Kowloon

“ Sir J. Bowring, however, drew the attention of the Colonial Office to the importance of Kowloon, and in the following year (March 29, 1859) distinctly recommended its annexation by cession in the following words. 'The possession of the small peninsula opposite the Island is become of more and more importance. To say nothing of questions of military and naval defence, it would be of great commercial and sanatory value, while to the Chinese it is not only of no value, but a seat of anarchy and a source of embarrassment. ”

“ He told me, as well as I can remember, that he had estimated the cost from Kowloon to about ten miles north of Samchun at about £27,000 a mile, and from there on to Canton at £7,000 a mile. That seems to show that the country beyond these hills is flat and easy. The cutting, tunneling, and embanking required for the passage of197 a railway line through the continuous hills of the Kowloon Hinterland would be a very laborious undertaking. There is no long level stretch from Hong Kong harbour to the frontier; and the hills are mainly granite. ”

“ On the other hand, Sir H. Robinson represented to the Colonial Office (February 13, 1861) —that the idea of appropriating Kowloon did not originate with the Military Authorities; that the Hongkong Government, in originally mooting the acquisition of Kowloon, had in view the necessity of providing for the wants of the general population as well as of the military garrison; that the lease was obtained under his own authority; that the Peking Convention expressly declared the peninsula to be ceded as a Dependency of the Colony of Hongkong ”

“ On the right was the recently acquired British territory and new settlement of Kowloon, with wharves, dry-docks, godowns, and barracks. On the left rose Hong-Kong island, with the fine city of Victoria nestled at the base of a peak eighteen hundred feet high and climbing its wooded slopes. The moment the ship dropped anchor amid a fleet of great merchant steamers and men-of-war flying the flags of all the maritime nations of the world, Rob signalled one of the innumerable sampans, "manned" by Chinese women, that swarmed alongside. ”

“ Captain Hall argued that the Kowloon Peninsula would afford much needed sea-frontage for commercial building lots and additional barrack accommodation; that the British occupation of Kowloon would remove the danger with which the mercantile shipping, anchored during the typhoon season in close proximity to the settlement of lawless Chinese vagabonds at Tsimshatsui, was threatened ”

“ Since then, road-making has been actively pursued, and a system of main roads, 100 feet wide, is now under construction. The roads in Kowloon at the present time aggregate 22 miles in length, of which 3 miles are 100 feet wide. In the new territories, the road to Taipo was the first to be made. It is 16 miles in length, and was completed in 1904. The only other properly made road is one past Kowloon City, leading in the direction of Customs Pass, the construction of which has been undertaken partly on military grounds. ”

“ Thus it happened that, ever since the Ming Dynasty, two distinct tribes of Chinese, differing from each other in language, customs and manners, formed the native population of Hongkong and Kowloon. As a rule, the Puntis were more intelligent, active and cunning, and became the dominant race, whilst the Hakkas, good-natured, industrious and honest, served as hewers of wood and stone and drawers of water. ”

“ In July, 1854, the city of Fatshan (the Birmingham of South-China) fell into their hands and a panic broke out in Canton (July 20, 1854) resulting in a general exodus of the wealthier classes. Crowds of fugitives took refuge in Hongkong. Kowloon city, opposite Hongkong, was at the end of September, 1854, repeatedly taken and retaken by the Rebels and the Imperialists. ”

“ A rebellion which broke out in the provinces adjacent to Canton in the early fifties sent a flood of emigrants to Hongkong, and the population rose to nearly 40,000 in 1853, and to 75,500 in 1858. Between 1860 and 1861, when the peninsula of Kowloon was added to the Colony, the numbers increased from 94,917 people to 119,321, but from that date onward to 1872 very little progress was made. ”

“ Since the Hinterland has come into their possession the colonial authorities have made an excellent road from Kowloon into their new territory. It is carried up the steep hills and down again to the valleys in easy gradients. It is of more importance for military than for commercial purposes; as the peninsula produces so little and wheeled transport is unknown.
The cession of the Hinterland in 1898 was very strongly resented by its few inhabitants. Owing to their poverty and inaccessibility, they were probably seldom plagued with visits from Chinese officials ”

“ It provides for a reclamation extending from East Point to Arsenal Street, where it will join the Naval Yard Extension, and comprising an area of nearly 84 acres of building land, exclusive of roads. On the Kowloon side much work of a similar nature has been carried out, but, with the exception of the reclamation in Hunghom Bay to form the terminus of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, it has been the result of private enterprise, no general scheme having been undertaken by the Government. ”

“ The system has gradually developed, until now there are on the island of Hongkong 95 miles of roads. Of those inside the city 5 miles are roads of 75 feet in width. Similarly in Kowloon, road-making was commenced soon after the territory was acquired, the first sections of Robinson and Macdonnell Roads being constructed in 1865, five years after the Peninsula was taken over. A halt seems to have been called for some considerable period after this, and it was not until about 1892 that any extensive construction of roads was undertaken in Kowloon. ”

“ Another instance of Chinese enterprise is the attempt made, in July 1873, to run steam-ferries between Hongkong and Kowloon city, though the movement was stopped at the time through the action of the British Consul in Canton, who represented to the Viceroy that the ferry-boats were merely intended to bring customers from Hongkong to the Kowloon gambling houses. That Hongkong had risen in the estimation of China, is evidenced by the fact that the Imperial Government of China condescended, in December, 1874, to contract a loan of £600,000 at 8 per cent. ”

“ The first favourable opportunity was taken by the British Government to obtain a cession of a few square miles of the Kowloon peninsula, but from the strategic point of view this step was of very little use; and it was not till 1898 that the Hongkong "New Territory"—a patch of country which, including the mountain ranges and some considerable islands, has an area of several hundred square miles—was "leased" to Great Britain "for a period of ninety-nine years." ”

“ In 1860 and 1861 the Chinese settlement at Shaukiwan grew largely in importance as a depot for the exportation of salt fish. Owing to the delay in the settlement of the Kowloon land dispute, and in consequence of the doubts entertained as to the sanitary aspects of Peak residence, general attention was directed to Pokfulam where an ornamental villa settlement had been started by this time (1862) around Douglas Castle, in the vain hope of securing there a public health resort. Sir H. Robinson, however, had more faith in the Peak. ”

“ Thus the Hakka villages of Mongkok, Tsopaitsai, Tsimshatsui and Matauchung were formed on Kowloon Peninsula, and on Hongkong Island the hamlets of Hungheunglou, Tunglowan, Taitamtuk, Shaiwan, Hoktsui, Wongmakok, and Little Hongkong. Similar hamlets were formed by the Hakkas at the quarries of Taikoktsui, Hokün, and Tokwawan on Kowloon, and at the quarries of Tsattsimui, Shuitsingwan, Wongkoktsui, and Akungngam on the Island of Hongkong. ”

“ Tien-Tsin was opened to trade; Chinese were allowed freely to emigrate to the British colonies; Kowloon, opposite Hong Kong, was ceded to the British; and the immediate operation of the treaty and convention was provided for. ”

“ The Chinese Government agree that if ever they constitute a Postal Department independent of the maritime customs, and if a European is to be appointed as Director thereof, France shall have an equal right with that of other Powers to nominate a candidate for the post of Director. The Chinese Government are willing— 1. To lease us as much additional territory on Kowloon promontory [opposite Hong Kong] , exclusive of Kowloon city, as is required for military and naval purposes. 2. The Yamên state that China is quite willing to allow the extension into Yünnan of the Burmah Railway. ”

“ Since then Kowloon City has remained in the hands of the British, but Samchun, an important town on the border between China and the New Territory, was handed back to the Chinese in November, 1899, and has, unfortunately, become a convenient asylum for Chinese criminals who are "wanted" by the Hongkong authorities.
On the western side of the peninsula lies the important village of Yaumati, which is very thickly populated by Chinese, and contains the gas works from which the gas is obtained for lighting the peninsula. After passing through this village the open country is met. ”

“ When they have settled in their own minds that a storm is coming on, the boats and fishing population cross the harbour "en masse," and shelter in the bays of Kowloon until the fury of the hurricane is spent. Round the harbour the scenery is remarkably picturesque, and picnic parties during the cold season find many a pleasant retreat among the islands, particularly Green Island and Wong-chuen-chow, or amid the woody hills and fertile valleys which diversify the mainland of Kowloon.
A HONG-KONG SEDAN CHAIR.
THERE are no cabs in Hong-Kong ”

“ Generally speaking, it may be said that the higher he climbs up the side of the Peak the rarer becomes the social atmosphere which he breathes, and, as a consequence, between those who reside at the summit and those who live in the peninsula of Kowloon there is as wide a gulf as that which divided Dives and Lazarus. ”

“ The remaining part of the New Territories — a considerable area— is not under the juris- diction of the Sanitary Board. The city of Victoria, which lies on the northern shore of the Island of Hongkong, contains 9,485 dwellings, exclusive of barracks and police stations, and, with the exception of some 982, these are occupied by Chinese. The present rateable value of the whole Colony Is $10,654,338, and that of New Kowloon — the only portions of which territory assessed are Kowloon City, Sam Shui Po, Nga In Tau, and Little Kowloon— $61,835. ”

“ Another important business in which Messrs. Alvares & Co. are engaged is the export of feathers, which are purchased in China and cleaned in the firm's own factory at Kowloon—the only establishment of its kind in the Colony—equipped with the latest machinery, and housed in a building specially designed to meet the exacting requirements of the Sanitary Board. ”

“ HONGKONG FROM KOWLOON SIXTY YEARS AGO.
(From Allom & Wright's "China.") Hong-Kong will ever become a place of trade." It is not remarkable that the report of the Select Committee was influenced by these gloomy vaticinations. The facts were in many instances uncontrovertible, and Mr. Martin's survey undoubtedly as a whole produced upon the mind an overpowering impression of the unsuitability of the choice that had been made of a settlement. ”

“ Here cliffs too steep to climb rise from the very sidewalk and are covered with a great profusion and variety of ferns, small bamboo, palms, vines, many flowering shrubs, all interspersed with pine and great banyan trees that do so much toward adding the beauty of northern landscapes to the tropical features which reach upward until hidden in a veil of fog that hung, all of the time we were there, over the city, over the harbor and stretched beyond Old and New Kowloon. ”

“ But while the value of land was steadily rising in the most populous parts of the town, most suburban lots, and especially those in the neighbourhood of Eastpoint, had become so reduced in value that many lease-holders could not afford to pay the crown rents and consequently wholesale re-entries by the Crown took place from time to time. Land at Kowloon began to rise steadily into importance since 1874, and by the year 1876 great plans were entertained for creating a new town, with public park, churches and schools, at Tsimshatsui. ”

“ The whole of the lands in the Colony belong to the Crown, and the supervision of them is vested in the Surveyor- General or Director of Public Works, as that officer is now designated. In the case of Kowloon, leases of considerable areas were granted to those inhabitants who were in occupation at the time of its cession to the British and were able to establish a satis- factory title to the land, and a similar course has been followed in the case of all the petty holdings of the villagers throughout the Colony. ”

“ The wants, the welfare and the development of the Colony were mercilessly sacrificed to Imperial military interests which after all were soon found to be ill-served by this unrighteous appropriation. But that, in addition to the serious and permanent injury thus inflicted upon the Colony, an annual military contribution was likewise demanded, can be explained only by the assumption that Her Majesty's Government was kept in ignorance of the serious blow which the prosperity of Hongkong received by being deprived of the advantages which the civil occupation of Kowloon would have afforded. ”