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owned by local people were demolished for the construction of a fortress; also that investigation should be made as to whether there were other land taxes, apart from those of Tang Chi-cheung, which had not been paid.
+61
This decision was passed to the British Plenipotentiary, Sir John Davis, in a communication from "Hwang, Treasurer of Kwang-tung" towards the end of this same 24th year of Tao Kuang, to the effect that
"as the said Tang's fields are situated within the jurisdiction of Hong Kong the Chinese high officials consider it not proper to exact the [land] tax from Tang, because Hong Kong is made a possession of your Honourable Country.
The Tang clan's tenants on perpetual leases were thus freed of their payments to the sub-soil owner, and held land on payment of Crown Rent to the Hong Kong government thereafter. I have given the story only as it is contained in the Tang family records; but as expressed on the tenants' side and handled by the Hong Kong authorities, it is elaborated in official British papers contained in the Public Records Office, London.63
64
The Tangs' claims to be the sub-soil owners cannot have been exclusive; or else there had, by one means or another, been inroads into their rights over the years. Very few Chinese land papers indeed seem to have survived from Hong Kong island from before 1841, but among them is a red deed issued in 1797 to a resident of one of the Chai Wan villages.** The nature of a red deed is such that it is either an initial direct grant of the sub-soil or the official recognition of a transfer from the person previously registered as the taxpayer of the land in question. Also, and as mentioned above, the Wong family of Nam Tau and Cheung Chau leased out 13 fishing stations on the south side of Hong Kong to local people: a right which would usually have gone with ownership of the sub-soil or would have been appropriated by its owner.
65
I turn now to the boat people of Hong Kong, for it is certain that the local population before 1841 comprised boat families as well as villagers. The Tanka or boat people of South China have long
125
owned by local people were demolished for the construction of a fortress; also that investigation should be made as to whether there were other land taxes, apart from those of Tang Chi-cheung, which had not been paid.
+61
This decision was passed to the British Plenipotentiary, Sir John Davis, in a communication from "Hwang, Treasurer of Kwang-tung" towards the end of this same 24th year of Tao Kuang, to the effect that
"as the said Tang's fields are situated within the jurisdiction of Hong Kong the Chinese high officials consider it not proper to exact the [land] tax from Tang, because Hong Kong is made a possession of your Honourable Country.
The Tang clan's tenants on perpetual leases were thus freed of their payments to the sub-soil owner, and held land on payment of Crown Rent to the Hong Kong government thereafter. I have given the story only as it is contained in the Tang family records; but as expressed on the tenants' side and handled by the Hong Kong authorities, it is elaborated in official British papers con- tained in the Public Records Office, London.63
64
The Tangs' claims to be the sub-soil owners cannot have been exclusive; or else there had, by one means or another, been inroads into their rights over the years. Very few Chinese land papers indeed seem to have survived from Hong Kong island from before 1841, but among them is a red deed issued in 1797 to a resident of one of the Chai Wan villages.** The nature of a red deed is such that it is either an initial direct grant of the sub-soil or the official recognition of a transfer from the person previously registered as the taxpayer of the land in question. Also, and as mentioned above, the Wong family of Nam Tau and Cheung Chau leased out 13 fishing stations on the south side of Hong Kong to local people: a right which would usually have gone with ownership of the sub- soil or would have been appropriated by its owner.
65
I turn now to the boat people of Hong Kong, for it is certain that the local population before 1841 comprised boat families as well as villagers. The Tanka or boat people of South China have long
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