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Wednesday, November 15, 1972
LAND COMPENSATION SCHEME REASONABLE
The present compensation scheme for land in the New Territories
required for public purposes is a reasonable one.
Speaking in the Legislative Council today, the District Commissioner, New Territories, the Hon. D.C. Bray, said that the scheme was a "quite incredibly complicated web of logic, law, administrative practice and plain common sense.'
An example was cited that when the Crown required from a lessee a lease which entitled him to cultivate land, it was only logical that the Crown should offer no more in compensation than what the wording justified.
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Similarly, when a new lease entitling the lessee to build on the land replaces the old lease, a premium equal to the difference between the two types
of leases should be paid.
Mr. Bray admitted, however, that the present system did have its shortcomings, and siad he had been holding discussions with the Heung Yee Kuk
to seek a satisfactory and practical solution.
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