in to farther arguments
the
corespondence
case. There must be finality in matter for this time.
the Sariay
of Star regrets that he can add anything
to his printed letter of the converfona...
must now Close
C.Pd.
19
The Under Secretary of State,
sir,
Colonial Office.
insyttelton
: So proved
AL. 25/7
#BL
7917
173
77
Castle Terrace,
Cowes,
Isle of Wight.
July 1904.
6. 18 JD D4
TY
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th. Instant No.23985/1904 in reply
to my request to know the reasons put forward by the Hong
Kong Government in opposition to our claim for compensation
in respect of Hong Kong Marine Lot No. 184. In this reply
you state that as we had no legal claim, it would be unusual
to state all the considerations by which the Government
has been guided; and that Mr. Secretary Lyttelton is
satisfied that the sum now offered is adequate and
equitable.
2.
It is not necessary for me to discuss the matter of
the legality of a claim for compensation when rights granted
under a Crown Lease have been taken away; it is sufficient
for me to know that the Governor and his legal advisers
who passed the Reclamation Ordinance admitted the obligation
of the Crown to compensate, and defined the measure of
compensation to be the difference between the value of the
Marine Lot, and the value of the same land converted into
an Inland Lot by the Reclamation in front of it, and
promised that the Government would accord the fullest
justice in respect of private rights; and that the Attorney
General of Hong Kong stated before the Full Court on the
30th. March 1898 that our claim would be fairly and rightly
considered by the Government, even if only morally bound,
and that he would have no objection to me making a further
claim for loss of rents during the period before the
Reclamation Works actually reached the front of our premises.