442
-4-
comencement of the Ordinance should be taken as the standard rent, subject to revision by a special board in cases where the rent had been raised after the passing of the resolution to The Chinese Chamber of Commerce recom- increase the rates. mended that the standard rent should be the rent in force on the 30th June, provided that that rent was not more than 10 per cent Both in excess of the rent in force on the 31st December, 1920. these proposals were rejected because it was considered that the rente in force on the 31st December, 1920, were already sufficient high. The proposal of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce would probably have led to considerable confusion and evasion in the case of small tenancies of floors and single rooms let to ignorant
tenants.
8.
It was at one time proposed that the object of the legisla-
payable in- tion would be beat effected by adding to the rent mediately before the war such a percentage as would compensate
for the fall in value of money during the last seven years,
taking
and
by tak- the rent so ascertained as the standard rent, unless some higher rent were authorised by some body appointed for the purpose. The committee, in the short time at their disposal, were unable to formulate any scheme to carry out this suggestion. The question of the percentage to be added in order to compensate
It is for the fall in the value of money is a difficult one. complicated by the fact that in all probability the proper per- centage would vary according to the locality in which the house was situated and it might be necessary to divide the Colony into a considerable number of districts in which varying percentages might be added. The boundaries of these districts might be
For instance, it is difficult to ascertain and to define.
possible that a district may have been in an early stage of
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.