5
The pressur form of
fact different
lease is in from the usual one
س)
(see below) & doves therefre adoutive the
uncertani fortune of
The Teritages withi apparently causing any "dilmay
ú
to maintain officially that there is no
question of our returning them to China.
That would be equivalent to saying that
Treaty or no Treaty we intended to interpret
the 99 year lease as a perpetual one.
I cannot see, therefore, what are
the evils which would result from an admission
of our Treaty obligations in respect of the
New Territories, but I should not wish to press
this solution on the Governor in view of
his objections.
There is, however, one comfort ing
thing in this despatch, I had been under
the impression, and I gather from the minutes
and correspondence that everybody else had been
under the same impression, that at present 75 year leases were being issued. This is
is
not so. The present practice/to issue
meshired
leases in effect for the term of our own
lease from China (see paragraph 4 of enclosure
No.2). So far there appears to have been
no general demand for longer leases, and from
the enormous revenue the Government derives from
the sale of land, there seems to be no
difficulty of disposing of the land on these
terms. It is not, therefore, immediately
necessary to make any departure from the present
practice. The difficulties to be encountered
in whatever direction we move are so great that
the obvious thing to do seems to be to stay
where we are as long as possible. In what
direction we should move if a new situation
such as the demand for longer leases arises,
seems to me a matter which should not be
prejudged,
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