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We the people of the New Territory look up to Your Excellency's humane policy and we rejoice that you have come to visit us. We know that Your Excel- lency is doing your utmost for the good of the people and under your Government this outpost of the Empire will continue to be more and more prosperous and the people to enjoy greater peace and security.

As a slight mark of our respect and appreciation we humbly pray that Your Excellency will accept this tablet.

Appendix No. III.

MEMORANDUM ON LAND.

Chinese law regarding Land.

Land according to Chinese tenure is held as freehold by grant from the Crowa and descends in the male line only. Daughters never inherit.

The land comprised in the original grant can be sold by the proprietors in sub-divisions and is most usually sold in perpetuity or for 1,000 years. The proprietors record their names in the districts registry as responsible for the tax, and their possession is legally secure so long as that is paid.

Deeds of absolute sale have been brought in from the New Territory for registration which were made in the reign of the Emperor KA TSING and of subsequent Emperors of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1519 to 1626) and which have been recognised by the present dynasty. Strictly, a grant issued by the present dynasty should be attached to all grants made by the previous dynasty. The present owners under such grants are all the existing male descendants of the original grantee and in one case the proprietors now number over 700.

All land under cultivation is supposed to pay a land tax and from time to time spasmodic attempts are made to survey the area under cultivation. But in spite of Government orders, all efforts to obtain correct data of the actual acreage brought under cultivation have been frustrated. The landowners, wishing to have their land exempted from the payment of taxes, seem to have succeeded in inducing the

officers not to make correct reports. survey

But when large and fertile tracts, yielding valuable crops, are not reported for registration, such as has been the case with extensive areas reclaimed froin the sea near San Tin, the Chinese authorities generally confiscate and re-sell them to private individuals, after they discover them.

rate.

Different kinds of land that pay land tax.

Agricultural land is divided into three classes, each class paying a different

First class lands are those near villages in fertile valleys with a good depth of soil and a good water supply, producing annually two crops of rice or one crop of sugar cane.

Second class lands are those less fertile than the first class and are generally situated higher up the slopes of hills and have not such a good water supply as the first class. They produce annually one crop of rice or one crop of sugar cane.

Third class lands are those situated on still higher slopes and are far removed from a good water supply. They are generally devoted to the cultivation of pea- nuts, sweet potatoes, millet and other hardy crops which do not require much

moisture.

Fish ponds pay a special tax higher than that paid by cultivated land of the first class.

Building land and orchards pay a very insignificant land tax, whilst burial grounds, which the people wish to be officially recognised and registered, pay once only a stamp fee for the title deed without being obliged to pay any further tax.

Will land and Waste land.

All hills and waste lands are claimed by the nearest villages or most powerful clans in the neighbourhood or even at a distance.