29
Nga Tsin Wai in 1902
A great deal of information on Nga Tsin Wai can be gathered from the Block Crown Lease, which in Nga Tsin Wai dates from 1902. Nga Tsin Wai forms part of Survey District 1, the very first area to be surveyed, and, as a result of experience gained, the later surveys were improved, particularly by the inclusion of the Chinese characters for the names recorded, and the recording of the village the landowner claimed to belong to. Although this useful information is omitted from the Nga Tsin Wai Lease, a good deal of information can still be had.
At the Appendix is a summary of the land-holdings of Nga Tsin Wai as recorded in the Block Crown Lease. For the purposes of this summary, any villager owning a house in Nga Tsin Wai in 1902 is considered a villager of Nga Tsin Wai, even if he owned other houses elsewhere. Any villager not recorded as owning any house is considered an Nga Tsin Wai villager if the bulk of his farmland was near the village. Any trust is considered a Nga Tsin Wai trust if the Manager (or any one of the Managers) was a Nga Tsin Wai villager, or if it owned a house within the village: any manager of a Nga Tsin Wai trust is also considered a Nga Tsin Wai villager, even if he would otherwise not be. There were other landholders in the Kowloon City area - especially men of the Ng clan resident in Sha Po - who are here considered as Sha Po villagers rather than Nga Tsin Wai villagers, and so are not included in the summary. This is not entirely satisfactory since, in 1902, there was probably no clear distinction drawn between Nga Tsin Wai and Sha Po, and the distinction drawn here between Nga Tsin Wai and Sha Po villagers is one unlikely to have been accepted by the villagers in 1902. However, it is the best that can be done.
The village consisted in 1902 of about 140 houses within the walls (not including the Tin Hau Temple and the Village Office), and some 48 outside the walls, plus the Ng clan Ancestral Hall and school. Six of these 188 houses were owned by village trusts: 73 individual villagers or groups of villagers owned the others. A further twelve house-owners classed here as Nga Tsin Wai villagers owned houses only in Sha Po, and five more owned houses only in Kowloon City. These villagers are here classed as Nga Tsin Wai villagers because of acting as trustees of Nga Tsin Wai village trusts or because the bulk of their agricultural land lay near the village, or because they formed part of groups of villagers.
29
Nga Tsin Wai in 1902
A great deal of information on Nga Tsin Wai can be gathered from the Block Crown Lease, which in Nga Tsin Wai dates from 1902. Nga Tsin Wai forms part of Survey District 1, the very first area to be surveyed, and, as a result of experience gained, the later surveys were improved, particularly by the inclusion of the Chinese characters for the names recorded, and the recording of the village the landowner claimed to belong to. Although this useful information is omitted from the Nga Tsin Wai Lease, a good deal of information can still be had.
At the Appendix is a summary of the land-holdings of Nga Tsin Wai as recorded in the Block Crown Lease. For the purposes of this summary, any villager owning a house in Nga Tsin Wai in 1902 is considered a villager of Nga Tsin Wai, even if he owned other houses elsewhere. Any villager not recorded as owning any house is consid- ered an Nga Tsin Wai villager if the bulk of his farmland was near the village. Any trust is considered a Nga Tsin Wai trust if the Manager (or any one of the Managers) was a Nga Tsin Wai villager, or if it owned a house within the village: any manager of a Nga Tsin Wai trust is also considered a Nga Tsin Wai villager, even if he would otherwise not be. There were other landholders in the Kowloon City area - especially men of the Ng clan resident in Sha Po - who are here considered as Sha Po villagers rather than Nga Tsin Wai villagers, and so are not included in the summary. This is not entirely satisfactory since, in 1902, there was probably no clear distinction drawn between Nga Tsin Wai and Sha Po, and the distinction drawn here between Nga Tsin Wai and Sha Po villagers is one unlikely to have been accepted by the villagers in 1902. However, it is the best that can be done.
The village consisted in 1902 of about 140 houses within the walls (not including the Tin Hau Temple and the Village Office), and some 48 outside the walls, plus the Ng clan Ancestral Hall and school. Six of these 188 houses were owned by village trusts: 73 individual villagers or groups of villagers owned the others. A further twelve house-owners classed here as Nga Tsin Wai villagers owned houses only in Sha Po, and five more owned houses only in Kowloon City. These villagers are here classed as Nga Tsin Wai villagers because of acting as trustees of Nga Tsin Wai village trusts or because the bulk of their agricultural land lay near the village, or because they formed part of groups of
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