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provided that there is no discrimination and
that adequate compensation is paid. Two
recent cases will help to illustrate the
position, though neither is quite straight-
forward.
The first is the scheme for reclamation
of foreshore, some half-mile in length in
front of a number of foreign properties on the
Kakchiot side of Swatow Harbour.
The case was
complicated by the claims of a private
individual, Ch'en Hsing-ko, based on deeds
purporting to date from 1862, but settlement
has now been reached apparently on the basis of
a right of preemption being offered to each
resident in respect of land reclaimed in front
of his property.
The second case concerns the proposal of
the city Government of greater Shanghai to
expropriate twenty-five feet of wharf frontage
at Lanidoo, the property of Messrs. Butterfield
and Swire, and one hundred and fifty feet from
the Asiatic Petroleum Company's Lower wharf in
Pootung, and to use the space for the purpose
of constructing ferry pontoons. Here too the
matter is complicated by the fact that,
although "shengko" tax (i.e. fees for the issue
of title deeds to accreted land) was paid to
the Whangpoo Conservancy Board, no title deeds
had been granted, and the City Government of
Greater Shanghai claimed that the two
companies had no legal right to the properties
in