2.
2.1
In September, 1923, there occurred a phenomen-
al rainstorm which caused a collapse of the retaining walls of Inland Lot 2237 and the adjoining lot, and carried away
a considerable section of Bowen Road together with the
conduit thereunder which carries the main water supply to
the city.
It was considered essential that the work of
rebuilding the damaged retaining walls and of reconstructing
the road and reinstating the conduit should be undertaken at
one and the same time under the supervision of the Public
Works Department, and each of the owners of the damaged
retaining walls undertook to pay the Goverment $28,700.00.
When the work was completed Mrs. Remedios,
whose husband had then recently died, was unable to pay the
agreed sum, but by way of security she gave the Government,
on the 18th May, 1925, a third mortgage on the premises for
$28,700 with provision for payment of interest at 8 per
cent.
On the 28th April, 1927, Mrs. Remedios gave
to the Government, by way of collateral security, a second
mortgage on her premises Section L. of Kowloon Inland Lot
No.573, which were subject to a first mortgage for $7,800.00.
Up to March, 1929, Mrs. Remedios duly paid
the interest on the mortgage debt, and she has, since the
commencement of the mortgage paid in all $9,442.68.
3.
She has no private means and her present
husband is in poor circumstances, and she was only able to
keep up her payments of interest through the assistance of
one of her daughters who was the recipient of a legacy.
During last summer the second mortgagee
unsuccessfully offered Inland Lot No.2237 for sale by auction and subsequently appointed a receiver, who is collecting the
monthly