NOTES AND QUERIES
171
Many acres of old rice lands have been converted into vegetable land and we now have a super grade type of land producing vegetables which pay higher prices than padi, and hence result in higher rentals being charged for the land.
Recent trends show that agricultural rents are now more often paid in cash. This probably stems from the fact that vegetables are rapidly replacing rice as the main agricultural production in the New Territories. As vegetables are sold on a daily basis through the Government wholesale markets, which pay cash on the day of sale, the farmer finds it easier to offer rent on a fixed cash basis rather than arranging for an indeterminate amount of rent to be paid based on two crops of kuk per year at differing rentals for each crop.
Notes
1 In S. Wells Williams, Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language, North China Union College edition, Tung Chou, near Peking, China, 1909, good descriptions of the Chinese measurements mau and tau, showing how they vary from place to place, are given on pp. 583 and 804. For tam see p. 751. (In the Wade romanisation used in this dictionary they are spelled mou, tou and tan). Tam shui is not a term to be found in dictionaries as denoting a means of measuring land.
2 This division of land into three classes is taken from the old classification used by the Chinese authorities before the lease of the New Territories. See J. H. Stewart Lockhart's "Memorandum on Land" in Hong Kong Government's Sessional Papers 1900, pp. 266-269.
3 This method of calculating the area of vegetable fields is also common to other areas and was in use in the Kowloon peninsula from at least the late nineteenth century onwards. Again, it would appear that, like the fau, the measurement is variable, even within the Colony.
4 See C. J. Grant, Soils and Agriculture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960, pp. 53-81.
Mr. W. A. Taylor, the author of this Note, is Senior Land Assistant in the New Territories Administration, Hong Kong, and has long experience of land work there. In Mr. Taylor's temporary absence this note was prepared for publication by Mr. J. W. Hayes who also added the footnotes. It is an abbreviated version of a longer technical paper, with maps and tables.
Addendum
It has since been established that rice was grown in four locations on Cheung Chau before the Pacific War 1941-45, but not after.
NOTES AND QUERIES
171
Many acres of old rice lands have been converted into vegetable land and we now have a super grade type of land producing vegetables which pay higher prices than padi, and hence result in higher rentals being charged for the land.
Recent trends show that agricultural rents are now more often paid in cash. This probably stems from the fact that vegetables are rapidly replacing rice as the main agricultural pro- duction in the New Territories. As vegetables are sold on a daily basis through the Government wholesale markets, which pay cash on the day of sale, the farmer finds it easier to offer rent on a fixed cash basis rather than arranging for an indeter- minate amount of rent to be paid based on two crops of kuk per year at differing rentals for each crop.
Notes
1 In S. Wells Williams, Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language, North China Union College edition, Tung Chou, near Peking, China, 1909, good descriptions of the Chinese measurements mau and tau, showing how they vary from place to place, are given on pp. 583 and 804. For tam see p. 751. (In the Wade romanisation used in this dictionary they are spelled mou, tou and tan). Tam shui is not a term to be found in dictionaries as denoting a means of measuring land.
2 This division of land into three classes is taken from the old classification used by the Chinese authorities before the lease of the New Territories. See J. H. Stewart Lockhart's "Memorandum on Land" in Hong Kong Govern ment's Sessional Papers 1900, pp. 266-269.
3 This method of calculating the area of vegetable fields is also common to other areas and was in use in the Kowloon peninsula from at least the late nineteenth century onwards. Again, it would appear that, like the fau, the measurement is variable, even within the Colony.
4 See C. J. Grant, Soils and Agriculture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1960, pp. 53-81.
Mr. W. A. Taylor, the author of this Note, is Senior Land Assistant in the New Territories Administration, Hong Kong, and has long experience of land work there. In Mr. Taylor's temporary absence this note was prepared for publication by Mr. J. W. Hayes who also added the footnotes. It is an abbreviated version of a longer technical paper, with maps and tables.
Addendum
It has since been established that rice was grown in four locations on Cheung Chau before the Pacific War 1941-45, but not after.
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