CO129-589-11 Port of Hong Kong- Report on future control and development 18-7-1941 - 10-10-1944 — Page 112

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object was not to improve the Harbour from a shipping point of view, although some of the work may have been of benefit in that way, but it was for the purpose of making land on which to construct houses, offices and premises necessary for the growing population. Owing to the geographical features of the Colony, consisting, as it does, largely of hilly country, it became more difficult as time went on, to find level ground on which to build, hence the idea of reclamation,

(59) As a matter of fact, reclamation was started in the

early days of the Colony and has been continued at short intervals ever since, the principal ones being The Praya Reclamation 1890-1902 and The Praya East Reclamation 1921-1929. The reclamations have been financed in various ways; the larger ones were carried out under schemes whereby the holders of the

old Harbour frontage lots of land participated in proportion to the areas they held, and subscribed to the cost of the work

in like proportion. The Government, in each case, subscribed and participated in proportion to the areas it held. Many smaller reclamations have been carried out by private persons and companies, and in Kowloon the Government has reclaimed, at a cost paid out of revenue, large areas of land in Taikoktsui, Shamshuipq Ma Tau Kok and Kowloon City. The railway reclamation in Hung Hom

Bay was financed by money raised by the Government on loan which

has now been redeemed.

(60) I shall have to deal later with the question of future reclamation, as it closely bound up with the development of

the Harbour.

(61) Present and future control of the Harbour. The above

are all important factors in the Port problem, and I now proceed

to the real question which arises out of them and which is, "The

measures by which the Part could in future be developed and

controlled to the best advantage of all persons and interests

dependent on its services."