Sessional_Paper_1886-1887 — Page 529

APPENDIX TO REPORT FROM THE LAND COMMISSION OF 1886-87.

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11. The existence of these abuses cannot be a matter of surprise to the Government if it pauses to consider the system under which land is occupied by squatters, and if it bears in mind that there is no machinery save the very im- perfect one of the village Police wherewith to prevent trespassing, to deter the transferring and subletting of licenes, or the occupation of areas in excess of those specified in the licences, or the non-renewing of licences and the falling into arrears of fees on the part of the squatters.

12. Under the present system, there are a limited number of fixed squatters enrolled in the books of the Registrar General and from these that Officer collects the fees with regularity, though he has no proof that they are not in occupa- tion of areas greatly in excess of those for which they pay. But the bulk of the squatters in this Colony are not enrolled in the Registrar General's books.

12. In addition to the very limited number of squatters permanently registered in the Registrar General's Office, there are a great number of applicants who receive their squattings from this office yearly, paying in their fees for the same to the Registrar General. It is left entirely to these applicants to return at the expiration of the year and apply for a renewal of their licences. If they do not come back for a renewal at the expiration of the year, there is no renewal, and no consequent payment of fees to the Registrar General, yet on the other hand there is no proof that these people are not in continued occupation and enjoyment of the ground or that they have not let it to tenants for a consideration which they have arranged to pocket.

14. These evils must continue until the Government establishes efficient machinery for their prevention, as well as a proper system of registration of all squatters in the Colony. I therefore beg to make some recommendations in this connexion.

15. I advise that on and after the 1st of January next, the name of every actual squatter in the Colony be registered in a Squatters Roll to be kept by the Treasury. The Registration to be divided into districts, to contain full particulars as to locality, area of squatting and amount of yearly fee payable in advance. This is merely an extension of the present Registrar General's Squatters Roll so as to include the whole of the squatters in the Colony in lieu of only a portion as beretofore. The transfer of the Squatters Roll from the Registrar General's Department to the Treasury is proposed for reasons that will be submitted presently.

16. That all persons registered in the Treasury Squatters' Roll receive yearly from the Surveyor General corres- ponding licences (in English and Chinese), setting forth the conditions of the tenancy, the area of the squatting and amount of yearly fee. That no licence be issued unless the squatter shall have been previously registered in the Treasury Squatters Roll, and that a new Squatters' Roll be framed every year.

17. That a Land Bailiff be appointed by Government and attached to the Public Works Department, whose duty it shall be to perambulate continually every district of the Registry both in the Island and Kowloon in order to make sure, by close personal inspection and surveillance, from day to day, that in every case the occupation of Crown Land by a squatter is not a trespass but a bona fide occupation by virtue of a licence in accord with the terms of the Treasury Squatters' Roll.

18. That the Land Bailiff shall immediately upon discovery report to the Surveyor General the existence of un- authorized occupiers of Crown Land together with the areas illegally appropriated by them, and that such trespassers be confirmed in their holdings if unobjectionable and be made to pay the usual squatters' fees plus a penalty for the tres- pass, or if, on sanitary or other public grounds such unauthorized occupation of public lands be objectionable, that such trespassers be proceeded against according to law or be summarily ejected.

19. That the Land Bailiff shall immediately upon discovery, report to the Surveyor General any areas in occupation by squatters, in excess of those specified in their licences, and that at the option of the Government, the squatters shall either be made to pay for these excesses of area at the same rate per square foot as their original holding plus a penalty for the trespass, or else that they be made to return to their original boundaries on pain of forfeiture of their licences.

20. That the Land Bailiff be a carefully selected intelligent European Officer of the relative rank of a Police Inspector. That he be paid at the same rate as a Police Inspector, and that he have a chair allowance to enable him to move about quickly from district to district, and that he be allowed the assistance of the Police Interpreter, generally attached to each village Police Station, and that he be also conceded some small allowance to defray the cost of steam- ferries and boat hire.

21. That as a rule no more squatters' licences be issued by Government except for strictly rural districts, and that in the City of Victoria and its suburbs, and in the village of Yau-ma-Ti, Hung-Hom, Mong-kok, Shaukiwan, Aberdeen, Stanley, Aplichao, and such other centres of population as His Excellency the Governor may approve, no more building land be alienated except on small and inexpensive building leaseholds. This principal has been, in fact, already approved by His Excellency and is partly in force.