CO129-329 - Governor Nathan - 1905 [7-12] — Page 235

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232

that Ho Lap-pun had no rights to the land which by false

statements and forged documents he had induced the Land

Court to declare had been granted by the Government of

China and for which he had received some consideration from

Messrs. E. S. and Ellis Kelly. It may be that those gentle-

-men have a legal claim against Ho Lap-pun but against the

Government they can have none nor any moral claim except

possibly for expenses incurred after the date of the Colo-

-nial Secretary's letter of the 14th. July, 1902, to the

Solicitors for Ho Lap Pun.

If Messrs. Ewens and Harston had,

on becoming aware of that letter, completed the purchase

on behalf of their clients, those clients would still have

had no legal claim on the Government which had not granted

any title to the land in question. That they did not com-

-plete was no doubt due to the fact that they were aware

that they were not justified in doing so until a title had

been issued. I do not consider therefore that the non-com-

-pletion of purchase was an act justifying payment of ex-

-penses incurred previous to the 14th. July, 1902.

6.

I annex a copy of the opinion

of