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Copy of letter from the Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Co. Ltd. to the
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
The Secretary,
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce
Hongkong.
Kowloon Docks,
Hongkong,
8th December, 1932
Dear Sir,
Foreshore & Sea Bed Works Draft Bill
We refer to the proposed Ordinance and would offer the
following remarks.
The restrictive effect of such an Ordinance will serious- ly affect development of property and create a feeling of insecur- ity, which will generally retard progress.
There is, moreover,
so much foreshore still unused that such an Ordinance is not necessary as a general thing at this time, and local or particular cases can still be dealt with as before.
In particular, with the depression which has existed in shipping for the past few years, we have not been able to use the whole of our facilities. We cannot see far ahead, but maintaining our establishments as we do, paying crown rent and other charges against the possibility of future requirements with docks which cannot be shifted elsewhere at any reasonable compensation, with waters which we know and against the silting up of which we protect ourselves we would be charged with the additional risk or possi- bility of having to defend our rights at large expense in the event of someone coming along and persuading the Government that they could do better with our land or water rights interfered with or abolished.
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We are a trading company but our presence here, we ven- ture to say, has played a large part in the development of Hongkong, and the Fleet which has been Hongkong's main protection could not have been maintained here for so many years had the resources of this Company not been available for their docking and repairs.
It appears to us not unfair to claim, therefore, that we are something more than a public utility concern, and should remain assured of all the facilities we have hitherto enjoyed, and we feel also that the proposed Ordinance is an attempt to do away with the se facilities and is bound to exercise a retarding effect on our business.
We ask the Chamber of Commerce to oppose the Ordinance in every possible way.
We are,
Yours faithfully,
THE HONGKONG & WHAMPOA DOCK CO. LTD.
(Sgd.) E. COCK
Manager.