4.
40
(b) Denial which was carried out after the
vessels had been formally requisitioned on behalf of a United Kingdom Government Department; and vessels which had been requisitioned for use as block ships and subsequently damaged or lost. The Hong Kong Defence (Compensation) Regulations 1940 regula- tion 6 (1)(a) provides for compensation equal to the value of the vessel immediately before the occurrence of the damage that caused the loss. In the case of vehicles and aircraft there is the proviso that no compensation would be payable unless it could be shown that at the time when the loss or damage occurred, the risk to the vehicle or aircraft arising in consequence of war operations was materially increased by reason of the requisition. It is not clear why vessels are not mentioned in this proviso, but one can only asa me that it does not cover vessels and that therefore compensation equal to the value of the vessels would be payable in any case of a loss whilst under requisition irrespective of the cause of the loss. In the last sentence of paragraph 3 (a) of his report, Allen says that the legal liability in these cases has been admitted by the Hong Kong Attorney-General and is not open to doubt. I assume paragraph 3(b) of the report refers to cases where there was no formal requisitioning.
The initial liability in meeting any legally proved claims which, because they are outside the scope of claims normally accepted by them, have not already
/ been