CO129-453 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1919 [1-3] — Page 550

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shipping control should be devoted to the erection on the

Crow land on Salisbury anɑ Nathan Roads in Kowloon of an

up-to-date hotel to be managed in conjunction with the

Railway, and of a large block of flats, the ground floor of

each building to consist of shops, godowns, offices and

servants' quarters. I enclose a plan showing in green the

land belonging to the Government which was purchased for a

sum of 8747,285,25 referred to in Sir F. D. Lugard's Confidential Despatches of the 3rd. March and 4th. June, 1909, and in pink the approximate area to be allotted to the

buildings mentioned.

4.

At the present moment every hotel in the Colony is ful. anu many passengers by ships are unable to obtain accommodation of any sort. What will happen when the European population is again up to its normal numbers and the tourist traffic in full swing I am unable to conjecture. In my telegram of the 11th, March I advocated the expenditure of $500,000 from Colonial funds for the erection of flats primarily for Military Officers and their families and for Civil Servants, and that scheme now awaits your approval. The scheme now submitted is for the general European community with moderate incomes. The Government alone can meet the need as the private Companies interested in housing look for high profits and charge the high rents now demanded. The Government is by fortuitous circumstances placed in possession of the means of relieving this intolerable

situation.

5.

As an example of the view held by land agents as regards rents for residential purposes I may instance the Beaconsfield property just purchased by the Government. The top storey of this building consists of a

with series of large single rooms let to separate tenants, no lavatory or sanitary conveniences of my kind. By the wish of the late Mr. Belilios these rooms have been reserved for European occupation at a uniform rent of £35 a month

ench