CONFI
2
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leases were never signed by the land lessees but we have relied on them to control land user and charge premia when user changes are allowed. The reference to the Peking Convention is to
the paragraph
"It is further understood that there will be no expropriation or expulsion of the inhabitants .. and that if land is required for public offices, fortifi- cations or the like official purposes, it shall be bought at a fair price." Whether this is consistent with expropriation of all privately owned land followed by the granting of leases imposing restrictions on land use is at least doubtful. However the point is unlikely to be pressed.
Para. 3 There is some N.T. land jargon here. "Re-entry" means cancelling a lease for breech of conditions. We cannot yield on this or we
should have no control over land use. Re-entry
t
the Chinese residents in New Territories as well
as the benefit of the Hong Kong Government on an unbiased and impartial basis. In 1841, the British Government occupied part of the territories of China Hong Kong as a port with political and economic significance in the Far East, and treated Hong Kong as a British Colony and ruled it as such with a colonial policy. In 1860, the British Government got hold of the territories south of Eoundary Street, Kowloon from the Chinese Government and later in 1898, obtained a lease of the New Territories from the Chinese Government. In 1905, without obtaining the consent of the Chinese residents, the Hong Kong Government unilaterally declared private land in the New Territories to belong to the Crown lease and changed the title of the land from freehold to leasehold from the Crown. This action was in direct conflict with the treaty concluded by the British and Chinese Governments in connection with the lease of
the New Territories.
3.
As far back as 1923, the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk opposed the money-making colonial policies and the oppressive measures adopted by the Hong Kong Government. As our work is for the
/is
/benefit