing to the drought, but the second crop was good, and other vegetable und fruit crops have been up to the average.
A sample of Chinese peppermint oil has been submitted to the Director of the Imperial Institute at his own request. It has been. reported on favourably, but owing to its cost it is not thought that it can be exported profitably to England.
The account of the Flora of Hongkong, the New Territories and Kuangtung Province has been completed, and arrangements have been made for its publication in the Journal of Botany during the current year.
(e) LAND GRANTS AND GENERA, VALUE OF LAND.
The net amount received from sales of Crown Land and pier rights after deducting expenses of sales was $62,686, an increase of $22,021 on the previous year and $67,294 less than the average amount received for the last 5 years. Of this amount $28,373 was received in respect of the sale of various pier sites and extensions to existing piers, $11,416 was received in respect of sales of land in the New Territories and the remainder from sales of new lots of Crown Land and grants of extensions to existing lots in the island of Hongkong and Old Kowloon, The chief item was received in respect of the sale of the right of erecting a pier opposite ice House Street in the City of Victoria for which $17,900 was paid.
There has been an increase in the number of Crown Lots sold for building purposes in the City and adjacent district during the year but the demand for new sites still remains small.
A considerable increase has taken place both in the number and value of privato properties which have changed hands during the year, prices are generally considered steady and rents are generally being increased as existing leases and tenancies expire.
The demand for small building sites in the New Territories is increasing as is also that for short and annual leases for agricultural purposes.
With the opening of the railway several enquiries have been made in connection with the building of European dwellings at Tai Po and it is considered that there will probably be a consider- able development in this neighbourhood in the future.
The re-arrangement of the whole of the extensive properties of the Tai Koo Sugar Refinery Co., Ltd., and the Tai Koo Dockyard and Engineering Co., Ltd., at Shaukiwan and Quarry Bay, involving very extensive surveys, was completed during the year.
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The settlement of the remaining claims of Squatters in the Island of Hongkong and Kowloon was completed during the year and Crown Leases granted to those whose titles had been approved by the Squatters Board.
III-LEGISLATION,
Thirty-four Ordinances were passed during 1910, twenty- four of which were Amendment Ordinances. The principal matters dealt with were the consolidation of the New Territories Ordinances, the laws of Copyright, the law re Crown Suits, the segregation of lepers, the training of midwives, and the Hongkong Volunteer Reserve.
IV.-EDUCATION.
There are 70 Government and Grant Schools, the most important of which is Queen's College. Of these 21 are Upper Grade Schools with a staff competent to give instruction on all subjects of the 7th Standard, and above. These latter schools have an average attend- ance of 4,102, and the medium of instruction in all of them with the exception of five girls schools, is English. The 49 remaining schools are all Lower Grade. They comprise one school for British Indians where English and Urdu are taught; six Government Schools and one Grant English School for Chinese; and 41 Grant Vernacular Schools. The average attendance at all these Lower Grade Schools is 2,257. The total average attendance, at both Grades of School, is 6,359.
The revenue derived from school fees is $75,448.50 (of which $39,212 is from Queen's College) and is rapidly increasing: this is mainly to be accounted for by the increasing numbers of Chinese desirous of an English education.
Two schools are limited to children of British parentage. Both these schools (one for boys, the other for girls) are under the Government. In 1910 the combined average attendance at them was 78. The boys' school provides a small but efficient cadet corps.
Higher education is represented by the Technical Institute, where instruction is given in the evening in Mathematics, Machine Drawing, Building Construction, Field Surveying and allied subjects; in Chemistry and Physics; in the English and French languages, Book-keeping and Shorthand. There is also a Teachers' Class, at which the junior Chinese masters of Government and Grant Schools are expected to attend. A Kindergarten Class has also been started for teachers in Girls' Schools. The Institute is furnished with a well equipped laboratory. The lecturers are chiefly Civil Servants recruited from the European stalls of Queen's College and the Public Works Department. These officers receive fees for their services.
The Hongkong Eniversity building, the gift of Sir Hormusjee Mody, is in course of construction, and will probably be open by the middle of 1912. The foundation stone was laid on the 16th March. The first chairs will be those of Medicine, Engineering and Arts.
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