Wt. 49614/485 3/46 50m. S. & S. Ltd.
0.
Mr..
Mr...
Mr....
Mr.
Mr...
Code
37
Sir S. Caine
4/5
Infidchoshan 13/5 1. Bundle 375
at once
Parly. U.S. of S.
C
Il Sent 14/5.
14A 1948
Secretary of State.
No.
542
DRAFT
TELEGRAM
GOVERNOR,
(1)
HONG KONG.
FURTHER ACTION.
Referred in (1)
February.
Your despatch No.38 of the 23rd
Renewal terms for holders of
certain Crown leases.
Paragraph 4 of statement dealing
with Crown rent gives two bases for
assessment which are prima facie
contradictory. I assume, however, from
paragraph 6 of your despatch that it is, in
fact, intended to charge Crown rent at the
conventional rate normally charged by
Government for new leases in the same
district and not on the alternative basis
of the full and fair value of the land. O
Indeed, it is difficult to reconcile the
neural basis of full and fair value for land with
the proposal in paragraph 5 for charging a
premium also based on current land values,
since that would appear to be charging for
the value of the land itself twice over.
2. I take it, therefore, that the
operative proposal is to charge a rent in
accordance with current practice at a
conventional figure and require payment of