4
十
226 Hong
RECEIVED
FER. 8 1844
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
His Excellency the Governor having had under his careful consideration the Instructions which have been received from Her Majesty's Government on the Subject of Crown Lands in this Colony, is pleased to publish the following Extracts of a Despatch from Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.
"Sir HENRY POTTINGER is to abstain from alienating any of the land on the Island, either in perpetuity, or for any time of greater length than may be necessary to induce and enable the Tenants to erect substantial buildings, &c."
"But with the general prohibition against the alienation of Crown Lands, and with the general refusal to sanction any such Grants as may have already been made, Lord Stanley would connect a promise, that immediately on the Establishment of a regular Government in the place, an inquiry should be instituted, by some competent and impartial authority, into the equitable Claims of all Holders of Land, to a confirmation, either permanent or temporary, of their Titles, so far as they could be confirmed consistently with a just regard to the interests of Society at large."
With advertence to the principle laid down in the above Extracts, it will be understood, that Her Majesty's Government do not recognize the validity of any Grants, or Sales, of Land that may have been made, or may have taken place, under any authority whatsoever, previous to the Exchange of the Ratifications of the Treaty, upon which event the Island of Hong-Kong became a bona fide Possession of the British Crown, and from which day the payment of rents derivable from Such Land will only be held to commence.
In obedience to the intimation conveyed in one of the preceding Extracts, His Excellency, the Governor in Council is pleased to appoint,
A. T. GORDON Esq., Land Officer, &c.
CAPTAIN DE HAVILLAND, H.M's. 55 Regt.,
Assistant Surveyor, and,
CHARLES EDWARD STEWART, Esq., Treasurer and Financial Secretary to Government,
to be a Committee; assisted by Richard Burgass, Esq., Legal Adviser to Government, to inquire into the equitable claims of all Holders of Lands, to define the classes to which particular lots shall henceforward belong, as well as their future annual rent, and to arrange for the disposal of further lots regarding which Her Majesty's Instructions prescribe: "and it is our further Will and Pleasure, that no such lands shall be sold, or let, except at public auction; and that at every such auction, the Lands to be then sold or let, be put up at a reserved, or minimum, price, equal to the fair reasonable price and value or annual rent thereof."
By Order of His Excellency the Governor, and Commander in Chief of Hong-Kong,
RICHARD WOOSNAM, Officiating Deputy Colonial Secretary.
Government House, Victoria, Hong-Kong,
21st of August, 1843.
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