Sessional_Paper_1887-1888 — Page 371

SIR,

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(13.)

(Mr. Chater to Colonial Secretary.)

HONGKONG, 4th July, 1888.

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter, No. 836, of the 23rd June last in which referring to previous correspondence on the same subject, you informed me, by direction of His Excellency the Governor, that the preliminary surveys of the fore-shore and sea-bed undertaken by desire of the Marine Lot- holders and paid for by them in connection with the Praya Reclamation Scheme were completed, that plans and estimates for the work were forwarded therewith and in which further you requested me to ascertain as speedily as possible the final reply of the Marine Lot-holders interested to the Government proposals.

I have now the honour to inform you, for the information of His Excellency, that, at a meeting of the marine lot-holders held at the City Hall on Tuesday, the 3rd instant, the plans and estimates were laid before them and it was un- animously resolved to accept the proposals of the Government embodied in your letters of the 11th August and 18th November, 1887, and in that of the 23rd June, 1888, now under reply, and to authorize the Government to proceed at once with the work the lot-holders undertaking to find the necessary funds under the terms of the Agreement.

I hand you for the information of His Excellency a full report of the meeting and of the Resolutions passed thereat.

This happy termination of the negotiations so long pending relieves me from all necessity of replying in more detail to the 9th and 10th paragraphs of your letter in which His Excellency gives expression to views as to the position of the Government and as to the rights of marine lot-holders and I have only, in con- clusion, to offer my congratulations to His Excellency and to the Government of the Colony on the completion of this Agreement which will as I firmly believe benefit the Government and the public as much as it benefits the marine lot- holders. It will add largely to the available building area in the city thus relieving the threatened congestion of the population and improving the sanitary condition. It will afford immensely increased facilities to the trade and commerce of the Colony, by increasing the depth of water along so large an extent of the marine frontage, by the greater width of the new streets and Praya and by the construction, now for the first time rendered possible, of the low level tramways.

It will considerably augment the revenue derived from Crown Rents and from the taxation on 1,300 new houses. It will give to the Crown for sale, or for public purposes 5 acres of land worth after all expenses of reclamation are paid, over two millions of dollars. All this will be done at the expense of the marine lot-holders, without responsibility or expense on the part of the Government as a Government, and without raising any of the many troublesome questions about vested rights or still more troublesome claims to compensation that under other circumstances, must surely arise.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

The Honourable F. STEWART, LL.D.,

Colonial Secretary.

C. P. CHATER.