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HONCHONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
[All the foregoing Orders, regulations etc., have been published in the Govern- ment Gazette since the last meeting of the Council, and the Military Lands 'Award published as a sessional paper.]
Rewards For Arrest of Pirates
HON. MR. H. E. POLLOCK, K.C., in accordance with notice previously given asked." Is
"Is the
Government offering rewards for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of Pirates?"
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY replied- The Government considers it inadvisable, in the public interests, to make any state- ment as regards the measures that are being taken for the apprehension of pirates.
The Military Lands
THE COLONIAL SECRETARY Before moving the resolution which stands in my name, I must state that it is not proposed to ask honourable members to vote upon it to-day. I propose to make a statement explanatory of it, and if any members should care to ask ques- tions arising out of that statement, then the Council can go this afternoon into Committee for the purpose of those questions. I beg, Sir, to move this re- solution:
"Resolved that this
Government approves the acceptance of the award of Sir John Hubert Oakley dated the second day of November, 1923, in re- spect of certain lands situated in the Colony of Hongkong now vested in the the Army Council, as set out in Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1924, and recommends that steps be taken to give effect to it as soon as possible."
It may, perhaps, clear the ground for an understanding of this complicated question if I begin by explaining the principles underlying the tenure
of military lands and transactions in those lands. The policy of the Imperial Gov- ernment is laid down in what is known
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the Military Lands Circular des- patches of 1890 and 1894, the rulings most immediately in point being the following:
"On account of the changing condi- tions of warfare, it
warfare, it not infrequently occurs that Colonial lands and buildings
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set apart for military purposes cease to be necessary or suitable to their pur- pose, while at the same time, or sub- sequently, other lands and buildings have to be acquired to meet the "necessities of the garrison.
"It is further considered that all such military properties and their values should be treated as part of a capital sum devoted to defensive purposes, and that their realizable or estimated values should, as hereinafter detailed, be re- tained by the Colonial Government, and be held by them available towards the provision of such other lands and build- ings as it may be subsequently necessary to secure for defensive purposes.
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With a view of removing any mis- understanding, Her Majesty's Govern- ment have thought it desirable to for- mulate their proposals in the following terms:
"The free surrender to the Colony of all Colonial military lands and build- ings no longer required by Her Majesty's Government on the engagement by the Colony that, in the event of the lands and buildings being required then or in the future for the defence of the Colony, the Colony shall provide an equivalent for the lands and buildings so surrender- ed, towards the satisfaction of the above mentioned requirements, and to that end the value of the lands and buildings surrendered shall be ascertained and re- corded, and any lands and buildings provided out of that value shall be held by H.M. Government on the same tenure
as those surrendered.
"This proposal is based upon the assumption that the Colonial military lands in question constitute a permanent Defensive Fund of the Colony, the integrity of which should be preserved, in kind or value, even though the original lands themselves may be divert ed to civil purposes. Accordingly. whenever any of such lands which have been set apart for defensive purposes have, from change of circumstances, or from any other reason, ceased to answer the purpose for which they were set apart, and are in consequence surrender- ed by the Military Authorities, their value should be treated as form- ing a capital applicable, either im- mediately or from time to time, so