Enclosure 1.
151
Fue 20 MAY 201
436
Memorandum on the present position as regards Tramway construction in Hongkong, by Mr. Goodman (Attorney General). dated 7th. April, 1900.
In accordance with the request of the Governor (Sir H. A. Blake, G.C.M.G. &c ) I beg to submit the following ob- servations on the present position of the Government with regard to Tramway Construction in thir Colony.
In 1881, some gentlemen interested in the subject of Tramways, formed a sort of Syndicate and took steps to procure an Ordinance to authorize their construction along certain routes
in Hongkong.
It appears that a Company was incorpore bed, under the name of "The Hongkong and China Tramways Company Limited," and in 1882, Ordinance No. 1 of 1882, was passed, while Sir John Pope Hennessy was Governor of the Colony.
By Section 146, that Ordinance was not to come into force until Her Majesty's assent had been duly notified by pro- clamation in the Gazette.
This was never done. The Secretary of State considered certain alterations desirable, and the Ordinance never come into force, and it was formally repealed by Ordinance 4 of 1887. In its place, Ordinance No. 6 of 1883, was passed the following year. This Ordinance was confirmed, but the Secretary of State in his Despatch, No. 168, dated 15th. August, 1883, pointed out that the definition of the. Company should be altered so as to include the Promoters.
Section 4 of Ordinance 6 of 1883 was then repealed by Ordinance 18 of 1883 which substituted a new Section for it; but I cannot see that the specific alteration mentioned by the
Secretary