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ject to revision at intervals of years. It will also be necessary to consider what shall be the tenure of Crown land. Seeing that the terri- tory is held under lease for ninety-nine years the question of freehold grants does not arise, and the land should be leased for stated periods, not exceeding the term which I have laid down in the case of the present colony with powers of resumption on fair terms if the public service requires it.
26.-In dealing with the question of what laws of Hongkong should be extended to the new territory I have not made any reference to the administration of the criminal law. In this matter I should wish you to be guided generally by the recommendations made by Mr.. ockhart, I agree with Mr. Lockhart that the existing village organizations should be maintained and utlilised, and I approve of the immediate appointment of an itinerant Magistrate as suggested. I shall be glad if you will at once select au officer for provisional appointment in this capacity. An appeal should lie to the itinerant Magistrate from the village tribunals, and from him to the Governor, this latter course being preferable in my opinion to an appeal to the Supreme Court." An Ordinance will be necessary, framed on the lines of the Ceylon Ordinance No. 24 of 1889 to legalise and define the powers of the village and district Council or tribunals.
27-I have now touched upon what appears to me to be the most important questions for your immediate consideration. You will gather from what I have said that while I differ from Rome of the conclusions at which Mr. Lockhart has arrived, I nevertheless concur. generally in the recommendations which he has made in his report. Although I am unable to entertain the idea of a separate administration of the new territory under a resident Commissioner, I con- sider it highly desirable that Mr. Lockhart should be generally associated with its adminis- tration, and with this object in view, he should for the next six months, at any rate, be relieved as far as possible from the ordinary duties of Colonial Secretary and Registrar General. It will probably be desirable that he should be permanently relieved of the duties of the latter office, but on this subject I will address you later. 28-Whatever other provisional appoint- ments may be rendered necessary by these arrangements, I must leave for the present in your hands.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
29-I hope that in the foregoing observations I have succeeded in conveying to you a general expression of my views on th's important and interesting subject. But there is much that must necessarily be left to yourself, and I feel that I have been unable to do more than give you an outline of the policy which it is desir- able that you should pursue. I have, however, every confidence in your ability to carry the undertaking to a successful issue; and I will conclude with au expression of my congratula. tions to you on finding yourself in the position of the representative of Her Majesty the Queen on the occasion of the assumption of jurisdic- tion over this most important addition to Her Majesty's dominions. I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
HON. J. H. STEWART LOCKHART'S REPORT.
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Mr. Stewart Lookhart's report on the new territory occupies sixteen pages of the Gazette. We make the following extracts from it :-
·PRODUCTS.
Rice is the principal article of cultivation and the quality of this product is so highly esteemed that a quantity of it is exported to San Fran- cisco for the use of the Chinese resident there. There is also a large area of land devoted to the growing of sugar cane, iudigo, hemp, peanuts, potatoes of different varieties, yam. taro, beans, sesamum, pumpkins, and regetables of all kinds!
Experiments are now being made to ascertain whether the cation plant will flourish in the newly-leased area, and there seems to be no reason, as far as soil and climate are concerned, why these experiments should not succeed. If they are successful, the cotton mill which is now being erected in Hongkong would find this a convenient source of supply for at any rate a portion of its raw material.
FRUITS.
[April 15, 1899.
great deal of the lime used in Hongkong is im. The fruits are pumeloes, oranges, lungngaus. ported from the San On district.
pears.
persimmons,
lichis, wongp'is and mangoes,
VEGETATION.
pomegranates,
'The manufacture of bricks and the quarrying of stones enable the inhabitants to obtain building material at a cheap rate.
Salt is manufactured in several places. Salt Peak Bay. pans were seen at Shatan Kok and Castle
dyeing cloth, both men and women being The indigo grown in the district is used for engaged in the work of dyeing.
A boat-building
covered with vegetation, and cultivation is found The mountain rauges and lower hills are high up on the hill-sidos. In some places a crop of rice was growing at an elevation of 1,300 feet. and on the northern slope of the Taimo Shan range tea and pineapple were observed growing at an elevation of 1,500 feet. The range of shed was seen on the shores of Mirs Bay.
Boatbuilding is carried on. Tsimo Shan, stretching to the west towards
A large establishment exists near Ts'un Wan Castle Peak Bay, is covered with good grass,
for the manufacture of joss-powder, out of which appeared to be such as would suit cattle, which joss-sticks, used in the worship of idols, horses, and sheep, many thousands of which
are made, The powder is made from fragrant could find pasturage on the slopes of these hills. wood, which is pounded into dust by means of At present cattle are used entirely for agricul-water-wheels, six of which were seen at work. tural purposes. The animals seen were small and well shaped, and generally black or red in colour. Their good condition showed the ex- cellence of the pasturage. In the poorer and ferns. and in the sheltered ravines with brush rocky soil the hills are covered with bracken and
wood and scrub jungle. There are no extensive forests, but some of the lower hils are clothed with pine-trees, and round many of the villages are found thick clumps of well-grown trees and groves of bamboo.
POPULATION,
throughout the territory available for water- Although there is a large force of water power, this is the only instance in which we saw water utilised for manufacturing purposos.
hemp which was observed growing in various Ropes and nets are manufactured out of the
places.
One village we visited was engaged entirely in the manufacture of pottery, the olay for which is found in the mountain immediately. above the village. The villagers are said to have learned the art of manufacturing pottery There are no reliable s'atistics possessed by from an Italian missionary who formerly re- the Chinese Government of the present populi-sided amongst them. tion of the San On District. No census ap- In almost every village is carried on the rear- pears to have been taken for many years. iting of pigs, large numbers of which are exported has, therefore, been uecessary to base an estimate annually. of the population on inquiries made from the Piue-trees are grown, and cut down for fire- inhabitants of the villages and on personal in-wood, which is an important article of export. spection of the villages themselves. With these Poultry breading and fruit growing for the as guides it is estimated that the population of Hongkong market form lucrative occupations the new territory, including the Sham Chun for many villages. and Shatau Kok divisions, and allowing 5,000 With the introduction of capital, which is for that portion of the Shatau division, which sure to follow when the territory comes under will most probably be included in the new area,
British occupation, and with that feeling of amounts in round figures to one hundred thous-greater security which just government is bound and (100,000).
to inspire, the present industries will be greatly developed, and new industries will be created.
The population is contained in six main divisions, inhabiting 423 villages. These vill. ages vary in population from 10 to 5,000 persons.
The eastern portion of the district, being more mountainous and less fertile, is not so thickly populated as the western portion. The Uh Long Tung, or the division including the fertile vallers and plains of Pat Houng and Shap Pat Heung, is the most populous, its population, amounting to 23,020, being distri- buted among 59 villages. The Sheung U Tung or western division, though much larger in area thau the Un Long division, contains a popula tion of only 20,870, disturbuted among no fewer than 182 villages.
The total area of the territory to be leased being 376 square miles, the population is about 266 persons to the square mile. Though by no means at present thickly populated, it is antici- pated that when the new territory comes under British occupation its population will rapidly increase.
INDUSTRIES.
|
RAILWAY.
•
The construction of a railway between Canton”. and Kowloon has been mooted for a long time, and some years ago a survey of the country, through which a line might pass, was made on behalf of a syndicate of Chinese. But the scheme appears to have been abandoned, and nothing more was heard of it until quite re- ceutly, when it again came under consideration, aud is, I understand, at present being discussed,
If a railway be constructed between Canton and Kowloon, there can be no doubt that such a liue would greatly aid the development of the new territory, through a portion of which it would pass, and would be of great commercial and political importance, as it would unite more closely with Hongkong the great commercial city of Southern China and the many towns lying between the city of Canton and that colony,
In the event of a inain line being constructed to Canton, it would, un doubt, be advisable to line, in that portion of the new territory establish branch lines, connection with the main through which the main line will not pass.
The population is chiefly occupied in the cultivation of the soil with the various crops produced. But in addition to agricultural pursuits there are large fisheries, in which Canton-Kowloon line, be not established at once, It has also been suggested that, even if the any persons are engaged, in the bays sur- rounding the territory on the east, south, and light railways should be constructed in the west, fishing being carried on chiefly by means
new area. They would, no doubt, help to de- of stake-nets. The fish are sorted, salted, and elop it and increase its population by attract.. san-dried, and exported to various markets.ing people to it, but roads seem to be the first The trade in salt fish is one of the most requisite, and should be attended to as soon as important, and employs a large number of
possible. persone.
Pearl fisheries exist in Tolo harbour, where pearls of -value are said to be sometimes found.
In addition to salt-water fish the rearing of fresh-water fish in ponds for the Hongkong market and elsewhere occupies the attention of the villagers of the Un Long division.
The cultivation of oysters is also carried on to a large extent, especially in Deep Bay.
Lime buruing is an important industry, coral stone. The largest lime-burning works seen and oyster-shells being in the place of lime-
from Hongkong was being used as fuel. Lime were near Castle Peak Bay, where coal obtained
was also being burut at Taipo Hu. Shat'an Kok, Sha Tin, Ts'an Wan, Ping Shan, and other places visited. It is understood that a
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, Detailed information is given under these. beadings. The revenue is estimated at at $125,000. A loan for initial outlays is re $169,000 and the cost of administration commended, but, as will be seen from Mr. Chamberlain's despatoh, has not been approved.
BOUNDARY LINE,
The boundary line indicated on the map attached to the Convention is the shortest line from sea to sea that could be found, measuring on the map only eleven (11) miles. Following the river from Deep Bay to Sham Chan and the road from the latter place to Starling Inlet, the actual distance is about thirteen (13) miles.
This boundary line is open to great objection. It cuts in two the rich valley of which Bham Chun is the centre, and, while excluding that
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