CO129-555-1 Hong Kong Tramways Ltd.- petition 10-7-1935 - 4-10-1935 — Page 2

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1 Grr. 418

107 10. 7. 35

Jwds petition from Hong Kong Raniays to.

2

Appendix G to

Parition

1. This is a petition from Hong Kong

Tramways Limited, the Company which operates a

tramway service in the City of Victoria under the

terms of Ordinance No.10 of 1902 upon payment of a

royalty to Government of 5% of profits which, after

1939, will be increased to 25%.

2. The Company complains that it has been

unfairly treated by the Hong Kong Government in

the following ways. In 1928 when the Hong Kong

Government granted its first exclusive licence to

operate a motorbus service, that licence was granted

to another concern although the petitioner had

previously applied for such permission and although

the buses ran over routes directly competitive with

the trams.

3. When in 1932 the licence for the exclusive

right to operate specified motorbus services was

put up for public tender, the terms of the

invitation to tender properly implied that the

licensee would be prohibited from charging fares at

less than first-class rates on certain specified

routes which competed with the trams. In framing

their tender the Hong Kong Tramway Company acted on

the assumption that this restriction would be

permanent. They allege, however, that the successful

tenderers (who offered the Government a higher rate of royalty than the Hong Kong Tramway Company) were

gambling upon, amongst other things, subsequently

inducing Government to remove the restriction upon

second-class fares on these routes. The implication

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is