628
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4. The works authorized by this Ordinance comprise the following, that is to say :
(a) The making of an embankment along the harbour front of the City of Victoria with all necessary and convenient walls, drains, wharves, piers, landing places, approaches and other conveniences and works; such embankment to commence westward at a point upon the sea-shore opposite Marine Lot No. 185 and marked upon the said plan, and to terminate eastward at a point opposite to Murray Pier; the said embankment to be constructed in whole or in greater part upon the bed or foreshore of the harbour.
(b) The making upon the said embankment of a public roadway not less than seventy-five feet, and the widening out of the present Praya roadway to a width of not less than seventy-five feet, with all necessary and convenient approaches to the same.
(c) The reclaiming and enclosing and filling up so much of the foreshore and bed of the Harbour as lies between the present Praya Wall and the intended embankment, to such heights and levels as may be determined by the Governor.
5. For the purpose of effecting the works authorized by this Ordinance it shall be lawful for the Governor to remove, destroy, alter, divert, stop up, or enclose such streets, drains, vacant ground, wharves, piers, landing places, and other things as shall in the judgment of the Government be necessary to be done for the purposes of this Ordinance.
Work authorized.
Power to remove obstructions to work.
6. All the land and foreshore and bed of the sea to be reclaimed under this Ordinance, and all title to remain legal the land occupied by the present Praya roadway and wall along the line of the intended reclamation, is hereby declared to be absolutely the property of the Crown, free from any restriction whatever,
and the Governor shall have power, subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, to deal with the same and to dispose of the same for building or any other purpose in the same way and to as full an extent as in the case of other Crown lands, and all property, estate, rights or supposed rights and easements or supposed easements of any persons or class of persons, whether Crown leaseholders or licensees or otherwise, to the user or possession or occupation of, in, over or in any way in relation to such land, foreshore, bed of the sea, embankment, reclamation or Praya roadway and wall, or in relation to any wharf, landing place, pier or other place, situate thereupon, are hereby declared to be absolutely extinguished and determined.
7. Whereas the Crown lessees or their assigns registered in the Land Registry Office at the date of the commencement of this Ordinance in respect of the lots of land or sections thereof fronting the Praya Roadway along the line of the proposed reclamation (which persons with their executors, administrators and assigns except where repugnant to the context are hereinafter referred to as lessees) or the majority of them have already declared or signified their readiness to contribute towards the cost to be incurred for and in connection with the works authorized by this Ordinance provided the Governor will grant to them respectively Crown leases of such equitable proportion of the proposed reclamation as may be available having regard to public requirements in respect of the roads and streets to be made on the land when reclaimed and in the case of each lessee having regard to the claims of other lessees and whereas it has been agreed that the cost of the said works shall also include a sum not exceeding $5,000 for preliminary expenses, a sum not exceeding $180,000 by way of compensation to owners and occupiers of wharves and Piers along the line of the proposed reclamation and a further sum not exceeding $105,000 for the purchase of a portion of the land in course of reclamation opposite Marine Lots Nos. 95, 96, 97, 98 and 105. Be it further enacted as follows:-
(1) As soon as practicable after the commencement of this Ordinance, a further plan signed by the Surveyor General and countersigned by the Governor, showing in detail the portion of the proposed reclamation assigned to lessees in respect of the lots of land or sections thereof registered in their names at the Land Registry Office at the date of the commencement of this Ordinance, shall be deposited at the said Office and shall have annexed thereto a Schedule containing a list of the lessees of such lots of land and sections as aforesaid and the approximate contribution required from each of them in respect of the cost of his portion of the reclamation.
(2) The deposit of such further plan as aforesaid shall be notified in the Gazette, a copy of the said Schedule being published at the same time, and lessees who are desirous of entering into the agreement hereafter mentioned shall within a period of two months from the date of such notification, signify respectively in writing their acceptance of the portions of the land assigned to them on the said plan and of their intention to enter into an agreement.
(3) On the expiration of two months from the date of such notification as aforesaid and within a further period of one month it shall be lawful for the Governor if he think fit to enter into an agreement with the lessees individually who have signified their intention and acceptance as aforesaid, such agreement being upon the terms
Provisions as to rest works and agreements
with lessees.
Detailed plan to be made and deposited with Schedule of lessees and their contributions at Land Office.
Deposit to be notified and Schedule to be published in Gazette.
Heroes in quantity or area of land agreed to be granted.
Such lessee to bear actual cost of his portion of reclamation.
Compensation to non-assenting lessees.
Extraordinary expenses of works, how to be borne.
Provision for cost of works not borne by lessees.
Certain claims barred as against the Crown.
Savings as to foreshore rights.
Maintenance of sea wall.
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and subject to the conditions in the form in the Schedule to this Ordinance; and the Governor is hereby empowered to dispose of the reclaimed land in accordance therewith.
(4) Notwithstanding any such agreement as aforesaid shall have been signed by any lessee, if any error in quantity or area of land agreed to be granted shall be discovered by either party thereto prior to the granting of a Crown lease of such land it shall be lawful for the Governor in Council to rectify and readjust the same and to grant a less or greater portion of land as the case may be, and to alter accordingly the lessee's contribution; Provided always that the lessee, if his portion of land is diminished, shall have the option, if he so elect, of cancelling the said agreement and thereupon all moneys he shall have already paid shall be refunded.
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Schedule to be deposited in the said Office as aforesaid or in any agreement entered into in pursuance of this Ordinance no lessee shall (save as provided by sub-section (7) of this section) be liable for more than the actual cost of the reclamation of the land agreed to be granted to him and of all works authorized by this Ordinance in connection therewith (such actual cost in case of doubt to be decided by the Governor in Council) and if such cost shall exceed or be less than the amount estimated or named in such Schedule or any agreement as aforesaid the lessee shall bear and pay such excess or be entitled to the benefit of such loss sum and to a proportionate refund.
(6) In case any lessee shall not signify his acceptance in the manner and within the time provided in sub-sections (2) and (3) of this section he shall have no claim to any compensation in respect of any depreciation of his property by reason of the said works, but the Governor may if he thinks it fit award to him such a sum of money or such a Crown Lease of new land as he may in his absolute discretion think sufficient as and by way of compensation for any injury that such lessee may have sustained by the said works.
(7) If from time to time before the completion of the said works any extraordinary loss, damage or expense is caused to or rendered necessary for the said works or for any portion thereof by or in consequence of any unforeseen difficulties that may present themselves in the progress of the said works or by or in consequence of any typhoon or storm or other catastrophe such loss, damage or expense shall when it has been ascertained by the Surveyor General and certified by him to the Governor in Council, be made good by the lessees who have entered into agreements in pursuance of this section such lessees contributing such a proportion of the sum required, as the Surveyor General shall certify to be equivalent to the proportion which the amount of the lessee's contribution mentioned in his agreement bears to the total cost of the said works.
(8) So much of the cost of the said works as shall not be contributed by the lessees under the provisions of this Ordinance shall be defrayed out of the Public Revenues of the Colony.
8. Except as in this Ordinance provided, no marine lot-holder or other person shall be entitled as against the Crown to any damages or compensation for the depreciation or injuriously affecting of his property or business caused by, or resulting either directly or remotely, from any of the said works.
9. Nothing in this Ordinance shall be deemed to recognise any foreshore rights whatever as against the Crown; nor shall anything herein be deemed to affect any right or claim as between lessees and their sub-lessees or tenants inter se.
10. From and after the completion of the embankment authorized by this Ordinance, the Governor shall keep and maintain the sea wall thereof and all the Public Roads thereon out of monies to be provided from the public revenues of the Colony: Save as aforesaid, the Governor shall not be liable for any deterioration, subsidence, or damage of and to the said embankment.
Passed the Legislative Council of Hongkong, this 26th day of April, 1889.
ARATHOON SETH,
Clerk of Councils.
Assented to by His Excellency the Governor, the 10th day of May, 1889.
FREDERICK STEWART,
Colonial Secretary.