THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 27TH NOVEMBER, 1875. 477
their neighbours are exempt; or, in the case of a district, in consideration of circumstances which affect all the landowners within it, which are likely to continue, and from which other districts do not suffer.
6. With this view, we have carefully enquired into the condition of the districts of Wanchi and Bowrington, to which most of the complaints related, and to which our attention was especially drawn by the instructions accompanying our Commission.
The evidence has satisfied us, that in this portion of the City, taken as a whole, the tenants of the Crown are suffering from a depreciation of property which does not press in an equal degree upon the tenants in other districts of the City. It appears that during the last ten years, rents have fallen as much as 40 or 50 per cent, and while the houses and godowns now on the ground can scarcely find tenants, there is no inducement for the holders of vacant allotments to turn them to account by build- ing. Chinese houses cost about $500 a piece to build, and, if let, would at present rates bring in from $45 to $60 a year, of which the Crown rent would absorb from $8 to $12. There is, however, a limited demand for these houses, and there appears to be no encouragement for any other class of building.
7. The witnesses concurred in attributing this depreciation to the withdrawal of business houses from the Eastward, and their concentration in the Central and Western portions of the City, assisted, according to some witnesses, by a change in the mode of conducting trade in rice, cotton and other bulky produce. They stated that formerly it was the custom for European firms to hold large stocks of these products, and to store them in godowns at Wanchi; but that this system had been altered since the introduction of the telegraph, and the opening of the Suez Canal: and that there is no longer the same use for godowns, or employment for coolies, who have consequently migrated to other parts to live near to their work.
8. The withdrawal of business must, we think, be partly attributed to the shallowness of the harbour opposite to these districts; there is not how sufficient water even at high tide for junks of moderate capacity to discharge alongside the Praya, and steamers of ordinary draught, which might anchor close to the Praya in the centre and west of the City, would here be obliged to lie a considera- ble distance from the shore. This part of the harbour continues to silt up and thus increases an evil for which the tenants clearly are not responsible, and from which other districts do not suffer to the
same extent.
9. None of the witnesses were able to suggest any method, by which business, and, with it, popu- lation may be again drawn to the Eastern districts. They expressed an opinion, which seems well founded, that any remission of Crown Rent would be of no avail for this purpose, and that a reduction of even fifty per cent upon the rent, although necessarily a relief to the tenants, would not have the effect of reviving the prosperity of these districts.
10. We pursued this enquiry under a feeling that we should not be justified in recommending a serious diminution of the public revenue, unless we could also show that the Colony would, directly or indirectly, obtain some advantage in return. There are 40 Marine Lots in Bowrington and Wanchi, and 196 Inland Lots, paying a yearly rent to the Crown of $38,791. If this rent roll were reduced by 25 per cent, the revenue would suffer every year to the extent of $9,692; if reduced by 50 per cent the loss would be $19,384, or more than, a seventh of the Land revenue of the Colony, to which must be added the loss of rates in respect of these sums. We fail to see that the Colony would gain any fair equivalent in return, and, therefore, we do not see our way to recommend any general remission to these districts on the ground of their depressed state.
11. It cannot be denied that many of the Crown tenants in these districts, in Bowrington espe- cially, hold their lands without obtaining any return at all for the rent, and others but an inadequate advance upon the rent; but we are not prepared to say that the Crown rent is in itself out of propor- tion to the return that would be obtainable from these lots if the districts were even moderately pros- perous. In the Wanchi district, the annual rental of rateable properties as given by the owners, or estimated by the official valuers for the rates of 1875, is $84,374, while the Crown Rent paid upon the same properties is $10,866. In Bowrington, the assessed rental is $12,839 against a Crown Rental of $2,153. These figures, coupled with the admission that a moderate reduction of rent would be of little advantage to the tenants, seem to show that the grievances complained of are attributable not so much to the actual amount of rents, as to the depression of trade and depreciation of property, which have made the tenancies unproductive. We respectfully submit, that it lies with the Executive Go- vernment to determine, whether the altered circumstances of the Colony, or of any particular portion of the Colony, are a ground for relieving Crown tenants from the obligations they have voluntarily un- dertaken. If it pleases His Excellency to admit the principle, the adjustment of it to the respective localities affected would afford matter for consideration in a future enquiry. It seems not to be within our present powers.
12. The depressed state of the Colony was also advanced as a ground for reduction by tenants holding land to the West of the City, but their complaints have less weight than those of the Eastern tenants; for they could not but admit that business continues to draw towards the West, and that the Chinese part of the town is extending Westward, giving reason to believe that lands which are now unproductive would, in a few years, become profitable even at the existing rental. In these cases, as
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