2 -
dealt with
Territories, and cannot appropriately be addressed by this Bill, is currently being tackled separately within the
Administration.
Finally, Sir, a number of Members pointed out that the definition of "established village" in the Bill goes rather further than Annex III to the Joint Declaration. They have asked whether the effect of the reference to the Block Crown Lease might be to exclude residents of certain pre-1898 villages from the rent concession to which they are entitled under the Joint Declaration; and whether, therefore, the definition should
be amended.
сер
The Administration has considered this question very carefully, and checked in detail the present list of recognised pre-1898 villages against the villages recorded in the Block Crown Lease. As a result, I am satisfied that the original survey of the New Territories on which the Block Crown Leases were based was very thorough and
comprehensive, and included all pre-1898 villages. The present definition therefore defines the term precisely, and so establishes beyond doubt the entitlement of all indigenous villagers to the concession in paragraph 2 of
Annex III to the Joint Declaration.
The possibility, after more than 80 years, of a pre-1898 village which is not the subject of a Block Crown lease coming to light must be extremely remote.
However,
if such a case did come to light, the Government would be obliged to take the necessary steps to amend the legislation to give proper effect to the terms of Annex III to the Joint Declaration. Moreover in response to
Members' request, the Government will keep in view the suggestion that the legislation should be amended to bring its wording closer to that actually used in the Joint
Declaration.