no hesitation in saying that the claimant "ought to be allowed a full opportunity of setting youth the grounds on which his alleged right "rest, and also of knowing and answering "any of acts and reasons which may be put "forward in opposition to it.
With regard to the legality of the Award, "Mr. C. A. Cripps K. C. M.P. and Mr. Morton W Smith, our Counsel in the case, state; -
"That the Acting Governor in deciding on the "Claim of your Petitioners under the said "Ordinance was acting in a judicial capacity "and was bound to decide on proper and legal grounds and not in an arbitrary manner and without hearing the case of your Petitioners, "or allowing them to know of, and to answer, "the case made against them on behalf of the "Government of the said Colony; and therefore "on the admitted facts the Chief Justice should "have set aside the Award."
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1857.
10. This moral right was recognized by Her Majesty's Government as far back as in the case of the Bowring Praya Reclamation; where, in instructions to the Colonial Government, it is said: "While, therefore, the rights "of the Crown and the interests of the public "require that the claim of the Crown to such "lands should be firmly maintained, a sense of justice requires that the equitable claim of the holders of the Original Marine Lots should be liberally considered. See Government Gazette 7th March 1857.
11. Possibly it is not known to His Majesty's present advisers that strenuous objections "were made by ourselves, other Marine Lot holders, and the Local Press, to the Governor conferring upon himself by Ordinance an absolute discretion to give something or nothing to the Crown Lessee of a Marine Lot whose legal rights granted by Her late Majesty Queen Victoria had been taken away for a public purpose.
12. It is but right, however, to Governor des Voeux, to state that in his Message to the Legislative Council on the 20th March 1889, before the passing of the Reclamation Ordinance, he referred to the objections that had been made in the following words; "It is needless to say that the Government has no desire to "accord other than the fullest justice in respect "of private rights; and though the provision in "question has no doubt an arbitrary appearance, "that aspect of it will probably disappear altogether from unprejudiced minds when fully considered." And at the meeting of the Legislative Council on the 29th March 1889 when two of the Members, Mr. Ryrie and W. Layton, spoke on behalf of ourselves and other Marine Lot holders whose property would be affected, the form the circumstances are
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