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taken up now with some prospect of success. The two schemes at present in view for providing additional housing are the Kowloon Bay Reclamation in actual course of construction and the Praya East Reclamation, which it is hoped to begin nert year. The former will provide a large number of houses for well-to-do Chinese, and may thereby cause many of the houses
which have been occupied by Chinese during the past few years to be vacated. I am informed by Mr. S. W. Tso, Solicitor to
the Kowloon Bay Scheme, that he is of opinion that there will be a considerable migration from the upper levels in Victoria to Kowloon Bay. If such were to be the case it is possible that many houses would again become available for European
residents. On the Praya East Reclamation it will I hope be possible to insist on the erection of houses of a sanitary type. One of the conditions, however, on which this reclama-
-tion is to be made is that the Marine Lot-holders are to be charged a premium of 25 cents a square foot for the areas
made available in front of their present lots. This was also
one of the conditions in the Westem Praya Scheme but was abandoned at a great sacrifice to the revenue. Since his return to the Colony recently Sir Paul Chater has informed me
that in his opinion the proposal to charge a premium of 25 cents in the case of the Praya East Reclamation should also
be abandoned. He bases his contention on the fact that it
will be difficult to induce the Chinese population to shift
in large numbers from the overcrowded portions of the Western part of the City to the new reclamation unless great induce- -ments are offered in the shape of low rentals, and that no impediment should, therefore, be put in the way of the Marine Lot-holders building as rapidly as possible. I can hardly
believe that the small premium proposed amounting to from $250 to $500 a lot would prove an obstacle to the development of the reclamation, and I know that Sir Henry May would be
very
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