CO129-484 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1924 [1-7] — Page 41

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for a further period of seventy-five years at re-assessed Crown rent, subject to a guarantee that the land will be

and developed in a manner approved by the Government, subject also to a renewal fine.

5.

As regards the renewal fine, circumstances vary so widely that I find it difficult to suggest any definite rule of procedure. I may quote the following

examples:-

(a)

An area of 10,000 feet in Kowloon was leased in 1876 at a nominal premium and a Crown rent of $22. There was no building covenant and the land has remained undevelop ed. It was purchased by a speculator in 1921 for $28,000. The purchaser offers to spend $150,000 on development, if he is granted a new lease of seventy-five years, renewable for a further term. If this area were put up to public auction to-day as Crown land, Crown rent at the rate of 8800 per acre would be imposed, and the land would probably fetch $10 per square foot.

(b)

An applicant has recently purchased a portion

of a lot at the Peak, the lease of which runs from 1887. The area purchased contains 61,960 square feet, and the Crown rent is 18. The land is worth to-day some 30 cents a foot, and Crown rent. charged in respect of new leases at the Peak is at the rate of $250 an acre. The applicent proposes to demolish certain old buildings on his holding and to erect a block of flats to the value of not less then

$100,000.

(c)

An applicant owning two houses, in none too good a state of repair, at the Peak, wishes to sell them, but cannot get what he regards as a sufficient price, because the lease has not many years to run.

(d)

A French Mission holds an area of 791,675 aquare feet at Pokfulam, the lease of which dates from 1856, et a Crown rent of $178. There is a large building on the

ground

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