COPY
THE HEUNG YEE KUK, NEW TERRITORIES
JOINT OPINION
{
1.
Our opinion is sought by the Heung Yee Kuk (a
statutory advisory body to the Government on the New Territories
affairs) on the development of the Government's land policy as
applicable to the New Territories and on its conformity with
the letter and spirit of the 1898 Convention by which the New
Territories were leased by China to Britain.
2.
By a Convention signed at Peking on 9th June 1898
the New Territories were leased by China to Great Britain for
a term of 99 years expiring on 30th June 1997. The preamble
to the Convention states that an extension of Hong Kong
territory was "necessary for the proper defence and protection
of the Colony" and the Convention provides, inter alia that:
there will be no expropriation or expulsion of
the inhabitants of the district included within
the extension, and that if land is required for public offices, fortifications, or the like official purposes, it shall be bought at a fair price."
3.
The main grievance of the indigenous inhabitants of
the New Territories concerning the land policy of the Hong Kong
Government are as follows:
(a)
The imposition on land-owners of unfair
restrictions on the change of user of their
land;