5. Special Condition 14 (a) would also appear to be unsatisfactory. Surely one fifty-fifth of such amount as in the opinion of the Director has been reasonably expended by the Guarantee on site formation of the said land, multiplied by the number of complete years in the portion of the said term unexpired at the date of resumption" is a very meagre compensation for improvements to the land such as building of roads, lighting and car-parking spaces? Do we not also need to try and improve Special Condition 14 (a)? Finally, if the Hong Kong Government is not going to be making any contributions to the cost of the Consulate-General, it is surely pointless to retain Special Condition 14 (b)(i) and
(ii).
6.
I would conclude that Special Condition 14, as it now stands, should be deleted if possible. We are better off without a compensation provision and relying on Article 31(3) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations than having the present compensation provision. On the other hand, an improved compensation provision might be preferable to none and reliance on the Vienna Convention. But it would need to be a good provision.
Shelagh Brooks
Shelagh Brooks