296
inform me that the Company desires a 999
years lease as in the case of Messrs
Butterfield and Swire.
3.
The correspondence which you have sent
to me had previously given me no adequate
guidance as to the term of the lease. I
find, however, that you rightly suggested that
it should be for 75 years and that the Com-
pany wished it to be for 999: and also that
you do not consider
this case to be parallel
to that of the lease to Messrs Butterfield
and Swire. You are,
of course, correct on
this point, as that case was one of adding to
a lot, already held on a 999 years lease, a
frontage of which the Government could not
otherwise dispose. I do not find however
that the Company has been informed that the
objection on the part of the Government to
the longer lease still continues.
4.
It is, no doubt to the advantage of the
Goverment and of the public that the large
dock,