CO129-494 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [9-10] — Page 28

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There will be no power to acquire land compulsorily, even on payment of the full value of the land, except in one case, namely, where land is required for public offices, fortifications, or the like official purposes,

in which case a fair price must be paid.

Construed as I suggest that the clause ought to be construed,

it would read somewhat as follows:-

There will be no confiscation (confiscation without compensation) of any of the property of the inhabitants, and even if land is required for public offices, fortifications or the like official purposes, the same rule shall apply and a fair price must be paid. Several considerations seem to point to the conclusion that

In the construction which I suggest is the correct one. the first place, the construction which you suggest would rather seem to require the latter part of the clause to read somewhat as follows:-

but if land is required for public offices, fortifications, or the like official purposes, it

may be acquired compulsorily, but it must be bought as a fair price.

Thirdly,

The conjunction "and" seems inappropriate to this construction. Again, the drastic term "expulsion" rather suggests a drastic meaning for the ambiguous term "expropriation which immediately precedes it. the lease is expressed to be made for military purposes, and the Chinese government may well have been afraid that without this clause military and official purposes might have been held to justify expropriation without compensation. It is, I may say, a common practice of Chinese officials to seize land and buildings which they need for any public purpose without paying compensation. This was the case at the date of the Convention under the Manchu dynasty; and

in