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Appendix No. 1.
Appendix No. 2.
6. Your Petitioners then completed the building of the godowns on the diminished area, with granite and brick, at, to them, a great cost, so that the said godowns should be suitable for the storage of flour and other produce requiring exceptionally clean storage.
7.-Your Petitioner THOMAS HOWARD then undertook the management of the said godowns and by his knowledge and influence with the merchants in Hongkong and Canton, succeeded in establishing a sound business to the full extent of the working capacity of the godowns.
8.-
-The very essence of your Petitioners said business was in having direct access to the sea which your Petitioners were entitled to, and believed was fully secured to them as Marine Lot holders.
9. In the year 1889 the Praya Reclamation Ordinance was passed for the reclamation of the foreshore of the Harbour from the Military ground East of Victoria Central to the West of the City of Victoria, and beyond where your Petitioners' Lot is situated. A copy of this Ordinance is annexed hereto, marked Appendix No. 1.
10. By the 2nd Section of this Ordinance the works authorised by the Ordinance and all works for the effectual and convenient carrying out of the same are declared to be works for the improvement of the Colony and for a "public purpose," within the meaning of that term as contained in the Crown Leases of Lands in the Colony. A copy of that portion of your Petitioners' Crown Lease which contains this term is also annexed hereto marked Appendix No. 2.
11-By section No. 6 of the Praya Reclamation Ordinance all rights of all persons whomsoever to the land to be reclaimed under the Ordinance are declared to be absolutely extinguished and determined.
12.-Section 7 of the said Ordinance recites, inter alia, that it had been agreed that the cost of the said works should include a sum not exceeding $ 5,000 for preliminary expenses, a sum not exceeding $ 180,000 by way of compensation to owners of wharves and piers along the line of the proposed reclamation, and a further sum not exceeding $105,000 for the purchase of a portion of the land in course of reclamation opposite Marine Lots Nos. 95, 96, 97, 98, and 105, near your Petitioners' Lot, being at the rate of $5 per square foot for the land required for the purpose of widening the Old Praya from 50 feet to 75 feet.
13.-The said Section No. 7 contains provisions for the agreements to be entered into by the Marine Lot holders assenting to the scheme and for the cost of the works to be paid by them.
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14.-Sub-section VI of section 7 provides that in case any lessee shall not signify his acceptance in the manner and within the time provided in other sub- sections, he shall have no claim to any compensation in respect
any depreciation of his lot by reason of the said works, but the Governor may, if he thinks fit award to him such a sum of money or such a Crown Lease of new land as he may in his absolute discretion think sufficient as and by way of compensation for any injury that such lessee may have sustained by the said works.
15.-Sub-section VIII provides that so much of the cost of the said works as shall not be contributed by the lessees under the provisions of that Ordinance shall be defrayed out of the public revenues of the Colony.
16.-Section No. 8 enacts that, except as in that Ordinance provided, no Marine lot holder or other person shall be entitled as against the Crown to any damages or compensation for the depreciation or injurious affecting of his pro- perty or business caused by or resulting either directly or remotely from any of the said works.
17.-Your Petitioners did not signify their acceptance of the portion of the land assigned to them on the deposited plan, inasmuch as your Petitioners' Lot lies near the extreme western end of the proposed reclamation, where, the profit to be derived from such reclamation, was out of all proportion to the prospective loss your Petitioners would sustain by reason of the reclamation works closing your Petitioners' direct access to the sea, without which direct access your Petitioners could not carry on business except at a great loss.
18.-Your Petitioners therefore objected to the scheme so far as it was proposed to extend the reclamation in front of their property, but your Petitioners' objections were not listened to by the Colonial Government because the Governor would have it in his power by the Ordinance to award us a suf- ficient compensation for any injury your Petitioners might sustain.
19.--The profit to arise from the construction of the Praya Reclamation is estimated at several million dollars, in which the Government will largely participate from the reclamations in front of Government buildings and ground, but such large profits arise only in respect of the Marine Lots in Victoria Central, and the Fastern portion of Victoria West to the East of where your Peti- tioners' lot is situated.
20.-The works of the Praya Reclamation under the Ordinance were commenced sometime after the passing of the Ordinance, and in the year 1891 the works of Section No. 1, in which your Petitioners' lot is situated, were commenced from and including the greater portion of Marine Lot No. 185 imme- diately adjoining your Petitioners' godowns to the East.
21. By reason of these works your Petitioners' Pier, to which steamers and other vessels came up to discharge and receive their cargo to and from your Petitioners' godowns, was partly destroyed so that steamers could no longer come up to the pier to the grievous loss of your Petitioners' business and to the injury of their property as godowns.
22.--Your Petitioners, however, continued to carry on their business and to receive and discharge cargo from and into boats and junks which could approach the end of the pier, although so damaged as aforesaid.
23.-In October 1894 further damage was done to the remainder of the pier, and blocks of stone and earth were washed down by a storm from the adjoining reclamation works into the sea immediately in front of your Petitioners' godowns, so that it became dangerous for boats to come near them.
24. In the month of May 1895 your Petitioners, at the request of the Government, removed the remainder of their pier, and they were afterwards paid by the Government, out of the Praya Reclamation funds, the pier compensation to which they were entitled under the provisions of the Praya Reclamation Ordi-
nance.
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