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land under rice, the Air Ministry might be prevented even from
letting the land for the cultivation of other crops.
Mr. Gent said that under the Hong Kong system of land
grants the local Government was already making a concession to
the Air Ministry in not demanding premia which would ordinarily
be charged as a rate per square foot on property disposed of to
private buyers.
Mr. Grindle asked what the premia purported to cover.
He was not clear how, if it was recouped its actual expenditure
on a property and recovered the market value in the rent, the
local Government could justily asking for a premium in addition.
Mr. Williams suggested that in refunding the cost of
resumptions the Air Ministry will already have liquidated any
premium exigible on the property resumed, in which case the
local Government is not, in fact, making any concession to the
Air Ministry.
Mr. Caines thought this might not apply in a case
where the resumed property had been held on a comparatively
short lease.
It was felt that no further progress could be made
until more information was available as to the basis of the
several charges applicable to Crown Land transactions in
Hong Kong and the limitations of the local system of tenure.
This Mr. Gent undertook to obtain.