The Proposed 1912 Cidade Camões
- Club Lusitano
- Jul 23
- 8 min read
By Anthony Correa
The 1911 revolution that ended the Qing Dynasty and establishment of the Republic of China was the culmination of a decade of agitation, unrest and instability. With it came an influx of Chinese from over the border into Hong Kong that caused housing prices to soar.
At the time the Portuguese community was primary situated in Mid-levels, in an area they called “Mato Morro”or “field of muslims / moors”, because of its proximity to the Jama Mosque in Mosque Street. It was a well-established area for the Portuguese Community with the Catholic Cathedral in Caine Road, Club Lusitano in Shelly Street and the Sacred Heart Canossian College for girls and St Joseph’s College for boys were within walking distance of their homes. The Portuguese worked in clerical positions for government, banks, insurance and trading companies that were located in the business districts below Mid-levels within easy access of their homes.
The vital Portuguese community was now facing a cost of living crisis and solutions were urgently proposed to the colonial government. Most prominent of these was by Montague Ede, an unofficial member of the Legislative Council (“Legco”).
Charles Montague Ede was the General Manager of the Union Insurance Society of Canton and was concerned that his important Portuguese clerical class was being squeezed out of the housing market. Union Insurance at that time was considered one of the four major “Hongs” along with the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, Jardine Matheson and Swire. Therefore, any concerns he was expressing in his capacity as a member of Legco, will likely have been shared by all of “the Hongs” that also had large contingents of trusted Portuguese staff.
In January 1912 Montague presented a detailed proposal called the Portuguese Housing Scheme Cidade Camões or City of Camões.
Extracts from Hongkong Telegraph, January, 27, 1912
“City of the Poet”,
Great Housing Scheme
We have been favoured with an advance proof of a “Proposed Portuguese Housing Scheme” which has been prepared by Mr C. Montague Ede.
In the introduction it is pointed out that the housing of the middle classes has become one of the most serious problems of the time, owing to natural growth of population and the recent large influx of Chinese. The better class Chinese from the neighbouring province have been purchasing properties in the district comprised within Caine Road on the North and Conduit Road on the South, causing an appreciation in value of all of the properties in the area. The enhancement of the rents has led to the tenants who are mostly of the Portuguese section of the community, being placed in a condition of great perplexity. They are compelled by the increase in rents to seek housing elsewhere, but there are no suitable properties elsewhere which offer identical or even similar conditions to those which prevail in this locality which they had grown to consider their own special reserve. The scheme is to provide a reservation for the housing of the members of the Portuguese community employed in clerical work in the Government Service, the Banks, the Insurance Offices and mercantile establishments of the colony.
Essentials
It is laid down as an axiom that three things are required:-
1. Suitable Location
2. Economical Operation
3. Government Co-operation
The site proposal is a large plateau above the Sookunpoo and Wongneichong valleys, to which access would be given by tram. It is proposed that the Government should reserve a block of 150 acres in the first instance and lease 20 acres as building land for a term of 75 years renewable for a like period at 1 cent per foot.
Conditions are laid down to prevent others than Portuguese obtaining leases and to prevent speculation.
A 13 page proposal was published by JP Braga printers and signed by Charles Montague that contained detailed information for the government to consider.
Some of the key elements in the proposal were: -
• In order to prevent speculation, Crown lessees must enter into a bond whereby they “engage themselves not to part with their holdings or any section thereof except to a member of the Portuguese community and at a the price at which he may undertake to sell must not exceed that which he paid for the property added to any other sum he may have spent upon the ground for addition or improvements”.
• Transport by a “low-level tramway to the head of Wong Nei Chong Valley thence up the hill by the same cars fitted with rack adjustment.”
• Drainage “the sullage water will be conveyed by means of an iron pipe down the Sookunpoo Valley; the surface water will be taken into trained nullahs.”
• Water Supply should be provided by Wong Nei Chong Reservoir.
• Price of Land – “the land Reserve for this scheme projected must not be less than 150 acres in the first instance. Of this area some 20 acres would require to be leased by the Government as building land for a term of 75 years renewable for a like period at 1 cent per foot. Crown Rent $100 per acre.”
• The land be designated “PORTUGUESE RESERVATION DISTRICT”.
• Allotment of land “the scheme contemplates as a first step the erection of a number of houses of different types suited to the different incomes of those compromising the community. There will be bungalows, detached houses, semi-detached and houses in terraces thereby those with small means will be provided for as well as those in better circumstances.”
• Participants will be grouped under four different categories, viz
-Contributors of from $30-$40 a month
-Contributors of from $40-$50 a month
-Contributors of from $50-$60 a month
-Contributors of from $60 and upwards
• “That the scheme may be a real and lasting benefit to those who care to profit by it, it aims at
encouraging thrift among the active participants therein. With this end in view it is proposed that
lessees shall become their own landlords by a system of provident purchase.”
Provisions were made for community services including a school, playground and a church. Some 30,000 square feet of land was allotted for a catholic primary school house to be run by the Italian Convent (who ran the Sacred Heart Canossian College). The school was to be large enough for 3 classes of 35 students each. School fees proposed were $2 per child, $3.50 for 2 children and $4.5 for 3 or more children in the same family. Some interesting comparisons with other schools in Hong Kong at the time (below) were included.
A small chapel with a house for catholic priest was proposed with 20,000 and 5,000 sq ft allotted for these buildings respectively. The Garden should be laid out with an area of 50,000 sq feet in a style
similar to the Peak Garden.
Montague would spend the next 12 months developing his plan with the support of the Portuguese Community, most notably J P Braga. However, Charles Montague’s Cidade Camões proposal was not the only one put forward in January 2012.
Another Housing Plan – a Garden City
Francisco “Frank” Paulo de Vasconcelos Soares was promoting the establishment of a Garden City in Kowloon at the same time as Montague put forth his proposal for Cidade Camões. At that time this part of Kowloon in Ho Man Tin and Kowloon Tong was a sparsely populated and rocky area with few
amenities, but the Kowloon peninsula was rapidly developing.
In 1903 China Light and Power opened its first power station in Chatham Road and a dedicated pier for the Star Ferry was completed in 1906. Most importantly, the Kowloon Canton Railway commenced services in October 1910. The railway not only provided efficient and regular transportation from Kowloon and the New Territories, but the Tsim Sha Tsui terminus connected passengers directly to the adjacent Star Ferry pier to Central and Hong Kong island.
Some Portuguese families had already relocated to the more affordable Tsim Sha Tsui area and the community had established several catholic institutions such as St Mary’s Canossian College (completed in 1900) and Rosary Church in Chatham Road (completed in 1905).
Frank Soares’ vision was for this Garden City to be self-sustaining with each house having grounds sufficient to enable residents to supply their own vegetables, fruits and poultry and to supplement their incomes by the sale of surplus produce. This vision would come in handy for the Soares family some three decades later, as their fruit and vegetable garden in their Liberty Avenue, Ho Man Tin home was able to sustain Frank and his family for over three and a half years of the Japanese occupation between 1941 and 1945.
The two proposals were not mutually exclusive and there was no direct competition between them as one was on Hong Kong Island and the other in then far away Kowloon. However, the Garden City proposal distinguished itself in one important way – it was not confined to the Portuguese exclusively. Frank Soares was concerned that a Portuguese only reservation would ultimately harm the community
in the long term by separating it from the rest of society. He was accustomed to trade and interaction with the boarder multi-ethnic community that was early 20th Century Hong Kong and felt promulgating policies that further stratified an already prejudicial colonial system was against the Portuguese community’s interests.
The Final Proposal
On 30 November 1912, Charles Montague Ede presented a progress report of his Cidade Camões proposal at a meeting held with members of the Portuguese Community held in the offices of the Union Insurance Society.
Much progress had been made on the proposal, including endorsement of both the Hong Kong Legislative and Executive Councils, personal support of the Governor of Macao and financial support from the Bishop of Macao. Whist on holiday in the United Kingdom, Montague also secured sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Portuguese Consul General in London and the Minister of the Republic.
Undertakings of support of the proposal were received from 235 heads of families from the Portuguese Community. The Directors of the tramway company had also agreed to construct a tramway to the site.
Montague somewhat high-handedly addressed concerns about the segregation of the Portuguese
community.
“The sensitive nature of the Portuguese was played upon, and it was suggested to the less thoughtful members of the community that they should oppose an undertaking which was designed to “segregate” them in a distant spot; this at the time had its effect on some, but I am glad to say that such tactics had no lasting effect, the sound common sense of the community enabling them to see through and place the proper construction upon such suggestions. I need not say, gentleman, that there is no segregation contemplated. Segregation implies a disease. The disease if any exists, is in the present overcrowding which will be more marked in the near future. The beautiful healthy spot where it is suggested you build your houses is an absolutely ideal one.”
Everything was seemingly looking good for the construction of the Cidade Camões.
Onde Fica a Cidade de Camões hoje? The Outcome
So where is the City of Camões today?
Ultimately the Cidade Camões was not approved by the Government and instead parts of the land were developed into residential housing by Hong Kong Land. Montague then turned his attention to Kowloon Tong where he became general manager of the Kowloon Tong and New Territories Development Co that built 250 houses in the area. Ede Road in Kowloon Tong is named after him.
Frank Soares was successful with his "Garden City" proposal and he constructed homes in Ho Man Tin christening Soares Avenue, Emma Avenue (after his wife), Julia Avenue (after his daughter), as well as Peace Avenue, Liberty Avenue and Victory Avenue in memory of the end of World War I. The area was a predominantly Portuguese one but there were many Chinese, Eurasian, Indian and other ethnic groups that also settled there. A small train stop was constructed on the rail line above Peace Avenue.
J P Braga also found success in Kowloon Tong, when he became Chairman of the Hongkong Engineering and Construction Company from 1930 to 1941 and developed what is today Kadoorie Hill for Sir Elly Kadoorie. Braga Circuit is named after him.
By the mid 20th Century, many of the Portuguese Community in Hong Kong had happily relocated from Mato Moiro to three new districts in Tsim Sha Tsui, Ho Man Tin and Kowloon Tong.
