54415/49 55342/49
25/Damages/3430 (C. C.)
Sir,
The War Office,
London, S. 7. 1.
17th February, 1949. RECEIVER
19 FER 1949 COLONIAL OFFICE
52
A
I am commanded by the Army Council to acquaint you for the information of Mr. Secretary Creech Jones of the particulars of an explosion which occurred at Argyle Street, Hong Kong, on 2nd January, 1946.
2. Details of the explosion are contained in the attached copy of a demi-official letter addressed to the Treasury on 21st November, 1947.
*
Recent
3. A copy of a letter dated 17th June, 1946, from the Colonial Secretary, Hong Kong, is also enclosed from which it will be seen that the Colonial Secretary desired that the claims for compensation should be dealt with on the ordinary common law basis of tort and that negligence was alleged against the military authorities. legal opinions (copies attached) including one by the Acting Attorney General, Hong Kong, make it clear that if the ordinary law of tort were applicable, the War Department would have to accept liability. It will also be observed, from the concluding paragraph of the legal opinion dated 28th May, 1948, by Messrs. Hastings and Co., that they think the effect of the Indemnity and Validating Ordinance, 1946, of the Colony which was passed on 1st May, 1946, would be that no legal proceedings could be taken against the War Department in respect of the damage caused by the explosion on 2nd January, 1946.
40 Quite apart from such immunity from legal proceedings against the War Department, the Council consider that the responsibility for dealing with any claims arising out of the explosions on the 2nd January, 1946, should properly rest with the Hong Kong Government.
5. Your letter /.
The Under-Secretary of State,
The Colonial Office,
London, S. W. 1.