To
HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY
EDWARD VII., BY THE GRACE OF GOD, OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, KING, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, 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
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH :--
I.
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 to afford adequate or any relief or redress to your Petitioners under the special circumstances of their case and your Petitioners' only means of obtaining compensation for their losses amounting in all to the sum of $165,142 and upwards (excluding any claim for interest) is by Petition addressed to Your Most Gracious Majesty in the full assurance that Your Majesty will be pleased to direct that such relief as to Your Majesty may seem just may be granted to your Petitioners.
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. 184, 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 Godown-keepers.
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 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 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 together with all easements and appurtenances appertaining thereto 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 hereto annexed, was granted by Her late Majesty Queen VICTORIA, 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, his Heirs, Executors, Administrators or Assigns at a valuation, to be fairly and impartially made by the Surveyor of Her said Majesty, Her Heirs, Successors, or Assigns, and upon the exercise of such power the term and estate hereby created shall respectively cease, determine and be void.
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Page 691
To
HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY
EDWARD VII., BY THE GRACE OF GOD, OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, KING, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, 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
MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH :--
I.
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 to afford adequate or any relief or redress to your Petitioners under the special circumstances of their case and your Petitioners' only means of obtaining compensation for their losses amount- ing in all to the sum of $165,142 and upwards (excluding any claim for interest) is by Petition addressed to Your Most Gracious Majesty in the full assurance that Your Majesty will be pleased to direct that such relief as to Your Majesty may seem just may be granted to your Petitioners.
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. 184, situate in Victoria West, Hongkong, upon which they had erected valuable warehouses (godowns) for the storage of mer- chandise and in connection with which they were carrying on an extremely profitable business as Godown-keepers.
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 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 a tri- fling expense. Your Petitioners had a water frontage of 100 fect, 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 together with all easements and appurtenances appertaining thereto under a lease dated the 13th Septem- ber, 1884, for a term of 999 years from the 25th June, 1861, and the said lease, copy of which is hereto annexed, was granted by Her late Majesty Queen Vic- TORIA, 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 re- sume, 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 Execn- tors, 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, his Heirs, Executors, Administrators or Assigns at a valuation, to be fairly and impartially made by the Surveyor of Her said, Majesty, Her Heirs, Successors, or Assigns, and upon the exercise of such power the term and estate hereby created shall respectively cease, de- termine and be void.
684
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