CO129-617-6 Development- recommendations of Hong Kong Colonial Development and Welfare Committee 18-7-1947 - 23-12-1947 — Page 12

perial and Foreign

South China from 1924 onwards, and the out- break of war in 1939-the purchase was deferred.

The Army and Navy also occupy good-sized plots in the heart of the ceded area of Kow-

DEVELOPMENT OF loon, including Whitfield Camp and barracks

HONGKONG

NEED FOR EXPANSION

AT VICTORIA

From Our Hongkong Correspondent The expansion of the business centre of the city of Victoria on Hongkong island has for long been frustrated by the loca- tion, in the heart of that district, of some 98 acres of property leased to the Army Council and the Admiralty, and utilized as barracks, parade grounds, official resi- dences, and a Royal Naval Yard.

(41 acres), and the naval camber (15 acres). The camp and barracks are the only un- developed area suited for housing schemes within easy reach of the cross-harbour ferries; the Naval camber occupies a frontage urgently required for wharf and warehouse accommo- dation.

The loan by the home Government to Hongkong of the services of Sir Patrick Abercrombie, the town-planning expert, who has recently spent several weeks on the island, suggests that the future development of Hong- kong is to form the subject of careful study and planning. It is expected that the question of giving up the naval and military lands in the congested Victoria and Kowloon areas will receive serious consideration.

THE NAVAL YARD

Some years must necessarily elapse before able alternative accommodation for the Navy any comprehensive project for providing suit- and Army could be carried through, but a start might well be made with the little-used The four roads running approximately from Murray parade ground, the evacuation of west to east, parallel to the Praya or harbour which by the Army would enable the widening front, are short-circuited by the naval dock-of the congested Garden Road and the ex- yard, which has an area of 35 acres, and all tension of the Perak tramway to the lower eastward traffic (including trams and buses) level, and provide a new office building site has to converge on Queen's Road East, and approximately twice as large as that occupied pass between the military and naval lands to by the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. reach the Wanchai district. Expansion of the

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As regards the Royal Naval Yard, the ideal scheme would involve the extension of the Praya and the filling in of the docks and basin. This, however, might not prove economical. If aesthetic considerations could be dis- regarded, it might prove more utilitarian to convert the dockyard frontage into piers and warehouses for ocean-going vessels, which could thus land passengers and cargo in the heart of Hongkong.

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business sector therefore stops short at the massive office building of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank.

The military lands not only occupy a locality which would be ideal for the construction of the urgently needed new office buildings; their location prevents the Peak (cable) tramway station from being moved down to the main level, and necessitates a 10-minute walk, mostly up-hill, from the centre of the town to the lower terminus.

I

HIGH VALUE OF LAND When the British first occupied Hongkong island, and even up to 50 or 60 years ago when motor-vehicles were unknown, there might have been good reasons for maintaining the chief naval and military establishments in the centre of Victoria. Now, however, in an emergency troops could reach Victoria from any part of the island by motor transport within half an hour. In its present position between the busi- ness section and the densely populated Wanchai area the dockyard and its workshops cannot provide housing for its Chinese labour force. Moreover the land to-day is far too valuable to remain undeveloped as an office centre. A few months ago the site of the old City Hall, adjoining the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, realized over $258 (£16) a square foot at public auction. It is just across the road from the Murray parade ground. At two-fifths of this figure the naval and military lands would be worth over 125m. Provision would, of course, have to be made--in the event of a sale--for the surrender of much land for new, roads and piers. But there is no reason to doubt that new and up-to-date barracks, and a modern naval dockyard could be constructed elsewhere on the island out of the proceeds of a sale. As long ago as 1923, Sir John H. Oakley was

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