No. 1905
29
HONGKONG.
CLAIM OF MESSRS. HOWARD AND STEPHENS FOR COMPENSATION FOR INJURY SUSTAINED BY THEM AS OWNERS OF MARINE LOT No. 184 THROUGH THE WORKS CARRIED OUT UNDER THE PRAYA RECLAMATION ORDINANCE No. 6 OF 1889.
Award of His Excellency Sir MATTHEW NATHAN, K.C.M.G.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.
1. This claim was for an award by the Governor under Section 8 (6.) of "The Praya Reclamation Ordinance, 1889" of such a sum of money as in his absolute discretion he might think sufficient as and by way of compensation for any injury that the claimants, as owners of the former Marine Lot No. 184, may have sustained by the works carried out under the Ordinance.
2. The Lot which had an area of 32,481 Square Feet, and mean depth of 326′ 9′′, fronted for 100 feet on the 50-foot public road known as the Praya, which separated it from the harbour, and was otherwise bounded on the West and South by public roads and on the East by other Lots.
3. It was purchased by Mr. M. J. D. STEPHENS from the Hongkong Fire Insurance Company in September, 1884, for the sum of $65,000, and Godowns were erected on it to the value of about $36,000. In 1886 the claimants com- menced carrying on the business of Godown-keepers.
On the 10th May, 1889, "The Praya Reclamation Ordinance" was passed. This Ordinance contemplated the building of a sea-wall 260 feet in front of the existing Praya Wall opposite the claimants' Lot and devoting 25 feet of the land thereby reclaimed to a widening of the existing road, 160 feet to a new Marine Lo*, and 75 feet to a new Praya Road.
In the latter part of 1891 and early part of 1892, a sea-wall 260 feet in length was constructed at right-angles to the line of the Praya about 40 feet to the East of the Eastern boundary of the claimants' Lot. This was the Western limit of the Reclamation Works as carried out till the year 1898. In April of that year work was commenced opposite the claimants' Lot, and at the end of that year or com- mencement of 1899 the conditions of the original Marine Lot became practically what they have since remained as regards accessibility from the sea.
4. On the 22nd November, 1898, Major-General W. BLACK awarded Messrs. THOMAS HOWARD and M. J. D. STEPHENS, lessees of Marine Lot No. 184, the sum of $15,000 as, and by way of, compensation for the injury that they had sustained by the Praya Reclamation Works.
5. The claimants applied to the Supreme Court of Hongkong in its Original Jurisdiction to set aside this award, and their suit was dismissed on the 1st Decem- ber, 1900, generally on the grounds that the Court had no jurisdiction in the matter under the Praya Reclamation Ordinance. The Supreme Court subsequently refus- ed an application for special leave to appeal, and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1902 supported this refusal. A petition for full and fair com- pensation was presented to the King on the 22nd May, 1903, and on the 17th July of that year the claimants were notified that His Majesty had not been pleased to give any commands regarding their petition. As a result, however, of some further correspondence in the matter, Sir HENRY BLAKE, then Governor of Hongkong, offered the claimants an amount of $24,367.50, ¿e., at the rate of 75 cents per