outlay in ready money of $51,000 for 6 lots, the contents of which are 117,105 square feet. And, taking $51,000 at the present rate of Exchange, $7. per £, we have a capital of £12,511; the interest in which, at 12 per cent per annum, is £1,511, to which add £257.10 annual Ground Rent, and you find the total charge to the proprietors is £1,727.10 per annum, or at the rate of 35.44 pence per 100 square feet, and this falls to the ground the argument made use of by the old Landholders of paying higher rates than the purchasers of Land of more recent date.
Some plead that, because Government has hitherto neglected to notice the encroachments, it now by such neglect given a tacit sanction to the Acts of the Marine Lot-holders, and they therefore wish to make this a pretence to claim the land gained rent free. Assuming that any of the Officers of this Government may have sanctioned some of the encroachments, I presume he not having authority for so doing, such sanction would be illegal, and never could constitute a claim for exemption from Rents; indeed it would be strange if the rights of the Crown could be so trifled with, and to me it would seem the same as if because the Police neglected to notice a crime committed, the criminal should, when brought to justice, make this a claim for remission of punishment.
The last thing to which I beg to draw your attention is the proposed line as indicated in the Surveyor-General's plan. On referring to Tai Wan...
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