CO129-542-3 Foreshore and Sea-bed Works Bill- correspondence 9-1-1933 - 16-8-1933 — Page 45

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public work that might be contemplated,

the effect in China would be to strengthen

rather than weaken the hands of the

Foreign Office.

3. I have given the matter very

careful consideration, and even apart

from the representations of the Foreign

Office, I should not be prepared to

approve the enactment of a Bill giving the

Government general powers to interfere with

private rights for the purpose of the

execution of works not specifically defined

in the Ordinance. I do not see that it

would be difficult for the Hong Kong Government

to enact periodically an Ordinance giving

the necessary powers for the execution of a

definite programme of works which it is

intended to carry out within, say, the next

two years, and which would be specifically

defined in a Schedule to the Ordinance. It

would be possible in the first of such Ordinances

to take any steps which may be considered

necessary