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56. The piers used by the Hong Kong and Yaumati Ferry Company were constructed and are maintained by the Government, the Company paying the Government an annual sum for the privilege of running the ferry and for the use of the piers.
57. The Star Ferry Company, however, built their own pier on the Hong Kong side and rent the pier on the Kowloon side from the Hong Kong Wharf & Godown Company, who were the originators of the ferry. These two piers are held under the ordinary permanent pier form of lease which lapses in 1949. The amount paid by the Star Ferry Company to the Government is naturally less than that paid by the other ferry company, seeing that the Star Ferry Company maintain their own piers, but the question of increasing it is under discussion with the Government.
Reclamations.
58. A good deal of work has been done in the way of reclaiming land from the waters of the Harbour. The primary 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 geographi- cal 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 par- ticipated 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, Shamshuipo, 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 is 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 Port could in future be developed and controlled to the best advantage of all persons and interests dependent on its services."
62. "Control" is the first point and, of course, development, physical and otherwise, is bound up with it. The vital point is who should control or administer the Port?
63. It seems to me that there are three courses open, and three only, they being:-
(a) To allow matters to remain as they now are;
(b) To adopt some improved method of Government control;
(c) To establish control by some form of Port Authority or Trust.
64. Course (a) "To allow matters to remain as they now are" obviously re- quires to be cleared up first of all, because if the present state of affairs should be proved to be perfectly satisfactory then (b) and (c) need not arise.
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