567
*)
Meeting held on the 6th February 1895.
TAIPINGSHAN BESUMPTION ARBI-
TRATION BOARD.
The Taipingshan Arbitration Board, consist- ing of His Honour Mr. E. J. Ackroyd, Asting Chief Justice, Mr. E. F. Alford, and Mr. W. Dauby, met yesterday and announced several awards.
flis Lordship-The first claim we have to de ide is claim No. 50 made by Ng A Kwun, owner of Inland Lot 701. In this the sum of $17,600 was claimed, and the Court awards $12,500. The next case is Li Fung Shan, owner of the remain- ing portion of Inland Lot 600. In this case the sum of $11,618 was elaimed. The offer was $8,400 and the Board awards $8,400, In the case of Bruce Shepherd, Inland Lot 599, the claim was $19,000, the offer $15,200, and the award is $13,600. In this case, as the Board has awarded so very little beyond the sara which has been offered, we have reserved the question of costs and wish to hear parties thereon, I will now mention Musso's case; that in 701 A. This case was heard by us and we gave a deoi- sion at the hearing. But a day or two after- wards, on considering the matter, we thought we had not given sufficient and we therefor refrained from signing the award or drawing it up or publishing it until we had an opportunity of reviewing the land. We went and examined it carefully, aud we find it is batter situated in respect of other properties than we had thought, and the houses on it are in a bot- ter condition than our firet impression led us to believe. Under these circumstances we have no hesitation in coming to the decision that we have made a mistake, and the Court is always ready to acknowledge a mistake; but we would not come to any decision until we had heard all those three cases in this block, to see whether our impression as to the value of Musso's land would be confirmed by the evidence given in these three other cases. We are clearly of opinion now that Masso's land is at least as good as 701, for which we have just allowed $12,500. Wa allowed Musso only $10,890. Wo are not very sure under the circumstances whether we have a right to amend our award. The Ordinanca dues not give us power to do so, but the award has not been drawn up, signed, or published, and therefore we think we have power. We have no difficulty in consenting to an award of $12,500 in Musso's vase.
Mr. Dennys-I think your Lordship has already given costs.
His Lordship-Yos; in Musso's case the conta -will follow.
REC
C.O.
7326
Per 29 PROS!