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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131), and the New Territories Ordinance (Cap. 97).
In recent years certain groups of 75-year Crown leases granted in the Colony's early years, and chiefly affecting land in Kowloon, have reached their expiry dates. Public statements of Government policy in regard to the terms and conditions under which new Crown leases would be granted were made in 1946 and 1949. Terms and conditions for new leases have already been agreed in a large number of cases, and other leases will become due for renewal in rapidly increasing numbers. Renewal premia may be paid either in a lump sum or by instalments over an agreed number of years and the majority of lessees avail themselves of the latter method of payment. For this reason the revenue in any one year is relatively small, but since such payments will continue to be made for upwards of 80 years, the total revenue involved is considerable. During the financial year 1956-7 revenue from renewals of this type of lease was $1,299,382.
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On renewal the boundaries of lots are adjusted to conform with street improvement lines, etc., and where land is re- quired for major replanning schemes the leases will not be regranted. In these latter cases the Government has announc- ed its intention to pay ex gratia compensation for buildings.
Land Policy. The Government's basic policy is to sell leases to the highest bidder at public auction; all land disposed of for commercial and industrial purposes and residential sites sold to the general public are dealt with in this way. Land required for various types of housing projects described later in this Chapter, for public utilities, and for schools, clinics, and certain other charitable purposes is usually granted by private treaty. The premium charged in such cases varies from nothing for non-profit-making schools, etc., up to the full market value for public utilities.
Policy concerning the sale or grant of Crown land is governed by the scarcity of all types of land. In order to