463
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HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
6. That in many instances property Bold since the 31st day December, 1920, if the standard rent is fixed at the rent on the 31st day of Desember 1920 would not be sufficient to pay rates insurance repairs and interest on mortgages and give a fair return on the purchase
money.
7-Your petitioners further humbly submit that in respect of domestic tene- ments which require extensive repairs necessitating a large outlay the passing of the Bill will make it impossible to execute such repairs and obtain a fair return on the money expended.
8.-Your petitioners, therefore, humbly submit that a provision should be added to the Bill allowing the standard rent to be increased by 15 per cent. per annum on the amount expended in such repairs and not 8 per cent on and above $500 as in the proposed amendments to the said Bill.
9. Your petitioners further humbly submit that unless the 15 per cent. men- tioned in paragraph 8 of this Petition be allowed one of the consequences of the passing of the Bill will be that owners of property in a poor state of repair will refrain from executing repairs and will allow the property to be condemned under the provisions of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance 1903 while new buildings not subject to the provisions of the Bill will be erected and the tenants of the buildings so condemned will be forced to go into such new build- ings and new buildings not subject to the Bill will thereupon be built on the site of the condemned buildings.
10. Your petitioners further humbly submit that the definition of domestic tenements contained in Section 2 (b) of the Bill is worded so as to include shops and they desire that the sub-sec- tion shall be altered so as to exclude shops.
MR. ALABASTER-It is stated in the Objects and Reasons that it does not include shops unless the man
or his employer live on the premises. But I am unable to accept that as a true reason of the clause which states that a domestic tenement includes every building which ia subject to a separate letting and which is used wholly or in part for human habitation, for it is common knowledge
that in this Colony the upper floors of premises which are used as domestic pre- mises are employed and let out as shops on the ground floor.
submit that in addition to the case in 11. Your petitioners further humbly
which notice can be given to a tenant under the Bill a provision should be in- serted to 4 (1) (e) allowing lessors to give notice to tenants in cases where they desire to provide accommodation for their own families or relatives upon the same conditions as are provided in Section 4 of the Bill. In addition your petitioners beg to submit that the pro- cedure in Section 4 (1) (c) (d) and (e) of referring to the Court the right of a lessor to give a notice to quit is cumbersome and likely to cause much discontent and litigation and beg to suggest that in addition to the above procedure an alternative should be pro- to give 4 vided allowing the lessor months' notice in the case of domestic tenements without reference to the Court and without the necessity of providing suitable accommodation.
ย common
MR. ALABASTER-lt is practice among wealthy Chinese to house their relatives and it is reasonable that the causes which entitle them to recover from a tenant should be extended in order that their families and relatives be provided with accommodation upon the same conditions as are provided in Sec- tion 4 of the Bill.
12. Your petitioners further beg to submit that the suitability of the accom- modation to be provided by a landlord on being allowed to give notice to a tenant should be more strictly defined.
Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that Your Excellency and the several Honourable Members of the Legislauve Council will be placed to take into consideration the foregoing submissions of your petitioners with a view to the rejection of the said Bill or the amendment thereof in order to meet your petitioners' submissions.
And your petitioners will ever pray.
etc.
MR. ALABASTER added-There is an- other petition which is, I believe, being signed at the present moment. The land- lords have been in this difficulty as against the tenants with regard to this Bill: It is
HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
easy to draft a petition which requires all praise and no amendment, but the Government inserted in the Gazette on Saturday a number of proposed amendments all of which had to be con- sidered in the criticising of the petitions which were being drafted, and the peti- tion I have just read has had to be entirely re-drafted since Saturday. The other petition, which will probably be presented to-night or to-morrow, when ever it is signed, contains certain argu- ments which, with your permission, I will incorporate as part of my argument.
In this case the petitioners humbly state:-(a) That such Ordinance is not necessary, is uncalled for, and is an un- warranted interference with the right of free contract; (b) That rents generally are not unwarrantably high, having re- gard to the cost of building and repairs; (c) The proposed Ordinance is a gross interference with the law of supply and demand-(the wording of this petition is not mine); (d) A law such as that pro- posed will undermine the confidence of the Chinese generally in the Government of this Colony; (e) That large properties in this Colony have been recently pur- chased by your petitioners and others based on the present rentals of such pre- mises; (f) The present influx of people from China does not consist of people of the poorer classes but of the wealthy classes who bring much wealth to the Colony. If accommodation is not found for these people, the money of whom will stay permanently in the Colony, the Colony will be deprived of many benefits it would receive; (g) That the proposed Ordinance is in derogation of the Crown leases wherein no provision is made for the restriction of rent; (h) That had more easy facilities been given for the granting of Crown land, less harsh restrictions imposed, and obstruction, the present position would never have arisen. Your petitioners fur- ther state that if an Ordinance such as proposed is indispensable in the interests of the Colony then it should be on the following basis: It should be enforced for a period of one year and no more, with a guarantee that it will not be renewed. The standard rent should be on the basis of rent payable on the 1st July, 1921, but, if rents had been in- creased more than 20 per cent. since the 31st December, 1920, then the standard rent should be equivalent to the rent paid on the 31st December plus 20 per
less official
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cent. That legal authority for notice to quit premises should be three months in the case of residential and six months in the case of shop property. If longer periods are required they can be arrang- ed by agreement. In the Ordinance no provision is made for uncompleted con- tracts for sale. One can anticipate a great deal of litigation arising out of this Bill. There is little or no protection against sub-letting. I should like to say a few words about that. I can nothing in this Bill which will prevent the greatest extortion which exists in this Colony and that is the rent charged by it is generally a woman-the principal tenant of the floor who rents out cubicle spaces and bed spaces. It would have been better, I submit, to have adopted a standard rent as from to-day as a tem- porary measure to permit of persons who have had their rents raised since the resolution increasing the rates to submit their case to a board of three who could decide whether the rent was raised in consequence of that resolution or other- wise justified, and to abolish all the other clauses of this Bill. But this Bill as I have said before, does not attempt to meet the evil, which is that if the public is to be restrained from charging too much for this private land it can only be by releasing more public land for private use.
same
MR. F. C. JENKIN-I am in the for-
the tunate position of appearing, on instructions of Mr. Wilkinson, for the tenants, and therefore am not in the category as my friend, Mr. Alabaster. I am here merely to voice to Your Excellency the enthusiasm and of the tenants, as wit- gratitude
Honour. nessed by the petition the able Secretary for Chinese Affairs has put in this afternoon, and their grati tude at the reception accorded their peti- tion by the members of this Council and the Committee appointed by this Coun cil. There is only one matter in connec- tion with which I would ask your Excel- lency's indulgence and that is with re- gard to one of the sections of the Bill and an amendment which was proposed in Saturday's Gazette under sub-section (d) of section 4. I do not know whether
be would
more appropriate that should address myself to that in Com- mittee or-
it
HIS EXCELLENCY-I think the Council would prefer you to deal with the matter
ΠΟΥ.
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