I have the honour to be,
My Lord Marquess, Your Lordship's Most Obedient
Humble Servant,
in Rotrings,
(59)
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did not provide a sufficiently long time to en compensation, and section 14 permits compensation. Able claims for compensation to be sent in, and to sub-lessees and tenants, and I believe it was suggested that six months ought to be altered in this amended Bill so as to meet the time allowed. Well, I must say that it does with the views of the unofficial members. not seem to me that there is much in the There is, however, one point to which I think proposal. To all intents and purposes owners I ought to refer. Very strong objection has will bare six months. It will take some been taken to no compensation being allowed for time before this preliminary survey and ex- any furniture, fittings, mezzanine floors, cock- amination as take place; I should think it lofts, partitions or articles in any house resumed under this Ordinance which have been removed, would take two or three months before the re sult can be known, and owners will have destroyed, or damaged during the prevalence of at least six months to send in their claims. the Bubonic Plague by reason of any operations There are very few who are absent from for the cleansing or disinfecting of such house. the colony—only three or four, I believe, or Now, that, I submit, was a mere accident of the absent at such a distance that they do not know plague; the destruction was absolutely necessary. what is going on, and those absent have their No evidence was retained of what was destroyed; attorneys and agents here, and they must have all these articles, so far as we may judge from informed their principal long ago as to what the opinion of the doctors, were infected or was contemplated in respect to their property. filthy, and their destruction was necessary for Therefore I do not propose to admit any alteration the proper cleansing of the houses which were from four months to six months. Section 10 deals afterwards closed. This again, I repeat, if with the powers of the Board, and I have heard no allowed, would invite false claims from Chinese objection raised to that section except as to sub- section 2. Sub-section 2 deals with the question of the costs of arbitration. Now, it has par- posely been left entirely in the discretion of the Board except in one instance. In that instance it provides that no costs shall be given against the Crown if the Governor shall have offered in writing, prior to any claims being sent in to the Board, to pay to any person interested an amount of compensation equal to or greater than the amount (if any) awarded to such person by the Board. "No," they say, "that is not the way to deal with it; the Crown should in all events bear the cost of arbitration." I must say, and I am sorry to say, that where you have to deal with Chinese I do not think you ought to tie down the solicitors of the Board by any hard and fast rule. All who are acquainted with litigant Chinese know that very often false claims are put forward with the result that the proceedings are a little too protracted indefinitely. And therefore it has been thought much more desirable except in the specified instance to leave the question of the costs entirely in the hands of the arbitrators.
Section 12 provides that there shall be no ap- peal. I might perhaps refer to one other of the Sub-sections of section 10. The senior unofficial member suggested to me that he did not think there is anything in the Bill provided for notice being given to the owners of the hearing of their claims to compensation, but if you look at sub-section 4 you will see that the Board has power to make and publish such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary for the conduct of all proceed ings before it, and that, I take it, would cover any question of giving notice to claimants as to when their claims would be heard. I am perfectly cer- tain that no Board would proceed ex parte on such an important matter. If the hon. member wishes for anything more clear I shall be happy to insert a few words when we are in Committee. Section 13 deals with the mode of determining the com- pensation. It has been stated that after money is paid into Court all increment of that until a special application is made to the Court is to be paid to the Government. There is no such intention in the Ordinance, which expressly provides that it shall be carried to a specific...