Enclosure
d
telegram from myself to this effect that it has passed through the Legislative Council.
I have the honour to be,
My Lord Marquess, Your Lordship's most Obedient Humble Servant, Willem Robynigy
DRAFT BILL
ENTITLED
No. 114:-[23.8.94.]
An Ordinance for the Summary Resumption of certain Crown Lands situate in the Taipingshan District of the City of Victoria and for other purposes.
WHEREAS the Crown Leases of lands in this Colony usually provide that the lands thereby demised may be resumed by the Crown if required for the improvement of the Colony or for any other public purposes on three months' notice being given and upon payment of full and fair compensation to be assessed by the Director of Public Works. And whereas if such assessment is not satisfactory there is no means of obtaining possession of the land except by suit at law. And whereas by The Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance, 1889, it is provided that whenever the Governor in Council decides that the resumption of any land is expedient in the interest of the public, it shall be lawful for the Governor to enter into private negotiations with the owner of such land for the purchase thereof, and upon failure of such negotiations to give written notice that such lands will be resumed upon the expiration of four months from publication of such notice. And whereas the Colony and especially the Taipingshan District of the City of Victoria has recently been visited by a formidable epidemic disease known as the Bubonic Plague.
And whereas certain portions of the said district have been found to be in a highly insanitary condition and the inhabitants thereof have, by the orders of the Sanitary Board, been removed therefrom, the houses closed and the streets and approaches thereto blocked up. And whereas it is expedient for the prevention of such "visitation in the future and for the improvement of the Colony that the houses in such portions of the said Taipingshan District or some of them should be pulled down and destroyed and that the area or a portion thereof should be laid out afresh and redrained. And whereas the procedure under the terms of the Crown Leases is unsatisfactory and one-sided and may lead to protracted law suits, and the procedure under The Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance, 1889, involves protracted negotiations and long delays and both procedures are unsuitable to the urgency of the case.
Be it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-
1. This Ordinance may be cited as The Taipingshan Resumption Ordinance, 1894.
2. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(1) Court means the Supreme Court of Hongkong.
(2) The Crown means Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors.
(3) House includes any building of any kind whatsoever, rows, blocks or groups of houses together with any yard, out-houses and appurtenances belonging thereto or usually enjoyed therewith.
(4) Street includes any road, court, alley, pathway, by-lane, or square.
(5) Owner includes all Crown lessees, assignees of the whole or any portion, section, or sub-section of any lot, mortgagees in possession and trustees in whose names any land resumed under this Ordinance stands registered in the Land Office of this Colony.
3. (1) The lots of land in the first schedule hereto annexed more fully set forth and described now held under lease from the Crown are hereby resumed to and revested in the Crown as from the 1st day of June, 1894, and the rights of the Crown Lessees thereof, their executors, administrators or assigns, and of all other persons claiming any right or interest in, to, or over the said lots of land or any of them or any portion thereof are hereby declared to have absolutely ceased and determined as from the said 1st day of June, 1894.
(2) The public roads and streets in the second schedule hereunto mentioned and described are hereby declared to have been closed from the said 1st day of June to public traffic to the extent in the said second schedule set forth, and all rights of way and other easements, if any, therein or thereover are hereby declared to have absolutely ceased and determined as from such date.
Title
Preamble
Short title.
Interpretation
Resumption of land in 1st schedule.
Closing of streets, &c.
718
C. O.
17302
RECE [REGP | 00T 34