CO129-513-4 Land leases in the new territories 8-11-1928 - 29-7-1929 — Page 45

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Convention, and that those sovereign rights include the

right to dispose of land and grant leases even beyond

the period in question. It is further submitted that he

might, perhaps, also be told verbally, in a suitable case,

that in any negotiations which may take place between the

two Governments towards the end of the period contemplated

by the Convention a natural term for insertion in any

agreement to be then entered into would be a stipulation

that the rights of such lessees would be respected.

6.

If occasion arises and this dormant policy is

put into operation, and if it arouses propaganda, there

would be a perfectly reasonable answer to such propaganda,

though unfortunately it is not always possible to

counter propaganda by reason.

fold.

The answer would be two-

One part of it would be based on the presumed

intention of the two parties to the Convention (see the

latter part of paragraph 5 above). The other would be

the consideration that, whichever state is to exercise

sovereignty in the New Territories after the 30th June,

1997, a question which must be left to the two Governments

freely to discuss when the time comes, it is to the

obvious interest of the state which does in fact exercise

the sovereignty after that date that development should

not have been hindered in the meantime, and that a great

mass of titles should not expire simultaneously just before

that date, a position which would cause great uncertainty

and stagnation in the New Territories for years before the

end of the present century. Of course before any public

statement on these lines were made it would have to be

weighed with the greatest care, and would probably have to

be referred to His Majesty's Government beforehand. Perhaps

the first part of the answer could be given in the first

instance.

7.