a time when General Cameron, the General Officer Commanding, was also administering the Government, and it was never sanctioned by either the Secretary of State for the Colonies or by the Executive Council.
615 Lots
The next step which took place with regard to the Military Reserve at Kowloon was that on the 2nd September 1887, Mr Price, the Surveyor General, addressed a letter to the Acting Colonial Secretary, pointing out that no decision had been come to in respect of the form of the lease, if any, to be issued to the Lessees of Gardens situate inside the Military Clearance line, in cases where His Excellency the Major General Commanding would have no objection to the erection of houses by them on certain conditions.
The letter then proceeded as follows:-
"In such cases where there would be no Military objection to a house, and where therefore a house may be built, although within the lines, it appears to me it would be only equitable to deal with the garden lot Owners on the same footing as the rest, and to issue Inland Lot leases to them also, with this sole difference that in each case a written contract should accompany the new lease, binding the lessee to remove wholly or partially any buildings on his lot, without right to any compensation from the Crown, in the event of such removal being deemed necessary by the Officer Commanding Her Majesty's Troops, in the event of war with any Foreign Power.
The above letter of the Surveyor General was submitted