11
2
Smith, one of the trustees of the will. The Letters of Administration were not registered against the title in the Land Office and since that date none of the representatives of the lessees seem to have concerned themselves with the property in any way.
7. The buildings appear to have been erected by public subscription, commencing in 1865, each individual, firm or corporation subscribing $100 received a so-called "ordinary share", and 216 of such "shares" of a total nominal value of $21,600 were issued to 61 "shareholders". As the building proceeded it was found that the sum subscribed was insufficient and Sir Robert Jardine, whose firm held fifteen "ordinary shares" appears then to have subscribed $50,000 and to have received 105 so-called "preference shares" of various denominations but totaling $50,000.
8. If these "shareholders" are to be regarded as an association for the purpose of carrying on any business having for its object the acquisition of gain by its individual members it will be illegal under the Companies Ordinances of 1865 and 1911. No interest or return has ever been paid, however, to the holders of any of these shares, the whole income, supplemented by occasional government grants, having been devoted to the upkeep and improvement of the building, with the exception of a small reserve fund which now amounts to about $4,000.
9. The buildings have been managed hitherto by a committee which appears to have been elected by the original subscribers with power to add to its number. None of those originally elected remain, the present members having been co-opted as occasion arose. The senior member in Hong Kong of the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co. is chairman of the committee.
I'
10. The buildings consist of a theatre on the western portion of the lot and of certain halls and rooms on two floors on the eastern portion. Those on the upper floor have been used for halls, receptions and meetings and those on the lower floor for a free library and museum, and latterly also as a Y.M.C.A. Club for the Naval, Military and Air Forces.
11. The buildings are old and the committee are now faced with the problem of having to spend a sum of money far in excess of any that they are in a position to command to modernise them and to put them into a proper state of repair and of safety against fire or into the state required by law for buildings to which the public have access. They have therefore closed the premises and it becomes necessary for the Government to intervene.
12. In all the circumstances of the case it is considered better for the Government to resume possession of the property by means of an ad hoc Ordinance rather than to proceed under the powers reserved by the Crown Lease.
13. It is not the intention of the Government to re-erect a City Hall on this site, part of which will be sold and part developed to accord with a general scheme of town planning; but as a part of that scheme it is the intention of the Govern- ment to make provision for public amenities of the kind hitherto provided by the Committee of the City Hall.
C. G. ALABASTER,
Attorney General.
い
ENB
May, 1932.