ENG-1963 — Page 58

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REVIEW

and resettlement blocks are used as playgrounds. But before con- sidering the question of intensity of urban land use more fully, two special aspects of the land question in Hong Kong-military lands and squatters-require mention.

Military lands

In 1841 the military authorities not unnaturally selected land conveniently situated near the town and waterfront. And since the early days the civil administration has, again not unnaturally, been pressing the military authorities to move to more distant parts. In 1887 the Land Commission referred to the need to press the naval and military authorities to give up their central city lands to make way for the increasing population and mention is made of the fact that the lands occupied were 'steadily increasing in value' and could be used 'very much to the public advantage'. In 1924 the Oakley Report on Military Lands established a basis for surrender of some of the more valuable central areas, but no effective steps could be taken before the threat of war postponed further action. As a result of disturbances in China and Korea, the military needed additional areas in the late 1940's and early 1950's and only in the last few years has it been possible to give effect to the long-term wishes of the civil administration. On the land known for over 100 years as Murray Parade Ground an hotel and a Government multi-storey car park now stand, while the site of the former Murray Barracks awaits a new Government office and the greater part of the Naval Dockyard awaits the implementation by private developers of the Central District Re- development Plan. In a like manner plans were announced in 1962 for the return of Whitfield Barracks, an area of 36 acres in the centre of Kowloon, and the Town Planning Board is engaged in drawing up proposals for its development.

All these recent transactions, which were negotiated on terms favourable to the Services, fell outside the scope of the Military Land Account. This procedure, which the British Government established in 1894 throughout the Colonies and despite local objections from Hong Kong, provided for the transfer and sur- render of land required for military purposes, with the value of the land transferred being credited to the Colonial Government,