CO129-056 - Sir Bowring - 1856 [6] — Page 333

In reply to the second Question I would observe that there was a clause in the lease which authorized the holders of Marine Lots to reclaim the high water space lying in front of their lots, the Government having the right to resume that land if it so suited them. Government have therefore the right to resume the land already reclaimed, but not to sell it, or so to dispose of it, as to occasion a nuisance or an inconvenience to the holder of the Lots. The fairest plan would be to give the holders the option of retaining it for their own use at a rent, if the Government think fit. I think it would be an unjust thing to alienate that land against the will of the Marine Lot Holders. I do not think that the value of land being sold for building purposes would afford a just criterion of what the rest of the land already reclaimed by Marine Lot Holders should be. The land having been reclaimed under an idea that it was for the special advantage of those who had reclaimed it, and not with the idea of it's being ever taken away from them. It was a matter of necessity in many cases that this land was reclaimed. It was to gain access to the premises and to get water. I think that it was done as much for the public benefit as for their own sakes. In many cases the public can land there, and in general they can, by asking, obtain permission to land goods. I have been indebted to my neighbors for permission