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486 monopoly, as they could not obtain satisfactory information; but they recommended (November 9, 1872), that the farm should thenceforth be let by public auction for three years at a time. This was done, but, owing to combinations among the competitors for the farm, the opium revenue, which stood at £25,500 in 1872, increased but slightly, as it amounted in 1876 to £27,708. The same standstill occurred in the yield of the land leases, which realized £24,602 in 1872 and £24,512 in 1876. Land sales were frequent during this period, and the value of land gradually increased in the central districts, especially since 1876. 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 limitation of Kowloon. garden leaseholds to 14 years (August 9, 1873), and of the compensation for lots built upon and then resumed, before expiry of the lease, for public purposes, at $1,000 per lot, caused much dissatisfaction among the holders of Kowloon garden lots. As to marine lots, a special Commission (Ch. May, E. Sharp, M. S. Tonnochy) was appointed (November 1, 1873) to investigate the title of all claimants to foreshore reclamations and to define the boundaries. Eighteen months later another Commission (J. Bramston, Ch. May, Ph. Ryrie, H. Lowcock, J. M. Price) was appointed (May 31, 1875) to inquire into complaints made that crown rents on lands, situated in the less populous parts of the Colony, were out of proportion to the real value of such lands, and to investigate the scale of rents properly chargeable. The report of this Commission (published November 27, 1875) stated that at Wantsai and Bowrington the tenants of the Crown were suffering from a general depreciation of property, that from 1865 to 1875 rents had fallen there 40 or 50 per cent., that this