220
The Government faced the vexing problem of compensation to the owners of the fields. This problem still troubles the Government. The compensation to people whose ancestral lands are resumed is a thorny issue.
In 1844 a three-member commission was formed to consider claims and recommend suitable payment for the land given up. It was composed of the Land Officer, Mr. Gordon, the Chief Magistrate, Major William Caine, and the Chinese Secretary, the Rev. Mr. Charles Gutzlaff.
Mr. Gutzlaff did most of the work interviewing the villagers and attempting to ascertain current land values.
The Colonial Office inquired of the Governor under what circumstances it had been necessary to purchase the land when, with the cession of the island to Britain, all land automatically had become the property of the Crown.
The Governor explained: “That Rule laid down since the occupation of the island has been that the property of those Chinese who were possessed previous to the cession of the colony should be respected, but none other.
“The land in question is among the oldest under cultivation in the island, being a rich alluvial soil adapted to the growing of rice. It therefore came strictly under this rule.”
The committee determined to its satisfaction that the price of the second-class paddy land was between $20 and $40 a mow (a Chinese land measure). It recommended the average of $30.
Through a mistake by the committee in stating the number of mow in an acre, the Government almost blundered into paying three times as much for the land. Fortunately for the Government treasury, but not the villagers, the error was discovered before a settlement was made.
It took a year to complete the project. The land was surveyed. The owners were compensated and the drainage and undertaken.
220
The Government faced the vexing problem of compensation to the owners of the fields. This problem still troubles the Govern- ment. The compensation to people whose ancestral lands are re- sumed is a thorny issue.
In 1844 a three-member commission was formed to consider claims and recommend suitable payment for the land given up. It was composed of the Land Officer, Mr. Gordon, the Chief Magis- trate, Major William Caine, and the Chinese Secretary, the Rev. Mr. Charles Gutzlaff.
Mr. Gutzlaff did most of the work interviewing the villagers and attempting to ascertain current land values.
The Colonial Office inquired of the Governor under what cir- cumstances it had been necessary to purchase the land when, with the cession of the island to Britain, all land automatically had become the property of the Crown.
The Governor explained: “That Rule laid down since the occu- pation of the island has been that the property of those Chinese who were possessed previous to the cession of the colony should be respected, but none other.
"The land in question is among the oldest under cultivation in the island, being a rich alluvial soil adapted to the growing of rice. It therefore came strictly under this rule.”
The committee determined to its satisfaction that the price of the second-class paddy land was between $20 and $40 a mow (a Chinese land measure). It recommended the average of $30.
Through a mistake by the committee in stating the number of mow in an acre, the Government almost blundered into paying three times as much for the land. Fortunately for the Government treasury, but not the villagers, the error was discovered before a settlement was made.
It took a year to complete the project. The land was surveyed. The owners were compensated and the drainage and undertaken.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.