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Wednesday, February 14, 1973
AUTOMATIC STATUTORY RENEWAL OF RENEWABLE LEASES
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A bill providing for the automatic statutory renewal of all renewable
leases will be introduced into the Legislative Council next month, the
Attorney General, the Hon. D.T.E. Roberts, said today.
The bill will enable the Government "to meet its obligations to
the lessees and to deal with the problems which arise when lessees are
unable to exercise an option to renew."
The Attorney General, replying to the Hon. Wilfred Wong in the
Legislative Council, said it would be "impracticable" for the Government
to renew individually the 5,000 leases which would be due for renewal
at the end of June this year.
Under the Renewable Crown Leases (Statutory Renewal) Bill, Mr. Roberts
said, leases would be renewed on substantially the same terms as were contained
in the proviso for renewal in the existing leases.
The legislation would not affect the concessions relating to the
reassessment of Crown Rents, he added.
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