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refugee, must expect to have his interests postponed to those
order of the old resident. If the purchaser is buying in/ to start
a new business, he must expect to have his intereste postponed
especially
to those of existing businesses/as, in the existing shortage,
ejectment might mean ruin. A still more serious objection
was that it would have been almost impossible to provide against
mala fides.
12.
It was also proposed that the collection of what is known
in Chinege za "shoe money" should be prohibited. "Shoe money"
is money collected in addition to the rent. In some cases it
is merely a tip or squeeze paid to the rent collector. In other
cases it is a substantial sum paid to the landlord in order to
secure the grant or contimance of a tenancy. It has also ben
used in order to evade the payment of rates, landlord returning
a low rental to the assessor but collecting a substantial amount
the
of shoe money" in addition to the nominal rent.
the
Section 16
of/Ordinance prohibits the demand of any sum as a condition or
pretended condition of a grant, renewal or continuance of a ten-
ancy of any domestic tenement. Beyond this the Government were
not prepared to go, because it was thought unwise to invite further
trouble by prohibiting a custom which, however bad it may be,
is very wide spread amongst the Chinese.
13. It was also proposed that the Ordinance ehould not apply to
leases containing a provision for the termination of the lease
upon the sale of the property by the owner. To have adopted
this suggestion would have been to defeat the Ordinance in a great
many cases.
14. It was also suggested that tenants of shops should be re- quired to give six months notice of intention to quit, and that
T