To
618
IS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY
EDWARD VII OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND KING, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH AND EMPEROR OF INDIA.
THE HUMBLE PETITION of MATTHEW JOHN DENMAN STEPHENS of Victoria in the Colony of Hongkong, Solicitor, and of THOMAS HOWARD of the same place, Merchant.
Appendix L
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH :-
1. Your Petitioners have incurred many and heavy losses through the action of the Government of Your Majesty's Colony of Hongkong and through the inability of Your Majesty's Courts of Justice in Hongkong to afford adequate or any relief or redress to your Petitioners under the special circumstances of their case and your Petitioners have no hope of obtaining compensation for their losses amounting in all to the sum of $171,808 (excluding any claim for interest) except by Petition of Right addressed to Your Most Gracious Majesty in the full assurance that Your Majesty will be pleased to refer the same to the Judicial Committee of Your Majesty's Privy Council and to direct that right be done.
2. Your Petitioners were at the time of the happening of the events hereinafter narrated Lessees, under the Crown, as Tenants in Common in equal shares of Marine Lot No. 181, situate in Victoria West, Hongkong, upon which they had erected valuable warehouses (godowns) for the storage of merchandise and in connection with which they were carrying on an extremely profitable business as storekeepers and as money lenders, advancing money on the goods stored in their warehouses.
3. The great value of this lot to your Petitioners depended entirely on the fact that it was a Marine Lot separated from the waters of the harbour by the width of the Praya or Sea Road, only fifty feet wide, and to its immediate proximity to deep water so that merchandise could be landed and stored and re-shipped at but a trifling expense.
Your Petitioners had a water frontage of 100 feet and cargo boats could load and discharge alongside the sea wall at all states of the tide.
4. Your Petitioners held the said Marine Lot under a lease dated the 13th September, 1884, for a term of 999 years from the 25th June, 1861, and the said lease, copy of which is herewith annexed, was granted by Her Majesty the late Queen and contained a proviso to the following effect :-
"PROVIDED also, and it is hereby further agreed and declared that Her said Majesty, Her Heirs, Successors and Assigns, shall have full power to resume, enter into, and re-take possession of all or any part of the premises hereby expressed to be demised, if required for the improvement of the said Colony of Hongkong, or for any other public purpose whatsoever, Three Calendar Months' notice being given to the said MATTHEW JOHN DENMAN STEPHENS, his Executors, Administrators, and Assigns of its being so required, and a full and fair Compensation for the said Land and the Buildings thereon, being paid to the said MATTHEW JOHN DENMAN STEPHENS,
#
To
618
IS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY
EDWARD VII OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND KING, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH AND EMPEROR OF INDIA.
THE HUMBLE PETITION of MATTHEW JOHN DENMAN STEPHENS of Victoria in the Colony of Hongkong, Solicitor, and of THOMAS HOWARD of the same place, Merchant.
Appendix L
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETO :-
1. Your Petitioners have incurred many and heavy losses through the action of the Government of Your Majesty's Colony of Hongkong and through the in- ability of Your Majesty's Courts of Justice in Hongkong to afford adequate or any relief or redress to your l'etitioners under the special circumstances of their case and your Petitioners have no hope of obtaining compensation for their losses amounting in all to the sum of $171,808 (excluding any claim for interest) except by Petition of Right addressed to Your Most Gracious Majesty in the full assur- ance that Your Majesty will be pleased to refer the same to the Judicial Committee of Your Majesty's Privy Council and to direct that right be done.
2. Your Petitioners were at the time of the happening of the events herein- after narrated Lessees, under the Crown, as Tenants in Common in equal shares of Marine Lot No. 181, situate in Victoria West, Hongkong, upon which they had erected valuable warehouses (godowns) for the storage of merchandise and in connection with which they were carrying on au extremely profitable business as storekeepers and as money lenders, advancing money on the goods stored in their warehouses.
3. The great value of this lot to your Petitioners depended entirely on the fact that it was a Marine Lot separated from the waters of the harbour by the width of the Praya or Sea Road, only fifty feet wide, and to its immediate proxi- mity to deep water so that merchandise could be landed and stored and re-shipped at but a trifling expense.
Your Petitioners had a water frontage of 100 feet and cargo boats could load and discharge alongside the sea wall at all states of the tile. 4. Your Petitioners held the said Marine Lot under a lease dated the 13th September, 1884, for a term of 999 years from the 25th: June, 1861, and the said lease, copy of which is herewith annexed, was granted by Her Majesty the late Queen and contained a proviso to the following effect :-
"PROVIDED also, and it is hereby further agreed and declared that Her said Majesty, Her Heirs. Successors and Assigns, shall have full power to resume, enter into, and re-take possession of all or any part of the premises hereby expressed to he demised, if required for the improvement of the said Colony of Hongkong, or for any other public purpose whatsoever, Three Calendar Months' notice being given to the said MATTHEW JOHN DENMAN STEPHENS, his Executors. Administrators, and Assigns of its being so required, and a full and fair Compensation for the said Land and the Buildings thereon, being paid to the said Mattuew Jous DENMAN STEPHENS,
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